Tuesday's Dinner

Uh huh...Deviled eggs. Also made corn tortillas and then a Kasadilla with cheddar, green onion and hot sauce. NOM...snack night!

I'm waiting for Moving-Estimate-Man to come. I have a feeling this will be expensive!

Chow!

Monday's Dinner

No pic, but it was NOM. I stir-fried cabbage and Chinese broccoli.

Like the Gargoyle? We saw him out on our walk on Sunday.

Time for an incredibly exciting episode of KEEPING UP WITH THE KECKY'S! Tomorrow a nice man from CORRIB Moving is coming to give us an estimate. We're bugging out on July 12 or 13. Poppy and I will spend this holiday weekend packing up. This is all very exciting! Of course, I was up half the night last night going through the contents of our house; that just set my mind reeling for the rest of the night.

We have yet to take possession of our STELLA's. There was a blurb on Genuine Scooter's website that the scooters had arrived at their company in Chicago, but the STELLA has been chosen for a random inspection from the EPA with no clue as to when the inspection will be finished. So that put me to task to find out. I figure I work for the government and EPA is a government agency. So far, I've been forwarded twice but the folks I've talked to have been very nice. I'm now on the hunt for the Inspection Division out of DC. I've sent another email and this will be my last I think. I figure once I track all this down, I'll probably be riding my new scooter.

The closer we get to moving, the more the reality of riding my bicycle to work is hitting me. It's a really long ride and I don't think I want to do it five days a week. Life would be so much more convenient with a scooter!

Carry on!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday's Dinner

Well this should be a jam-packed entry. Let's start with Thursday...Followed my lead-footed Seester Kathy home after work. She so takes after my grandma. I planned on staying the night at their house Thursday since Dad had an early eye doctor appointment on Friday. Seester Kathy said Dad was excited when he found out I was coming over and was I going to cook dinner. So I asked Seester Kathy what she had for me to cook. She said "Meat, frozen veggies and potatoes. Oh, and there was some broccoli in the fridge." That was the broccoli I bought a week ago Friday and left there.

Okay, we've got a frozen hunk of meat that is now in the sink thawing, broccoli and potatoes. The meat turns out to be a ribeye roast so I wait until it's thawed enough to cut into steaks (Dad's already complaining cause it's way past his 6:00 dinner time) and I prep the potatoes and broc. I put some Kecky's Steak Shake in a bag with some balsamic, the meat and let it finish thawing. Figure potato planks tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and for the broc, toss in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it all.

Viola!



I guess it was okay cause all the plates are clean and nobody died!

Say, how about an exciting episode of A DAY IN THE LIFE OF DAD? One of the things we were to accomplish on Friday was to have Seester Kathy and I get the Power of Attorney notarized for Dad...only we neglected to tell him that we'd planned to take over pretty much every decision making power he has. Seester Kathy thought it a good idea if we ask him if he was okay with that. So we did and he's very relieved and actually trusts us. Heh, heh, heh...

So off to the eye doctor appointment we went. Good news and bad. Dad's Macular Degeneration is just about as bad as it can get so it won't be getting any worse. Bad news; the stroke really messed up his eyes and there's no telling if this will ever improve or not. The doctor asked us if we wanted to go check out this low-vision center called Vista. They can possibly help Dad with his quality of life. Maybe give him some sort of scope or something so maybe he can at least read a little. Reading was one of his most favorite things. He loves to lay out in the sun and read and then nap. I'm waiting for the Vista Center to call me back with an appointment.

From there, we went to Peets so Dad could get his cup-o-joe and a sweet treat. Then to the notary.

After the business was taken care of, we headed over Highway 92 to Half Moon Bay for lunch and a little walk around the harbour. This is also a favorite place for all of us because we spent a good bit of our younger childhoods fishing off the rocks with Dad and Mom. After that, we took Dad to get some new shoes. He was one happy guy!!

Let's see...Friday night we had plans to hang out with Jeanette-Mae and friend and former co-worker, Lori. They were going to make sliders and they did, along with Jeanette-Mae's soon to be prize wining potatoes. Check these babies out:



I can hardly wait to get into the New Kasa Kecky so I can grow my own! So NOM...and the sliders were INFINITY NOM!

Lori is a CFO and mentioned that she's going to start volunteering at San Quentin teaching prisoners math skills as part of their qualifying for a university program at the prison. Very cool!

Okay, let's move on to Saturday. We got up and walked over to the Pig & Whistle to watch the World Cup. Figured we'd get there a little early because I got the curse and was feeling mighty crampy and didn't want to stand. The place was so crowded, you could hardly get in the door. But we had a great time. Renee-Mae and Jean-Carlos walked in the door so that was quite the nice surprise.

