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Anatomy Of A Damn Fine Weekend (Even When It Finally Rains).
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Anatomy Of A Damn Fine Weekend (Even When It Finally Rains). Now, this weekend was the opening of the deer hunting season in the Coastal Range close to where I live. And the plan was to drive to Tillamook after my youngest ’s soccer match on Friday night and head out hunting very early Saturday morning onto a friend of mine’s farm. But once my hunting buddy got down there Friday morning, and took a look around, he decided that it looked more like 1890’s Dodge City and that it might be wise to wait for one or two weeks. He said that he felt safer when he was on patrol in Kandahar Province than he did in Tillamook. He got in his truck and drove back to Portland. ********************************************************************************************************************************** So what to do? ********************************************************************************************************************************** Friday evening was already planned out as I was going to be on the bench coaching my youngest ’s high school team. She is back playing after missing almost three weeks with a serious eye injury. The team won to stay undefeated and keep their lofty ranking. The entire team decided to go and trash one of the local pizza parlors in celebration (and I thought that a girls' team would not be as “exuberant” as the men’s teams that I played on: but I was wrong (and they weren’t even fueled by Guiness)). ********************************************************************************************************************************** So that was Friday evening out of the way: but what about Saturday? ********************************************************************************************************************************** I was bound and determined not to do any work: no working from home, nor going into the plant, nor was there to be house cleaning or laundry or errands. This was taken care of by both of my daughters and my oldest ’s boyfriend showing up at 8:30 bearing gifts and planning on watching Blackburn play Man U on FSC. They also showed up with strawberries, yoghurt and honey so that I could make smoothies for everyone. Although, given that it was a game out of the industrial north in England and that it was pissing down with rain both there and here, bacon and egg sandwiches would have been much more appropriate or even pie and Bovril. The game finished about 11:30 and was immediately followed by a game of “Wot’s On My IPod” as the four of us sat and played the new music we are listening too. And we swapped some music too. I had the new Judas Priest that my youngest wanted and she had a new artist for me to send to _Saf called Emilie Autumn who she is really into. The oldest had the new Kings of Leon and an old Talking Heads that I wanted and her boyfriend brought out music by Blitzen Trapper that was really good. I had a Mott the Hoople that he wanted and I had also found some Mercury Rev that I had downloaded and which is amazingly good (and on its way to _Saf)that they all wanted. ********************************************************************************************************************************** So all in all, it was a fine morning. ********************************************************************************************************************************** The stayed until mid-afternoon and then I went and took one of those nap things for several hours (the best kind of nap wher you end up drooling on the pillow) and followed that up with a long hot bath and read my book. I then cooked a really nice wintery dinner of toad-in-the-hole, brussel sprouts, carrots, broccoli and (of course) gravy. (You lose your English license if you do not put gravy on Yorkshire pudding.) I did sit (rather lay on the floor) and watch Iron Man last night and it was surprisingly good. I had heard a lot of good things about it, but then again, there are many movies that I hear good things about that seemingly become total shit when viewed on my TV: perhaps there is a crap converter in my DVD player that makes them become that way? So that was Saturday put to bed (in more ways than one)in a most restful fashion ‒ hell, I even stayed up until 11pm. Is that not hedonistic of me? ********************************************************************************************************************************** One down, one to go ********************************************************************************************************************************** The rain had really started to fall too late in the week for me to go salmon fishing on Sunday, plus there was that small matter of drunks with guns shooting Bambi, Bambi’s father and anything that remotely looked like a deer, or for that matter anything that doesn’t even fucking resemble a deer and is wearing a bright orange vest and Elmer Fudd hat (that would be me). For those not of the Pacific Northwest variety, the salmon mass in the coastal bays waiting for the first autumn storms to bring fresh water down from the rivers and trigger their sense of where they need to return to spawn. Usually, I am about 15 miles upstream waiting for them to go for my gold spinner or egg and shrimp combo. ********************************************************************************************************************************** But I digress. ********************************************************************************************************************************** I slept in until 7 o’clock and again promised myself not to work on any projects or check work e-mail. I headed out in the rain and walked up to the local purveyor of extremely overpriced beverages served by teenagers with muliple piercings. I love the rain. Even now, my patio door is open and I am listening to the rain hitting the leaves in the woods behind my place. I picked up a few groceries while I was out and decided that since it was fall, I would make a big pot of chili for dinner. So while Manchester City played Liverpool, I made a Texas style chili with lots of meat and onions and serranos (the habaneros did look tempting): and no beans. The beef was browned and then put in my slow cooker. The onion was sautéed and then the serrano peppers were chopped really fine (and the seeds were kept with the peppers) and added along with some cumin. I deglazed with some red wine and after that had thickened it was all added to the beef in the crock pot. I added a beer, beef broth and a little vinegar. I also added some chili powder (given to me by a wise old Mexican grandma who also warned me that it “was not for white peoples”), and some oregano. And then it was left to cook slowly and thicken for six hours. ********************************************************************************************************************************** Two