We just finished watching the Catonsville fireworks show, and before that, we did a cookout at Patapsco State Park.
The weather was glorious, clear and with a high in the 70s.
It actually got a bit nippy while we were watching the fireworks.
It’s the coolest Independence Day I can remember since moving to Maryland.
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Did not do well.
Exhausted.
Nighty night.
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It’s an event/cooking competition put on by our local SCA chapter where the contestants have 4 hours to prepare dishes under camping conditions.
Needless to say, I am currently as busy as a one-legged man at an ass kicking competition, do not much blogging.
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Had barbecue at Dougies as a birthday dinner. (Yes, there is such a thing as Kosher Barbecue)
In its celebration of all things Ballmur, it strikes me that two of the prominent cultural features of the Charm City, big hair and those funky retro eye glasses, might lead one to believe that it is the spiritual home of Gary Larson’s comic, The Far Side.
Certainly, Mr. Larson and John Waters seem to have a sense of the off beat that comes from similar places.
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As a result of our connection with the Open Space Arts community theater, we scored some tix for the stage version of Sister Act at the Hippodrome, so Sharon and I are having a theater date.
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For her 17th birthday party, Natalie decided to throw a fund raising concert for the Open Space Arts community theater troupe.
She got 3 bands, Silent Society (shown), Winter Hill, and 3PM, printed tickets, arranged for PR and food, etc.
I am managing to grill, cooking hotdogs and veggie burgers.
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We came back from the SCA event yesterday, an we were concerned about whether the chicken we brought there, but did not cook, was good.
We (actually Sharon) looked at it and adjudged it not lethal, but as a precaution, I marinated it, because the high acidity will kill anything lurking there.
So, last night, I made a marinade of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, mustard, cayenne pepper, some unsweetened cocoa, brown sugar, molasses, garlic, ginger, and some other herbs and spices I can not recall as I write this.
I let it all marinade over night, and then I put the chicken in the bullet smoker (the one pictured is much higher end than what I use) and used the marinade in the water pan to add some flavor.
Once the chicken was done, I took the contents of the water pan, now marinade and drippings, and reduced it to sauce consistency.
I then put the sauce on the chicken, and caramelized it under the broiler.
It got fairly good reviews from the family.
Natalie, our daughter, received an award the Hippocampus (Sea Horses, not the region of the brain associated with memory), an award given to children for service.
It was well deserved, but out was too much driving to get down there.
I think that I need ass transplant.
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Natalie and Charlie participated into the 2014 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race as members of the Lansdowne High School team.
Charlie and Natalie part of the support crew, and learned to ride a bike as a result (Natalie has still not mastered this skill).
It covers 14 miles over 8 hours, an obstacle course, and a short jaunt into Baltimore harbor.
The team won an award for most “epic” water entry (about 3:30 into the attached video, assuming that it is ever done processing on Youtube).
Much fun was had by all, though I think that Charlie might be a bit sore in the morning.
Apologies for the poor camera work, both on the vid, and the attached slide show.
I just spent the better part of three f#@&ing hours fixing an esoteric server problem with the Verizon SMTP servers that read bedeviling my wife’s email program (Eudora).
We are talking in the weeds bulsh#@ port numbers and authentication settings.
I knew that one would work, but the permutations are a mind f#@$.
My gears us that someone retaken the thing because of Heartbleed.
FWIW, it was an SMTP server of smtp.verizon.net, authentication on, SSL/TLS on, port 465.
Shoot me now.
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Back from the ER.
She is breathing fine now, but being up this morning will be a real bear.
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Finding lost USB sticks, disinfecting in-laws computers, and now I’m dealing with Natalie having a bad asthma attack.
I’m beginning to think that I should start wearing spandex costumes. (REALLY sorry for that mental image)
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I just got back from picking up my mother in law to the airport.
She visited my sister in law in Memphis over Passover.
Unfortunately, this means that I will have to delay my brilliantly satirical essay about how conservatives are stunned and chagrined to discover that their favorite welfare cheat rancher is a bigot who liked slavery because it kept them in their place.
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No such thing as anthropogenic climate change my flabby pale ass!
It is Autumn in Sidney, and it is snowing here.
Seriously, what the f%$3 is wrong the the f%$#ing weather?
Still cleaning frantically for Pesach (Passover).
Schwer zu sein a yid. (It’s hard to be a Jew)
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And Putin occupies the Crimea. The news gods mock me.
Seriously, I’ll have more on the the turmoil around the Black Sea later, but because my kids were in a play, Once Upon a Mattress (Natalie was the Nightingale of Samarkand, and Charlie was in the pit orchestra) over the last two days, I’ve not blogged.
It was a nice production of a rather indestructible play.
Asacia, who played the female lead Winnifred, cracked some ribs on Thursday, but she could go on, and so could the show.
We are all in Seattle.
We are all in the apartment we rented.
Now all we need is our f%$#ing luggage!!!!
So I drove to the airport to see what could be arranged at the ticket counter.
There are no seats avilable, so we will be playing the wait list tango at BWI starting very early in the morning.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Thank you Mr. Anthropogenic Climate Change.
With a bit of luck, we will make it by Friday some time.
I keep expecting Chevy Chase to appear, because it does seem like one of his Vacation movies.
Flight is cancelled, and I have f%$#ing been on f%$#ing hold for 2 f%$#ing hours.
I’m thinking that it would be faster to drive to BWI (We just got our road plowed*), and a round trip should be less time than I have spent on hold.
*Additionally, I am feeling the need to get a bit plowed myself.