Here we are; happy as usual:



A word about Skinny Jeans...If you have to wear them, make sure you've got the body for them. Nothing worse than a squishy guy in Skinny Jeans. Almost as bad as a guy wearing a Speedo when he's got a muffin-top...well, any guy wearing a Speedo, I guess:



Now, for my lady followers...Let's talk about lady bits. As I mentioned before, I was stricken with a visit from Aunt Flow from the Red River this weekend. I know we all have special names for IT; here are some of mine:

The Curse;
Aunt Flow from the Red River;
My Special Time;
That Time of the Month;
A 1950's fav...Men-stru-ation;
Why did I have to be born a freakin girl;
He's a vengeful God;
My womb hurts;
I'm bleeding like a stuck pig;
Uh oh, I think my Uterus just fell on the floor.

So Poppy and I were talking on the way to Pig & Whistle yesterday. We had this great idea that there should be a "Yes I Want Children" or "No, You Couldn't Pay Me To Have Children" button you can press on your way out of the womb. If you choose "No", you never have to have any of the aforementioned afflictions or suffer any of the consequences that go along with it, like chest and facial hair...or Cod forbid, I shriveled up bagina! If you choose "Yes". You get all of that, plus the pain of raising that child. I know some of you really enjoyed raising your children, but that was just society playing a dirty trick on you. Now that their grown, how do you feel? Accomplished? Proud? Sucked emotionally and financially dry? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Well that was a fun little rant for a crampy Sunday. But wait, I'm not done...today is all us gay people's special day. It's Pride Day. Today, Poppy and I get to go downtown and mingle with all our people. There will be butts and bubbies galore! I'll be one of many women wearing butchy cargo shorts; only mine will be lined with a diaper and all my pockets full of tampons and Tylenol; I'll be armed and ready for any leaking emergency that befalls me...the best part about that is the only restrooms they have are over-used "Blue-Rooms" and that just makes it even more fun, if you can imagine.



Well, I guess I should apologize for the graphic nature of some of my writing today, but I don't wanna cause I know all you women-folk know exactly what I'm talking about!

Have a great day!

Special Edition...

Since Seester Kathy and I will be hanging with Dad all day tomorrow and I'm staying the night at Seester Kathy's tonight, I won't be checking in with you until Saturday or so. But I wanted to tell you about my lunch hour today...

See, Seester Kathy and I have this thing that once all is said and done with Dad; meaning his house is sold, etc. and Poppy and I are all moved in, Seester Kathy and I are going to have a weekend away. It's either going to be a spa weekend or more likely, a wine weekend. So today at lunchtime I thought we'd start early. You may remember I got new glasses. They're not tinted like they usually are so you can see I have very "tired" looking eyes so I decided I wanted to get my eyelashes tinted. I asked Seester Kathy if she wanted to do it with me. She did.



I tell ya, our eyes just POP!

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday's Dinner

This is what's left of dinner last night. After spending the afternoon getting our Kaiser Buddy Physicals, we went out to celebrate our good health. Okay, Poppy is healthier than I am but the doctor only said "this is your wake up call" once or twice to Fatass. But I will have you know that Fatass' good cholesteral is off the charts excellent, she doesn't have cirrosis of the liver...yet, and only needs to "think about losing a few pounds."

For dinner we went to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Mai's on Clement. We had a type Shabu Shabu, but it had a different name that I can't spell or pronounce. Poppy asked Mai (I'm not sure that's her name) how to pronounce the meal we were having; she did; we didn't try to repeat because we'd butcher it. Anyway, it was raw beef with onions that you cook yourself in a vinegar broth. The beef gets wrapped in rice paper with lettuce, sprouts, shredded carrots, mint and cucumber. Then dipped in a sweet-n-spicy sauce. NOM-NOM-NOMMY!!!

Tuesday's Dinner

I'm on a roll...a sandwich roll, Esther-Roll, Jelly-Roll...Whatever. Anyway, another Uber-Doober NOM-Fest last night. Poppy grilled a hanger steak a few days back and we had leftovers. I thought it would be a tasty-treat sensation on a sandwich. Off to the store Friend-Laurie and I went...Went to Bryan's cause these were going to be "designer" sandwiches so here's what I bought:

Semefreddi's Focaccia Rolls
Vermont White Cheddar
Arugula
Mixed Greens

I had a red/green bell pepper at home. Let's talk assembly...

