Today we have nothing specific to look at so we will cruise the neighborhood to see what is going on. Hopefully we can catch sight of Thanksgiving decorations. We are catered by Joe’s Bakery of Austin. Our entertainment is Keith Urban
Menu
JOEY ROCHA PLATE – Two eggs any style with side of pork carne guisada, potatoes, beans, sausage or bacon, & two tortiilas
BARBACOA PLATE – Two eggs any style with side of barbacoa, beans, potatoes, & two tortillas
15.25
PORK CHOP PLATE – Two eggs* any style with 4 oz. breaded pork chop, side of beans, potatoes, & two tortillas
MIGA CON TODO PLATE – Two scrambled eggs with corn chips, onions, tomatoes, & jalapenos topped
with cheese, side of beans, & two tortillas
MIGA PLATE – Two scrambled eggs with corn chips & topped with cheese, side of beans, & two tortillas
CHICHARRONE PLATE – Two eggs any style with side of fried pork skins cooked in salsa, side of beans, potatoes, & two tortillas
HUEVOS RANCHEROS PLATe – Two eggs any style with ranchero sauce, side of beans, potatoes, bacon or sausage, & two tortillas
HUEVOS A LA MEXICANA – PLATE – Two scrambled eggs mixed with tomato, onions, & jalapenos, side of beans, bacon, &
two tortillas
The bus is ready
There is a cute mailbox topper. Margaritaville truck.
How about a flying pig that is tied down. (go figure)
Aw Mom and fawn ready for the holidays.
There it is. A Thanksgiving decoration.
Santa, Mickey, and Snoopy after the office party.
A herd of Raideer outside the Activity Center.
Preparations underway for the walk of lights in December.
A buck wondering about the idiot with a camera.
The Producer’s Hibiscus.
Hard to explain. Looks like a post apocalyptic fraternity party.
Let’s finish with a Turkey blow-up.
Time now for music and food. I hope you have a lovely week.
Here is the philosophical question on one’s outlook on life. “Do you see a glass as half full or half empty?” Right now the cup is entirely empty and a push of the two coffee button should remedy that unfortunate situation. The first sip is a reminder to take a trip with the clock. It is set for November 21, 1925. The location is New York City, and the duration is an hour. The plunger is pulled, and we find ourselves in the lower level of Grand Central Station to witness the inaugural trip of the Orange Blossom Special.
Postcard depiction of the train circa 1939 – Wikipedia
The Orange Blossom Special, a luxury train operated by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad(SAL) to transport winter-weary travelers from New York City to Miami in Florida, began operations. The first Orange Blossom route used tracks from the Pennsylvania Railroad (from New York to Washington, D.C., the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Washington to Richmond, Virginia, and the SAL route from Richmond through Seaboard Air Line Railroad from Richmond via Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia to West Palm Beach. (Miami service began in 1927). The trip covered 1,388.7 miles ( 2,234.9 km) and took 35 hours. The service would continue until 1953. Music is playing, and speeches are given. As the conductor calls “All aboard,” our alarm goes off, and we find ourselves on the couch back home.
A text comes in from Linda Hill. It reads.
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “full/empty.” Use one, use ’em both, use ’em any way you’d like. Bonus points for getting them both into your post. Have fun!
“No, according to Wikipedia, it was written during the maiden run of the new streamlined train. At the Jacksonville Seaboard Railroad Station, Ervin T. Rouse and Robert Russell “Chubby” Wise saw this train. Rouse and Wise wrote the Orange Blossom Special song as a fiddle tune. The tune was first recorded by Ervin and his brother Gordon one year later in New York.”
“Well, it was a good trip back.”
“I think a break was needed.”
“I agree. There is only so much a coffee machine and security shutdown can do.”
“I’ll reserve comment.”
“How about a Voo Doo Ranger?”
“Talk about a potential overdone subject.”
“No way. Uber’s right over there.”
Photo by Resa Mcconaghy
“What’s that?”
“A streetcar. What does it look like?”
“How are we supposed to get up there?”
“That building on the right has an elevator. We punch the button for the station, and it takes us there.”
“Seems easy.”
“One thing, though.”
“Not surprised. What is it?”
“There are a few stops between here and the pub.”
“A few?”
“Well, maybe more than a few.”
“How many more?”
“Thirty stops.”
