Our Yard... landscaping from start to finish!

Recent Pictures!!!

www.flickr.com

Live Video From The Fabulous Wireless Webcam!!!

Click here to enlarge.

Live Video From The Second Fabulous Wireless Webcam!!!

Click here to enlarge.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004
10:01 AM

The Big Three-O

No, unfortunately we are not talking about my age. Bummer. But we are talking about the final headcount at our house on Christmas. We ended up right at 30. And believe me when I tell you 30 is a lot of people.

The good news is that we had plenty of food and it was great seeing everyone. Nicole, Mark, Hannah, Kristin, Tim, Jeff and Baby Phillip made it down from LA. Phillip is getting big so fast and is such a cute, well behaved little baby. Colleen & Terry were there too, along with the usual family (Dad, Barb, Grandma, Alex, and Connor). And Mark's family as well (Margaret, Heather, Jerry, Lynn and Kristine). The farthest traveling award goes to the Arizona crew - Tom, Linda, Julie, Sammy, Christopher and Shelli. And even a branch of Barbara's family made it - her nephew John and his girlfriend Amy and son Daniel.

Do you get the idea now that I have listed all the names just how many people 30 is? I think we set a new entertaining record at our house. All in all, we think it was a great party and hope everyone had a good time. But those of you who couldn't make it were missed (though I know some participated by webcam).

As you can see from the current webcams, the weather here took a turn for the wet and rainy. It's been raining since the middle of the night and isn't supposed to let up for quite some time. Makes me just want to stay home in bed but, alas, here I am back at work.

Nothing much else to report. Hope everyone else had a fabulous Christmas!!

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Tuesday, December 14, 2004
4:24 PM

Score: Emeril 1; Sarah 0

AKA - Emeril LIES LIES LIES!!!

This past weekend, once again, I was hit with a bizarre and uncontrollable desire to cook. I guess that's what happens when you watch Food TV too much. I really have to stop that.

I had a couple of potential recipes for Christmas dinner that I wanted to try so I called my local guinea pigs (Dad, Barbara, Alex & Connor) and invited them to dinner on Saturday. And so my cooking extravaganza began.

In case you want to see the actual recipe at issue in this post here it is: Savory Spinach and Artichoke Dressing. If you take a look at it, it sounds like it should be fabulous. Artichoke hearts, brie, parmesan. Mmmm.

Saturday afternoon I start the prep work. Now according to Emeril, the recipe is "easy" and takes only 15 minutes of prep work. That Emeril has quite a sense of humor. Maybe 15 minutes if you have an entire staff of kitchen flunkies at your disposal. Otherwise, it's closer to an hour. Maybe more. (Though it was generally easy work, so I guess he was honest on that point.) I tried to recruit the cats to be my flunkies, but they weren't biting (maybe it was the white chef's hat that scared them off). And Mark was out playing tennis. So it was just me and Emeril. Emeril definitely won this round.

First of all, what is the deal with spinach? It has to be the most shape-shifting substance on the planet. I needed 3 cups of cooked, chopped spinach. In order to get that much you need like an entire field of raw spinach. Maybe 2. That stuff shrinks like nothing I have ever seen.

Second, when the recipe calls for a "medium sized" pot in which to cook the spinach, I thought it actually meant medium. As in not small and not large. What it really meant was that you need one of those oversized witch cauldrons that stand in an open fire on the floor. I'm not even sure the spinach would fit in that.

Third, any recipe that has so many ingredients and subparts is definitely out in the future. Should have know that without even trying.

Finally, after much dicing, straining, sauteeing, mixing and such, it was ready to go into the oven. I must admit that as it baked it gave off a fabulous smell. I was very psyched at that point.

Then I served dinner. And the dressing was, how shall I put this, fine. Almost good even. Almost. But it certainly did not live up to my expectations. And didn't even come close to justifying all the dicing, straining, etc. I even tried it again last night. Still just ok. Damn Emeril!! Sucks me in with these incredibly promising looking recipes only to have them be huge disappointments. I wish I had just laid around all afternoon and then served mashed potatoes. Would have made for a much better afternoon and dinner.

So be warned. Emeril is a foul tempter. And he lies. And needless to say, there will be no Savory Spinach and Artichoke Dressing at Christmas dinner.

P.S. The good news was that the apple crisp that I made for dessert (from a Barefoot Contessa episode) was quite good. Just need to use different apples next time. (Sorry, that recipe is no longer up on the Food Network site. If you want it, e-mail me!)

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Friday, December 10, 2004
9:30 AM

And the Winner Is . . .

Rachel!!

Winner? "Winner of what?" you ask. "How come I didn't win?"

Rachel is indeed the winner of the most devoted (or perhaps insane) website reader. Now don't the rest of you get offended, because I really do appreciate all the reading and comments. I'm sure some of you log on more often and post more comments. But yesterday Rachel took it to a whole new level.

