HELP! SOMEONE'S STEALING MY JOB!!

Crazy times.  Every day a new "shoot from the hip", message of hate from the oval office. No education, no research, no intelligence or common sense involved- just sign whatever order his clueless or corrupt buddies put in front of him.  As the Trumpet blares about building a stupid expensive wall that people will merely go over or under, here's the facts.  Illegal immigrants do not get social security. They do not get automatic medical coverage. The only medical care they get is if they show up at the hospital in extreme condition or deliver a baby. The baby thing is a problem I will admit.  Though people in desperate conditions will risk everything to give their children a  chance.  Maybe not right, but understandable, but this is America for Americans right?

These facts (real facts not alternative truths) can be found very simply by googling it. Numerous articles and statements from government agencies confirm them.  If the "trolls" would troll something besides facebook they can found out the facts for themselves.  Of course that would require the ability to read and (I will speak slowly) u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d what was read.  Ouch you have to do more than research "facts" that support your "opinions".....

More facts.  Unless your dream is to pick cotton and vegetables and live under horrible conditions or clean houses for the Masta for little pay, no illegal has taken your job from you.  And secondly, if you hold a PhD in Engineering or Chemistry there is a job for you.  Business imports immigrants because there are not enough Americans with these advanced degrees.  Sucks to be you right?

Oh yeah and Trumpeter has admitted that the taxpayer is paying for the wall but Mexico will "absolutely" (his quotes not mine) pay for it one way or another.  If it wasn't so pathetically sad, I would be laughing. 

Now Tweeter-in Chief has claimed that "millions" voted fraudulently.  Would that include his nominee for Treasury who is registered to vote in two States, huh?  Go ahead let's have a re-vote and see how you do. Bring it on.

PRESS TWO FOR AMERICA

I am trying, I really am. I forced myself to watch the latest "circus" with the President-elect at his first news conference. It was in turns hilarious, depressing, ridiculous, disrespectful, hollow and scary.  When is this television celebrity going to realize he is the President of these United States?  The most important job in the world is reduced to Clown-in Chief Donald Trump.  Does he not understand that every word he utters is taken as the position of this great country? 

Twittering at 3 am, (well old people do not sleep through the night anyway) about a movie star's opinion? Attacking every negative or what he considers negative comment that is made?  He actually had the nerve to condemn the very unflattering news about his "possible" "alleged" ties to Russia as the acts of a Nazi Germany.  Uh, your actions as prospective President more closely resemble the unilateral rule of a dictatorship squashing every dissenting word or opinion. Wouldn't the classier thing to do, rather than condemning your own intelligence service and the media, is just quietly indicate the reports are false and move on?  When you fight, harass and punish every item you don't agree with, you only fan the flames and make us wonder if it really is true? "Methinks he protests too much?"  We can figure out the truth if you just downplay it you horse's ass.

Puts a tax attorney up to describe how he is going to be hands off of his business interests handing it over to his sons.  At the same time, mind you, that he anoints (yes anoints, he thinks he is a king) his son-in-law as his senior advisor. Duhh we will never discuss business. Then he has the unmitigated gall to admit publicly that he could easily run the entire country and his business at the same time!  This from a guy who's gone bankrupt five or six times. I did not realize the job of President was anything less than a 24/7 job.  Which days were you going to work on "our" business or were you just going to telecommute once in a while.

Also I am no intelligence or international affairs expert, but I rather think downplaying your own intelligence community's worth and recalling all your diplomats would leave the United States in a vulnerable position worldwide.  Our agents who have sacrificed their lives to protecting our citizens will be ignored or dismissed when they take risks to deliver important information.  Our citizens overseas will have no protections if they need embassy assistance in difficult situations.  The smallest damage I can imagine will be the US becoming the laughing stock of the world based on an amateur's handling of these important and sensitive issues.

