I Didn’t Have Any Peanuts

I haven’t talked HHBL baseball for a while. The regular season ended on Sunday and the playoffs are ahead!

HEY! Where are you going? Come back here right now and sit your bahookie down in that chair.

I didn’t tell you that you could get up and go anywhere!

Now where was I? Oh yes.

Sunday was the last regular season game. A beautiful afternoon for baseball. Not too hot, this is good for August. Not too cold. And no rain.

Ted brought his dog, Oscar, along to view the game. More on Oscar later.

I didn’t have the chance to take too many pictures of the game itself because I was again asked to keep score. I think I am doing OK with the scoring.

Am I?

Scott, I am doing OK right?

Right?

Crazy as it sounds, one of my favorite things about being at the games is the smell of pine tar. I wonder if they make that in a perfume?

Eau de Pine Tar.

I am so going to look for that.

Mark and his famous “Robot Stance”. I don’t know how he manages to hit the ball with this stance but he does, and very effectively as a matter of fact.

Way back! Way back! And……it should have been gone. However, there was a pesky little breeze blowing in from left center and what should have been a towering home run was reduced to a double.

As someone recently said of HHBL, “He HITS and DEEP!”

And it was good to see Steve who had an unfortunate little accident that has put “paid” to playing baseball for the rest of the season. Cracked ribs, collapsed lung, spinal fracture and amazing bruising should keep him from playing baseball?

Um, I think so.

And then, then I became fascinated with Oscar. Oh what a dog. Rather square in shape. And SOLIDLY built, weighing just as much as Max the Snotty Wonder Dog though not nearly as tall.

Dang it! Where did Mark put that granola bar? I know he has some in here.

WaterWaterWaterWaterWaterWaterWaterWater.

Thank you , he drank all this water and then drank all the water out of MY water bottle.

Glove! My glove! Grrrrrrrrrr glove. Kill the glove. Slobber on the glove.

Hehehehehehe I am such a studly dog. Slobbery but studly.

BALL! Give me the ball. I need the ball. Must have the ball. BALL!

And after a resounding victory it was time for ritual of sitting around and rehashing the game, with the addition of some munchies and perhaps a brewskie.

Does anyone every use the word “brewskie” anymore or am I showing my age and Chicago roots?

And now on to the playoffs where the Kent Mudhens will be defending their title.

Play ball!

A Couple of Changes

Hello there!

There are a couple of changes here at Chez Knit and I need to check them out and for that I need your help oh loyal readers.

Look to your right at the side bar.

Do you see some little polaroid icons for Twitter, Facebook and RSS feed?

See them?

Good.

From now on that is the way, in theory that is, that you will be able to quickly follow me/find me on Twitter, Facebook and via Feed.

I know that there are some that do not use an RSS feed reader. You have spoken and I have endeavored to comply. For those of you who want to follow via email, you may now do so. If you follow via email that means that you don't have to click here all the time to find out if I have posted. Just find the link to click, right below the polaroid icons. It says "subscribe via email" so you just can't miss it. Click on the link, give the information and voila! you have subscribed via email. When I post new content you get an email.


How easy is that?

If you have any trouble with any of the icons please let me know. They were acting sort of "fiddly" when I was testing things out, especially the Facebook one. Hopefully I have gotten all the kinks out....hopefully.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 130)

Here we are again. Another Friday upon us all. Remember the routine. Read all my blither/blather. Then click on the pic above to be whisked, at the speed of Hurricane Irene’s approach, over to Conversion Diary for the rest of the Quick Takers.

And now on with the show!

1.
The Tomato Peach Salsa came out fabulously. I am actually going to make a second batch next week I think. Below is the link for the recipe I used. I have to say that I deviated a bit from the written recipe in that I didn’t add the crushed red pepper flakes or the cayenne. I didn’t want those flavors to overpower the peaches. And I also added a bit more honey.

So. Good.

Tomato Peach Salsa

Next week, besides another batch of the salsa, I am going to try my hand at pickle relish. I will keep you posted.

2.
I have been so busy this week I have gotten very little knitting done.

Very little.