“That’s going to take hours.”
“Naw. They go quick.”
“We’ve been here five minutes and that thing hasn’t moved.”
“They are waiting for us.”
“I hope there aren’t others that they wait for.”
“Only one group that I know of.”
“Okay. Here it comes. What’s the one?”
“The high school marching band.”
“I give up.”
* * *
When I was in College 62 years ago, an event took place on November 22, 1963. I am referring to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas Texas. Today is the anniversary of that tragic day and it still lives in my memory. Those of us who were a witness to the day will not forget. It is hoped that those who were not will still feel the injustice of such an act.
An experienced wildlife photographer with a penchant for marine mammals, such as whales, recently witnessed a lone seal miraculously survive a hunt by 8 killer whales.
Far more than just bearing witness, it was more or less the photographer’s presence that allowed it to happen, as the seal escaped the jaws of the hunters by clambering up onto the boat.
Shared with AP, Charvet Drucker told her story of the encounter that began last week on a whale-watching boat. About 40 miles northwest of Seattle, in the Salish Sea, she spotted a pod of orcas, also called killer whales, and observed behavior suggesting they were hunting.
Quickly attaching her telescopic lens, the orcas splashed into action, attempting to secure a meal out of an adult seal that was thrown into the air among the scrum of black and white bodies. Her shutter rang out in her ears as Drucker observed what she thought were the seal’s last moments of life.
Suddenly, the pod altered its course and headed straight for the boat, and she realized they were still hunting the seal. Following marine life regulations, the skipper killed the engines as the pod approached to avoid harming them.
That’s when the seal flopped out of the water and onto the flat panel at the back of the boat like it would a piece of ice in the sea.
“You poor thing,” Drucker can be heard saying, as the seal looks up at her. “You’re good, just stay, buddy.”
In the wild, orcas have ways of dislodging seals from tiny icebergs, and they went straight into their playbook, even though the safe haven was a boat, not an iceberg. They began to move toward the boat and execute a series of staggered dives that create subsurface waves that can rock a seal off its perch.
First documented in 1980, the orca’s strategy worked, but none among them were fast enough to catch the seal during the brief moments that it fell back into the water. After about 15 minutes, the orcas left.
It’s not the first time Drucker has witnessed this behavior, and she usually accepts the natural order of prey-predator interactions and is happy when the orcas get to eat.
“I’m definitely Team Orca, all day, every day. But once that seal was on the boat, I kind of turned (into) Team Seal,” she said in an interview with AP last Thursday.
Apparently, orcas near Washington that feed on seals are migratory, or “transient” orcas, and tend to be better fed than “resident” orcas that seem to specialize in eating salmon.
Watch the video
The good news in this story is the seal lived to see another day. Also, one missed seal is not a big deal for the orcas. They will find more. Today’s JohnKu talks about the natural way of things. I hope you have a super weekend.
Today I randomly opened The Last Drive to page 133. I closed my eyes and pointed to the page. The word nearest my finger is fly. This is our prompt today.
This post was published on November 25th, 2013, by Marie Ann Bailey and me. Since Thanksgiving is almost here, it could prove useful now.
Top Ten Things Not to Do with Your Thanksgiving Turkey
10. If you get a live bird for Thanksgiving, do not let your kids dress it up as a pilgrim. If you do, at best, the bird might actually look good. At worst, you’ll probably be having carry out for dinner after the kids discover what is going to happen to their new best friend
9. If you decide to get a live bird for Thanksgiving, do not listen when it starts singing “gimmie three steps… gimmie three steps, mister… Gimme three steps toward the door.” Chances are that your kids are playing Lynyrd Skynyrd too loud, and you’ve already had too many celebratory drinks.
8. If you decide to get a live bird for Thanksgiving, do not watch the “Presidential Pardon” ceremony on TV with your kids. You will likely end up with the same problem as item #10.
7. If you decide to go hunting for your Thanksgiving turkey, be aware that the turkey population has ways of fooling you into shooting a cow or your hunting partner. The turkey won’t care who gets hurt as long as it’s not a turkey.
6. If you plan on deep-frying your Thanksgiving turkey, do not drop a cold, icy bird into a giant vat of hot peanut oil. If you do, at best, you will have an overflow of hot liquid that will take a lot of elbow grease to clean up. At worst, you may burn down your house.
