The New Paint ! ( and Koda and a purple tree)

This is only the first coat, and there is only the tiny bit of trim painted. It is a little bit more olive than I thought it was going to be, but I do like it, very much, especially with the light khaki trim. It is a very nice combo of colors. It keeps raining, so who knows when it will be done, I may have my own Eldin for a while.

Zippy and Dick are OIL MEN......

Happy Days are here again! Exxon is doing well!

BIGGEST QUARTERLY PROFIT IN U.S. HISTORY.

We are paying 4$ + for gas and they are rolling in the dough. AND, All John McCain and the loathsome G.O.P can talk about is OFFSHORE DRILLING. MORE MONEY for the Oil Companies.

Stupid is as stupid does ..... 

women we love

Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter.

I've been doing things around the house this morning with c-span on in the back ground. She is leading the fight to make it illegal to pay women less for equal work. Damn, that seems like a no brainier... 2008, people.. hello?? The knuckle dragger on the right, just keeps on standing up and demanding that the oil companies need to be able to drill offshore, same, same, same.

Number one , Ms. Slaughter is from Kentucky, and DEEP Kentucky at that. The hills and valleys of mining country are still in here voice, a MUCH needed sound of normalcy here in Upstate NY. The GOP powers that be in the NY State Legislature keep doing their best to gerrymander her out of power, but no matter how wacky they make her district look, she easily wins. Despite representing a historically Republican area, Slaughter is one of the most liberal members of the New York congressional delegation from upstate New York. Indeed, among Congressmen from upstate, only fellow Democrat Maurice Hinchey has a lower lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. She is one of several Democratic congressmen and senators who post at Daily Kos, a Democratic-oriented blog. She is strongly pro choice, and has ALWAYS been a strong supporter of glbt issues, including marriage equality.

She is not my Congressperson. I am too far south . Don't even ask about mine, We are working hard to fix the problem. (Eric Massa for Congress)

A true voice for the good guys, there in Washington.

The New Trim Color.

I love it, really, it is much more buttery than it looked in the store , sort of a nice golden khaki. It's going to look wonderful. The painter only got to start today, because it rained, again.

Now, Where will underage girls from Savannah throw up after UGA football games??

Per B. Day ( special to the kyle+blog) 

Kappa Alpha fraternity house demolition underway
Athens, Ga. - Preliminary work toward demolition of the former Kappa Alpha
fraternity house located at 294 S. Lumpkin Street in Athens is underway this
week, with demolition to begin in earnest next week and the entire project
to be completed by the end of August. After following the standard approval
process through the University System of Georgia Board of Regents for
demolition of any building on university property, final approval for the
demolition was received on July 24.
Constructed in 1938, the house became occupied by Kappa Alpha fraternity in
1953. The last major renovation to the building was made in 1969, and Kappa
Alpha vacated it earlier this year. It is in poor condition, boarded up and
unoccupied. The University of Georgia will use the site for further
improvements under its Northwest Precinct master plan, which expands
academic facilities westward from the historic North Campus.

Really Big Batman

So, this new BATMAN movie is, they say, well on its way to beating TITANIC as the biggest money making movie , ever. We chucked in out part to the pile yesterday, but it still has a long way to go to get to 1, 800, 000, 000 . ( that is A BILLION, eight hundred million !)

What did I think... 

Well, its a Batman movie, neat cars and gadgets and a lot of stuff blows up. Part of what I guess is pushing the hype is HEATH LEDGER's Joker. He is a wonderful actor and his Joker is way way convincing. It is creepy, the whole clown thing creeps me out anyway, and they soooo know that there are lot's of folks out there with the coulrophobia, they use it well. His performance is cutting edge creepy, but not as scary as I thought it would be. Its like when I, at last saw, The EXORCIST many many years after it had first come on, and was just not all that scared by it, because NOTHING could live up to that hype. Unlike the very first HALLOWEEN, which I knew nothing about going on and all but peed on my self , its the not knowing. ( I will not go into my reaction to BLAIR WITCH, because in the end that was just really embarrassing for me and for Mark. But lets face it , he and I could over analyze pretty much anything at all to death)

But , back to my review of the movie.. what is it called anyway.. I just said " Batman", but it is called THE DARK KNIGHT. 100% the winner was IMAX!  WOW, Its like you are seeing your very first movie ever... so big, so clear, so crisp,.. can not say enough good things about seeing any movie in this format. I am going to start a letter writing campaign

  to get OUT OF AFRICA put in  IMAX... GIANT PINK FLAMINGOS!

Is DARK KNIGHT the greatest movie ever? No. It's not even my favorite Batman movie ( that would be the last one) I don't think it was as good as IRON MAN. I've never ever been a huge Batman fan... and really never been a fan of the JOKER as a character. I've always been like , "just freaking shoot the guy , get it over with , and go have a nice dinner"... but, I tend to be a little more black and white than most. 

If this is the type of movie you like , go see it! If you can, go see it in IMAX. I for one don't think that Jack and Rose have anything to fear from Bruce, or his giant Imaxed eye mole thingy.

Wonder Pookie

Be impressed!

She is like seventeen years old.. we should all be so lucky!

The third thing I will do when I get an extra 1600 bucks

1600 dollars!

But, darn, how I want it! It's some high end famous top of the line grill company, it just sort of happens to look like a pink pig. COME ON, I was born in ATLANTA, and its a PINK PIG!!!.....( and really, NOTHING says Christmas, like a pink pig...and a coconut cake)

Your gin soaked pilot and his full day.

