“The first we knew of a potential problem was when two female officers from Maryhill Police Station came into the bar on Thursday night.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2227008/Police-swoop-landlord-organising-ugliest-woman-competition-actually-meant-men-anyway.html#ixzz2BMJoWOKF
(Am I sexist for wondering why police sent female officers to check on an ugliest woman contest?)
‘But when I pointed out the facts, the policewomen were clearly amused and quickly told me the matter would go no further.'
Monday, November 5, 2012
From maggiesfarm out in the Northeast, storm-ravaged woods
‘Good morning to readers in America and around the world’
“Yesterday, down our road we saw utility truck convoys from Missouri, Quebec, Iowa, and Minnesota. Guy on one of the Minnesota trucks said he just arrived last night (that was yesterday). Mind you, government doesn't do that - only private industry can do that.”
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
Late on Christmas Eve night 2000, a perfect ice storm swept through the northern counties of Northeast Texas and the southern counties in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Ice-encrusted tree limbs blocked highways, roads and streets. Some people were without power for a month. A friend said it took him two hours to cut his way through downed limbs and reach a highway. Electric company repair crews from at least six states worked in December-January weather. Counties spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on road clearing and debris removal. We all are one storm away from struggling as our grandparents did.
“Yesterday, down our road we saw utility truck convoys from Missouri, Quebec, Iowa, and Minnesota. Guy on one of the Minnesota trucks said he just arrived last night (that was yesterday). Mind you, government doesn't do that - only private industry can do that.”
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
Late on Christmas Eve night 2000, a perfect ice storm swept through the northern counties of Northeast Texas and the southern counties in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Ice-encrusted tree limbs blocked highways, roads and streets. Some people were without power for a month. A friend said it took him two hours to cut his way through downed limbs and reach a highway. Electric company repair crews from at least six states worked in December-January weather. Counties spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on road clearing and debris removal. We all are one storm away from struggling as our grandparents did.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Fallback time and home cooked dog food
My early-morning, out-of-focus eyes thought the clock read 6:40, which would be 5:40 Fallback time. That was OK, 6:40, since that is within a few minutes of normal wakeup time, unless younger dog Charlie decides an earlier time he and older dog Victor need to go outside.
6:40 a.m. OK. I got up and went to the bathroom and took my old man prescription drugs and went back to the bedroom and got dressed in jeans, pullover shirt and socks. Then, I looked at my phone, which, as phones do, had kept track of Fallback time and now brightly informed me
4:40 a.m.
That was 5:40 before Fallback, but up is up, one of those times you know is too early, but you also know going back to bed will not lead to sleep. Sometimes, better up and thinking than down and not sleeping.
Charlie and Victor went out earlier than they expected.
Then it was medicine for Charlie, fludrocortisone in a quarter of a wiener and then the other quarter, and two for Victor as well. If one dog gets something, fair says the other does as well. Dogs understand fairness. Dogs are great fans of fairness.
I fed Charlie and Victor dry dog food with some beef sandwich slices that had been in the refrigerator enough days past human consumption. Then, with coffee making, I began cooking dog food.
Last week I took Victor to WestRock Animal Hospital to have the vet check a hand-size lump just below Victor’s rib cage. The vet pulled whatever was in the lump and diagnosed the lump a fat tumor. Priscilla did online research and found that meant Victor is not processing fat. Victor and Charlie are standard poodles. Victor weighs 88 pounds, Charlie 65 pounds. Priscilla and I decided to change the dogs’ diet, combining commercial dog food with homemade food, consisting of white rice cooked in chicken broth, sweet peas, carrots and, in this week’s mixture, browned hamburger.
We got the recipe from Kathleen, whose pugs are overweight. Her recipe calls for ground chicken, but Kroger didn’t have any.
Dogs love the stuff. Rice, peas, carrots – Who would have guessed?
Victor and Charlie usually graze, eating dry food as necessary. A morning feed lasts all day. With the home cooked stuff, though, they eat it all at one meal. One in the morning and one around 6 p.m. Gone. And each checks the other’s dish to see if anything is left.
The rice and stuff is easy to cook. Two cookings a week uses a two-pound bag of rice.