Bread:



Roasting the peppers:



Cooking the peppers with the onions (with a little salt and pepper and right towards the end, about 1/2 cup chicken broth):



Cheesy Bread heading for the broiler:



I also made a spread of Dijon, Mayo and a few squirts of...well...A1 sauce.

Served it with a side salad. So good!

Say, how about another fun-filled episode of KEEPING UP WITH THE KECKY'S! Because Poppy and I had our lab tests yesterday. Oh, if you're wondering, my wee wee sampling came back normal. Poppy had the truck so I hoof'd it home. Sounds easy enough except with all that Doyle Drive construction, there are detours just about everywhere so it's a real challenge for us to get home.

I decided I'd go by way of the Veteran's Memorial Cemetery; I had to hurry though cause the gates were closing within a half-hour. I get inside the gate and start my trek. There is big memorial wall thing with a plaque that I've never read. I walk up to it and start to read it. All of a sudden, I notice there's a bird flying above my head. Hmmm. Then another...and then another...now three of the little bastards are dive-bombing me. I'm flailing my arms but to no effect. I see a one of those tent-things so I run under it. Are you getting flashes of the movie The Birds? I sure was. I get under the tent-thing and those f-ing birds are trying to surround me. Two of them are on the roof of the tent-thing pecking at it and the ring-leader-bird is sitting on a branch of the tree staring at me just waiting for me to make a move.

I send Poppy an email that I'm being stalked by three birds and if I'm not home when she gets there, she should come look for my lifeless, pecked-at body next to the Lincoln Memorial in the Cemetery.

Okay, so I figure I can't stay under this tent-thing all night so me and Fatass are going to have to make a break for it. Now, I mention Fatass because we're about to make a break for it by running up the hill and since Fatass is still fat and out of shape, we may not make it. So we take off...left that little-jerk-ring-leader in the dust, although I could tell she/he was thinking about chasing me and Fatass, but we were like the wind!

Here she/he is. Don't be fooled; she/he may look harmless, but she/he would peck your eyes out in a heartbeat!! The picture is blurry but that's because Fatass has trouble taking pictures while lumbering up the hill...



Be careful out there!

Monday's Dinner

House-Smoked Salmon!! I saw a show called Chuck's Day Off where he smoked salmon using a wok, wood chips, water and a bamboo steama. Decided to try it for myself. I thought it was really good...but I think I used too much water so there wasn't as much smokey flavor as I'd wanted.

Here's what the parts look like:



Here is is smoking:



I took a picture of the finished product, but it was all blurry. Besides, it looked like a regular old piece of salmon.

Say, how about an episode of KEEPING UP WITH THE KECKY'S! You may recall last week I ended up having an Ocular Migraine. Poppy thought it a fine idea for us to make appointments to have physicals. Those are tomorrow. But first, we needed to have our lab work done. We did that today. Poppy likes it when we do our doctor's appointments together. We call ourselves "Kaiser Buddies."

Lucky me, I take after my Grandma and I have what they call "Rolling Veins". They tend to roll from side to side so it's like a hunt-n-peck game trying to find them, not to mention they are tiny. They always use a pediatric needle on me. If they still don't have any luck, they'll move on to my hand. Oh, and I've been known to try to pass out if I detect they're not catching the elusive vein. Today was no different. I warned the nice Phlebotomist about my hiding veins. But they are a confident group of people and like a challange so they always try to catch the little buggers. Some have success, some do not; as was the case with this morning's draining.



First the nice Phlebotomist tried my right arm. Couldn't feel a thing. Then moved to my left arm (I don't mind saying while writing this, my knees are getting weak) and to her surprise, she felt what she thought was a viable vein. I told her she best hurry before it runs away...sure enough, she got the needle in and, poof! Vein-Be-Gone. Then just for fun, she tried to catch it by rotating the needle around. This is usually the point where I'll start with the sweating. She pulled the needle out and said "I should have listened to you." So she went for my hand. Getting the life juice from my hand is really easy cause my veins stick out, only thing about that is it's about 10 times more painful.

So by the time she got the needle out of my arm, I was indeed, sweating a river and seeing spots before my eyes. I'm light headed. She asks me if I want some juice. I say yes. Warm apple juice. Ick. Now I still have to go wee wee in a cup so I'm thinking I'd much rather be sitting on the toilet in private if I'm going to pass out. So I make my way to the sanctuary of the bathroom. I take care of business and by that time, the sweats have passed and I'm good to go...although, I'm drenched.