We got home last night and had a message on the machine. Nothing unusual there. But when we pushed the play button on the machine, this is what we heard in Rachel's voice:

"Kiiiiteeees!! Heeeeere Kiiiiitiiieees!! Here kitty kitty kitty. . ."

I think you get the picture.

Turns out she logged on to the website and saw the new webcam location which is much better at showing the cats. But when she tried to point the cats out to Nick and Chris, the cats were just sleeping, which was far too boring. Hence the call and the answering machine message.

I think our cats are being stalked.

Now I confess that I have tried calling the house when the cats are on camera to see if they respond to the sound of the ringing phone (which they don't), but I have never actually talked to them through the machine (ok, I have been tempted).

The good news is that, according to Rachel, the cats did in fact respond by lifting their heads when she was leaving the message. One of them may have even yawned. Such excitement. And in Rachel's defense, I must admit that she also called me at work to warn me about the unorthodox message.

So there it is. The story of Rachel, the insanely devoted web reader.

P.S. Sorry Rachel, but I just had to post this.

P.P.S. No one else had better get any ideas about harassing the cats.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

9:05 AM

First Runner Up . . .

Is Dana. Who actually took a picture of her monitor with her camera phone of the image from our webcam (cats sleeping naturally!)

P.S. Dana - how did you get the image to full screen size? Is it just a still or the actual live cam?

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Thursday, December 02, 2004
2:02 PM

Rudolph The Stuffed-Up-Nosed Reindeer

Last night, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was on TV. The all-time best Christmas show ever. Better than "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (the Abominable Snowman is just a way better bad-then-good guy than the Burgermeister). Better than the Snoopy Christmas (my family knows this is a truly shocking admission for me given my obsession with Snoopy when I was little). Better than the show with Mr. Hot and Mr. Cold (though I still love those guys. Who doesn't? Does anyone else think John Kerry looks kind of like Mr. Cold? Sorry, I digress.). In short, Rudolph rocks!!

So naturally, I made us watch it. And loved it just as much, if not more, than usual. Much Christmas Joy. But it did generate some questions for me this year. Maybe you can help answer them.

1. Why does Rudolph's nose still sound all stuffed up - even when he takes off the fake nose? I have one word for Rudolph - Sudafed.

2. Why is Hermy the only elf with hair (except maybe the girl-elves)? No wonder all the other elves are so hostile towards him - flaunting his thick mane of hair and all.

3. Why, when Rudolph sneaks off from his friends in the middle of the night, does he leave the door to the little cabin wide open? I suspect that the sub-zero wind sweeping through the cabin tipped them off really quickly that he had left.

4. Why is the doll with the red hair on the Island of Misfit Toys? I see no perceptible flaw with her. Except maybe her lack of a nose. I think Rudolph should just give her the fake one.

5. How did the toys end up on that island anyways? I sense a Survivor spin-off in the making.

6. Is anyone else worried about Santa's obvious bingeing and purging whereby he has to gain like 75 pounds each Christmas in order to fit into his suit? Clearly not healthy.

7. How does Santa lose all that weight?? Many people could benefit from this information.

8. How exactly did they get at the Abominable Snowman to pull his teeth? That couldn't have been easy. Or fun.

9. Couldn't they have made the Abominable Snowman at least marginally scary instead of downright goofy? (OK, I admit it. I was afraid of him, but I was like 6 at the time.)

10. What is up with the very large Yukon Cornelius and his teeny-tiny sled dogs? Dude, you could find much more silver and gold if you had dogs that weigh more than you. Repeat after me: Get. Bigger. Dogs.

That's it for now. But I'm sure I'll think of more.

P.S. For anyone still wondering about the Cold Miser/John Kerry comparison, allow me to demonstrate:

Maybe I just have an active imagination, but at least it's better than looking like a chimp:

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Wednesday, December 01, 2004
2:46 PM

Immigration Problems

I usually stay away from anything even remotely political given the strongly disparate views among our fabulous readers, but I figured everyone would enjoy this (or alternatively, it would offend everyone equally!):

Canada Busy Sending Back Bush-Dodgers
Columbus Dispatch 11/16/04 - Joe Blundo

The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.

The re-election of President Bush is prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray and agree with Bill O'Reilly.

Canadian border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal-rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

"I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota.

The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry.

"He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn't have any, he left. Didn't even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?"

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields.

"Not real effective," he said. "The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn't give milk."

Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves.

"A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. "I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though."

When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about the Bush administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer and watch NASCAR.

In the days since the election, liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers.

"If they can't identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age," an official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating and organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan Sarandon movies.

"I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said. "How many art-history majors does one country need?"

In an effort to ease tensions between the United States and Canada, Vice President Dick Cheney met with the Canadian ambassador and pledged that the administration would take steps to reassure liberals, a source close to Cheney said.

"We're going to have some Peter, Paul & Mary concerts. And we might put
some endangered species on postage stamps. The president is determined to reach out."

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment