THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

What happened to Neo, K.G., Keith, and DTOM? Did they get fed up w/these dispicable, condescending, adolescent trolls who DO NOT debate facts; but, spend the day lying and/or disparaging everyone's mental and physical characteristics as they, with their three brain cells, assume them to be. I, personally, am getting weary of their insults morning, noon and night.

I really miss the guys/gals tons.

I'm still here, just have taken a back seat. I figure the trolls postings are so dumb that they rarely are worth replying to. Occasionally I'll poke the bear just for fun.

Just got back from spending the weekend with my mother. We went up to Bartlett Lake just to hang out. Didn't catch anything, but as the saying goes "The worst day of fishing is better than the best day working." This lake is very close to Phoenix, but is harder to get to than Pleasant and Saguaro. Both of these have turned ino party lakes, and people die at Pleasant. Saquaro is a sewer at the top. Clear water flows through the dam for electricity and other people tube that water (haven't done that in a looong time.) All part of what is known as the Salt River Project.

One of the highlights of the trip was spotting four river otters scrambling up a steep hill just across the cove from our camp site. We didn't even know that there were any the lake.

...sooo expeditiously as to my inquiry wondering WHERE all our conservative colleagues went for the past few to several weeks. Happy that you spent the weekend with your Mother.

Well now that you are accounted for, I was elated to see that "The Neo" is at the main posting again this evening. He is always vitally effective.

I guess since Seadog questioned Paddy re: most of our Gang's near recent absence, I got C-r-a-z-y. We need all the defensive posts available to ward off (ethically debate) the lies and personal insults of the obnoxious trolls.

Thank you again, Keith. Happy you had a brief, but wonderful hiatus.

I will never step on another ant again, but I will relish the thought when i drive my truck into a swarm of grasshoppers.

trouble posting tonight, 10-20? Virtually every post takes me to a page that says the page you requested cannot be found.

Like Bea I poke in everyday to see what's up. But yes, the trolls are tedious and hardly worth the trouble.

We're packing for a business convention to be held up in Snowbird, Utah. There's not enough snow to actually ski--and probably too much to hike--but it will be a fun getaway. Fall in Utah is breathtaking!!!! (Of course, we will be @ 9000' so there a reason for that.) You know how I love mountains and these are serious mountains.

We used to take our kids (and half the football team) to ski at Brighton (near Snowbird) for spring break. The lodge is at 9000' and skiing at 11,000.' Sweetest spring powder on the planet, I believe.

Everybody I know is watching the administration like you would watch a snake: mesmerized-- wondering what's going to happen next. These guys are not backing down and the natives are getting VERY restless.

I've been reading Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism." What a great read. It explains a lot.

I think Beck and his red phone are hilarious--except NONE of what's going on is actually funny. Entertaining, though, in a sick, twisted way.

cottoneyed writes: "anybody else havin'
trouble posting tonight, 10-20? Virtually every post takes me to a page that says the page you requested cannot be found."

Per your above-referenced dilemma, I had the very same experience, AND, it was more than a tad frustrating! However, I have had that particular post impasse previously sooooo, I now copy all to clipboard prior to clicking on "send" and just keep re-pasting.

If it is a legitimate glitch..?OK,..or something else....ahemmmm, I persevered and eventually prevailed: thence I raised my thumb to my nose and wiggle all me fingers: I do have my childish moments. After all, I wasn't regarded "insufferably insolent" for reciting the "Stations Of The Cross". Have a great day!!!! :>)

So happy to hear all is well with you and yours. Your anticipated trip to Utah sounds glorious: have a safe and wonderful time. DO NOT BREAK A LEG!!

I loved (laughed...although it is really sad) your statement..."Everybody I know is watching the administration like you would watch a snake:". SNAKE (plural = snakes) is the perfect description for this unscrupulous, roguish, out-of-control administration. Every other minute they hiss and attempt to strike out portions of the US Constitution: currently concentrating on the FIRST AMENDMENT.

I have many Democrat friends/family and there is NARY A one of them who would re-vote for BO today. They are on to him and his minions: they are horrified that their vote placed this immature "puppet" and his shadow government at the helm in an endeavor to attempt the total destruction of this Country! All, love this Country and will NOT relinquish their Freedom to these radicals.

Again, thanks for popping in! Needed to know that all our good and honorable colleagues are alive and well. God speed!

It's soooooooooooo great to hear that ObamaVoters are coming to their senses. People use the word apocalypse to mean something horrible.

