Plasticized & Rubberized

I woke up with my mind in the gutter again. I was thinking that I could get some of that stuff they used to dip plyers in to make the handles have a rubber coating. My oldest brother, Lon, worked as a teenager at The Company Store which was a hardware store on Gasmer in Southwest Houston. It was during the ten speed bicycle craze and they were a distibutor for Murry (I think) brand 10 speeds and due to Lon's high mechanical aptitude he was the guy would assemble them for the customers. He ended up working at other bicycle shops and was very good and constructing 10 speeds from the best components he could get.

I think he probably got some of the rubber coating stuff at the hardware store but either way I do remember us having it in the garage and it seems like he used it to coat some plyer handles or something.

So this morning, I was thinking maybe I could get some of that stuff and paint it on the joints of the gutters to condomize the gutter to fix the leak problem. I went to Home Depot and spoke to a guy behind the paint counter and told him I was looking for something that had a rubbery textrue that I could paint on my gutters to seal them up. At first he said he didn't have anything like that but then he said "wait a minute, I think we do have something like that". He took me to the aisle where it was located and he showed me two items. One was an undercoating material for vehicles and the others was the "Plasti Dip" that I was thinking about this moring. I thanked him for directing me to what I was looking for and he went on about his business. I looked around a little and they also had a spray can that could be used to line the back of a pickup truck and I thought about thatone and then right next to the "plasti dip" can, the one that opens like a paint can and you dip things in, they also had a spray version. It was perfect. That way I didn't have to ruin a paint brush or clean anything up. It was the laziest and most effective solution that I could think of so I bought it.

I came on home and was so excited about spraying the stuff on the inside of the gutter that I shook the can all the way home so there would not be any delay. I was about ready to head out back and all of the sudden I realized I didn't have my cell phone in my pocket. I spent about 5 minutes looking for the phone and finally found it under the seat of the car.

I then regained my composure and went up on the roof and sprayed the "plasti dip" where it needed to go.

Now I am hoping for rain. I could just use my garden hose to test it but that doesn't seem right. It would be like violating the "prime directive" on Star Trek. I can't be fooling with anything like that. I will do the right thing and wait for the natural process to take place. Besides, if it turns out that it never rains again then I don't need to worry about it anyway.

I have to go now. I want to go look at the sky.

Until next time, Just rock it like you mean it. Why the hell not?

the nature of water - the water of nature

Hi,

Just to give my regular reader(s) an update, I thought I would check in and let you know the latest.

This morning, I got up on the patio cover and sealed up sections of the rain gutter where it looked like the water was getting through. As noted in the last post or so, I readjusted the pitch of the rain gutter to prevent water from pooling up and then leaking out of the joints and dripping through the patio cover roof near my back door.

I got the job done and then I decided to doodle around and I came up with a brilliant design to hook up the sunscreen that I had taken down while I was working on the gutters and the fencing around the patio area. I got that done and I fooled around for little longer with some unfinished odds and ends and put up some of the garden tools I had left on the patio cover after chopping down a large shrub and cutting it up. Then I decided to go in and take a shower and have a glass of cool water. It is good stuff that cool water, especially when a person is thirsty. Then cooked a couple of pieces of chicken breast. They came out good but I am not going to go into the cooking instructions right now but I think I will call the dish "Spice crusted chicken".

After that we watched an episode of "Little People Big World" on DVD from the library and so on and so forth.

At some point after that I thought I heard a raindrop hit a window or something. Then I heard some thunder. I rushed outside to see if it looked like it was going to rain but it didn't look certain. There was some thunder and some clouds but they didn't seem to be covering the whole sky. Then a little bit after that I heard a few rain drops. I was sitting under the outdoor ceiling fan and sipping on cool water and hoping for a good rain so I could see how my raingutter repairs had worked. It started to rain a little bit then it stopped. Then it started back up a little. It wasn't covering the ground or a blanket of rain but I decided to be patient. It was a light rain and I sat there and hoped it would last for a while.

As I sat there I started thinking about farmers back in the day before irrigation and how they had the same kind of thought process but it was a little bit more life and death as far as thier crop and thier ability to feed the family went. I thought about how water, sun, and things like that are all very important but there needs to be a good balance. Floods are bad and people can die in the desert without water.

I continued to sit there and ponder and I saw a bluejay or some other type of blue bird and he seemed to be enjoying the light rain. He was fluttering around in the shrub and chasing bugs and I noticed how the birds were chirping and it was really a good moment. Very peaceful and it was nice to take the time to enjoy nature right in my own back yard. This went on for a while and then I decided to go inside since the rain had lighten up to a light sprinkle. A little bit after that I went back outside and the sun was out and the grass and the shrubs all looked refreshed and then I decide to go back in and I saw it. Right there on the ground was a small puddle of water right where I didn't want to see it dammit. I cussed under my breath and forgot all about how at peace I was with nature and all and then I got back up on the patio cover and had a gander. There was still some water pooling in the gutter but it looks like I just need to seal it better. I can still fix it but it sure killed my buzz. If the wonderful and life giving water would just stop finding its way down through the rain gutter, then I could feel proud of my self again. And yes, Sometimes it is all about me.

There you have it.

Now go back your homes. The show is over. Disperse.

The power of marketing

The heat has been hot for several days now but we finally got some rain. I know I am sounding like an old person but we needed it. The other exciting thing was that I got to check and see how my gutter repairs worked out around my patio cover. We had a pretty good shower and everything was beautiful. Water started coming out where it was supposed to and I was so proud. Then all of the sudden there was a drip near the door. Then it turned into drops and then all of the suddent almost a stream. Also there was a little coming down along the side of the chimney. Don't get me started on the chimney. I would rather have a window there but right now I got a long rectangualar monstrosity with two by fours on the corners and the cheap siding that Pulte homes used to use. Nowadays I they use hardyplank.

OK, back to the humidity. It was pretty miserable. My dream of sitting under the patio cover and enjoying a refreshing summer show came tumbling down and instead water was splattering all over the place.

After the rain stopped, I waited a while and went outside and got the ladder and got up there to have a look to see what happened. I had a pretty good idea that it was the rain gutter holding water since the water kept dripping even 15 minutes or so after the rain. It turned out I was right. There was not enough slant to allow the water to drain out of the gutter and there was also a leak at the joint right above where it was dripping. I had put some sealer in the joints but I missed one side and also the end cap that butts up to the wonderful chimney.

It took a while but I finally got it pulled loose and didn't tear it up too band. I hammered it back in and gave it enough pitch to stop the water from pooling. I could tell because there was still standing water and once I made the adjustment, It drained out. Thank you gravity.

While I was eating some chili and rice a commercial came on and the announcer came on and and said "Come see George at the Verizon" and then a guy was talking and It sounded likc George Costanza from Seinfeld. I looked the screen and there was a guy dancing around in a monkey suit.

So there you have it. While the rest of us are sitting around watching TV, eating chili, and fooling around in the gutter, Some genius figured out that they could put a guy in a monkey suit and sell tickets. There is still hope for America afterall.

Oye Como Va

Buenos Dias,

I am here in the heart of TexMex country, Houston Texas. People in Houston are in a hurry so I am going to tell you how to make spanish style rice in a hurry. I am talking instant rice and no, don't go buy a mix packet because that is what it will taste like.

I wasn't in a hurry but I have been using instant rice because it is convenient and also doesn't get a pan all stuck with rice. I used a pyrex bowl and put a glass plate on top of it (in the microwave) Today is the first time I tried adding anything to the rice and I was surprised how well it worked.

Chop up some onion and celery and put it in the bowl with the rice and then add some chili powder, garlic powder and some margarine or butter, whatever it is that you use. I used I can't believe it's not butter light. When you put the butter in, don't melt it first, it will be clumped up but just stir everything togeather. The butter will kind of hold everything so that nothing settles to the top or bottom. Then add some cold water from the tap. The idea is that you do not want the butter to melt until the cooking begins to keep it spread out evenly. Don't overdo it with the chili powder or garlic powder but put enough in to give it the flavor. As far as the chili powder, you can tell if you have enough based on the color.