I go find Poppy in the waiting room. She's still holding her bag with the wee wee cup in it. Unfortunately, Poppy can't pee on demand so she's got to do this at a time when she's more relaxed. I know, we truly are perfect for each other! I show her my bandages and she wonders what happened. I have her feel my back and tell her what happened. Moral to the story...Kaiser Buddies are good!!

Bye bye.

Sunday's Dinner...

Another INFINITY UBER NOM dinner!!! I went to Clement Street and got a fresh Stripped Bass. I salt/pepper'd him, put some lemon slices and dill in his little cavity and then wrapped him in Dill, Parsley, Sage and Yellow Chives. Poppy Grilled him to perfection. Served him with wild rice and sauteed Snow Pea Leaves in Garlic. NOM!



Chow!

Saturday's Dinner

Beyond INFINITY UBER NOM! That's right, the highest rating ever!!! Went to friends, Tom and Karen's for an evening of pig. Friends, Renee-Mae and Jean-Carlos were there too. Jean-Carlos made some very NOM cole slaw. The Uber NOM pig was smoked; ribs and I believe pork shoulder that Tom then pulled. Poppy made Angels on Horseback. Curious to know what that is? Well, there's pig involved so you know it's got to be good. It's dried prunes wrapped in bacon (I bought applewood smoked bacon), the either broiled in the oven or grilled.

Here they are:



Also on Le Menu was mac-n-cheese and cornbread. The mac-n-cheese far surpassed my wildest mac-n-cheese dreams. I kept going in the kitchen after dinner taking bites out of the pan. So good!!!

For dessert, Tom grilled fruit. Again, Uber NOM!!!

Tom and Karen have Ellie-The-Flatulating-Dog. We've not seen Ellie in probably a year. She's a Rottie and she's really filled out; including her gaseous secretions. Very loving sweet big doggie. She kept licking Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer's head. Reminded me of a cow cleaning it's baby.

A fun evening was had by all...even Sleeping Beauty, Jean-Carlos! Sorry, Renee-Mae, couldn't help myself!

Wait until tonight's dinner!!!

Chow, Bella!

Friday's Dinner

UBER NOM! Lamb shoulder chops, butter-parsley noodles and green beans. Oh, and gravy...duh!

After our walk yesterday, we stopped at one of my favorite grocery stores, Oceana Market (formerly Food Town) in Eureka Square Shopping Center in Pacifica. It's a small market but they deal in mostly organic whole foods and really hard to find grains and such; they also have the best meat counter in the 415 or 650! The staff at the meat counter are extremely helpful and can give you plenty advice on what to do with the cut of meat or kind of meat, fish or poultry you buy.

Brought those hunks of lambie love back to Seester Kathy's; salt and peppered them, then marinated them in olive oil, balsamic, a little red wine vinegar, chopped garlic, fresh parsley and rosemary. I pan-fried them and when just about done, put them to rest on a plate, covered loosely with foil and put them in a warm over. Made the wide egg noodles and used butter, herb salt and fresh chopped parsley in those; also made my standard green beans. Then it occurred to me that wouldn't some gravy go well on those noodles? So I used the pan-drippings from the lamb and made the gravy. Had Seester Kathy taste. Good, but flat...then it dawned on me I had those chops resting in the oven, so Seester Kathy pulled them out and poured in the heavenly juicy-juice from the lamb. Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!!

Picture Seester Kathy and I sitting at the table looking at each other moaning and making grunting noises that if you listened hard you could barely make out the word "good". Darryll was siting next to me with barely any food on his plate cause he's doing some silly portion control. He's looking at Kathy and me in shock and awe. I knew he was thinking "Is that my wife or some caged animal?"



Went through Shirley's cookbooks when we were up last weekend. Some gems for sure. Check out the Mennonite Community Cookbook. That sure brings you back to a different time, eh?

A little history: The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons (1496–1561), who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders. The teachings of the Mennonites were founded on their belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, which they held to with great conviction despite persecution by the various Roman Catholic and Protestant states. Rather than fight, the majority survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their radical belief in adult baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the historic peace churches because of their commitment to nonviolence.

Here's a recipe sampling:

Roasted Pig's Stomach
1 pig stomach
1 1/2 pounds ground sausage
1 quart diced potatoes, raw
1 onion, chopped fine
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Remove the inner lining of the stomach and discard. Wash stomach well and then soak in salt water several hours. Drain and fill stomach with stuffing, Sew securely. Use either of the following recipes for the filling.

1. Make a filling of raw diced potatoes, chopped onion and shredded cabbage. Add seasoning and mix well.

2. Make a bread filling by browning diced onion and bread cubes in butter. Mix with egg, parley and milk. Stir in diced boiled potatoes and 1 pound sausage. Mix thoroughly.