I am in fiber withdrawal and that is never good.

But I did get to help someone else with her fiber dilemmas so that is good. And knit night is fast approaching. Yeah!

And Hope, that hat is just the cutest thing. I need to borrow the pattern.

3.
Evidently there was a small (F1) tornado that touched down yesterday morning (1a) just a few miles north of us! A grocery store took a direct hit. HHBL and I woke up about that time because the rain was pouring down and the lightening was amazingly bright and I had to close windows and turn off the whole house fan. Just as I got back into bed, snick, the power went off.

I really hate when the power goes off. I immediately think I need to go to the bathroom and when we lose power we also lose water because we are on a well so no flushing of toilets. Thankfully the power wasn’t off all that long. There are still some areas that won’t be getting power back until tomorrow I hear.

And I am always amazed at how quiet the house is without the power on. You just aren’t aware of the low level “hum” of a house that is powered on. And we live in the woods that are quiet at night anyways. Well, mostly quiet. You occasionally here the owls hooting or the coyotes singing as they kill something.

4.
OK, we had an earthquake on Wednesday. Everyone knows that now. I was sitting at my desk just cranking out work, jamming to my “Cleaning Yuck” play list, when I heard a rumbling sound and felt my chair swaying back and forth.

My first thought was, “Who the HECK is driving a huge truck at high speed down my street?”

And then I remembered that I lived on a cul de sac where if someone was driving a big truck at high speed they would end up in the woods and most likely down the ravine and into the river.

And then I realized that my house REALLY WAS swaying and that the bird feeders outside my window were swaying and that Max the Wonder Dog was totally freakazoid.

EARTHQUAKE.

It felt like it went on forever even though I know that it didn’t. And this is actually the 3rd or 4th earthquake that I remember feeling since moving to The Frozen Northeast Ohio 26 years ago.

And on a final note on this topic, lest you think that the eastern part of the country doesn’t generally have earthquakes and isn’t in danger of a “big one”, you need to know that the largest earthquake experienced in the US happened not in California but in the area that is now Missouri. The New Madrid Earthquakes in 1811-1812.

A great book to read on the topic is, When the Mississippi Ran Backwards by Jay Feldman.

Of course you had to know that I had read book about it.

5.
My life is so boring these days that I spend time just watching the hummingbirds fight for dominance outside my office window.

They are aggressive little buggers! And now they are fighting with the bees that seem to have found the front feeder. Sometimes it looks like O’Hare airport on a Friday afternoon with hummingbirds and bees all hovering and trying to assert their right to “own” the feeder.

But what I love most is that sometimes (like now) one of the hummingbirds will just plunk themselves down on the top of the shepherd’s crook and survey their world. And when another hummingbird zooms up then they chirp and trash talk and zoom.

Man I love those birds.

6.
Cartoon Girl is gearing up for Hurricane Irene. She doesn’t live in one of the evac areas (thank goodness!) but is close by and will surely be impacted nonetheless. She is working tomorrow but will be done by 5p and then on her way home. Hopefully MTA will not have shut down the E train by then or it will be a long walk for her. Thankfully the hurricane isn’t expected until Sunday.

I trained the girl right. She tells me that if she does have to walk home from work on Saturday she has her camera with her to document the event.

That’s right! When disaster strikes go for the camera first to document the event.

I am so proud.

Sniff.

I wonder if she can work this whole earthquake/hurricane theme into Space Case Sally?

7.
And finally. Just because it makes me smile and sing along.

If you are a certain age or older you will remember the TV show “The Monkees”. They were just a bit before my time but my Aunt Sue was MAD for them. Totally mad. (Dana, ask your MiL about this). But I can tell you that even though the original show was airing when I was very young that doesn’t mean that I haven’t seen every episode. Thank goodness for re-runs and WGN when I was little.

And this was, and remains, my favorite Monkee’s song. It figures in many of my playlists. It sits in my “favorites” in YouTube so that I can watch it whenever I feel the need. I loved it from the moment I first heard it. We are bonded.

I will tell you that you may have to follow the link that pops up and watch it on YouTube rather than here. They are stinky that way. But go and watch it. I have already done it about 10 times since embedding the video.