Thats about it, Microwave it about 4 minutes or so and let it sit (still covered) for another 5 or 10 minutes and you will actually have some authentic tasting rice. Mine came out pretty good if I do say so myself but I was hungry when I ate it so maybe I was biased but I was till proud of myself.

Speaking of being proud of myself, Today I stopped by Home Depot to buy some gate hinges. I have some chain link gates that have been in the back yard for several years and I wanted to put on on the end of a 4x4 post that is part of my patio cover. They sell a "lag bolt" that would work perfect except for the fact that it is a pretty long and good sized bolt and I didn't want to thread that into the 4x4 because it would take away a some of the strengh of the board. It would make it as strong as a 4x3.25 and I didn't want that. I looked around for a while, asked a Home Depot employee for advice and then decided to go over to Lowes. They basically had the same stuff at lowes but I kept looking around and I found a eye bolt. It is made to thread into wood and has a round shaped hoop on the end. I then got a 2 and a half inch long 5/8ths bolt and some nuts and made a holder for the piece that hooks up to the gate. At one point I was about to give up but I kept telling myself that with all the hardware and stuff they had at these types of stores, the solution was there. I even told the cashier how proud of myself I was. She didn't seem overly impressed but she was polite about it.

I took a picture just now with my phone and it is at the top of the page. I found a bolt that was not threaded on the part closest to the part your hook the wrench to and then I used to nuts so I could tighten them against each other so as to be able to lock everything in place. The picture is of the bottom hinge but the top one looks pretty much the same. It actually took me alot longer figuring out how to come up with a plan than actually installing the gate.

I did something else amazing today but I am too humble to keep going on about myself like that so that is going to be the end of the report.

Red Beans and Ricely Yours,

The One Man Web Log Staff.

The absolute best hamburger you ever had in your life!

Aloha from Texas:

I get a weekly email from Jeffrey Gitomer. He is a sales trainer and has a little different spin from some of the standard stuff which is all good but Jeffrey does less re-packaging and he also has a common theme that I really like. He actually believes in taking care of customers and giving a good value. His focus is generally on building relationships with customers and he promotes the idea of using the internet.

It doesn't matter if you are not officially employed as a "salesman" (or woman), the stuff he talks about can help anybody. If you want to sign up for his weekly email, then just do a google search of "Jeffrey Gitomer" and sign up. It is free.

His email this week had some stuff about how to deal with "uncertain economic times". Again, I like Jeffrey and I do recommend that you sign up for his free service but I do not agree with the idea that we are in "uncertain" times now anymore than we have ever been in "uncertain" times. That is the essence of the future. It is always uncertain and our economic situation here in America is pretty much a relative thing. If you just got off a raft (and entered the country legally) and you had previously been living in a poor part of Africa or Pakistan or somewhere where you had to hustle just to have a bowl of rice, then I would say that America is a land of great opportunity that you have never experienced before. If you, on the other hand, have just seen your retirement account shrink over the past couple of years due to the stock market then I would still say that America is land of great opportunity. Nationally, unemployment is at about 9.5%. If you really believe that you are not in the top 90% as far as what you have to offer, then I would recommend that you seek spiritual and emotional guidence and then maybe enroll in community college or learn a trade. Keep in mind that running your own business is probably the best way for someone who has nothing to get a bigger chunk of the pie. Do what ever you like. If you like sewers, be a plumber. It doesn't matter. You can make money if you want to. I figure that at least half of the people who are unemployed could get a job pretty quick if they were willing to make some drastic changes. If you live somewhere where unemployment is way higher than 10% because the factories just got shut down, then move. We have a great highway system and it isn't that hard to do. Just put your mind to it.

OK. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Let me return for my personal quest for excellence:

Today I decided to make the "Best Cheese Burger Ever".

I wanted to use ingredients that I had on hand so I worked with what I had. First I thawed out some hamburger meat and cut up some Russet Potatos. While the french fries were cooking, I prepared the hamburger meat by finely chopping some onion and mixing them in with the meat and also added a couple squirts of "Sweet Baby Ray's" barbeque sauce. Another trick I saw on TV was to make the center of the burger thinner sort of like a doughnut so that you don't end up with a big round hamburger when it cooks.

I also took some bacon and put in the microwave inbetween some paper towels and cooked it where it was pretty well done. I also sliced some tomato and onion and got some pickle slices out of the jar. Of course, I had to have a little bit of lettuce and we had a head of Iceberg so I used that. The other ingredient was grated sharp cheddar cheese.

Now the burgers and fries were almost cooked and the bacon was done also so I toasted some bread using my flat skillet using a little bit of "I can't beleive it's not butter" on one side. I didn't have actual hamburger buns on hand so I used some wheat bread.

I assembled the burgers in this order:

Bottom slice of toasted bread
A little mustard and Miracle whip(for a tangy zip)
pickle slices
Burger
Cheddar Cheese
Bacon Slices (1 peice total per burger)
onion slices
letuce
tomato slices
top slice of bread (also with a little miracle whip and mustard)


That is it. The "Best Barbeque Bacon Cheese Burger" I ever had. It was pretty good and having freshly made french fries with it was nice also.

Now I did try to keep it healthy by cooking the bacon very well and also by using sharp cheddar so I didn't have to use as much. I also cooked the burgers pretty well and put them on a paper towel to drain excess fat.

The idea of making the best hamburger you can make is really important in today's lesson. If you like avacados an mushrooms, or even soy burgers, then you can still make the best burger ever. The general idea is that no matter what you do, do it. Don't fool around. Why the hell not? It is a hell of a lot better to eat your attempt at the best tuna sandwich ever than just eat a tuna sandwich. By the way, finely chopped onions is the trick for a good tuna sandwich but don't overdo it.

So there you have it. The secret to success. Just like the Nike commercials say "Just do it" and maybe you will end up just like Tiger Woods or OJ Simpson. Congratulations in advance.

Keep on Rockin!

In the desert, It's hard to remember your name

I had to do some work on the roof of my patio cover today. My rain gutters needed to be reatached and I had to replace some wood and put in some flashing.

It was pretty damn hot so I could only stay up there for so long and I had to come in and cool off. Finally, I decided to wait til tonight and at about 10pm I hooked up a shop light to an extension cord and it was much better.

Tomorrow I have to cut up some dead branches and I had leftovers for dinner.

What else do you want to know?

Oh yeah, I have a mexican built Fender Stratocaster that I have mostly used for a back-up guitar. I did a little work on it the other day to fix a short but I couldn't find the problem. When I put it back togeather it worked just fine. Hopefully it will remain one of life's mysteries and I won't have to worry about it anymore.

Several years back I had bought a set (of 3) Fender Custom Shop "Fat Fities" pickups and installed them in my main Stratocaster that I bought in 1988. I put the pick-ups out of that guitar in the Mexcan Stat, which is black. Then at some point I took one of the pick-ups from the 1988 guitar and put it in the neck pick up position on the mexican. This particular guitar used to have a humbucker in the bridge position but I don't roll that way on strats so I put in a single coil in it's place. I think it is what they called a "Texas Special" or something like that. It has pretty good size fret wire which Fender started doing after Stevie Ray was popular. The good thing about this guitar not being played so much is that the frets are still in good shape and the guitar plays well so I think I need to play it a little more often. You never know.

Well, I hope you got everything you were expecting in visiting my blog today. Customer satisfaction is very important to us here at the one man web log.

Good Morning.

sniper shovel

Good Evening.

Today I planted a few shrubs. The Houston Garden Center over on the Katy Freeway is where I usually buy shrubs & stuff like that. Usually, the fall is the best time to buy but the have sales going on right now since it is so hot in Houston right now. It really is too. Yesterday, while I was looking around and picking out some shrubs, I was about ready to get back in the Air Conditioning and do it another time but my perserverence perservered.