6:40 a.m. OK. I got up and went to the bathroom and took my old man prescription drugs and went back to the bedroom and got dressed in jeans, pullover shirt and socks. Then, I looked at my phone, which, as phones do, had kept track of Fallback time and now brightly informed me
4:40 a.m.
That was 5:40 before Fallback, but up is up, one of those times you know is too early, but you also know going back to bed will not lead to sleep. Sometimes, better up and thinking than down and not sleeping.
Charlie and Victor went out earlier than they expected.
Then it was medicine for Charlie, fludrocortisone in a quarter of a wiener and then the other quarter, and two for Victor as well. If one dog gets something, fair says the other does as well. Dogs understand fairness. Dogs are great fans of fairness.
I fed Charlie and Victor dry dog food with some beef sandwich slices that had been in the refrigerator enough days past human consumption. Then, with coffee making, I began cooking dog food.
Last week I took Victor to WestRock Animal Hospital to have the vet check a hand-size lump just below Victor’s rib cage. The vet pulled whatever was in the lump and diagnosed the lump a fat tumor. Priscilla did online research and found that meant Victor is not processing fat. Victor and Charlie are standard poodles. Victor weighs 88 pounds, Charlie 65 pounds. Priscilla and I decided to change the dogs’ diet, combining commercial dog food with homemade food, consisting of white rice cooked in chicken broth, sweet peas, carrots and, in this week’s mixture, browned hamburger.
We got the recipe from Kathleen, whose pugs are overweight. Her recipe calls for ground chicken, but Kroger didn’t have any.
Dogs love the stuff. Rice, peas, carrots – Who would have guessed?
Victor and Charlie usually graze, eating dry food as necessary. A morning feed lasts all day. With the home cooked stuff, though, they eat it all at one meal. One in the morning and one around 6 p.m. Gone. And each checks the other’s dish to see if anything is left.
The rice and stuff is easy to cook. Two cookings a week uses a two-pound bag of rice.
Neo-Nazi Taliban says he made a mistake
‘German neo-Nazi turned jihadist who went to fight in Afghanistan admits he made a “big mistake” after wife misses supermarkets and her mobile phone’
Hey, Hans! Repeat after me: “If the wife ain’t happy …”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2227214/German-Neo-Nazi-turned-jihadist-went-fight-Afghanistan-admits-big-mistake-wife-misses-supermarkets-mobile-phone.html
Oh, and some of his friends were “horribly killed” by Pakistani army gunships.
Opened at gatesofvienna.
Hey, Hans! Repeat after me: “If the wife ain’t happy …”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2227214/German-Neo-Nazi-turned-jihadist-went-fight-Afghanistan-admits-big-mistake-wife-misses-supermarkets-mobile-phone.html
Oh, and some of his friends were “horribly killed” by Pakistani army gunships.
Opened at gatesofvienna.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Something happened somewhere
and cameras were there … Wherever it was. Whatever it was.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9U4Ha9HQvMo
At maggiesfarm, if you are fed up with political ads dominating your TV time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9U4Ha9HQvMo
At maggiesfarm, if you are fed up with political ads dominating your TV time.
China's goods undercut local markets 400 years ago
The more things change ...
Spain-China trade beginning in the sixteenth century centered on silver and silk cloth, but soon became silver and anything else. “Spain had its own silk weavers and dressmakers … (but) the scale of Chinese textile production was so much bigger that Europeans couldn’t compete.” Spanish silk importers “sold silk from China – silk that had crossed two oceans! – in Spain for less than silk produced in Spain.”
But Yuegang silk merchants became more informed of Spanish fashions. “(T)hey acquired samples of Spanish clothing and upholstery, and in China made perfect knockoffs of the latest European styles. Into the galleons went stockings, skirts, and sheets; vestments for cardinals and bodices for coquettes; carpets, tapestries, and kimonos; veils, headdresses, and passementeries” along with spices and jewelry. – Charles G. Mann, 1493.
Mann’s 1491 is an exceptional, informative read. His 1493, while not breaking as much new ground, is, for a fan of readable, non-academic history, excellent. European traders and colonists took to the New World and to the Old not only germs and steel, but also animals, insects and plants, all of which made the present world.