5. If your turkey is still frozen on Thanksgiving, do not invent a game where the turkey is used as a bowling ball with empty beer bottles as pins. It may sound fun after you’ve had all those before-dinner drinks, but the clean-up of thawed bird and broken glass will be hell.
4. If you plan to serve fresh turkey on Thanksgiving, do not let the bird sit out as you would a frozen one. If you do, at best, you’ll wind up with a precooked bird. At worst, you will all wind up seeing the friendly ER doctor in the early morning hours.
3. If you plan to serve tofu turkey for Thanksgiving, do not try to dress it up to look like an actual turkey. Your guests won’t be fooled and might actually wonder if you have lost your mind.
2. If you find that your turkey is too big for the refrigerator, do not put it out in the cold garage on the roof of the car. If you do, at best, your cat may help itself, and you’ll have shredded turkey for dinner. At worst, you may forget the turkey is there until you’re making that frantic dash to the store for eggnog, at which point you slam on the brakes, your turkey rolls off the hood and into the street, and then is run over by a Hummer.
1. If you have leftover turkey for Thanksgiving, do not try to disguise it in other forms. You are not on “Chopped,” and good ole turkey is best served as itself.
Earlier in the summer the City of Lakeway dedicated the new playscape. At the time, other events were going on, so today we are going to visit the playscape. We are catered by Luties of Austin, and our entertainment is Rod Stewart.
Brunch menu
Fruits de Mer – east coast oysters, poached shrimp, crudo
A slight pop sound while getting out of bed is a reminder of the aging process. Who knows where that sound comes from, but it showed up one day, and it has become part of the morning routine. “COFFEE,” screams the brain, and the rush is on to supply the caffeine to put out the blinking red warning light and the Klaxon horn. Finally, the first sip provides a covenant with the screaming senses, and the warnings cease.
The new sound is the Westminster chimes of the doorbell. Another idiot who cannot read. A quick toss of two squeak toys and a slam of the door on the soundproof room put an end to the eardrum-bleeding cacophony of two dogs sounding like Igor’s baying hounds. Next, a check of the security monitor shows the images of what looks like Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog. The usual conversation about a delivery and signature is needed, so with a sigh, the security shutdown process is begun.
The SWAT team needs to be put on standby. A quick text to the leader confirms that status. Also, the flight of A-10 Warthogs must be diverted. Another call to the commander puts that worry to rest. The SEAL team needs to be called off, and a call to the leader makes that possible. A call to the tow truck driver stops the deployment of an M1A1 Abrams Tank. The control panel simplifies the shutdown process of the security system. The boiling oil vats are put on standby, the turret mortars disengaged, the Trebuchet on safety, the concertina wire rolled, the Claymore mines reset, the tower Gatling guns on safety, the moat net dropped, the alligators fed, and the IEDs and shoulder-held rockets put away. The Proton torpedoes switched off. The gamma ray beams covered. The high-powered maser guns switched to standby, and the nanorobots were chained in the basement. The Klingons are called back, and the Targ is caged. Robbie’s Bot is sent to the basement. The locks on the door are thrown. And the door opened.
Ralph hands me a clipboard and an envelope. I sign where indicated and return the clipboard. Sam steps between me and Ralph with his paw out in the universal way of asking for a tip. Thinking of what Serena Williams once said, “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does,” is my tip as I slam the door.
The envelope contains a message from Linda Hill. It reads: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “pop.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
There’s something truly wonderful about the sympathy we humans have for dogs—such that when a rambunctious stray grinds traffic to a halt in a Massachusetts tunnel, the reaction is just that—to stop and wait for police to rescue it.
The wrong-way rover was spotted foxtrotting along the side of the Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston during rush hour.
The black-and-white j-walker managed to avoid being hit long enough for police to respond to the call of a Good Samaritan, who informed them about the tragedy waiting to happen.
Surveillance video from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation shows several police cars and other motorists stopped in a staggered group as a policeman alights to try and coax the dog into the back seat.
After a short game of “will I won’t I,” the dog hops in the car and traffic flow resumed unimpeded. The police said that a notice was issued regarding the dog, in case an owner had been looking for it.
Here’s the video.
The good news in this story is people cared to protect a living thing who was in danger. Today’s JohnKu talks about responsibility. I hope you have a peaceful weekend.