I was walking around and I ran into the dude over there who gives out advice on what to buy. He either really knows what he is talking about or he is a very good bullshitter. He always answers with confidence and makes a solid purchase suggestion. I told him I had bought some red tip photenias over there about 15 years ago and at that time they were supposed to be very easy to take care of. Since that time they have become less hearty and succeptable to blight or fungus or whatever it is that makes them die so fast. He pointed me out to some "silver" (in the sunlight) looking shrubs and I picked of three of them and then went over to Walmart and bought three bags of scotts top soil (.75 cubic liter). Walmart is cheaper for stuff like that.

I had left the shrubs and bags of topsoil on my driveway and today I carted them around to the back yard. My plan was to work in stages to keep from getting too hot but I didn't expect to be coming inside after just moving the shrubs to the backyard. I had my straw hat and a towel over my head so I looked like a landscaper and I brought some water outside and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. I also brougth two shovels, one regular looking shovel made for digging and one that my dad, Kent Twyman, had used to plant trees and shrubs in our family home back in the 1960s. We had nine kids in the family and Kent wanted us to have trees to climb in so he planted fast growing trees. He knew trees and plants pretty well and I am sure he would have preferred to have Oaks and other trees like that but he planted quite a few chinese tallow trees. When I was a kid, there were plenty of trees to climb and we did spend a fair amout of time in the trees and shooting china berries with our slingshots. Many of them are already gone but they served the purpose and Kent was happy that his kids had trees to climb. There was one tree that was right outside the kitchen sink window that had a natural "crows nest" and I used to climb up there and watch the fireworks going off at astroworld at 10pm. It was a pretty good distance away but I could see them pretty well. Even as a young teenager, it was nice to have a place to "hang out" at night. It was very peaceful to be up in a tree but you had to stay alert. I never did have a fall. My dad had convinced me at a young age that I was a good tree climber and now that I am older, I realize that he was just giving me confidence but since I had so much practice, I did turn out to be a pretty good tree climber after all.

Well, back to today. I dug the holes, put some topsoil in, and then finished planting the shrubs. The "sharpshooter" shovel that my dad used to use made the job much easier. It is a little bit worn but still cuts right through roots & such and does a fabulous job.

After that, I spent the rest of the day in the AC, made some noodles and I took a nap. I had some dreams but if you want to know the contents of all my dreams too, that is going to far. I told you about my dinner, my shrubs and my childhood of climbing trees. Seems like you should be satisfied with that.

OK, I will tell you how I made the noodles but that is it. I just used some elbow macaroni and boiled them with a little olive oil. As far as the sauce, I didn't start from scratch but it was still pretty good. I used a jar of "Classico" sauce with "mushrooms and ripe olives". I also added a can of diced tomatoes (salt free). In a separate pan I put about 4 large cloves of chopped garlic and about half an onion, chopped up also. I then threw some hamburger meat in with the onions and garlic and put a little bit of garlic powder, black pepper, oionion powder with parsley, and some other spice but I don't remember which one. Once the meat was cooked, I drained off the fat and dumped it in the large skillet with the sauce and diced tomatoes and left it on simmer for about an hour. That is the trick if you use store bought spagetti sauce, You gotta cook the acidity or whatever it is out of it that makes it taste like it does if you don't cook it for a while. I also put some parmesan cheese in with the sauce to cheat a little bit and that was it.

See, this is really too much information. You are creeping me out again and I have to go.

Bye.

David and Kathleen Bagby

Last night I was watching an episode of Dateline NBC and it was a story about a man named Andrew Bagby that was murdered by his girlfriend and then it turned out the girlfriend was pregnant. She was indicted for the murder of Andrew but fled to Canada, where she was from, and the Canandian court system didn't extridite her back the USA for trial but instead let her out on bail.

The Grandparents of the baby, Zach, moved to Canada to be close to the baby and in the end the crazy girlfriend killed herself and the grandbaby. It was really a sad story but it was also very compelling just how decent the grandparents were in the way they tried to do everything they could to help Zach and aftewards they helped get the laws changed in Canada.

Compared to anything I have ever seen on TV David and Kathleen Bagby are the most amazing couple ever. God Bless those folks.

Here is a link to a story about a scholarship fund set up in the memory of Zach:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38387899/ns/local_news-pittsburgh_pa/

Here is a link to and an excerpt from a story about the murder suicide:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_150829.html

Turner, infant son found dead

Dr. Shirley Turner's attorneys thought their client was ready to face a September hearing in her continuing legal efforts to avoid extradition to the United States to face a murder charge in the shooting death of Dr. Andrew Bagby, of Latrobe, once her lover and father of her 13-month-old son, Zachary....

Here is a link to an article about the documentary made about the Dad, Andrew, that was intended to be given to Zach. It now turns out to be a tribute to both of them and also the amazing grandparents, David and Kathleen Bagby. There is nothing that can be done to replace the losses they have faced but I hope they find some peace and happyness. They really do deserve it.

http://www.moviezeal.com/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father/

id speaks to ego

I decided to play a few tunes on my accoustic guitar this morning. It goes well with a cup of coffee. After a while, I remembered a dream that I had last night where I was looking for the particular guitar I was playing. In the dream, I was looking around and couldn't find it and finally I remembered it was in its case (where I always keep it). Thats the whole story so I hope you are not disapointed. Still it stuck me as interesting that it seemed like I had made a decision to play my guitar when I was still asleep.

It is funny how sometimes we take things for granted. Just a while ago I was hungry and decided to "settle" for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then I started to think about it. The fact is that it was a damn good sandwich and even though it sounds like a cliche, there are people all over the world that would appreciated just having a couple of pieces of bread. Same thing with peanut butter or even peanuts.

I know my regular readers will think I am in a slump here but it doesn't get any more real than peanut butter. Peanut butter shows how much human beings have advanced. At some point someone had to dig up the first peanut and eat it. Somone figured out that peanuts were better to eat when they were cooked and the next thing you know someone was eating chocolate and bumped in to someone eating peanut butter and the rest is all marketing history. That may seem boring to you but if you thought of it first then you would be the millionaire and not senior Reeces so I don't want any sour grapes.

Grapes is another good example. Whoever thought up how to make wine out of grapes had to have an intitive imagination. As long as it takes wine to ferment, it wasn't something that they didn't have to really think about and be patient with. I guess it was more of an accident like reeces peanut butter cups and someone left some grape juice in a container and forgot about and then decided to drink it anyway and liked the buzz. This is going to call for some research.

If you are going to kill a chicken...

If you decide to murder a chicken then the least you can do it cook it right. As Charles Barkley once said "Anything less would be uncivilized". The bible even says that "what ever thy hand findeth to do, do it with might"

Well, I know there are several "mighty" good ways to cook chicken but the goodest way of them all has to be fried. What is better than fried chicken? I used to think that Kentucky Fried was good but now that I am older it just doesn't do it for me. The best fried chicken that you can buy in Houston is at "Frenchy's". They have several locations. The original one is by U of H but they have one somewhere around Stella Link and also one one Belfort near the Soutwest Freeway. Just look them up to be sure.

Barbequed Chicken is pretty dang good also but you have to be careful not to overcook it. You want that barbequed taste and the crispy on the outside goodness but you don't want a peice of dried out chicken when you are done. I think the best way to grill a chicken is direct grilling. Right over the heat. Using a smoker doesn't really get the job done. I cooked some on the grill not too long ago. I have a medium sized weber grill and I highly recommend that as a good value. They have them at Walmart for about $69 right now already assembled. I have had mine for years and it still has not rusted out. I bought some wood chips at Walmart also. They have small bags for about $2.49 and a variety of woods. They didn't have pecan wood which is a favorite of mine so I bought some hickory and some cherry. I don't use mesquite too much because it seems to overpower the flavor but if you use mesquite, just don't use too much. They have instructions on the bag to make a foil pouch but I just got the coals going and right before I put the meat on the grill, I added the chips. They smoke pretty good right at first so be careful not to breathe in too much. You can also soak them in water for about 20 minutes before throwing them on the coals. Same thing works if you have some old pecan shells or pecans that are not good enough to eat. The general Idea is to have a hot enough fire to cook the chicken but not too hot. If you do the vents right, you can leave the chicken for about 20 minutes at a time before you have to turn it.