Of course, apocalypse really means "revelation." Thank goodness this Chicago thug administration has wasted no time revealing their true selves. And that nice, normal but misguided Obama supporters are beginning to realize they voted for the Lia' Messiah.

Well, I'm off to Utah where there are only about four liberals in the entire state.

There was a lady from Utah at the 9/12 DC rally whose sign read: "We didn't bring our guns---this time."

I was having a little trouble yesterday too. In fact, I tried to let Cotton know that I was having the same trouble he was, but I couldn't get my comment to post.....
It's a very busy time for me lately, so I apologize for being such a rude host. I always leave the door unlocked, however, and you already know where to find the beer an pretzels, so feel free.... I've always like the places with the peanut shells on the floor......

I still drop by from time to time.

Paddy, recently acquired a 1940 Turkish Mauser, what a blast....

Always good to see you in here....

I found a guy who alters AR-15's just enough to be CA compliant. I am in the waiting period for my new Stag Model 2T.

I don't know if you heard, but RINO Ahnold just signed a bill that bans mail order ammo sales in CA and requires fingerprinting for anybody buying ammo retail. Madness.

It doesn't take effect til 2011, so I plan to fill my garage before then.....

Basstarrds!

yes, I heard, could not believe he would, but he did marry a Kennedy. I don't blame you, I'd stock up as much as possible. I shoot 50 rounds a week minimum, I could not live on 50 rounds a month.
We should have a GOP governor again soon, 85 more days till TIMMY! is gone. My wife thinks it's just his eyebrow that bugs me, but I can't stand EVERYTHING about Tim Kaine. I'm hoping we can get the public rifle ranges opened up year round again. TIMMY! closed them from March 31 to Sept. 1 during his term.

Thank you all for your support re: The Impaler's belligerently controversial post. It is always comforting to know that you guys "have my back" :>).

Been working on an exhaustingly, time-consuming project for the past few months w/no near end in sight :-(. So, unfortunately, I have not posted much on the main; however, I do attempt to read all. BUT, if something "*twerks my bippie", I immediately turn into a **snarky prig and man (oops, woman) my battle station. So, thank you all again: happy to see you guys are active in fighting the good fight.

LEGEND: *I probably invented the word "twerks", but, I like it waaayyyy better than tweaks. It just sounds more aggressive.

**Although "snarky prig" is an oxymoron, it accurately defines my mood at that moment.

Carolina(Western)for several WELL DESERVED days of R & R, country cookin', Great Smoky Mountains, Fall colors, country folks with wonderful Southern accents, small towns, magical little roads, Post Season Baseball viewing at night and a breathtaking view from our Hampton Inn(Franklin,NC)3rd floor of the Blue Ridge/Great Smokies. So good to see y'all here.

As you've gathered over at the main blog, I've decided to pour some gasoline on the malignant twerp, Axe Wielding-ReciproBoy. My psychiatrist neighbor finds him pathologically fascinating and keeps me informed of his...errrr... illnesses. The diagnosis is a true hoot and very much as I figured. He suggested that I 'Up' the baiting for more 'tells & reveals' and, thus, my new moniker for him,"Auschwitz Axie". Sure enough, yesterday was a truckload of sickness blathered for our delight.

Might I humbly suggest that "Auschwitz Axie" be adopted by all Evil Cabal Members here interested in moving the limp-loathsome little Jew Hater-Closet Queenie ever-more toward the edge.

..and also twerking the loons so brilliantly.

I am back home to sea level after the crisp rarified air of Little Cottonwood Canyon and brisk fall walks @ 9000'.

We got to our hotel high in the mountains, clicked on the flat screen and found it was set on FOX. Hilarious.

When my sis and I went to the DC 9-12 rally, we took a night (bus) tour of DC. Our driver was a Bill Cosby look and sound-alike. After the tour, he thanked us for coming to march.

He said: Hey, I watch FOX news too.

We gave him an extra large tip. (The guy was no dummy--and a good old capitalist to boot.)

In event you two are interested, I'm 99.9 percent certain that the Fleet Reserve changed its membership rules four-five years ago. Used to be that a person had to be career or retired to join, but I believe it was changed so that any one who is serving or ever served in the USN, USCG or USMC can join.

Most cities have a Fleet Reserve and a club -- even pretty small ones.

The clubs are so-so, meetings are interesting and one can always belly up to the bar and hear some really good sea stories. Some of the clubs have pretty darned good food too.