 Happy , Happy, Joy, Joy.

The day started with the painter waking us up, well, Koda waking us up by going crazy as the painter unloaded his ladders and such. Today was pressure washing day. Who knew that could make such a difference! I don't even think we need to paint now, but , we will carry on.

No need in staying around and watching the cleaning going on , so off to see BATMAN , BUT,  not just Batman, : BATMAN AT THE IMAX!

But FIRST: The Buffet at THALI OF INDIA!  again, happy, happy, joy, joy. I LOVE Indian food, and this must be good, because the only guy I know who is really from India likes the place. Today they had lamb curry! ( slap your mama!) the waiter told us that they had run out of chicken and had to put the lamb out on the buffet.... note to self, always hit THALI late! 

Then off to the movie.

First thing, omg! , every movie from here on out should be seen in IMAX! It was crazy... there are all these flying cityscapes in BATMAN, that , to me, were just the star of the show! The movie itself, I'll write about tomorrow.. it's on it's way to TITANIC numbers, so what ever this lowly blogger thought about it is at best, unimportant, and better left to less toddy fingers!

Then hit the Garden Store , plants and flowers go very much on sale this late in the summer! Sure it will snow here in like six weeks, but we are a hearty hopeful lot!

Home for chicken and sausages on the grill, with marrow bones for the pups, a BIG back yard night here in Mendon. It stopped raining at last, a lovely night. A little gin as the chicken cooked ( my new thing, I put the chicken on the lower rack, with Italian Sausage on the top rack, and let the sausage drippings drip down on the chicken, y-u-m-m-y)

We came in to eat and found AUNTIE MAME on TMC.... really, kids, does it get any better.... 

early , early, early , early....

Pollster.com is running with this tonight. 

Crazy early, ( isn't it ?, I mean isn't that what you are supposed to say about Presidential Elections in July??) but it has Senator Obama in what you could call, a blow-out. NORTH CAROLINA??  INDIANA??  COLORADO?!?!? ALL in play? Even Georgia and South Carolina only leaning , leaning! towards Senator McCain.

Let's face it, the man had a week that politicians only dream of, now and forever it is KENNEDY, REAGAN and OBAMA in Germany. He was dazzling on television, and as good as he is, McCain is THAT bad. He is all white, hair, skin, outlook. He blends into the background , his voice is monotone. He is the worst President for TV in my lifetime.

I have not been at all fired up about this election post Hillary getting her hat handed to her. I was licking my wounds, and mad. There were a lot of me's out there. But, we are Democrats, we heal very fast. This week sort of fired us up a little bit, started getting that itch again, How much fun elections can be. How much fun WINNING can be. How much fun NOT having ZIPPY in the White House will be.

FIREWORK FINALE!

Neil got this great screen capture from a video he took, what a great show it was.

REDWINGS WIN !

AND IT DIDN'T RAIN!

Win, win. Redwings beat the Scranton/Wilks-Barre Yankees.

A nice night at the ballpark.

REDWING TO BEIJING

Redwing pitcher BRIAN DUENSING will be on TEAM USA in the 2008 Beijing Olympics! He was honored tonight pre-game, where the team all pitched and and gave him money to fly his wife over to watch , how nice! 

1. Team USA photo
2. a rope fence. Behind the rope fence is Brian Duensing throwing out the first pitch tonight
3. Parker showing us the real uniform that Brian will wear!

Fireworks!

I love these pics, they are taken with my camera set on the FIREWORKS setting.  I can not , for some reason, post FROM youtube to blogger, so I'll have to link it, watch here: FIREWORKS.

Harborfest 2008

Oswego, New York.

"Gosh, where have I heard or read that name before", all of you who don't live in Upstate, New York are asking yourself. TEN FEET OF SNOW, plus every year. It's like the snow capitol of the universe. BUT, In the summer they have a very nice , very large party called HARBORFEST.

Every year the Grucci family, who are the leading providers of all the major fireworks events in the whole world,put on the huge show.They are FROM the Oswego area, so it's like a gift they give back the area each year. The local Nuclear plant pays for it. It is an AMAZING show!

It is a huge festival as well, lots of food, rides, bands ( we missed Blood , Sweat and Tears!)

1. I get on the shuttle bus in Oswego, New York, and look who gets on and sits right beside me!  A Bulldog fan! GO DAWGS!  This man and his wife are from St. Mary's, Georgia, even though they live near Gainesville, Fla. now. They were with a very obnoxious Gator fan. ( why do they always have to live up to their reputation) The Bulldawg Nation is everywhere!
2. View of the Oswego Yacht Club
3. our camp
4. Stuart , the Budweiser Clydesdale
5. a storm, way over the lake, before the fireworks

Joe hates me

I was never a coffee drinker, always was a Diet Coke, (ok, started out with TAB and now moved on to Coke Zero ) drinker first thing in the morning. BUT, seeing as how I live in the great frozen North, I started maybe a little over a year ago , drinking coffee in the mornings. It sort of gave me a tiny little buzz, a jolt of happy first thing in the a.m.. I started drinking lots of it. Two splendas and milk. Yes, sissy coffee at best , but I love it.