Placed stuffed stomach on a rack in a kettle, cover with water and cook slowly until tender. Then brown in a hot pan to which butter has been added. Serve with gravy made by adding flower and water to drippings in roasting pan.

Who wants to come over for dinner tomorrow???

Then there is The Service Cook Book. This book was published exclusively for F.W. Woolworth Co. who happens to be a proud member of the NRA, "We do our part".

Here's a sampling:

Fried Tongue Sandwiches
Sliced canned or cooked tongue
Prepared mustard
butter

Slice canned or plain cooked tongue thin and put the pieces together with a spreading of prepared mustard. Chill and just before swerving, fry quickly on both sides in butter.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting mighty hungry.

Chow!

Thursday's Dinner

Poppy bought a happy-raised hanger steak a few days back. Since it was frozen and our power was to be out all day yesterday (yeah, Doyle Drive construction) She marinated it in balsamic vinegar overnight in the fridgy figuring it would be thawed by the time I got home last night. Not eggzactly, but close enough. Since my Poppy has has been working very hard on a project all this week, she's not been getting home until after 8:30pm! She so deserves a raise! Anyway, I made a salad go with and got the grill ready. Had it with a Boeger Cab Franc; Uber NOM!

Gee Whizzies, lets check in with another exciting segment of A DAY IN THE LIFE OF DAD! Well, this morning I got up bright and early and headed down to The Atria to pack up Dad's room; didn't take too long. Once finished, I headed over to Seester Kathy's and found Dad and Niece Ashley so they helped me unload. Then piled Dad in the truck and took him for a walk down by the beach, then to the grocery store for dinner stuff, then to sigh...Mickey D's...sigh. After that, we drove over to The New Kasa Kecky since he's only seen pictures and then to Fort Funston to watch the hangliders. By then he was tucky, tucky, tie, tie. Came back to Seester Kathy's, made him his vodka/tonic and out to the backyard he went. He's very happy!

Bye bye.

Bustin Out...

In addition to Fatass bustin outta her jeans, Dad called Seester Kathy yesterday afternoon practically in tears; he's so lonely and unhappy so Seester Kathy busted him out last night. He's now all settled in his new-old home at Seester Kathy et. al.'s.

Seester Kathy said she feels so relieved and I also like the fact that he'll be living with them because it's such a nicer place to go visit than The Atria. Don't get me wrong, I love The Atria and still aspire to live there one day with Poppy and our matching Hoverounds, but Dad is just too young for that place. If he vision was better, life would be so different for him. So now he's in his familiar surroundings of Seester Kathy and Bro-n-Law Darryll's and all is good...for now. ;)

Now to break the news to Teresa, the Executive Director at The Atria. Worst that can happen is they keep a month's worth of rent. I figure Dad will think that's a small price to pay for his happiness.

Tomorrow, I get to take the day off and go to The Atria and empty out his room and bring it all back to his new-old room. Figure I'll spend the rest of the day sitting out in the sun with him.

This is Edith. She's a resident of The Atria. She just turned 102, which I'm pretty sure is the average age of the residents there. She's smiling too; that's because she just had some birthday cake and is on a sugar high! I'm not sure that that man is doing but I think he's signalling that he wants a little Mclovin from Edith.



Hey, time for an almost exciting new episode of KEEPING UP WITH THE KECKY'S! Just got off the horn (as my depression era Poppy calls it) with all the utility companies. As of July 6, we'll have power, water and refuse/recycling/composting services at the New Kasa Kecky! This is getting exciting...someday soon, we need to start packing.

Ahhhh, the roller coaster that is life!

Tuesday's Dinner

Snack night! I made a little concoction with endive leaves, chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, chopped garlic, chopped, chopped, chopped, salt, pepper, herbed vinegar, red wine vinegar, olive oil. Tossed it, put it on the leaves and topped it with Queso Fresco. Also had some cubed avocado mixed with soy sauce and some sardines on crackers. All low on the NOM scale. Sure hope I do better tonight.

Sigh...time for another depressing episode of A DAY IN THE LIFE OF DAD. It's become clear that he's too young for The Atria. This morning he was going to go to the Morning Walk. He met at the front of the place...he was the only one there. So he walked around the building 4 times by his little lonesome. Then it was off to Morning Exercise. He said it was okay but everyone was in a wheelchair...although, he liked watching Penny. She's the gal that puts on all the classes and is pretty easy on the eyes, especially for Dad. After lunch he'll be going to watch old episodes of Johnny Carson and then the cable guy is coming at 2:00. Tomorrow if a full day of social events. We'll see how that goes.