OK. Back to Fried Chicken. Yesterday they had chicken breasts and drumsticks at HEB for $1 per pound (limit 2) so I bought some chicken and when I got home I decided to fry it up. I think I posted about it before on here but usually I used flour. This time I decided to use some cracker crumbs. I had some low salt Saltines and I threw some on the counter and crunched them down pretty finely with a rolling pin. Then I mixed that with some flour and spices. I also had a bowl of just flour and a bowl with milk with an egg mixed in.

First throw the chicken in the flour and then dip it in the milk/egg and then sprinkle it with some spices of your choice. I mixed up some garlic powder, black pepper, and Mrs Dash. You can even mix some chili powder or whatever else makes you happy. Not too much spice that the cracker crumbs wont stick.

After you have the chicken piece soaked with milk/egg and sprinkled with a spice mixture, then roll it in the cracker crumbs/flour mixture that has a little spice in it also.

The best cooking oil I have found for fried chicken is the Wesson Best Blend. Don't used corn oil. It is rated better for holding up to the heat but the taste is not as good. There are all kinds of good oil to use so take your pick. You don't want the oil too hot but you want it hot enough to get the job done. Use your best judgement. Heat it up a little extra in the beginning so that when you drop the chicken in, it will not cool down too much. Also, You gotta use some oil. Put enough to cover the chicken about half way so that you don't have to turn it so many times. It will cook more evenly. Golden brown is good but some people like it cooked a little more.

There you have it. You can now impress your friends and neighbors.

If you really want to do it up good then wash it down with some chocolate cake and lemonaid.

Good Night.

Waiting for the news

We should hear this week if the effort for the new "cap" on the oil leak was successful.

I am more than just a little bit disapointed in our efforts as a country to deal with this threat. To me it seemed like the politicians were worried about who to blame instead of fixing the problem. There will be plenty of time to assign blame but from the moment the leak happened, The common goal of protecting the Gulf and the Gulf States should have been the focus. Just like in a time of war, the President is the President. He got elected based on the rules set up by our founding fathers. It wasn't time to campaign. The bottom line is that I am disapointed in America as a whole that we did not pull togeather and stop the leak sooner. I am not pretending like it is a simple fix but if we could send a man to the moon and rescue the Apollo 13 astronauts, we should have been able to get this done. There won't ever ask Tom Hanks to star in a movie about his particular mishap.

Dammit People, Let's start being Americans first and then worry about politics second. Get involved in the political process and then respect the process.

We need to do better!

If you need an electrician Call R.S. Electrical Services in Katy

A several weeks back, the main breaker for our home tripped and started tripping more often after that. A guy from the power company told us that the main circuit breaker itself was probably bad. I thought this made sense since we had not added anything for the past year or so that would have increased the load. Also, even after we started to be careful not to use appliances and AC units at the same time, it still happened.

I have done some electrical work around the house before and did install a new breaker one time also but it was not a "main breaker". I know that in thoery that I could do the job without getting electrocuted but I didn't want to test that thoery in practice. The problem is that when I changed out a breaker before, I just shut off the main breaker and the wires were no longer "hot". There was still a live wire coming into the electrical box but as long as I didn't touch it, I was safe. This time, The actual wires going in to the circuit breaker would be "hot" since it was as it is called the "main breaker". The way to deal with that (in thoery) is just to make sure that I don't touch the exposed part of the wire while I am working on it and also when I use the screwdrive, just make sure not to touch the metal part. The problem is that I am not an Electrician and I didn't think I wanted to test the theory and find out that as I was getting shocked that I was wrong. Also, I didn't want to take the chance of the screwdriver slipping or me loosing my concentration for even the briefest moment and end up fried so I decided I needed to call an elelctrician.

I didn't know an electrician off hand so I looked on the BBB web site for houston and found the guy that was located closest to my home. I found R.S. Electrical Services which is owned and operated by Richard Simmons. He is located less than a mile from my home and had an "A" rating and no complaints. My thinking is that if I could find someone close then it would be an easy quick job that they could do on the way home as thier last stop. My other thinking is that I would be doing business with someone in my "community" and since the economy is slow right now, I would be happy to give them some work also.

I called Richard the morning of June 28th and he said he would come by. I asked him if he had the main breaker I needed on his truck and he said probably not. I asked him if it would be OK if I picked up the breaker just to save time and an extra service call charge and he had no problem with that. In the process of looking for the breaker, I found an electrical supply house here in Houston and the guy quoted me $249 for the part. I called Richard and asked him about this and he said it was "a little high". With Richard's direction, I went over to Home Depot and found a GE brand circuit breaker that was the right part. I had previously been under the impression that I had to have a Siemans brand circuit breaker but Richard told me that the GEs were interchagable so to go ahead and pick it up and he would make sure it was the right part when he got there but he was pretty sure it would work. I went to Home Depot and paid $61.

Later that day, Richard showed up at my house, installed the circuit breaker, used his electrical testing equipment to check things out and also moved the circuit breaker I had previously installed to the other side of the box to balance the load and all he charged was the cost of the service call exactly as he quoted on the phone.

If you need electrical work call R.S. Electrical Services at 713-202-7619. Please be sure to tell him Marc Twyman gave you his number.

On behalf of Marc Twyman's One Man Contractor Referral service, Thank you for letting us help.

Sunburn Health Benefits

My dad, Kent Twyman, used to work for the Houston Post and one of his long-time accounts was a nursury called "Paul's Greenthumb". Kent would prepare the copy for the add and also do a "lay-out" by phsically cutting and pasting the different sections of paper using an exacto knife and rubber cement. Nowadays, it is all done with computers. Kent would write some text every week and in the center of the Paul's Greenthumb add put in a little humorous story that not everyone would get. There was even a guy that my parents knew who would save the adds one time when they were at a party, the guy read them to the group to make everyone laugh. Kent wouldn't have ever done that himself. It wasn't his style.

OK. The item that I am getting to is that in one of his Paul's Greenthumb adds, Kent said something about Paul not being intimidated by the sun. He said if there was any question about that people go see for themselves and just go visit Paul and take a look at his "Sunburned Tongue".

This morning I woke up thinking about "funny". The actual concept of funny and how it came to be. To me, if you really think about it, and you believe there is a god, then you would have to agree that God created "funny". That seems simple enough but ponder on that for a while. I could explain it to you better but that would not be as good as you figuring out all the implications for yourself.

BP gambles with the Gulf

I do not what I am hearing on the news about the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It turns out that the volume of crude oil that is being released at the Gulf floor has been grossly understated. It also makes me more cynical about the fact that BP has been using toxic Chemical Dispersants to help the oil not all come to the surface so there are no accurate pictures to put on the news.

BP gambled with our Gulf of Mexico from the very beginning. They did not spend the money to have a plan in place to deal with a worst case scenario. They also gambled with the idea that if they dipersed the oil, they would be able to cap the leak. Didn't happen.

I would say that they have gambled and lost twice but that isn't really the case for the people making the Corporate decisions. They Gambled but they will not be the losers. They will most likely be set for life.

To Hawk or Not To Hawk?

http://http//www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/04/stephen-hawking-says-earth-sho.html

I think it is normal at some point when a person is growing up to wonder about the size of the Universe. I remember spending a fair amount of time laying in the grass looking at the sky and clouds or if it was night time, I would usually lay on the sidewalk and look at stars. It was a simple question but how could the Universe just go on forever. And if it did stop, what was on the other side of that? Then it leads to wondering why anything ever existed at all let alone human beings and human comprehension. It would make me feel wierd to think about it too long but when I was growing up, we didn't have computers or computer games and if it snowed in Houston, I would have to walk to school in the snow, etc.