SO, tooling along, drinking that morning Joe, happy as a clam, when : "DARN these Summer allergies have never been this bad". "WOW, my ears have not been totally shutting down like this in a while, what ever could be blooming!?",  and why does it only set off like this first thing in the mornings?

sigh...

Add COFFEE to the list of three million things that I am allergic to! Really, it just totally clogs up my ears , on first sip.. and lasts for hours , its like being on a plane only your ears will not "pop"...

So,  good bye, Joe  ( Wegmans brand 100% Colombian) it was a brief , but happy affair. We will always have C-span and reading the newspapers online.

Another trip to a Daylily garden

This is just some peoples back yard in Rochester, they have these "open garden" days where people can stop in and ask questions, just sort of tour. It's a pretty amazing garden in a pretty small space. 

He sells some bulbs late in the summer/early fall when they are all finished being flowers .

bye bye Charleston Green

No one liked the dark dark green idea except me, and in the end , I think everyone was right. There is just too much of the trim to go that dark. The colors that we picked are "GREENBRIER" ( which is sort of a dusty sage-ie pretty green, more green than in the pick) and "ALMOND TREE" ( which is a grey/ khaki color ) They do look pretty together.

I still love Jelly Doughnuts

  Two Hundred Thousand!

Two Hundred Thousand.  

Is this even possible? It's the number that is all over the internets of the estimate of the crowd at Senator Obama's speech in Berlin this afternoon. If it's true , its over the top crazy. 

Should McCain just drop out now?

True Colors

 We are painting the house! 

I am thinking the exact same color green with a Charleston Green  ( pretty much black) trim.

 Thoughts?

those kids today, with their long hair and their rock music....

And their WATCHES! 

Drinking and time keeping? come on : " Everytime you start drinking, it gets dark (or late) ".

This is a copy of an E-vite that B. Day recieved. Now , I lived in this neighborhood for years and  sometimes it takes thirty min, in a croweded VA-HI bar, to even get a drink. BUT, I do love the pure moxie of adding the Chevron station parking lot to the list...IF I had a nickel...

Location: Rocco/Matt/Robin's House
910 Drewry St, Atlanta, GA 30306 US
View Map |
When: Saturday, August 2, 7:00PM

Rory Shaffer & Ashley Sprowl... 2 birthday celebrations in the same night!

Be at Roccos at 7pm for a keg & flip cup to get warmed up.

Then we head to the bars where for the real competition. Fill out a score card and will be awarded accordingly at the end of the night or when you pass out!

The schedule is:

DIESEL 9:30 - 10

TACO MAC 10 - 10:30

CHEVRON STATION (buy alcohol to drink in Spooner's yard)
10:30 - 11

MOES & JOES 11 - 11:30

FONTAINES 11:30 - 12

HIGHLAND TAP 12 - 12:30

After that - who knows?

Alcoholetes MUST take a drink at each bar. You'll get points for each drink:
Tequila 5 pts
Jager: 4 pts
Other Shot: 3 pts
Mixed Drink: 2 pts
Beer: 1 pt
Water: -1 pt

At the end of the night you'll be awarded according to your score. If the judges are still conscious...

rain delay pics

Breakfast , Baseball and .. Beer

11:05  REDWINGS kick-off, roll out of bed and head downtown. Pick up Don, pick up Jack ( he comes with the GOOD parking!) and hit the game. Hot dog and large large Labatts Blue for breakfast, life can be so, so good.

Now, it was CAMP DAY, meaning every little kid in the greater Rochester area that goes to day camp ( BAD BAD repressed memories) was there, on their big yellow school bus, AND , it started raining, which it has done every day for the past seemingly ever!

They ended up calling the game , so the Redwings won!

1. re-tirement is fun !
2. " the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one for dessert"
3. Howie Clark at bat
4. rain starts
5. rain wins

3-D

Kyle and Craig. It's almost like you can reach out and touch us.

Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Zippy to take his final walk as Miss America President

Lamest of lame ducks President George W. Bush will address his partie's convention on Monday Night, September 1st. I'm sure that Senator McCain will be as far away as he can that night. BUT, just looking forward to the cringe inducing moments of him rolling off his great successes on the past 8 years will be a treat! 

The convention is already going to be a farce, every journalist in the world going there will have to walk past the Craig memorial men's room AND be detoured around the collapsed bridge there in the Twin Cities. I'm a little bit surprised he is going at all...

God save thee, ancient Mariner
From the fiends, that plague thee thus
Why look'st thou so ? - With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
...
Ah. well a-day. what evil looks
Had I from old and young
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

The Attack of the Biennial Common Mullein

Verbascum thapsus
These are everywhere this year. They must love the rain, it's like we have tiny little Saguaro Cacti all over the back fields.

don't you judge me....

O.K. , this has to be done, but first a prayer:

  "God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference."

Ok, that out of the way, I can tell you all: Hello, My name is Kyle.. and , and.. and I watch

 TORI AND DEAN HOME SWEET HOLLYWOOD on the freaking Oxygen channel. There , I've said it.