They Are Done

Reminder to Self: When editing wedding photos DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT wait until you have to do them over a two day span of time.

Do. Not.

I had no one to blame but myself. I have had several weeks to actually get these things edited. But noooooo, I kept putting it off and putting it off and our meeting kept being rescheduled and then finally on Monday it hit me.

I have to have all the pictures ready by Thursday afternoon. And I hadn’t edited but maybe 5 pictures. And that meant that there were about 300 more to edit…..in two days.

I believe that my buttocks and my computer chair are permanently welded together. Or so it seems to me.

But they are done and I am happy for the most part. I am such a novice. And I am such a perfectionist. Those two things don’t make for a good mix.

At any rate. I really had a great time taking pictures for Nick and Cassandra. HHBL and I met them when they were assigned to us as our pre-marital mentoring couple from church.

Here are just some of what I will be showing them this evening when we meet for our last session.

Of course I didn’t show you any of the less than perfect pictures. And I didn’t show you all the pictures, there are 300+ of them after all.

That last picture? That is the bride’s grandma. I want to be that kind of grandma. She led the Conga line and hung with the DJs. Hilarious.

Now my life can go back to normal for a bit.

What? My life is normal sometimes.

Edit, Edit, Edit, Edit.

Sorry the posting is light today.

Like nonexistent Deb.

Well, I have wedding photos that need to be finished by tomorrow. And I am behind and I hate that. I should have had these done last week. And we are meeting with the newlyweds tomorrow night. And I have had some computer issues today.

I had to restrain myself from drop kicking Bessie. That isn’t too good for a computer they tell me.

I will give you just a taste of some of the pictures. And I will be back tomorrow….

I hope.

Oh yeah, and the blindingly red car that was in the background of some of the outdoor shots?

That is what the cloning tool is for.

Oh how I love digital photography.

Muddled Monday

It is Monday.

That means that it is now 3p. I haven’t written a blog post. I have been on my feet since 5:23a. I have done 3 loads of laundry. I have been to the grocery store, 2 CVS stores and Walgreens.

And I just finished a batch of Tomato Peach Salsa.

I am tired. So that means that you get a stream of consciousness blog post.

You have been warned.

- To the person who stole my coupons RIGHT OUT OF MY CART this morning. I hope that you needed them very badly, all three of them. Otherwise you are just a low down dirty thief and a jerk to boot.

- Men, I am going to give you some hair advice. If the hair follicles on the top of your head are, shall we say a bit sparser than in younger days, DO NOT think that if you grow your hair out into long and flowing locks that this will look at all good. ESPECIALLY if you are wearing a “wife beater” tee shirt. Bad idea.

- I wonder if I can have a glass of wine now. It has to be 5 o’clock somewhere. Heck, it is 8p in London, I am actually late getting that glass of wine!

- I am totally obsessed with canning things. Today it was Tomato Peach salsa. Oh my word this stuff is FABULOUS. Now I just have to let it “mature” a bit. And I have to get some tortilla chips. The recipe only made 6 pints. I am not sure that this is enough.

- we had a party here at Chez Knit on Saturday. Someone (Guido!) left several bags of potato chips….and one of them is BBQ. I am doomed. They will haunt me until I have consumed the entire bag. Help me.

- For some reason today I can sense that Fall is coming. Maybe it is because the temp is cooler (55F when I went out to walk!). Maybe it is the sunlight angle. But what every it is, Fall is coming. And that makes me happy.

- I get to see my cousins at Thanksgiving. Sweet! Hey Heather, tell Thom if he wants me to show him how to make his own mayonnaise I will be glad to. (Snicker, snicker).

- Can someone tell me what we are having for dinner? I haven’t a clue and personally, my cooking mojo has been used up in the Tomato Peach salsa making.

- Pinterest is eating my internet time. Save me. Or better yet follow me.

- This was the sky yesterday just before the heavens opened up at HHBL’s baseball game.

I got wet. And when it stopped and the game resumed I just stayed in the car for the last two innings. I am such a supportive wife.

I am done.

Is it bedtime yet?