Lots of free bennies too, discounts from companies, etc., are side benefits. Only discounts I have used is ten percent off from eyeglasses at Lenscrafters and a really good credit card sponored by the FRA.

Costs $25.00 per year

That might be something I would consider.....but how come they won't let me join the credit union.....?

Just came upon a blog that looks kind of interesting: http://messdecks.blogspot.com/

Have some fun. There's recipe for meatloaf...

Not certain about the rules of the NFCU, but believe one has to be active, reserve, retired or a dependent.

Don't know if the FRA has access to a credit union or not. . .

Think that one can remain with the NFCU if they belonged while on active duty. Don't know if one can rejoin after membership ceased.

....have opened an account after boot camp, but that was 33 years ago. Not a big deal.....

A Happy Navy Day to you, sir.

Thanks....if I ever need to feed 100 people, that good Navy meat loaf is just the ticket. Man, I could never get enough of that when we were underway.

I've said it before....many times.....but there is no hungry like an underway hungry. I still miss midrats after all these years!

That rumor I heard about Navy meatloaf also doubling as a ships anchor were greatly exaggerated I guess.

That was the biscuits...... :-)

Don't know about the rumor. We never used our anchor. We had to exercise the wildcat during our manuevering watch (special anchor detail)but that was it. We did have an accident leaving Johnston Island. The channel through the coral was a mere 250 feet wide. Our boat was 267 ft 7 inches on a good day. The wildcat failed and the anchor went down. The recovery was worse than the failure. The OOD almost put our screws into the coral. We heard a rumor that when the Commodore read the report he about blew a gasket. He had been lead to believe the channel was 250 yards wide.

I still like the the motto: Two screws are better than one. ;-).

Paddy the recipe can be reduced. In my day we did conversion by hand. Cooks had to know math. All recipes are standardized 100 portions or there abouts. 96 for most baked goodies. Yeah, I can hear you now: I've made you hungry...

I don't know if you ever seen one, but there used to be a manual titled, either The Cook's Handbook or The Cooks' Manual. This predated the DOD menu cards they came out with around 196X.

Those old books had some great stuff in them -- several different types of SOS and such. Now, I've eaten pasta all over Italy, but the absolute best spagetti I've ever had was made by a cook using one of those old books.

I went visited a destroyer in the Med a few years ago and found the food lots better than that usually found aboard a tin can. I remarked in the CPO mess that that the ship had one hell of a good cook. The mess president laughed and said that the ship's chief cook had one of the old type Navy cookbooks.

Run into another aboard a merchant. The chief steward had one and guarded it with his life. (Merchant Marine food is 4-star hotel level, mostly, but he used it to cook various dishes.)

NOW I'm hungry!

of the old cookbook, but no one I knew had ever seen it. And you can bet that the ones that exist are jealously guarded.

I knew a union baker back in 1989 that had out his kids (four Latinos) through college ate USC. He was 84 when I met him. He worked part time because sitting at home drove his wife crazy. He had some recipes in his collection that were illegal to make, because of the ingredients. Like ammonia in chocolate cake. I have a recipe in a Sunset cookbook for soft pretzels that calls for lye in the cooking water.

I think that over time, things changes, ingredients differ, but not always for the better. The recipe card service, NAVSUP Pub 7, did a lot to standardize recipes for all services. This just made it easier for the bureaucrats buying food to do their jobs. We did quite a bit of open purchasing of food because there were things not available in normal channels. And so it goes.

I started thinking that the name of the book was: The Navy Cookbook and that was correct.

I goggled The Navy Cookbook and got a WHOLE bunch of listings -- one cookbook was issued in 1902!

Lots of good dishes in those old books.

The Navy cooks didn't rotate menus much during my first several years in the Navy; you could tell the day of the week by the food served out at breakfast. Corn Bread and Baked Beans on Saturday, followed by a Corn Beef lunch 'cause the Old Navy used to hold personnel inspections on Saturday mornings and the cooks could let the noon meal simmer while they went to inspection -- that practice stopped before I arrived on the scene.

One dish I have not seen for years and years was creamed tomatoes on toast. It was great!

My Mom used to make Ammonia cookies and cakes -- I didn't know it was illegal.

Mom used to use lye to make homney -- the lie took the skin off the corn before it was cooked. Folks in WVa made lye soap too.

Phillies looked impressive last night. How are things in your neck of the woods today? Snow is getting deeper here. Hunting season for wolves started on Saturday and closed on Sunday in our area, I wish it would have lasted longer to thin the packs more but oh well. Have a great day all talk to you later.