I can not stop. I haven't watched one of these shows before. Didn't do Paula, don't do any of the "date me I'm a freak " shows. I didn't even really watch 90210. But this one is just over the top. Tori Spelling grew up in the LARGEST HOUSE IN NORTH AMERICA , largest private house. Her dad flew snow in on Christmas to coat the yard in Beverly Hills, stuff like that. BUT, he died and she left her first husband to marry the HUNKY Canadian Dean , which I guess PISSED off her mother, Candy Spelling, who cut her off. She grew up in this house with close to like A BILLION dollars and got CUT OFF. ( well, she got 800K.. but still, ). So we get to see her doing all this stuff that she has never really done before, all the time talking about what a wack job her mother is!  Who does things like send over her driver with TONS of birthday presents for the one year old, but wont talk to Tori other than through their respective blogs. Tori cries, Dean watches porn, her girlfriend smokes a LOT of pot. She has a posse of gays who you KNOW want back in the big house. It's just magic, I want to just move in with them! ( and you know, one day get back in the big house)

She is like eight months huge pregnant, trying to move into her first house , with a baby that just turned one. Its better than Oprah and her cub Gail driving across country. It is guilty pleasure tv at it's best , BUT , with Project Runway looking like it is going to SUCK this season, I need one vice!

Movie Monday Tuesday

It's still all rainy up here so it was a movie day. There are so many out there that we want to see, but the time and place dictated that we see WALL-E today. 

How very cute it was, there has been TONS written about how it's all preachy and "unamerican????" and all, I just thought it was a very cute Pixar Movie. Yeah, the humans are all fat and won't hang up the damn cell phone, but , ummmmmm....

Stay though at least half the credits if you go see it, they are fun to watch.

Next on the movie list is "JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH" in spectacular three -D! Glasses and all! I've only seen two other three - D movies. One was ( really) Andy Warhol's Frankenstein at the Alps theater in like 1979. Kyle , Thad and Angela being all artsy.. I'm guessing that Porky's was sold out. Still want to see Batman and Indiana Jones. 

BUT: This Friday, its the release of the remake of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. Thirteen hours of some of the best television ever made ( or 368 pages of somewhat flowery prose) cut down to 100 minutes! What could they have been thinking. Gone with the Wind , the musical JUST bombed on the West End. Wuthering Heights has never been successfully remade, WHY would they try this?

I'd like to be cool enough to say I was glued to Masterpiece Theater in 1982 and watched the whole show from the beginning as it was shown in the US, but I came across it later. I do remember one Superbowl Sunday, when Steve and I were living on Monroe Drive  - ( 1990/1991??) -  Channel 30 started at like 8:00 AM and went ALL the way through. It was the best Superbowl EVER. Yes, in the end you get all bogged down with who Jesus loved the most and how dreadful life really is between the wars for Catholics living in Britain, but that is all so so far past those PERFECT early hours, of the two boys at Oxford . It was just .. dreamy. I loved it then, I love it now. Really, as close to perfect as TV has ever been. ( Someone, [steve] was poser enough to spend like 300$ on a stupid steiff bear! way before he met me!)

I'll see the movie and tell you all what I think, I am not thinking it will be good.

summertime....

AND! I sing....

International Monday

Our Bishop, Prince Singh, is in the U.K. at the Lambeth gathering. Here is a link to his photo blog that he posted . Some cool pics 

Bottom fell out!

HUGE Thunder/rain storm hit Rochester just as the picnic was starting, soaking the deviled eggs and the eatable center piece. It really was a big mess, and where as Pete looked great in his wet t-shirt, I was sort of just lumpy and cold .

But , we made it work!

• Grilled Chicken, Vegetable curry, brown rice, tabbouleh, sesame green beans, the Brownies and Pete made a lovely salad. We really did have a nice lunch
  
• Boat on the river
  
• Drew , Pete and Neil
  
• the boys of R.I.T.
  
• group shot, smiling through the rain!
  

PICNIC !

We are , well, I am going all out for the Pride Picnic this year. In the past I've had to hang out in the oh so dull part of the picnic and try and sway people to become Episcopalians. Not this year, its Chicken and Beer! 

I was a bad spouse and did not go to the parade, so I'm making up for it with the food I have made. Much more to follow.. I am going to go full blown "PICTURE MAN....."

• big bowl of outrageous brownie batter
• Sante Fe chicken
• Pookie ( who is not going to the picnic, but who was helping me cook chicken)

Dahlias , Lilies and Sunflowers,

oh, my!

Caroline and SJP

a call to the Bullpen at the game prompted some Neil Diamond

Episcopal Night at the Redwings Game

Big, Big night at Frontier Field, a crowd of 11,000+ there for the game and festivities. Nice warm summer night, the Rochester Philharmonic played after the game , and then fireworks!. It was Episcopal night AND Polish Night! ( I don't think there was much over lapping of groups),  A good night for the WINGS to soar (!). The Norfolk Tide spanked them starting with a six run first. I had not even got back from getting beer and pulled pork nachos and the score was six-zip. Ended up being 11-5, but it wasn't that close.

But like I said, it was a nice night , other than the score. There was a big "CONGRATS NEIL on your Retirement" up on the big board, and Lilly was only lost for a very short time.

• Dahn eats her pulled pork nachos
• Big crowd
• my good pal HOWIE CLARK, who just can not stay out of AAA. Get back to The Twins fast, Howie!
• ROCKY CHERRY.. now THATS a good name for a pitcher!
• Kyle and Dahn

Two from the New Yorker

Yes, the one that everyone is talking about. 

And, yes, for the most part humor is a LOST art these days.

Fourteen Passive-Aggressive Appetizers. 

hunting Koda

July - March

Dinner on Canandaigua Lake

We spent a very nice evening down in Canandaigua at the home of Carl and Juleen Evanoff. They live in a wonderful condo over looking most scenic Canandaigua Lake. Neil and Juleen had to polish off some left over champagne! A yummy shrimp pesto pasta, salad and rosemary bread. Fresh summer fruit tart for dessert. 

The moonrise over the lake was stunning, but, as always - just like my illusive beauty- it's hard to take pics of the moon.

ONE DEGREE of SEPARATION

Sir Ian and I are tight!

Susan and Kyle ( and John and Michael's wedding) 

Susan and Sir Ian,yesterday ( Magneto people! Magneto!!!!)

Green IS NOT a good color for me!

Nail on the Head !!

Bishop Robinson gets it right about Lambeth, at last.

"With young men knifing each other in the streets of London and a billion or more people going through life on less than a dollar a day, what a shame , what a waste it is for the Anglican communion to be tearing itself apart over two men or two women who want to make a Christian family together."

There is just tons and tons of news all over about this decade's Lambeth, good , bad and indifferent. In the end, his statement is the only one that should matter. 

Pull your collective heads out of your asses Anglicans, and do your jobs.

Roofers, day three

REDWINGS RULE

Justin Morneau, proud Canadian, not only won the 2008 Home Run Derby the other night, BUT, he scored the winning run in the bottom of the 15th to bring the A.L. yet another win over the National League in the All Star Game ,in  over Ballyhooed Yankee Stadium.

Justin was a Rochester Redwing!  ( pictured here is my prized Justin Morneau bobble head pencil holder!) We watched him play very up-close and personal. It is so much fun to see these guys on the way up like we get to. Milton Bradley and Chase Utley were also big International League players who were in the All Star Game, we saw them often at Frontier Field. 

In a somewhat related topic , the International League Richmond Braves are moving to Gweat Gwinnett , County Ga. !! All of Northeast Georgia is in for such a treat. Yall too, will get to see the "MLB stars of tomorrow" on a much more personal level than you ever would at Turner Field ,or any MLB park. AAA is TONS more fun that the majors. ( and the beer and hot dogs are MUCH cheaper!)

So, the brilliant and progressive citizens of Gweat Gwinnett are getting this gift of a AAA franchise and along with it had the opportunity last night to vote  MARTA into their county. Mass transit, AAA baseball and somewhat cheap beer. I'm reading Tinker to Evers to Chance here, a perfect triple combination !! Win /Win all around! Except this is Gweat Gwinnett County, and OF COURSE it was voted down on party lines.

Gwinnett County - MARTA Sales Tax Question - Democrat

   
Yes 10,713 70%
No 4,685 30%
Gwinnett County - MARTA Sales Tax Question - Republican


No 22,838 63%
Yes 13,639 37%
You have to ask yourself : just how expensive will gas have to become to make these people - ( and its not your "typical red neck Southerners" doing this , there is VERY little southern about Gwinnett anymore! ) - except ANY public transportation and STOP fearing the ELEMENT ( code word alert) that the Marta train will bring?!? It just boggles the mind!

How wonderful it would be for all of the Metro Atlanta area to be able to get in and out of their new AAA baseball park in comfort and ease.

Airtran sucks, big time!

Only 58 and 1/2 hours door to door!  

But they are all home safe and sound, AND shock of shock their luggage was all at the airport waiting on them! They did not eat at the bb-q kitchen on Virginia Ave. , but they did have Popeyes in the airport, and that is good tea.

Koda and Pookie were very happy to see Neil !

M. Susan Lovell-Spencer for Mayor!

Rock the vote! 

Dunwoody on its way to becoming a real city !!

water to wine, the 69 Mets, Marisa Tomei's Oscar.....

NEILS FLIGHT HAS LEFT ATLANTA... breath is being held.....

NO ONE, EVER. EVER, EVER, EVER ,EVER ,EVER FLY AIRTRAN AGAIN !

Koda and the roofers, day two

I think he forgets they are there....till a loud noise starts him going again..

I ♥ alliteration

Bear week bound bears on a bus!

 Harry heads from NYC to Boston to catch the ferry for Ptown on the Limoliner.

de-flowered!

The young Episcopalians have their very first taste of WAFFLE HOUSE! I do hope they read up first

World Famous and the best in town!
HASHBROWNS
REGULAR
Grilled shredded potatoes cooked in a steel ring.
LARGE
Two orders of grilled shredded potatoes cooked in a steel ring.
TRIPLE
Three orders of grilled shredded potatoes cooked in a steel ring.
SCATTERED
Scatted on the grill instead of cooked in a ring.
SMOTHERED
Diced Onions
COVERED
American (or Swiss) Cheese
CHUNKED
Bryan Ham
TOPPED
Bert's Chili
DICED
Diced Tomatoes
PEPPERED Jalapeno Pepper Rings
CAPPED Mushrooms
SCATTERED ALL THE WAY All of the above
WELL Crispy
STEAMED No Oil

"War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."

2010 or 1984 ?

The United States census bureau will not be counting LEGAL same gender marriages in its upcoming 2010 nationwide count Americans and how they live. They will ask : " how many bathrooms ? " but, not count me as married. They are even going to go as far as EDIT the responses of legally married couples in California, New York and Massachusetts . They will change any gay and lesbians who check married to state unmarried partners.

So, we just will not exist to the Federal Government? Gosh, I'm kind of hard to miss....

Also, in marriage news, turns our the new darling of the old right  John McCain was NOT divorced from his first mousy wife when he got engaged to Miss Trophy  ( gold plated trophy!) Wife of 1980, Cindy. That and the fact that the mousy one had been in a very bad car accident and needed her husband at the time. BUT, he is ALL for upholding the "sanctity of marriage" in California this fall, making sure that no gay or lesbian can mess up the pristine institution that he so boldly walked into. He also came out strongly against gay adoption. 

His wife is worth a few hundred million, she could just adopt all those babies instead. 

PIG.

I have always relied on the kindness of strangers

The wandering bands of Episcopalians have landed in a Red Roof Inn on Virginia Ave in College Park. MY old neighborhood!. The people at the RRI really bent over backwards to help them out, sending the van right over for them, letting them check in early. ONE call went out and my very good old friend/neighbor JANE ESCALERA came over and fetched the ones that needed to go to a walmart/target to get some unmentionables. That's little URI in the back seat who we had not seen since he was a baby.  

Their hotel is RIGHT behind the SPONDIVITS! Where they are having lunch right now! The down side of that is NO jumbo beers for them.

roofers on the roof....

Anatevka, Anatevka........

YUCK!

Neil and the Episcopal crowd are TRAPPED in the Atlanta airport... who knows when and if they will ever get back to Upstate New York. This is him stuck on the tarmac for about two hours.... 

UPDATE:(5:00am) UNBELIEVABLE! The airline, I am not even sure what they are flying will not fly them out UNTIL TUESDAY NIGHT at  9:00 pm. Insane, 100% Insane. I blame the Bush Administration.

I'm calling hotels all up and down Virginia Ave., with a back-up this big there is NOTHING to be had right now. What a freaking mess! 

a quick trip to Geneva, N.Y.

To a Pampered Chef party at Michael Tinkler's lovely apt., which is in an old 1797 hotel building, most cool.

And, I needed that mini offset spatula ! That, and the Pampered Chef boys were cute!

Dark Shadows

you just KNOW Barnabus Collins is down here somewhere...

our new above ground swimming pool

Lord of the Flies

mustache day at Yankee Stadium

In support of kyle+blog favorite Jason Giambi. 

Too fun, I'll need to check e-bay for mine!

it's about to get noisy...

and our whitetrash rating will go down, considerably

Obama, the New South and Submarines

The rumors are all over the Internets that the state of Georgia is up for grabs this November.  From your mouth to God's ear!, but lets dig a little deeper.

My exboyfriendandrewsullivan is oh so tepidly tossing around the "L" ( landslide) word , and I've also read that the Obama Campaign is already spending hard in the Georgia tv market, . Andrew is citing this poll showing McCain with a very small lead and Barr having a real effect . As far as I can tell this poll is an anomaly, and the poll of polls and most all others showing , AT THIS VERY EARLY DATE McCain with the expected lead of 7-10 points. Not at all the huge lead that Zippy won the state by ( 12 points in 2000, and 17 points in 2004) ,but still a lead.

Georgia is basically 40% Democratic, or at least has been since 2000. Clinton did take the state, but that I think was the death knell of SOUTHERN FIRST politics in Georgia. In 2005 Georgia was 28.7 % African American, and the state does have one of the highest turnout of African American voters, a good thing for Senator Obama. BUT, that still leaves him with the huge mountain to climb of turning a new 20% or so of white Georgians BACK to the Democratic party.

 Also, in his favor is the large number of young voters in the state, but there are not any , (at least I can not find any) polls  stating that young Georgians will vote in large numbers for Senator Obama. Outside of Athens and Atlanta, I am sure that the youth of Georgia are just as conservative as there daddies and mamma's. Apples don't fall far in that deep Southern heat....

Add  SAM NUNN ( a blast from the past!) to this equation and it does change a little bit. I think it is very far fetched that Senator Obama would reach back that far and pick Senator Nunn as a running mate, UNLESS, he is hell bent on taking Georgia. One factor against this is the fact that all those young voters probably don't have a clue who San Nunn is , another is "the gays" do not like him. 

• footnote: In 1992 Bill Clinton ran a very , surprisingly,  pro gay race. One of his very first acts as President was going to be a executive order that would allow gays and lesbians to serve proudly and openly in the US armed forces . Seemed like a no brainier to lots of folks. There had always been gays and lesbians  in the military , they would just be able to live their lives openly and safely. Well, it was 1992 ( which does not seem like that long ago, but LGBT politics have come an almost impossibly far way in those brief 16 years) and then head of the Senate Armed forces committee Sam Nunn went NUTS. Took a film crew into a submarine shower to show just how close these brave young American boys would have to be naked with the coming hoards of pink menace-the horror , the horror, indeed. The wretched "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy came out of this

The AJC ran an editorial this past Tuesday basically asking the oh so powerful ( wtf? ) gay and lesbian vote in Georgia to forgive poor ole Sam. He knew not what he was doing. I do not think that the LGBT vote in Georgia can do much more than elect progressive candidates in Fulton and DeKalb counties, but its nice that Mr Bookman thinks they are that powerful. On a personal note, I was very surportive of President Clinton's actions, and was hurt deeply by then Senator Nunns venomous attacks, and I have a very long memory. I do not want Sam Nunn to be the Vice President.