OK, Now for the next scientific enlightenment. I read about Steven Hawking talking about how we better be careful to send out messages into the universe to see if anybody answers. With billions of stars out there, I can agree that there is a some statistical probability that there could theoretically be life out there somewhere but I think when you consider how long it would take them to get here, we don't have too much to worry about. I can't go into it with mathematical equations but I don't think warp speed is physically plauseable. Besides if it was possible to travel that fast, you would have to keep slowing down just avoid running into a star since it doesn't seem like you would be able to do much steering at the speed of light or anywhere close to it. As far as Aliens coming here to plunder our planet, that doesn't make much sense since they would have to pass so many other galexies and solar systems that they could probably just find the raw materials they were looking for before they got here. The other thing, is that they would have to have a pretty long life span to survive the journey. About the only way it would make sense is if they figured out how to download thier brains into computer type storage and OR they actually created artificial life forms with computer brains and robotic functions. If it got to that point, it doesn't seem like they would need anything that we have that they could not find somewhere else.


Still, I take my hat off to Steven Hawking for being able to grab the headlines but if we are going to worry about something traveling through space that will do us harm, we should just focus on being able to blow up an asteroid so we don't end up like the dinasaurs. It seems inevitable that we are going to blow up the world before that happens.

I think it is best to just try to avoid stress, have a good diet and enjoy life while it lasts.

Just be happy that you were not born as a fish. Especially the fish that I am getting ready to fry. I have mixed up some cracker crumbs, flour, and corn meal, and am going to put some spices directly on the fish. I got some frozen talapia that is a "product of india" and we are going to have some red potatoes and a salad.

Rock On, Nanu Nanu, Live Long and Prosper, and so forth.

In other news, the state of Arizona is hiring 16.000 ex KGB agents to ask people what business they have being free in America and if they don't answer they will waterboard them in the name of democracy.

Scientific Breaktrhrough

Greetings from the here-and-now.

I was driving through the U-Turn at Gessner and Katy Freeway and maybe it was the G-force of approximatley 1.009 Gs that gave me the proper frame of mind to come to the indisputable conclusion that time travel will never be possible. No matter how advanced human technology advances it will never happen. If it was going to happen we would already know due to the fact that time travelers would have already come on back from the future and as much as people talk there is no way that somebody wouldn't have already said something. The other simple fact is the lottery would always be rigged and I have seen enough TV commercials showing lottery winners to know for a fact that those folks don't usually look like time travelers. If you need any more proof than that, then it isn't going to matter since you will never "get it" even if you did have a time machine.

the latest in entertainment technology

I don't think I agree that the movies in 3D are actually 3 dimensional. They are more 3 dimenensional than a 2d movie but what is considered 2D in today's market actually a little bit 3 dimensional if you really look at them. The whole thing kind of buying a really expensive audiophile sterio system. You could spend $80,000 and get a really great recreation of live performances or you could actually just go out and see live music. But at the same time a top quality system like that can really be something to enjoy. If you really want true 3D, then just go to a play. And please, No talking, textng, or kicking the seat in front of you during the show. Do you really think the people in front of you can't feel that. Do you really need attention that bad?

Golden moments in Snowboard History

Yes. Hello. I am doing fine and so forth. How are you?

Of course nobody really wants to know how you really are. It is sort of a strange custom. Just like shaking hands. I do it just like everybody else but there are some people that I would rather not shake hands with but the problem is that I don't know specifically which ones. Some foks just don't wash thier hands after going to the bathroom and how am I supposed to know if they just sneezed in thier hand 2 minutes ago? Why can't we just give each other a friendly wave. I am OK with the fist bump but it is too confusing to know when someone else is going to know. First they stick out thier hand when you offer the bump and then you switch to a handshake and they throw the bump. It is just too akward.

Speaking of sneezing, I did happen to catch Shaun White and the rest of the Olympic Snowboarders in the medal competition the other night. The only way he was going to lose is if he fell down in both runs. They took the best score from eather run so that is what it would have taken. He really is a talented guy and I wish him the best. Congratultions Shaun! Thanks for winning a Gold Medal for yourself and the USA.

As far as the next topic, That isn't quite ironed out yet. I could talk about all kinds of things. I am good like that. Pick any subject. OK fine, I will talk about popcorn.

I like cooking popcorn the old fashioned way. I actually enjoy standing there and shaking the pan in anticipation. It seems like it takes for ever for the first couple of pops and then all of the sudden it is pure rock and roll. Kids today wouldn't understand but Jiffy Pop was alot more fun than microwave popcorn.

Now you are getting a little too curious about what I will say next and it is creeping me out.

Bye

instructions not included

I don't understand why it is supposed to sound like a better deal if I got to mail in a form and then never get my money even if I do. I generally don't buy things with mail in rebates.

I tried to sign up for a better internet connection and they want to add about $100 to my next bill and then mail me a rebate form that I can mail in and get my $100 back. It sure doesn't sound like anything they would put on a commercial.

That has to be a great job working at the Mail-in Rebate Processing Center. No pressure at all.

I don't know how old I was when I first saw the Beatles film "Help" on TV. They had this one scene where the Beatles walked into thier home. There were 4 separate doors going in to what looked like 4 separate apartments and when they got inside, it was one big place separated in to 4 individual spaces. However old I was when I saw it, I kinda knew they didn't really live exactly like that but I liked beleiving it anyway. Kinda like when you get just a little too old to really in Santa Clause but you keep it going in your mind because it is so damn fun. I am sure I covered that before so back to the 4 lads from Liverpool.

It is almost sad to listen to who play music that are about my age when they talk about thier musical influences. It always sounds like cliche. The Beatles are a standard influence. Just like Stevie Ray for people who played blues music but it is a fact that both the Beatles and Stevie Ray influenced quite a few people and also the reason that many people took up music as a hobby or somthing to do. Certain performers just have a way of reaching out to people. Thier lyrics and songs and thier entire personality seems to be able to strike a chord and thier fans felt like they personally knew them.

The Beatles were all equally important in my mind when it comes to actually making up who the Beatles were. Even the drummer. Ringo's personality as well as his excellent drumming skills were key ingredients. He wasn't the kind of drummer that would play the best drum solo but He had the knack for getting the right beat and creating the right sound. John Lennon was always the Beatle that struck a chord with me the most. Even with his solo career. All the songs weren't necessarily commerically great but at the same time he was John Lennon and it didn't matter.

If I am lucky I will never meet Jack White from the White Stripes. To me he is just one of those types of performers. His approach to everything is really cool. I like the way he is able to mix all types of music into his own garage band style & he can do it with just him and a drummer. Not to take away from the Drummer. Meg is just as important to the White Stripes Sound as Ringo was to the Beatles. It might have been a cool jam session but Buddy Rich could not do what Meg White does. It is almost like she is figuring it out as she goes along but gets it right. The White Stripes do pay homage to the original blues artists and they seem to "get" where they were coming from.

The reason that I wouldn't want to meet the White Stripes is because I would would be a starstruck idiot and sound like every other fan and I would then have the memory of knowing I was a pain in the ass to meet. Why the hell would they want to meet me anyway? They got people lined up just waiting to meet them in every city. I imagine they get sick of all the people with back stage passes hanging around thier neck. Not that they don't appreciate thier fans but after a while, I am sure it feels like you have met enough people to run for president.

If you are having trouble followng my train of thought then "welcome to my nightmare". Actually I did wake up pretty early but I fell asleep early also. Do you really need to know that? Why are you reading these personal details? It makes no sense at all. It is Sunday Morning and you should be standing on your driveway waiting for the Newspaper to get delivered so you can read all about the Superbowl. You better make sure to read all that sports fluff before the game because once they play the game, it will be done. Personally, I don't care too much about the SuperBowl this year. My team was the Texans and they didn't make it. Who knows? Maybe it will actually be a good game.

Now go back to sleep!

Copyright / Tradmark - one man electric blues band

OK,

I just did a google search of the term "One Man Electric Blues Band" and I found another dude is using the same name for his music act. I know this wouldn't bother most people but most people didn't put all the time and effort into the creation of the "one man electric blues band". Also, "other people" didn't work as the equipment manager for Marc Twyman's One Man Electric Blues Band.