Rule Number One-- Keep your stupid mouth shut. Watching you mangle simple words and calling legitimate press nasty names does little to render respect. You look and act like a fool every time you open your mouth and indicate your ignorance on important issues. Rule Number Two --quit making grandiose statements about what you will do and how great you and everything you do are; you do not even know how things work yet and just saying them, doesn't make it so. Rule Number Three -- quit running a campaign for office. You won it, show a little gratitude and humility.  Rule Number Four -- take a lesson from your betters; listen more than you speak. You are final authority so allow those in the know (who've put in the time) to educate you before you form an opinion. Making pronouncements before you know it is feasible just makes you look ignorant and will force you to lie even more to explain failure.

 I guess this is where we learn how to keep apologizing to the world, a world that has always looked to us as the leader in human rights and opportunity.  This country will survive if we keep holding this person accountable.  A strong press must be supported and we can never stop protesting what we know is wrong. No, he is not my President. It's going to be a long four years...

HOLIDAY GAMES

Christmas dinner was at our house as usual.  A bit larger crowd this year as new "significant others" with offspring were included as well as "other" offspring who were available.  Of course that causes us to roughly double the amount of food intended for dinner with two solid weeks of left-over casseroles, potpies, sandwiches, etc, etc etc.  The amount of food is not determined by the number of people - the only measurement is roughly "more food than we could possibly eat if we invited the entire Mormon tabernacle choir" which, come to think of it, would have certainly added to my Pandora-sourced Christmas music.

A raucous game of naughty questions was going on in one room; football in another and appetizers, candy, dinner items and desserts were liberally sprinkled throughout the house. Secret Santa was down to seven participants so less insulting than usual.  I still think my contribution of the alpaca wool socks was an inspired offering.  Again I captured a giant bottle of booze - rum this year, vodka the last. Some kind of pattern apparently though it serves as a backdrop to the 100 bottles of wine we have in the bar. 

The day always starts celebrating with our little family of daughter, S-I-L and grandson before the rest of the party arrives in the afternoon.  Joseph was forced to revert to his "count to ten" tactic when the number of wrapped packages caught his attention when he arrived causing unbelievable heights of excitement.  He proved extremely helpful by unwrapping his gifts, his Mom and Dad's gifts and Grandpa and Nana's.  But he is an excellent "recipient" as well examining each offering and asking how it works before going on to the next.

One highlight for me was when Joseph was forced into a debate between a practicing veterinarian and practicing psychologist in identifying the different dinosaurs in the tube of dinosaurs he got from Grandpa.  He listened patiently as the others identified the various types as he is used to most people getting them wrong.  They even argued with him about the name of one and said there was no such dinosaur. Joseph just kindly pointed out their error, which they did not accept, but sorry, Joe knows his dinosaurs. Yep these professionals were arguing with a 4 year old and he was beating them!  LOL

WHO'S IN THE KITCHEN & WILL WE SURVIVE?

What is it about holidays that brings out the "best of times and the worst of times".  Great to see family and enjoy a great meal and fun activities.  Followed by the often inevitable attack of the bugs. Winter in close quarters allows people to mingle and share all the germy little creatures that we are blessed with.  As with all traditions, we share more than just fellowship and food.  Garden and patio parties are much healthier as we can cough, sneeze and spit into the healthy outdoors. Just as the buggies seek warmer places to snuggle during the winter so do people. Close quarters allow things to grow and fester.  Ewww.  And little people are great transporters. They're kind of like two sided tape by both carrying and catching whatever is nearby.

I am usually the first casualty which if it gets bad enough I get over my guilt at skipping my "intense" exercise routine.  Then Burt falls victim - though he blames me.  A couple of days of drugs and I'm good. However,,,,, his becomes entrenched in his chest leading to extreme bouts of coughing, gagging, blowing... well you get the picture.  At any rate even I cannot expect him to continue the cooking chores - for my own protection - and really he is pretty sick. 

Ok - I can cook, I think but I'm not big on planning.  Consequently I have become the Queen of casseroles. Several cookbooks are consulted and then I decide if I have the necessary ingredients on hand. Of course not, so I improvise.  Chicken stock instead of chicken broth is probably the mildest infraction.  Ok and pie crust instead of crescent rolls for the lattice top - it's the same thing right? Some of my other substitutions could be lethal but in small doses are ok. Or leaving stuff out of the recipe shouldn't make that much of a difference right?  Then when I presented my latest presentation he confesses he can't taste anything anyway.  Hmmm. To test this theory I made a Mexican style meatloaf loaded with salsa, picante and a whole can of green chiles.  Couldn't taste a thing but he did compliment me on the nice firmness of the loaf (his meatloaf usually) falls apart. Of course he doesn't know I was using the meat thermometer on Celsius which read 98 degrees and I needed 160 Fahrenheit so technically the meat was over 200 degrees.  Damn straight it held together.  Actually I don't think it tasted too bad.

At any rate, I hope he gets better soon.
. 

THANKSGIVING MEMORIES

Thanksgiving was a little different this year as we did not make our usual madcap dash to the northern reaches of Michigan on Thanksgiving morning. We had this annual trek down and usually traveled up Thursday morning in plenty of time to make the annual food fest. My two issues in winter - bad roads and darkness. Watching the weather reports dictates a Wednesday night departure or Thursday am.  Light wins. Often we would return the following day as our Saturday bowling league rarely enjoyed a holiday respite.

There were some harrowing trips Wednesday evening, Thursday or Friday mornings as the weather in late November in Michigan is nothing short of unpredictable.  Nothing says family time than facing blowing snow directly in your face for four hours as you count on the tiny reflectors on the side of the road to keep you centered. Or the exciting trip after an ice storm where you swore the tires were coming off the car as we hit ridge after ridge of ice at a speed not conducive to rough roads. I still credit my death grip on the armrest that brought us safely through the storms. That and not letting our little buddy get nervous in the backseat that we were inches from death. Eventually the older generation started spending the winters in warmer climes and were anxious to hit the road before the really nasty weather struck. Hence Thanksgiving became our Christmas with the northern contingency.

We round robined at first with each family hosting at a restaurant offering a Thanksgiving buffet in their respective towns until it became difficult for some to travel. The last several years were in Rogers City, a town not known for its plethora of restaurant offerings. Thus it was possible to drive for four hours north and then another hour and a half to get to an open restaurant. Which to country folks is the norm actually. Things started to change as the youngest generation started to grow up and trips often included extra guests which turned into family or other commitments. The final couple of years included the first little great grandchild to add to the joy and Christmas gifts that we got to play with!

This year was different for a sad and difficult reason. The last Grandma passed away the previous November so that generation is officially gone. It's time to start new traditions and be open to different realities.  We enjoyed our meal with our own little family - daughter, son-in-law and grandson at our house, using the dining room actually. We tend to be kitchen counter, small kitchen table people. The dining room allows me to use real china and all my fancy little serving pieces. Of course, someone always dumps a glass of water, etc. This year it was me.  Little Joe keeps us focused on the here and now and grateful for family no matter who is at the dinner table. New customs and growth are inevitable. Traditions change, laughter doesn't stop, life goes on, and that's how it should be.

FURTHER LEAFING/CHAPTER 2

Day Two began with a leisurely breakfast in the hotel (because there was a discount & I have no shame) before a conference call at 9. The early birds were already gone or not yet available. We were directed to a 4-person table this time so our odds of catering another party were lowered somewhat. I guess the Sault is just into giving people lots of room at their table, not at all bad. The window view of the park and river below through the morning fog was quite pleasant though I found myself more fascinated by a crew of two who were wet mopping, not kidding, the floor to ceiling windows with a long telescoping sloppy mop right over the tables on the other side of the room. A hostess came along and was horrified they were cleaning windows right over the breakfast diners and quickly sent them packing.

Apologizing to us she said "I don't know what they were thinking washing windows over people's tables." To which I replied, "well it wasn't our table and I'm just happy to see two young people so hard at work." Made my day - nudge, nudge wink, wink. Now we both know they probably perform this task when people aren't in the dining room which may possibly be how the tables get washed with residual mop splatter.  Win-win!

Proceeded to my conference call in a room so small I think I hit my head on the ceiling when I walked around the bed. Anyway the desk chair was too short for the desk so I put the phone on speaker and just curled up and wrote with the pad snugged up against my knees. A position they frown upon in a real office so cool.