My bellweather for Georgia politics has always been goodoleDanaBass. For good or bad, she sees the world in such a completely different way than I do, -( but I am guessing sees things much more like most Georgians) -  that it is good for me to listen to her. Now , with out asking out right, I bet, B.G. would  wear white shoes after labor day and full blown GEORGIA TECH drag rather than  vote for an uber liberal African American Democrat from Illinois. I could be wrong. I'll check into it and get back....

Dictionary:

 Look up BAD SUMMER ALLERGY. This is the picture that should go along with the definition.

Early July Garden

First and foremost my lawnmower is in the shop, I broke the back wheel, ( I am surprisingly hard on lawnmowers) . My back yard is so long and weedy,  they are very  close to asking us to move from Mendon. I'll call the guy again today, they were closed over the 4th of July weekend.

The delphiniums are starting to fade , and the beautiful Irises have been gone, but the Dahlias and lillies are all coming into bloom, and the few sunflowers that just popped up from the birds. Our hosta garden is beautiful this year, the big one is a blue angel, that was just spectacular this  year. 

I am not sure what these plants are that I put in this strawberry pot, but I do think its pretty.

4th Plague of Egypt

And Mendon. 

This is a deer fly. Looks pretty harmless in this drawing. Far , far from it. They are everywhere this summer and they don't make noise like a mosquito. They are blood thirsty varmints that attack with out warning, taking chunks out of you or your dog!  Poor Koda came home with a bloody nose the other day, and I have bites all over me. It's long sleeves and pants for the trail for a while!

inside fun!

It's sort of Atlanta-like today here in Upstate, New York. Hot and sort of steamy, ( well hot and sort of steamy for up here) all over cast and wants to rain. So, a day for indoor fun: shopping on the Internet! 

( Neil isn't here and someone in our house has to buy something on line every few days or the people start to call and make sure we are o.k)

CHAMPAGNE FLUTES

Can  you ever have too many? Ina Garten uses this type often, and I love them , but had never seen then for sale anywhere. Leave it to good ole Alexis to lead the way. The ones on the Right are 195.00 ! for a set of four ( and Alexis says they break every time you look at them!) Where as the one on the left is 2.95! I for one do not see 45.80 difference in them. 

We do have a lot of left over Champagne in the house.....

getting a little big for his lederhosen

Pre-President-elect Obama is about to take his pre victory tour of old Europe, let those people bask in the glory that is the Obamanator. He was all ready for his Reaganesque "Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall!" moment, when ooops, President Andela Merkel ( he has a little bit of an issue with powerful women??)  steps in and says that the setting in front of Brandenburg is really only for her and any other head of state. I mean would we really want ever Tom, Dick or Raul from all over the world coming and using our stuff for their campaign backdrop? 

Slow down a little bit , Barack, none of the monuments are going anywhere. They will all be waiting when you and Michelle and the girls go on vacation next year. AND!  you will get to take that really cool airplane.

 Also in Barack news, the networks are all bitching about the cost of having to trot from the Pepsi center to Mile High to cover the Anointing. Petty petty old media! But, in their favor, they do have those oh so cool little booths built .

Rochester AIrport, 4:45 am

I couldn't even take a good pic, it was that early. Neil is off to Texas to be with the Episcopal Youths. Texas , in July, with lots and lots of kids... if I lead a bad life and karma punishes me....

your time in the naugthy corner is up!

 JEFF gets to come home! That was a QUICK trip to the woodshed... he really made someone mad. There will be no joy in Pearl, Mississippi

the race for second banana

Or who gets to start every day with " but Dick Cheney got to do it this way......"

The NYT guide to who is who in the hunt for America's hottest VP candidate!

who drives where?

Another traffic map of sorts. If this world map vaguely looks like it’s highlighting a remnant of the British Empire, that’s no coincidence. This map shows which side of the road traffic drives on.
Dark blue: drives on left (mainly British ex-colonies).
Light blue: used to drive on right, now on left (Namibia).
Purple: used to have mixed system, now drives on right.
Light red: used to drive on left, now on right.
Dark red: drives on right.

This is from a site: STRANGE MAPS . BE CAREFUL, it is a TIME KILLER!

Pre President Elect Obama to join the Mile High Club

Senator Obama and the powers that be in the Democratic Party are going to move his August 28th acceptance speech from the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver, ( where the convention is being held) to the much, much larger , open air MILE HIGH STADIUM.

MHS seats 75, 000+ for games ( a pittance by SEC standards!!) but who knows how many it will hold if people can sit on the field, 100, 000+ ? As long time readers of the kyle+blog know, this speech is the 45th anniversary of the I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH. Forty-five years to the day. This night will become the Superbowl, Academy Awards, and MTV music awards all rolled into one. It will be the hottest ticket on the planet. ( Winfrey party of 600? right this way....) 

The contrast with what ever Metamucil sponsored little speech that Senator McCain will try and pull off will be unprecedented. That maybe it is a good move, UNLESS it triggers some sort of major underdog effect.  You just have to ask yourself , well, I have to ask myself, Is this the right move/can it possibly live up to the hype?  Is pure star power what the Democrats want to put out for the country to see?  It's tricky , either way

But, I have been asking myself that about pre President Elect Obama since late last year. I have to admit that a great deal of my passion and interest in this election have gone since my candidate lost. It seems I am not the only one this has happened to. The polls have not really changed all that much since Hillary dropped out, Senator Obama with a small lead .  