It is actually something I copyrighted in 2005 and I have a digital time stamp showing that I used the term much earlier than that also. It is a trademark that I have established on the world wide web and is unique to me.

Used to be that if I googled "one man electric blues band", I was the only one who came up as an exact hit.

I am not as upset about it as the bass player (my left toe). It it was just up to me, I would let it go but I really don't think the rest of the band will feel the same way.

Not from the Shrimp's persective

Hola, Aloha, and Como Estas?


I just cooked some shrimp and they came out right.

Back sometime around 1984, I got the idea that I wanted to open a Seafood Restaurant. I worked for a short time at several different Seafood Restaurants and I started making a book of Recipes based on things I learned at each kitchen. I had recipes for Fried and Broiled Fish, Shrimp, Oysters and also the various ways to prepare and serve King Crab, snow Crap, soft shell Crab, Blue Crab, Dungeonous Crab, Crab Claws, Detliff Crab and more. I had a good recipe for Seafood Gumbo and also Clam Chowder. I determined which place had the best way of cooking French Fries, onion rings, and also baked potatoes. Then at some point a very dear friend to me decided that they would help me by offering me a job so I kind of lost my direction with the Restaruant idea. One thing I did learn about restaurants is that the owner has to be there all the time in order to watch the way customers are treated, food is prepared, and also make sure that food is not walking out the back door to feed the employees and thier friends. It is a real art to keeping food cost down. It costs money to throw away food also.


Fast forward to today:

I decided to cook some Fried Shrimp and I used the same basic recipe as a place called the "Crazy Crab". They have long since gone out of business but were located in the Westwood Mall area in Southwest Houston. Thier philosopy was to not put spices in the breading or on the shrimp but instead to have all the spice be contained in the "Cocktail Sauce".


Start out with Fresh Shrimp (if possible) but frozen will work.

Butterfly the shrimp and then after rinsing with water,

drop them into a bowl of flour.

After that dip them into milk/egg wash(Just mix an egg into a small bowl of milk),

Then coat them with Cracker Crumbs. It takes a little work to crunch up the saltine crackers (i used unsalted) Use something like a pie or layer cake baking pan and press then place the shrimp on top of cracker crumbs and then drop a handful of the cracker crumbs on top of the shrimp also. Press them down to make the crumbs stick but not hard enough to deform the shrimp too much.

Once you have all the shrimp prepared for frying, Then fry them in some cooking oil that is hot enough but not too hot. You want them to be golden brown and it is a good Idea to put enough oil in the frying pan that the shrimp will be submerged.

Then serve them with some good cotail sauce.

We ate ours with some green beans and microwave baked potatoes. It works better in the real oven but just clean some taters, punch holes in them with a fork (about 4 or 5 stabs) so they don't split and then coat them with olive oil.


I also have some dieting tips but I will share them in another post at a time of my choosing.


Rock Onward

Relgion vs Darwin???

I understand that back when people thought the earth was flat it would have been considered herecy to say the world was round.

Personally, I think Ben Franlin would have understood. Ben is one of those guys that even though everybody in the world knows they were amazing, my typical reaction when I read about him is to be astounded at how incredible a dude he was. Just like listening to Mozrt. Ben is the kind of guy who could do all the different things he did and at the same time do everything that you or I did and do it better.

If you want to share in my Amazement, then do a Google Search and read up on him.

I mention Ben because he was a scientist and it is quite evident that he did not see that as an attack or even in conflict with his personal religious views. I don't think Darwin was trying to make any kind of statement about religion when he did his science & I am pretty sure he "got" that. He was just being a scientist.

I got started thinking about this after watching a PBS special about DNA. I think it was an "episode" of Nova.

To me, It doesn't attack the idea that God made the world in "seven days" to consider that he may have done it using "evolution". If you think about it, a "day" is how long it takes the world to spin around one time. But when God made the world, it wasn't spinning. Who are we to assume how long a "day" was for God? Why is that Shakespere didn't have to just lay everything out? When they made me read Shakespeare in English, I had no idea what the story was about. We had to write a book report about it and everybody pretended like they just got it. I didn't. Why shouldn't God be allowed to write like that? Why would it be sacrilege to assume that God would write in his own astoundng style. He is afterall God.


OK, Back to the Sunday School Science Lesson:

Wait, I see the bell is fixing to ring and I don't want you to be late for Churh and we will pick up where we left of last week.

Walking on Sunshine: No Generic Substitute available

I don't think I ever gave the final garden update but the it has now been mowed over and I will probably just stick to tomatoes and cucumbers this year. Maybe some more lettuce. That was kind of cool. I will see how lazy I am in the spring. I wouldn't mind growing some onions.

Back on topic, I am getting sick of all the prescription drug commercials. I like listening to Classic Rock on the radio but nowadays it makes a person feel like a geezer. They advertise drugs for old people. TV isn't any better. Even my local Cinimark in Katy. I went to see a movie over there a couple of months ago and before the previews they had a commercial for the new Katy Cancer treatment facilities now available. Not that it isn't a good thing and will make it much more convenient for people who need the help, It is just that when I plop down $9 for a ticket and then 8 more for some popcorn and a drink, I want to get the traditional magical movie theater experience. I don't want to be thinking about any particular illness that I am somehow now the target market for thier advertising.

The other thing is that the side effects sound worse than the actual ailment that the pill is for. They have the wonderful music and people runnging through fields of flowers with no allergy symtoms but then you get a warning to stop using the drug if you have a stroke, kidney failure, or cough up blood. And is always such a small percentage that actually die but that isn't what I consider a good selling point. Of course they are required by law or fear of getting sued but damn. What about the one where they tell you to call your doctor if your erection lasts longer than 6 hours. Just consider how long it takes to get to see a doctor. You have to figure that most people are not going to be taking sexual enhancement drugs during work hours so if you do need to call a doctor, then it will be the emergency room. It won't do any good to call them but you better hope that there are not any heart attacks or other more serious cases that will get seen infront of you. If after 6 hours you decide to go to the emergency room, it is going to take 15 minutes to half an hour to drive over and then at least half an hour to be processed and then you have to wait until it is your turn. It could turn out to be a 10 hour erection before you actually get help. It is like your fears from Junior Highschool have come to pass. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't a few women out there who figured they had put in thier time when it comes to having sex with the old geezer that they are married to. There had to be at least a few that really wish that viagra had never been discovered.

I do believe in going to the doctor and getting the appropriate check ups and blood tests and so forth but it does scare me a little when I hear that over 30 percent of all treatments after false positives are not needed. There is no question that the health care industry is just that. An industry. I even saw a study on TV that when business is slow in a particual area or they have too many hospitals. Those health care networks just generate more tests and unneeded procedures to make up for it.

There is no way around it. Nobody Gets out alive.

What else?

Not much really. I have reconfigured my one man band using less equipment. I got burned out on carrying around so much equipment and having to set it up and break it down that I decided to see what I could do to make it a little more mobile.

I decided to eliminate the symbols and the actual Bass drum but I did come up with an Idea to purchase an electronic drum machine brain and I now put a second drumstick on my foot which extends backward and I made a Hi Hat in to a Low hat and I then put a sensor on it and which will fire off the bass drum sound when I hit it. It actually does sound tighter. The next I idea was just to run everything through the mixer and amp into one speaker. I am currently using a bass cab but I might see if I can find a powered speaker and elimnate the need for the amp. I do like the idea of it being a bass rig since I am running a bass drum and bass gutiar through it. Maybe I will just add a horn tweeter and see how that works for small settings. I am thinking of looking for a gig here or there but am not that organized yet.

Besides that you will have to go buy a newspaper or something cause that is all I got.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Austin Wonderland Limits

My sincerest digitized greetings to you all and thanks for stopping back in.