Back on the road on another non-typical warm UP day and headed to the Mac Bridge. Only boats to be seen were the air boat island hoppers to the Island. I stated that I had never stopped at the fort so we detoured under the bridge to the fort entrance. At a price of $11 apiece with no "senior" discount I contemplated how bad I really wanted to see the attraction.  I mean if you've seen one wooded palisade is another one that much different?  The docent was quite adamant that this was a fort among forts and a treat not to be missed, not to mention the scheduled firing of the muskets at 2:00.  Well not wanting to miss possible gunfire and mayhem I bought in. First stop was a history video which proceeded to tell me "well this isn't the original fort, and it's not really a fort at all but a place to exchange furs for trinkets and the walls were to keep undesirables out"- like coyotes and native Americans apparently.  The original structure was torn down to use the wood elsewhere (side note- there is a ton of wood in Northern Michigan so I guess the appeal is it's already cut and ready) and the original buildings were found buried in the sand. Huh.  Possibly if I had seen the video before paying the fee I might have passed.

Anyway to get my steps in for the day, I toured. There were people dressed in vintage palisade wear who I enjoyed tormenting by asking them questions about how they manage life in the 1700's with a cell phone sticking out of their homespun.  There was a mix of real people and mannequins which led to a hilarious moment when I commented on the odd sight of a mannequin who was bent over in the camp garden pulling weeds. Imagine my surprise and chagrin when the mannequin moved and turned out to be a live young woman. Ahem.  The gun show was interesting with two British soldiers sporting long guns appropriate for the times. One gave a fascinating lecture on the bayonet which did more to disrupt the American revolutionaries in a fight than the firing of the musket, which they claimed they could load and shoot 3 times in a minute.  However the thought of being pronged by two foot long sharp steelie things on the end of the musket bothered the Americans more than the possibility of being hit with a musket ball.  I agree. Another hilarious side note, as stated earlier the main audience for these midweek attractions are Baby Boomers who kept yelling for the soldier to "SPEAK UP"  LOL.

On to Traverse City another beautiful area on the water. Land of boats, white sands, blue water and a billion wineries (well give or take a few million).  All and all a pleasant place to linger. Sitting on the 45th parallel puts TC in line with the fabulous wine lands of France and Germany. They have the Gulf Stream, we have Lake Michigan-check and mate.  Asking my sis-in-law for dinner ideas we settled on a new Italian eatery located in, wait for it, a former mental hospital.  Well the grounds and buildings are quite spectacular, fitting for the area so maybe only the choicest mentally challenged called them home.  Perfect.

Dressed in a Tee Shirt that advertised my affinity for red wine and jeans we were asked if we had a reservation. First clue.  No, but they were able to accommodate us. We then commenced a long, long, long walk to the very last little room which was about a 10 by 10 furnished with two four-person tables, a tiny inaccessible window and stone walls.  ahhh, we are pretty much trapped back in what had to be a former patient room.  However, we did pass a fabulous wine cellar on the way in, so I'm good.  We were then greeted by the Waiter, the Assistant Waiter and the Table Clearer, for lack of a better description. Hmm second clue.  We peruse little copies of the day's selections that changes and is printed daily. Third clue - the menu was pretty much in Italian - oops.  But I did get the impression they were big on organ meats and other things that I would probably shoot down the garbage disposal rather than cooking and charging so much for them.  Little did I know I was flushing the expensive stuff down the drain.

Everything was ala carte of course with at least five courses constituting the meal which by my figuring should last approximately five hours.  Though table clearer kept popping in every two minutes to see if we had any dirty dishes to dispose of, so apparently my time estimate was way off. But if you're to spend $100+ for dinner, I am going to take my time.  Waiter A regaled us with the specials which for some reason were not listed on the daily bill of fare. Also from what I recall consisted of the loser of a recent bullfight or pig toss, I'm not really sure. I stuck with soup, salad and pasta with identifiable ingredients.  Really cool restaurant overall and fitting for the type of clientele that would normally frequent such a place.  News flash. People with money dress down 'cause if you can afford to eat there, you can wear any dang thing you want including tutus and sandals.  And that was just the guys.