Bye bye.

Monday's Dinner...

Was Poppy's soon to be award winning fried chicken and a salad. Poppy made the chicken on Saturday night so we had it for leftovers last night. It was crispy and moist! The only complaint Poppy had was that it wasn't seasoned enough. But, since it was her first try in many years, it was really NOM! Some reflection about the chicken, etc. from Poppy: "I'm trying to carry on what my grandma taught me and getting a 'nice scald' on that chicken. She taught me a couple of good techniques that I've remembered. Frying chicken and making one-pan pie crust for sure, AND loving to eat nachos with pickled jalapenos but being careful not to get the jalapeno juice on your lips."

Let's check in with a DAY IN THE LIFE OF DAD. Day two at The Atria seems to be a little better. Mostly because his mini-fridge/bar is all stocked and we rented him a bunch of movies. Unfortunately, cable/phone guy came today and that added another remote control to the T.V. so that's confused Dad a wee bit. I've gone online and purchased a big button remote control that you can have up to 3 devices on it. Hope that works!

I've been having eyeball trouble so I went to see the eyeball doctor. Seems I'm having and Ocular Migraine and I've got a little dead spot somewhere inside my eyeball cause my blood pressure spikes. It would seem I'm having a little trouble controlling my stress level. Wimp!!

Chow!

I've Lost My Appetite...

Well, it's been about 24 hours since we moved Dad into his new home at The Atria. He didn't like his room, mostly because he had to share the bathroom. So, for an additional $500 Seester Kathy and Bro-n-Law Darryll moved him to a new room with a private bathroom. Kathy and I went there this morning to fetch him and take him on some errands. We barely got out of the car and he was waiting for us at the entrance of the place.

So guess what? He hates it. He rattled off about 10 things he didn't like. He's paid up for the month so he agreed to stay there and if he still hates it, he'll move in with Seester Kathy.

Just a little frustrating.

Movin On Up...

Well this has just been a whole bunch of fun! We've got the truck all packed and now we're taking a break. We leave tomorrow at the crack. We'll head to Seester Kathy's et al. unload their stuff, then to Dad's new home and unload his stuff and then to Hitch World to drop off the truck and then we'll be done for a few weeks.

Here's Dexter-McLovin the morning Kathy left. She was packing and Dexter-McLovin was watching.



Here's Jax-The-Cheese-Connesewer trying to hide when we were leaving. She sure hates being left alone.



Here's the truck as we packed it up.



I grilled some steaks last night and made up a new rub:

Tablespoon salt
Tablespoon pepper
Teaspoon garlic powder
Teaspoon paprika
Teaspoon chili powder
Teaspoon oregano
Teaspoon coffee (darker better)

Mix it all up…even better if you can use a mortar/pestle to mix it so it blends and releases the oils.

Had the steaks with baked potatoes and green beans. NOM!!

Chow!

E-Mail Search...

So I'm working on this litigation project. Oh, props to friend, co-worker and family member, Laurie and Seester Kathy for helping me! Anyhow, it's an email search of several folk's email folders. I'm doing Boss Karen's folders now. There are 80 or so folders and in each folder she has no less than 1,000 emails. Some date back to 1999, for cryin-out-loud! I asked her if she'd seen or heard of the show Hoarders cause she's an email hoarder (aka disposophobia), bless her heart.

Got Carrots?

Well, I'm consumed with my little litigation project and will also be at Dads for the weekend packing.

Check in with you in a few days!

Monday's Dinner

I feel like I haven't cooked in weeks! We had sausages, salad, sliced tomato and avocado for dinner. Pickin's are getting slim...

Seester Kathy and I will be leaving on Thursday to go to Dad's to pack up and bring him back to the Atria.

Meanwhile, I'm working on the project from H.E. Double L...It's a two computer job.



Unfortunately, nothing else exciting is going on. I'm sure things will pick up in a couple of days. Oh, but wait...let's check in with another exciting episode of KEEPING UP WITH THE KECKY'S! I decided to return my signature pink scooter helmet because I liked the one Poppy got better. Here they are:

Mine:



Poppy's:



How cool are they? I feel...so...well...Merican! So this brings us to handles. Anyone who rides a motorcycle or scooter has a nickname. My former handle was "Knockers" but since the bubbie reduction, that name just doesn't seem to work very well. So, I'm throwing around a few more such as:

Barbastella;
Skidmark (definitely a contender);
Tooters;
Hermie;
Bobblehead (another serious contender);
Baconstripe (makes me laugh) or
Sugarpie.