hours killed: fourteen to go. ********************************************************************************************************************************** My oldest called to let me know that her women’s soccer team in Portland’s Premier Division was playing at home and I could go and watch her play. She signed for the Local Sports Apparel and Sweatshop Operating Mega-Conglomerate and they were playing just down the street from me. As much as I love the rain, at 45 years of age, it is no longer so much fun to stand and watch a game as it used to be, nor is it as much fun to watch in the rain as it was to play in the rain (and field turf has taken away the best part of playing in the rain ‒ the bone crushing, wake forming, slide tackle in the mud). Since I was on a mission to achieve absolutely nothing this weekend, standing around in<b> waterproof </font></b>pants with hands in pockets sounded pretty good. The only mistake that I made was that my<b> waterproof </font></b>gear is made by a German Sports Apparel and Sweatshop Operating Mega-Conglomerate rather than the local outfit. There were some uncomfortable moments when I went on to the local giant’s campus for the game. But the lady who runs the team (and is a good friend) gave me a new set of<b> waterproof </font></b>gear for free so it was all worthwhile. Plus, my played about half the game and scored a goal so that was an added bonus. I also wandered down to the local hobby shop and spend some of my birthday money on the new Space Marine Codex and this month’s White Dwarf (can you say geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek). There was also a stop at the library for some books and cds as well. ********************************************************************************************************************************** Half way through the day. ********************************************************************************************************************************** By 2pm, I was home and showered. The waterproofs might be exactly that, but what I was wearing underneath wasn’t and the rain was so heavy that it found its way in anyway and everything inside was soaked (and cold and chilled and puckered. Like I said, it isn’t so much fun as it used to be. The chili was in fine form and had that rich, red brown color that defines good chili. I added some gravy powder to thicken the broth (and a little extra chili powder) and left it to slow cook some more while I watched a crappy, but good, movie (Hitman) and a crappy, really crappy, movie (10,000 BC). At the same time, I also decided to work on painting those Possessed Chaos and Bloodletter figures that I received for my birthday. I fought the urge to take a nap. I didn’t have an urge to check into my work e-mail: it’ll still be there in the morning. The chili was excellent and spicy and filling. I had it over rice with some cilantro and onion and cheddar topping it. And of course a glass of the French merlot that I found in the closeout bin at the grocery store went down well with it. Somewhere in France, a master wine maker is having bed sweats and night terrors about that. And now I am watching The Simpsons and I have taken my sleeping pill so the weekend is drawing to a close. But on the whole, it has been the most satisfying of weekends. A couple of minor stumbles along the way though: Spurs lost once again, and are the worst team in the Premiership. I did not make it out hunting which I had my heart set on (and I have such a good beard going too). ********************************************************************************************************************************** And so let us review: ********************************************************************************************************************************** Work.........................No.......................A+ Housework...............Dishes only.........B Eat Well...................Comfort Food......B Human Interaction....Family only..........A Watch Movies...........Yes.....................A Watch 10,000BC......Yes.....................F Nap...........................Saturday.............B Masturbation.............No.......................F Paint soldiers............Yes.....................C+ Not enough got done Watch soccer...........Yes.....................A+ 2 on tv, 2 live Human Interaction.....Just family.........A ********************************************************************************************************************************** So I am going to score this weekend high on the sliding scale of satisfaction (other than self satisfaction which I just didn’t have time to accomplish) and hopefully, heading into the winter I will be able to repeat this ad nauseum over the next few months. And I am still planning on hunting next weekend (or salmon fishing): or both. After all, I have that case of ammo to use.  |
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Wait, aren't you supposed to catch the salmon after they spawn? Have tongue, will use it. Repeatedly.
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Wait, aren't you supposed to catch the salmon after they spawn? You definitely do not want any part of a spawned out salmon. Usually they die after spawning and before that, they turn bright red and the meat is vile tasting. The fish that I keep are hatchery stock. It is a huge fine to be caught with a native salmon or steelhead. F
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Good evening, NaturalWomyn, I used stewing beef this time around. My meat of choice is elk; but that season does not open for another month. I will also use venison if I have any handy. Ground beef also works quite well in my chili.
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10/7/2008 1:01 pm |
Sounds like a perfectly heavenly weekend, Fallic.  (I think elk makes THE best stew...very lean, and soooo tender when it cooks all day!) I was able to watch child #3's football game in relatively "nice" weather (ie only a few sprinkles, but LOTS of wind!) We had clam chowder for dinner...one of our favorite fall-ish/winter-ish meals.  "All you'll get from strangers is surface pleasantry or indifference. Only someone who loves you will criticize you." - Judith Crist, crack film critic
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I agree with you on your critiquing of the movies. The scale is passable. I, too, did not check my work email this weekend -- the entire weekend. And I had to check my phone to see if we actually did not speak to one another on Friday, as I know we missed our typical Sunday chat.  And I didn't eat dinner tonight ... which means, of course, NOW I want your fecking chili. *booger* Love you! *hugs* /  This is my blog - [blog _Safira]. There are many like it, but this one is mine. RECOMMENDED READING: A F F The Only Site For Me
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