Final day was in search of a famous, yet unknown apple that is only grown in this area. But as we didn't remember the name of it or where it was located we were rather at a disadvantage. Ended up hitting a couple of vineyards and collecting the special Rose that we went up there to purchase in the first place before heading home.

Oh BTW, looks like this week would have been perfect as the fickle leaves have started their annual showing.  Ah well when you get apples and grapes make cider and wine.

COLOR TOUR WOES

Day One of a spontaneous trip up North (as Michiganders speak), to review the fall color face lift enjoyed by our State.  Woefully the leaves are stubbornly retaining their chlorophyll gluttony and refusing to turn as quickly as usual. Every year is basically a crap shoot -- too much rain? cold nights? wind? Part of nature's little game of "catch me if you can" on fall leaf painting. Temperature is in the mid 70's.

However all is not lost, frequent pops of burnt orange (often fluorescent) were paramount as mile after mile of ROAD WORK signs were encountered. Occasionally the orange is punctuated by a few errant spots of yellow and green from the worker's safety vests.  I usually refer to them as targets considering the level of accidents that occur to road workers. One has to ponder why government budgets end in September with new money available October 1, Did it occur to anyone that perhaps road work would be better completed in, say, the warmer months? Immediately subjecting fragile new roadways to the punishment of winter does not seem to be a very good game plan. But I digress.

Ok, past Houghton Lake a few more Fall jacketed trees are starting to appear.  No doubt these are possibly dying foliage throwing a last shawl of brilliant color on before passing on. Could be the slowness of the technicolor show commencing or the angle of the light, but I have never seen the color of raspberry on so many colored leaves.  Or could it just be a trick of my sunglasses - the proverbial rose colored phenomenon?

After another 30 or 40 miles we will be crossing the Mighty Mac to the Upper Peninsula the land of whitewater waterfalls and chuckling chipmunks. Well at least I think they are chipmunks I hear as one traverses the off-road woodland paths to the aforementioned waterfalls. It is also the land of two mailboxes - one for warm weather and the second 10 feet higher to accommodate the massive piles of plowed snow that occur in the cooler months. A land where the motorcycles of summer are replaced with the rumbling excitement of the snowmobiles, with drivers and passengers often wearing the same protective gear as weather does tend to change quickly.

 Sault Ste Marie (the Soo) was uncharacteristically sheathed in warm weather and green trees. Most unusual for October. Remembering our adventures from our youth we eagerly checked into the downtown hotel and headed to the "Antlers" restaurant for dinner where one picked out their meat from a giant cooler for grilling and some brave souls would attempt the 5-pound hamburger. Although the masses of animal heads and body parts were still prominently displayed on walls and ceiling alas the meat locker was gone along with the front door and other illusions of grandeur that made the Antlers special.  Upon suggesting that changes had occurred since the last trip there to the youngish waiter who looked extremely blank or cautious as not to upset the customer it dawned on me - that was 40 years ago. Sigh. Things definitely get smaller as you get older.

After dinner I was treated to the numerous well-lit exotic places of food and fantasy that were bypassed in favor of the A-room with its dead animals on the walls and no obvious door. Perhaps the darkness and lack of front door should have been warning enough. Not that one in front; ok that one is chained, go to the rear past the motorcycle chained to some steps. In pouring rain no less. Finally finding the back door available ( oh that's why everyone parked back here) and then another labyrinth to a hostess who seated the two of us at a table for 8. Did we stumble on a party to be joined by others? Or are we dining European style where all are friends over food or lack of tables. Nope, just they know how many diners to expect on a rainy Wednesday evening so it just plain didn't matter!

Bottom line - I didn't recognize the old place.  Wasn't it bigger with a more elaborate menu? Dead animals still making camp on walls ceilings check. However I did discover "pontaine" which is apparently a Canadian delicacy that closely resembles cheesy fries.

Souvenir hunting in mind after dinner we discovered all sidewalks apparently roll up at 9 pm. Except for the fabulous restaurants and bars of course. I suppose it makes sense as the majority of people we saw on our impromptu road trip were boomer aged. So hunkering down with some wine or whiskey is probably the activity of choice after 9 pm. This is a college town so there was a variety of bars and saloons to choose from however.