The only one we've come up with for Poppy is "Tic-Tac".

Hmmm.

TTFN!

Sunday's Dinner

Nothing too exciting. Chicken Spinach Feta sausages, browned with red onion, pepperoncinis and red pepper. Served with a green salad.

I worked for a few hours yesterday to get a head start on the Project From H.E. Double L.

More of the same tomorrow.

Calgon take me away...

Saturday's Dinner

Some awful restaurant on Haight Street. Can't remember the name. Don't want to remember the name. Ew.

Here I am being happily eaten by the Glorious Shoe Monster...



It was a good day!

Friday's Dinner

Started with Happy Hour at Koko's Cocktails. The players: Me, Poppy, ShemShem, Denise, her cousin, Melissa, Kim and some guy whose name I can't remember. Koko's does this event the first Friday of the month called Bourbon and Bacon. Buy a shot of bourbon and get a slice of bacon. Sounds weird, but was really good!

Bacon gone wild:



Because we all like the pig so much, we decided next month that we'd bring our own supply of different kinds of bacon...Applewood smoked, Canadian, thick cut and who knows, maybe for the vegetarians, Tofacon!

After Bacon, Bacon, Bacon we walked across the street for some so-so Mexican. I went foo-foo and got the Cilantro burrito with Carne Asada. Thing is, I'm a Mission-Burrito heathen and I don't like to peel the foil while eating the burrito. I like to unwrap it and eat it with a knife and fork. Poppy said it was okay for me to do it in this place cause I ordered a foo-foo burrito, but she best never catch me doing this in the Mission!

As some of you will remember, I had been working on the litigation project from hell. I finished my piece when I was up in Minden right before Shirley died. Well, I found out last week that between Andrea and me, we had a horrible miscommunication in the electronic document search and neglected to have our I.T. Department do an email search. Last year when I had them do this, I had to go through the results and it took me months to complete. The deadline for all this electronic info to get to the U.S. Attorney is...well...Tuesday. I told Boss Karen that I'd take a refresher knitting course from co-worker, Susan so when I go to Club Fed, I could knit Boss Karen a sweater.

And then I had this dream...Needless to say, our Chief Information Officer, Bob-Jerk-Guy, is not happy. In fact, he tried to throw me under the bus with Boss Carol. Why, why, why do people do these things? Shelly don't play that game!! See Mr. Big-Bad-CIO thinks this email search is a waste of his staff's time and is better suited for Legal Department employees (yeah, that's me) or a temp.

So now I explained to Boss Carol that Mr. Chief-O is wrong and the email search is done by the I.T. Department because (a) I don't have the security access to go into other employee's computers; and (b) I don't have the knowledge to do that search. Why? Because I'm not an I.T. employee!! Once I.T. staff does the search, I go through the results. Jerk! Typical of Mr. Chiefy not knowing what his department does or doesn't do. So Chief-Oblivo met with his staff and now understood that this wasn't a function of Legal Department employees (oh, yeah, me, Shelly) so Mr. Chief-Tail-Between-His-Legs had to back-peddle a bit on his previous comments to Boss Carol. Although, his back-peddling was still fraught with defensiveness and finger pointing. Did I say Jerk? I need this kind of crap like I need a hole in my head!

Now, Boss Carol and I are all about the "There is no 'i' in team" spirit so she, especially, no likey when folks get all territorial. Do whatever it is to get the job done. So, I've emailed some of my kick-ass admin co-workers to ask for their assistance next week to get through the emails. I've had an overwhelming response so I think we can kick this out in a day or two. But then Poor Andy still needs to go through every email and weed out the ones that are privileged and can't be turned over. That could take weeks. Oh, another oversight was that Poor Andy thought the deadline to get all this stuff to the U.S. Attorney was September...Poor Andy is leaving for Hawaii today for a week's vacation. Can't it get any better than this?...And then I woke up and everything was roses and sunshine!

Aloha!

A Correction From Oosband...

Blog Corrections My dear:

I was in the military, so that’s why I qualified for a USAA membership (not because of my dad).

Also, not anyone can bank with USAA, only people with a military connection.

And to qualify for the ultra special insurance coverage, you have to been either enlisted or commissioned at one time or another.

xoxox

Thursday's Dinner

I think I'm going to start blogging at night. You'll still get the same dinner run-down, just later.

Hey, check out my bitchin new scooter helmet! Yeah, that's barbwire and roses...and it's PINK!!