Spain-China trade beginning in the sixteenth century centered on silver and silk cloth, but soon became silver and anything else. “Spain had its own silk weavers and dressmakers … (but) the scale of Chinese textile production was so much bigger that Europeans couldn’t compete.” Spanish silk importers “sold silk from China – silk that had crossed two oceans! – in Spain for less than silk produced in Spain.”
But Yuegang silk merchants became more informed of Spanish fashions. “(T)hey acquired samples of Spanish clothing and upholstery, and in China made perfect knockoffs of the latest European styles. Into the galleons went stockings, skirts, and sheets; vestments for cardinals and bodices for coquettes; carpets, tapestries, and kimonos; veils, headdresses, and passementeries” along with spices and jewelry. – Charles G. Mann, 1493.
Mann’s 1491 is an exceptional, informative read. His 1493, while not breaking as much new ground, is, for a fan of readable, non-academic history, excellent. European traders and colonists took to the New World and to the Old not only germs and steel, but also animals, insects and plants, all of which made the present world.
Friday, November 2, 2012
How about living near the oldest town in Europe?
“SOFIA: Archaeologists in eastern Bulgaria say they have unearthed the oldest prehistoric town ever found in Europe, along with an ancient salt production site that gives a strong clue about why massive riches were discovered in the region.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Art/2012/Nov-02/193587-europes-oldest-prehistoric-town-salt-site-found-in-bulgaria.ashx#axzz2B5BFJSlv
Another story said the salt dome was 3,900 meters high.
While searching for more information on Provadia, I came across several sites advertising houses and/or land. One list was described as a derelict house on 2,300 sq. meter plot. 11,000 Euros. (Open to offers.)
That’s not a bad price, especially considering the “Open to offers.” The house is “about 21 miles” from town, and I have a preconceived notion that distance is a long trip during a Bulgarian winter.
The listing continued: “The roof of the house has been replaced and therefore in excellent condition. … There are fruit trees and a well in the rear garden. The plot is set in a secluded area with panoramic views all around. There is an abundance of wildlife in the area.”
Judging from the pictures, open land gives a good rifle shot in all directions. That “therefore in excellent condition” might mean the new roof prevented further damage, but lack of inside pictures makes for at least a bit of skepticism about the interior.
I am too old, anyway, to move to another country, especially in Eastern Europe. Terrain is nice and if I had an M37 three-quarter ton truck loaded with necessities, a drive from Bulgaria across the Ukraine into the Caucasus and then into Central Asia would be an adventure.
One Bulgarian real estate listing, though, stated a pictured house was in “the Muslim area.” If an agent has to point out religious areas, I don’t want to live there.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Art/2012/Nov-02/193587-europes-oldest-prehistoric-town-salt-site-found-in-bulgaria.ashx#axzz2B5BFJSlv
Another story said the salt dome was 3,900 meters high.
While searching for more information on Provadia, I came across several sites advertising houses and/or land. One list was described as a derelict house on 2,300 sq. meter plot. 11,000 Euros. (Open to offers.)
That’s not a bad price, especially considering the “Open to offers.” The house is “about 21 miles” from town, and I have a preconceived notion that distance is a long trip during a Bulgarian winter.
The listing continued: “The roof of the house has been replaced and therefore in excellent condition. … There are fruit trees and a well in the rear garden. The plot is set in a secluded area with panoramic views all around. There is an abundance of wildlife in the area.”
Judging from the pictures, open land gives a good rifle shot in all directions. That “therefore in excellent condition” might mean the new roof prevented further damage, but lack of inside pictures makes for at least a bit of skepticism about the interior.
I am too old, anyway, to move to another country, especially in Eastern Europe. Terrain is nice and if I had an M37 three-quarter ton truck loaded with necessities, a drive from Bulgaria across the Ukraine into the Caucasus and then into Central Asia would be an adventure.
One Bulgarian real estate listing, though, stated a pictured house was in “the Muslim area.” If an agent has to point out religious areas, I don’t want to live there.
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