Last night I went over to the "spot" on 18th street. It would fit into the "dive" category as far as venues/bars go but that is how I like em. Even though I had a diet coke and then a glass of water, I like the honest feel of a local beer joint with live music. The Blue Flash band was playing and it was Beverly's birthday. She is a friend of the band and the girlfriend of one of the crew. I was invited to play a couple of tunes so I had brought my guitar along. Lately I have been playing my Epiphone SG. It is a white one with a set neck. That means the neck is glued and not bolted to the body of the guitar. It is also different in that there is a cut out in the body for the wood to slide into as opposed to a neck that just flatly bolts on like a stratocaster. There is a distinctly different sound. In the old days, Epiphones and Gibsons were made at the same factory and I have heard that in some cases, the only difference is the label. Nowadays, The epiphones are the import models that are made to specs in this case in China. I know I could go and spend about 800 or a thousand dollars more and get an official Gibson but this one sounds just fine to me so until I can afford one of those I will stay content with this one. Besides I like the guitar. Blue Flash was in excellent form and Marty J was looking like he was doing well. They have a new drummer that I don't know but he is very good. I started out the second set with the band and played 3 songs. Then a guy named Leonard Low Down Brown came up and played for a while then back to the Blue Flash lin-up with greg, ron, and Marty. I really enjoy listening to live music so it was a good night for me.

Tonight I decided to mow the back yard before it got too dark. I took a look at garden number 2 and there was a ripe canteloupe just sitting there. It was in the garden but it wasn't hooked onto a vine. I guess when they get ripe they just come loose. I also wondered if maybe someone hadn't gone to the grocery store as part of some elaborate hoax but this don't look like no grocery store cantaloupe. Maybe I will take a picture of it and add it later. I also found another squash. I was glad to see it since I thought I had harvested the last of the yellow squash. Over in Garden number one I found there were quite a few ripe cherrytomatoes and some more cucumbers alos. I also found one cucumber that I had missed and it is huge. I just decided to leave it and maybe see if it gets bigger. It is too big to eat now anyway. I am going to use it to see if the seeds from it can be used next year.

After all that I decied to click around the TV and got caught up watching one of those "48 hours mysteries" about a dude who was appealing his conviction. I don't want to ruin the ending but he was not guilty. After that I clicked over to PBS to see who was on Austin City Limits and it was Carolyn Wonderland. I had missed the original broadcast so I fired up the DVR. The first half of the show was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I had never seen Sharon before (pictured above left) but she is very entertaining. Carolyn is orignally from Houston and she has grown from being Houston's favorite to becoming a Texas favorite and now she is even bigger than that. I first became aware of her from seeing her at the Shakespeare Pub Blues Jams from time to time back about 8 to 5 years back. She would stop by ocasionally and it was always a memorable event for me. The first time I saw her play I was an instant fan. The times I saw her at the Shakespear Pub she mostly played blues. She is a hell of a blues Singer and guitar player both. One time I had my amp on the stage at the blues jam and when it was her turn she plugged into it. It is the same amp that Little Joe Washington and Ozell have played through also. Little Joe and Ozell have both played my gutiar also. Little Joe always was borring guitars and one time Ozell was there getting ready to play after me and since I was all set up I just handed him my guitar and he took over. It made me realize tha my rig at the time was just fine. He was a hell of a player and I realized I needed to focus on playing and not buying new amps. The amp I am talking about is a 70s Silverface Twin Reverb (fender) that I bought at a pawn shop sometime around 1994 or thereabouts. I now usually play through a blues Junior since the Twin Reverb it a 100 watt amp and it is pretty loud and heavier to carry. But back to Carolyn Wonderland. She did a short interview after the show and did talk about being from Houston which was cool since alot of people in Houston are proud she is from around here. It was also very relaxing to get to watch some good music in my own living room. It was one of the best Austin City Limits episodes in a long time.

dropping names & false claims

I never liked it when people who play music list all the people that they have "shared the stage" with. It is even worse when the person they "shared the stage" with has passed on. So what? Does that mean that person endoreses your music?

This past weekend I had a few days off so I decided to get out and about and see some live music. My friend Greg from the blue flash band was hired to play with a band Saturday night at the Last Concert Cafe which is basially an outdoors venue. The place has been around for a long time and is located on the outskirts of downtown Houston on nance street. There is a mexican restaurant and then a large outdoor area with sand, hoola hoops, picnic tables and a nice stage and sound system.

After I happened onto a really good parking space, I parked and entered the establishment and paid the cover charge. As I walked in I saw a guy that I recongnized named Mark May. He is a local guitar player that auditioned with the Allman brothers and also toured with them as an opening act. He doesn't know me so when he walked by I didn't bother him. The entrance takes you straight to the bar which is indoors along with some restaruant tables. I then went on "in" to the outside patio area and found my friends that I was meeting up there. They were sitting at a table and I went around and greeted everyone. There was also a lady that I didn't recognize so I introduced myself and told her my name was Marc. She said it is so nice to meet you and she gave me a hug. I was looking at my friends while she gave me the hug and I am sure I had a puzzled look on my face. She then asked me if I was going to play "call on the blues" so then I knew she thought I was Mark May. I told her that I was a different "Mark" and it didn't seem to upset her too much.

Later on I saw Mark May sitting at a table so I walked on over and asked him if Paul Ramirez was there. He is a guitar player that I know from several years back when he was in the 420 band. They hosted Jam sessions and also hung out at some of the blues jams. Mark told me that Paul was not there and I told him the story about the lady hugging me and told him that I know what it is like to be Rock Star. It turned out that the lady was there with her husband who was the sound man and knew Mark May was going to be there but I left that out to make the story sound better. After that I left Mark May alone. He doesn't know me and I didn't want to bother him. He was there to sit in with the band greg (from blue flash) was playing with and when he did play, He just plugged in and it seemed like he was already warmed up. I didn't reallyl stay all that long because I didn't want to be driving when the bars closed and the drunks were out so I headed on home about about midnight.


On Sunday I still had some energy left so I headed over the Sunday night blues jam at the Shakespear Pub. I got there early so I could catch the house band. They started at about 9. There was a guy named John McVey sitting in. He plays gigs there and is a club favorite. He is an Austin Blues player that moved to houston and is a local favorite who is very good. The band sounded great but the crowd was kind of small being that it was the end of a 3 day weekend. There were no other "jammers" there so I signed the jam list. I was the first "jammer" so I played after the house band. I have seen John McVey play several times and met him before but he meets alot of fans so I assumed he wouldn't have a clue who I was. He left his guitar and amp on the stage so I said hello to him and told him that he was welcome to sit in on my set if he wanted to. It was me, Spare Time Murray on bass, And Dave Corbett on drums. Both from the house band and a solid blues rhythm section. I played my first tune and there were about 5 or 6 poeple in the bar and John McVey came on up and plugged back in. He sat in for a couple of songs and it was very cool. I told him afterwards that I really appreciated it and I think could tell I was sincere. I also jokingly told him that I was going to call the newspaper and update my website and say that I "shared the stage" with John McVey.

I don't know the moral of the story. Maybe I just wanted to let you know how humble and honest I am. The truth is that if you like live blues you will probably enjoy catching a love show with either Mark May or John McVey. Mark May is a little more rock oriented but he can play the blues and will not let you down. John McVey is usually described as Texas Blues and a favorite of mine.

Now I think it is time for a nap.

Nite nite.