Hey, how about another exciting episode of KEEPING UP WITH THE KECKY'S! As you know, Poppy and I registered as domestic partners. Well, fancy this...Poppy's bank, USAA, is a bank that anyone can have a checking or savings account, but they also do auto insurance, homo-owners insurance and all kinds of stuff, but to get those benefits, you have to have either served in the military or one of your parents would have had too. Anyway, since Poppy's Dad was career military, she's in.

Check it out, she was talking to them today and reluctantly mentioned that we are RDP's. You just never know about that "don't ask don't tell." They told her that they recognize RDP's in California only and we will be treated as if we are married. That means I get all the wonderful benefits USAA has to offer and will continue to receive them even if Poppy should...well...um...Dog forbid, take the "big sleep." How freakin cool is that?

Since we're now considered husband and wife or wife and wife or husband and husband...that's all a little confusing...I will now refer to my Poppy as "The Oosband."

I have to say, for every low I've been experiencing in the last few weeks, there has been and equal high.

Life is good!

Wednesday's Dinner

Leftovers.

I actually don't have much to report today. Spent most of the day working on getting Dad into The Atria. That started with sending the Physician's Report form to Dad's doctor so he could fill it out and Dad can get into the facility. This form is required by the State. The hitch was that Dad had to be present for Dr. Jones to fill out the form. So I set that up. No sooner is he done and on his way home. I get an email from The Atria saying the form was faxed to them but Dad needs a TB test. So now I'll deal with that today. Seester Kathy worked out his health insurance for when he moves back. He'll be going back on Kaiser. That's what he had before he (and Shirley) made the poor decision to move to Minden.

Then I talked with this company that will help us get Dad a Veteran's benefit. I think Dad has to much in assets to qualify, but doesn't hurt to apply for it.

I want to start the process of getting Dad's house listed but Dad can't remember the realtor's name or company, so I think I'll have to research someone.

That's it for now...sorry, I'm not my usually sparky-self today.

Tuesday's Dinner and our Tour of Atria...

Seester Kathy and I had a tour of the assisted living facility, Atria, in Daly City. Let me tell you, when I get to the point of needing to live in one of these places, I'm going to race my Hoveround to the Atria door. Their menu is almost "fine dining" and they've got a calendar of activities that could put you in an early grave. For example:

Here's a class in cane self-defense also known as "Cane-Fu".



Here's an excerpt from one of the students: As some seniors sat beside their walkers and watched, more than a dozen others paired up for mock battle. “Oops,” said Maud Kidston, 87. “You almost got me in the mouth.” “Well, you'll want to do worse than that if you're in a fight,” replied her partner Janet Fee, 72.

Kidston is confident she could do damage with her cane if necessary. But she especially liked other tips, like shouting to show attackers you're no pushover. “I can have a very foul mouth on me if I want to,” she said.

What a riot!!

Dad is going to love it there! We're going to try to move him down week after next!

Oh, Seester Kathy and I had Taco Bell for dinner. UBER NOM!!

See ya!

Monday's Dinner

Well, I never did rally yesterday so Poppy was in charge of grocery shopping. Our shelves are stocked for the next few weeks. Poppy marinated some Hanger Steak in balsamic for about 4 hours. I blanched some broccoli rabe and made a mushroom jus. I have to say the mushroom jus was most tasty! After blanching the Broc, I put some olive oil, pepper and Kecky's Herb Salt on it and Poppy finished it off on the grill. Such a NOM-Fest.



I rehydrated an assortment of dry shroomies in hot chicken broth. Strained the broth and added more broth to equal two cups. Then minced two garlic cloves and one shallot. Also chopped up about a tablespoon or so of pepperoncini. Sauteed the garlic, shallot and pepperoncini in two tablespoons of butter. Once soft, I added the mushrooms and the two cups of broth. Cooked it down until it looked NOM.

Let's check-in with THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DAD...Sister Missy called on Saturday to tell me that Dad has some raised spot on the ball of his foot. Not a blister, not a callous. I asked if it was a hot spot...nope. She said they both thought it was his shoe. Anyway, I ended up talking to Dad and he told me how he thought it was his tenny given they are 16 years old. Being a Shoeaholic, myself, I couldn't even dream of wearing the same shoes for 16 years! I just shutter at the thought! His shoes are the old Velcro Reeboks that he keeps using white shoe polish on them to keep them looking new. I'm pretty sure those shoes would be considered vintage.

So I tell Dad to soak his foot in Epsom salt and to get some mole skin. I talked to him yesterday and he said it seemed a little better.

Happy Tuesday!