Party Time

I've been home for 3 weeks and have managed to get 99.9% of the summer crap stashed away.  I won't let myself do any of the fun stuff, like sew, hike for no reason, play with trains, or throw a cocktail party for the girls until the junk is under control.  So now it is, so this Thursday will be Cocktails with the Girls night.  Since most of my friends are either still working and/or caring for the 'rents and/or grandkids, and/or they have real lives, it'll just be a few of us, and I hope you're one of the girls!  Sorry fellas, but next time it'll be for boys and girls.

The real reason I'm having some friends over is because I have to clean the house anyways... DD's class is coming over on Saturday for an outing.  All of the kids in his class have special needs, and few of them have any clue how to behave in social situations.  As parents, we tend not to take our kids to parties because some fracas involving our kids always breaks out.  Subsequently, they often lack anything approaching 'guest' skills.  So we throw a monthly event to try to teach them some, but most importantly, we do it so they can act goofy and nobody cares.  Being stared at in public because your kids are nutty is a pain in the ass.  So we don't go out much.


Anywho, I turned to my dear friend Martha S. for some party ideas. For the kids. . .

Shrunked Apple Heads in cider for the kids.  Easy to make: peel, core, and halve the apples.  Carve faces. Bake at 250 for 90 minutes. Cloves for eyeballs.

 For the girls on Thurs, we'll have this:

Ingredients

• Fine black sanding sugar
• 1 lady apple, chopped
• 1/2 lime, cut into wedges
• 1 ounce maple syrup
• 1 ounce apple cider
• 2 ounces vodka
• Ice
• Club soda
• 1 thin crosswise slice lady apple, for garnish

Directions

1. Moisten the rim of a martini glass with water. Place sanding sugar in a saucer and dip rim of glass in sanding sugar to coat; set aside.
   
2. In a cocktail shaker, muddle together apple cubes and lime wedges. Add syrup, cider, and vodka; fill with ice. Cover and shake until well combined. Strain into prepared martini glass; top with club soda. Garnish with apple slice and serve.
   

 and this:

Nearly any drink, just add ice cubes made with black food coloring....... gunna have to hit the gourmet kitchen shop today, too bad for me.....

I made the Cider Cocktail last night for practice. My oh my oh my.... I loves my sweet drinks and this one is now my fav.......It's so sweet that I could get seriously tanked on this one.... at least I don't have to drive home on Thursday, which is yet another reason to be the hostess....



Other news is that I'm hoping all of you East Coasters are safe and sound, and high and dry.  My Mom grew up on an island in Tampa Bay, and loved when the 'canes rolled in because everyone gathered at the fruit packing warehouse to ride out the storms.  She recalled these times as big parties.  I'm wondering how my Grandpa felt the year a storm completely soaked the island (Terra Ceia) in salt water and ruined his farm.  They had to move to the mainland after that one.

We'll just get strong winds here in Ohio... so far (Monday morning) we're just at sustained 15 mph winds, which is not at all unusual.  We'll run over to the the Lake Erie shore either this afternoon or tomorrow morning to see the waves crash in.  Lake Erie is so shallow that when the wind blows, especially from east to the west, it pushes all the water up.  Fun to watch! And safe, too.

FTD on the Lake Erie Shore on a nice quiet spring day.  He loves to be by himself.  This is one of the few times that he's content.

Again, thanks for wasting your valuable time reading along with me.  I've been catching up on your blogs now that I have time, and have missed your virtual company.  Nice to be back together.

On a More Serious Note

Well, here it is.  I was told this summer to be careful of what I say on FB and in my blog.  I pulled all the posts related to my work life, all the while assuming I had some Constitutional rights regarding what I write about.  I've read them over and have put them back up, with the exception of the ones I called my Seasonal Survival Guide. (Interesting that those generated lots and lots of comments and interest......)

Anywho, last summer (2011) I read lots of books by and for birders.  Sort of a theme for the summer.

This summer, I read a dozen or so Ranger memoires.  There are lots of rangers who are recently retired who have taken pen to paper.  Apparently, you can publish a book about rangering with no problems, but blogging about rangering is worrisome.  Go figure.

Here's one I missed.  Gunna have to try to find a copy.

The Classic.

So again, if you didn't read the small and snarkey fine print over on the right side of the blog, here 'tis again.  Nothing you read here is the work of anyone but myself.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.  Not my employer's.  Not my family's.  Not nobody but little ol' me.

Ridiculous Post

Here's some pics for a fellow and also errant blogger--such as myself.  He blogs at Birds From Behind since he has such a marvelous collection of bird butz pics, or as we in the biz call it, the tourist end of the critters.

On our way back from YNP this fall, we got to see a couple of huge creatures and just to keep Dave happy, we got some good butz pics.  Enjoy......?

World's Biggest Sandhill Crane, North Dakota!

World's Biggest Sandhill Crane Butt.

Watch where you step.....

World's Biggest Turkey, Minnesota

Watch where you stand.....

Not the World's Biggest Babe the Big Blue Ox, but a darn big butt anyway! Bemidji, MN.

She's Back . . .

I'm back home in Ohio, and will hopefully have time to write again.  Mostly I'll enjoy reading about your adventures.  And I've got to figure out if I need my laptop for this or if I can do it somewhat painlessly from my new toy--an IPad.  Let's stay in touch.