People for the ethical treatment of salads

I was in HEB, my favorite local grocery store, on Friday. It was crowded because everybody was buying stuff for the holiday weekend. I decided that since it has been so hot for so many days straight that I didn't feel like cooking outdoors and went with a plan to do fried chicken. I bought some drumsticks and chicken breasts and also some cooking oil. Last time I fried chicken I used corn oil because of the temperature chart on the back of the container. It really didn't come out all that great and I do think the oil was the reason. It wasn't bad, just not great. This time I went with Wesson "best blend" which was on sale for 2.49 for a large bottle. I was on the same aisle looking for the best type of flour. They had some mixes for frying chicken but I don't like those since they all have loads of sodium. I went ahead and got some store brand all purpose flour. The flour I had been using is labled "bread" flour. I was still looking around and a dude came shopping along who works at the store but was off duty. He is the guy who works a in the area between produce and the meat and fish sections. He will cook free samples and then promote a special using those samples. I generally don't eat the free samples but I have watched several of his presentations and he seems to know how to cook. I said hello and told him I recognized him from his job and then asked him if he could give me any tips on what to use to fry chicken. He said the flour I selected was the best way to go but he said a good trick was to put the spices on the chicken itself before you put it in the flour. He said to use an "egg wash" and I didn't question him at the time but I assumed he was talking about milk and egg. I prepared the chicken the way he said but I wasn't sure if I should have put the spices on first and then dipped it in the milk and egg or aftarwards. I decided to dip it first, then the spices, then the flour. Usually I haven't been using milk and eggs but just washing the chicken in water and then going straight to the spiced flour. I also used two skillets to cut the cooking time. It did come out well and I will probably do it pretty much the same way next time. I might try some with out the milk and egg just to compare. I might also try double dipping to see how that comes out also.


The salad in the picture above is all from the Garden. I had hoped to be able to eat a 100% actual garden salad and some tomatoes did ripen up in time so I had the cucumbers, leaf lettuce and tomatoes. I ended up cutting the cherry tomatoes in half and using a balsamic vinegarette dressing. I am a humble person but it was very good. We had a little cold fried chicken, a good sized salad, and some bread I bought HEB in the bakery section. If you are jealous of me right now it probably won't be a sin.

Hey PETA, What about misquitos?

First of all, If you are from my Homeowners Association, My front yard looks fine. I just have had a bout with allergies and am holding off on mowing the back until I get past that.

Above are some pictures I took today. I am starting to get some watermellons. As you can see in relation to the blades of grass, they are pretty small right now but I am still excited about the thought of fresh watermelons. I am going to keep my fingers crossed.

I had planted some additional green bean plants and harvested some today along with the squash. I am planning on cooking them in the same pan with garlic and onions. I think the beans will take a little more cooking so I will add the squash last.

Also, You can see that the tomato plants have gotten pretty big and there are starting to fruit also but nothing has turned red yet.

If I do plant again next year, I am going to plant everything that worked this year and try some new stuff also. I will also pay more attention to the spacing and location of plants. I will do the lettuce again but only in pots since that is where I am having the best luck. I tried transplanting some from the garden into pots yesterday and I am hoping that they will take.

There was a misquito biting me on my leg today and I swatted it. I know PETA got mad at President Obama for killing the fly but I hope they cut me some slack since the misquito bit me first. It was self defense so I hope they don't picket in front of my house. If they do maybe I can bribe them with fresh fruits and vegetables.

I won't tell them about the chicken that I am thawing out. It was already dead when I put it in the freezer but I don't think they will approve. I am going to use the large stainless steel skillet and cook the chicken on top of brown rice with spices, chopped onions, garlic, and whatever else I find in to throw in there. Maybe some carrots but I am not sure. I think I have told you enough about that so don't ask me any more questions.

Gday Mates!

The Bad Guys Win

The Lakers are a good team and Kobe is a very good player but I still don't care for em. I liked Shaq but he was humble. I think it takes a certain amount of humility to be as good as Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan. Sure there has to be natural talent and a huge competetive drive. Kobe has both of those. He is a pure shooter and he can also drive to the hoop and on top of that he is an excellent defensive player. I still would not consider him the number one pick for my team and I wouldn't hire Phil Jackson either. Congratulations Assholes. You too Jack Nicholson. Good for you. You goofy bastard.

Ive fallen and and I cant get up

I thought I was all ready for the switchover from anolog to digital. I had even passed the test when they did it on the news. They said if you can see the broadcast now you are ready. I had sent off for the coupon for the converter box but since I passed the test, I did not buy one. I think I even posted about that here. When the official switch happened the o ther day I could still get a few channels but about half of them would not come through. I guess I was getting the channels that were being transmitted in digital but not high definition.


I had several choices. One is to get cable TV or buy a new TV or maybe buy a DVD recorder that would convert the signal, Or do what I did and just head over to my friendly Neighborhood Walmart and buy a converter box. It took me a while to get over the fact that my coupons had expired and I didn't want to wait on the federal government so I just paid full price which is about $49.

I felt kind of embarrased walking through the store with the Converter box. I was worried that someone would see me and I would have to explain that I don't have cable TV or an up to date TV. I did make it out of the store safely and I got everything all hooked up and I am able to use my existing DVR which is set up to take in an analog signal.

Garden Salad Surgery

The Squash in the picture (above) is about ready to harvest. I planted two varieties and this one is called "Early Golden Crookneck. There are some of the other variety, "Early Summer Straigtneck" that are growing also.

Overall the garden is getting tangled and I need to do some work. I put the metal posts in last week but the plants are not gravitating towards them so I guess I will actually have to do some work. The Tomatoes need some support now so I am probably going to have to figure something out.

Hopefully I will get a chance to work on it tomorrow but today I was to lazy, I mean busy.

Oh yeah, The lettuce in the containers seems to do a little better than the ones in the ground but I will have to wait and see. No sign of any cucumbers or tomatoes yet. I was hoping to make a salad. We will see how it goes.

Nice People don't tell kids about Santa Clause

Speaking of "Nice People", Today I was getting off the freeway and needed to get over 3 lanes to take a right turn and there was a lady who actually slowed down and let me over. I know it is the law to yield to vehicles coming off the freeway but it isn't something that drivers in Houston usually do. Thanks Lady.

The other night I was clicking around on the Color TV set and there wasn't much on and I got stuck watching a show I don't even like. I don't like the idea of giving away magic tricks. It is much more entertaining to watch the trick and be mystified.

On this particlular episode they kept doing teasers showing how to make a street car vanish before your eyes. When they finally got to the end of the show and showed how it was done, They showed the trick and then went into the part of how it is done. The announcer for the show then says that this trick can only be done on TV and it only works becuase they point the camera at the front of the curtain over the bus while they drive the bus off of the set out of the camera's view. What a lame show.

I haven't had time to really work in the Garden too much lately but I am surprised to see that the lettuce is coming back and the spinich is now pretty much wiped out. Everything else is growing fine and at a pretty good pace. I am not seeing any squash or tomatoes yet but the plants seem to be growing pretty well. I will have to add some stakes pretty soon and I will probably plant (or transplant) something else where the spinache was unless it comes back. I don't know anything about growing spinnach or lettuce but I do like the idea of being able to make a real garden salad.

Harvest & Tamales

First of all, Happy Mothers Day and to all the rest of you I will say Happy Others Day.

I was watering the garden the other day and I noticed that those little things that were hanging from the Bean plants were actually green beans. I took a look at the seed package today and it said to pick early and often to promote growth so I harvested the green beans pictured above and also planted a few more seeds since the instructions on the seed package said to plant more every couple of weeks.

The Picture above is from Garden#2 which is the watermelons, squash and Cantalope. The taller plants are the Squash and It looks like I will have to figure out how to keep them from covering up the other plants. I did take some shots of the other garden but it wasn't in my camera when I uploaded so I don't know what happened.

The harvest was not huge but it worked out just fine since I had some tamales that my Aunt Lou had sent via my mom from California. She makes the best tamales I have ever tasted. I also had cooked some chicken and vegetables in the Crock Pot the other night so it worked out great.

I cooked them in Olive Oil with Garlic and as you can see from the photo, plenty of onion.

What else do you need to know?

Oh yeah, It was good to see the Houston Rockets beat the Lakers even though Yao Ming was out. The Lakers are definitely a good team but the seem sort of un-humble to me and I guess that is why it make the game more fun to watch. I will admit that if Kobe was a Houston Rocket, I would probably have no problem with his attitude.

I will get back soon with a report on the missing garden photos and I do apologize to keep you waiting. I know how important it is to you and I hope it doesn't cause you too much grief.

Good Night.