I stay glued to c-span for both conventions, I just can not get enough - ( " rules committee meeting?" more popcorn!!) - but , I know , I am very much in the minority on this one. This night will be so very different, the world will be watching. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

To the world traveling wonderful man, CRAIG!

All of the greater Fingerlakes region breathlessly awaits your swift return!

Hummingbird Cake I



INGREDIENTS:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 (8 ounce) can crushed
pineapple with juice
2 cups diced bananas
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan.
2. Measure flour, sugar, soda, salt, cinnamon, oil, eggs, vanilla into mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Stir in pineapple with juice, bananas, and pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in oven for about 70 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack or plate after cooling for 20 minutes. Cool, and ice with cream cheese icing.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2008 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 7/6/2008

sleep, at last!

a full , blissful, eight hours !!!

Man, it makes all the difference in the world. In my own bed, both doggies ( and Neil). Already been up and took Koda for a nice walk. I just can not function with out enough sleep.

Life is good , again!

4th of July Fireworks in downtown Rochester, NY

Patriotic Fashions

BASEBALL

How else should you spend the 4th of July?

Redwings beat their Thruway rivals 8-1 , The Buffalo Bison. It was a good game, the rare sell out!

HOT DOGS

2) The Muck Dog:

• 1/4 pound hot dog
• bacon
• "hot sauce" ( it's a local Rochester thing, its sort of a very spicy really fine all meat chili, sort of , its good)
• ketchup/mustard /relish

1) The Hunka Hunka Burning Love Dog:

• 1/4 pound hot dog
• grilled peppers and onions
• more "hot sauce"
• BBQ sauce
• ketchup/mustard/relish

Apple Pie

I didn't eat any apple pie yesterday. I had some twizzlers.. not even close. BUT, here is the receipt for Winder Apple Dumplings.

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 can regular sprite
  
• 2 granny smith ( or any crunchy) apples
• 1 can crescent rolls

flatten crescent rolls and wrap around apples,- that have been peeled and cut into quarters, or smaller- ( get as closed as you can, but don't make yourself crazy) 

put "dumplings" in baking dish and cover with the sugar ( I cut back a little bit, but try it full force the first time you do this), dot with the butter and then pour in the Sprite. 

Bake at 350 until brown.

Serve with ice cream, this is crazy tasty, yes, a little bit trashy, but surprisingly good!

Trustmark Park

In beautiful downtown Pearl, Mississippi, Is where the pride of Parkview , the once golden boy Jeff Francoeur is spending his 4th of July. ouch!

The powers that be in the Brave's front office gave him the choice of AAA or AA , he chose where he had been before. Very much hope he gets things together soon, and back to the show, BUT , I do wish he had chose AAA I would maybe have been able to catch him in a game.

I am sure that the Mississippi Braves are going to love the ticket sales

The Ryckeley's in Savannah

This is the line to get on the list - to then wait to eat at Miss Paula's restaurant.

Ummmm, I'm thinking for this much time it better be some damn good fried okra, and Jamie will need to be waiting on us in full UGA tailgate attire!

I'll get the full report on the meal and post back later.

UPDATE: (From Laura)

"OK, well...we went a couple of years ago, it was right before bobby and
Jamie had a show. We had been told by a very good source about "The line"
but told NOT to get in the line, just tell them that we wanted to sit in the
bar, they would let us in with no waiting...IT WORKED! We sat at the bar
and ordered "Oatmeal cookies" (the liquid kind) and ate about a dozen
hoecakes and we were happier than a pig in slop.

http://www.ladyandsons.com/#


This time...not so much...we tried the sit at the bar thing and they laughed
at us...well, they said "we're sorry that's not available" with a smile that
says to a yankee, "bless your heart smile" but a southerner knows it's a
"Are you out of your freak'in mind".

The food: Your server (S.C.A.D. Student) starts you out with a cheese
biscuit and a hoecake and explains to you that you have maple syrup on the
table to have with your hoecake. We went on a Sunday so I think there was
no other option other than their "Southern Buffet". The southern buffet is
pretty much all you can eat and it is the following; Fried Chicken, Turkey
and Ribs, along with butterbeans, black-eyed peas, green beans, mashed
potatoes, sweet potatoes, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and creamed
(sweet) corn...no fried okra! Dessert was Banana Pudd'in, Peach Cobbler &
vanilla gooey butter cake. It is pretty much the standard of, in the south,
having Sunday Dinner after church at grandma's house, it's very good but not
much different than going to www.piccadilly.com/ or if you ever went to
Davis Brothers restaurant cafeteria in Athens where instead of asking you
"What'll Ya Have" they said "Hep ya?". My family and I went every Sunday
after church from around 1970 until 1978 +/-.


You HAVE to do it at least once and if you miss your grandmother's cooking
you need to do it but it's NOT a culinary experience unless you've never
experienced down home southern cooking."

shocking!

It was shocking in 1776, and we are still fighting it out today:  

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

4th of July, Mendon NY

get right with the Lord!

I am all out of sorts!

My sleep is out of whack, my diet is out of whack, I have not been drinking water. Koda and I have not been on the trail in a while, everything is just off track!

Sleep is the big one. It just makes everything go easier when I get a regular 7-8 hours. I think that sleep is a huge key to healthy weight loss. Hopefully I can get this all back on the right track very soon!

note to Cindy , deux

The unprecedented , unbelievable power of the kyle+blog.

Well done, Mrs. McCain!

Happy Canada Day

( Canadian 4th of July... sort of)