WX and Puzzlement

We haven't said much about the weather o' late, mainly coz it's been rather fine with no extremes in any direction, and that would include wind.  That said, we did set a record yesterday:

I'm pretty proud o' myself in that I didn't fire up the AC yesterday.  Those sorts o' temperatures would have seen the AC running all day long were I still in ECMdP, no matter if the awning was down or not.  The new, improved, and Inmóvil casa is oriented in such a manner that it never receives full sun on the front of the building (the long side) and the verandah shades what sun that does fall on the exterior.  So... the combination of open windows, a shady exterior and ceiling fans made for a nice cool day.  I like that.

―:☺:―

I noticed sumthin' rather strange while in the shower this morning and it made me wonder...  Why is it the hair on my head... including my beard... has gone completely white silver and the hair in other places is still as red as it was when I was 20?  I'd illustrate the point but I wouldn't want my female readers to go into a swoon, nor would I want to induce feelings of anxiety or inadequacy in my gentleman readers.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

But, seriously... why is that? 

Heh

From the Usual Source...

I'd give 'em a lump o' coal.  No, wait... that's Christmas.  What I really mean is a resounding "Get OFF my lawn!"

Speakin' o' that... I'm wonderin' if I'll get any trick or treaters this year.  I had nary a one in the eight Halloweens I spent in Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park.  Zero.  Zip.  None.

Sparkles and the Lack Thereof

Yesterday was a sorta blah day for me, which is unusual for a Saturday in the Fall.  Saturdays in the Fall used to mean wall-to-wall, door-to-door football... or at least it's been that way for as long as I can remember.  This year?  I might have watched three games, total.  If that.  I dunno why but I can't seem to get enthused about the game this season... and it doesn't have much to do with the success (or lack thereof) of my favorite teams: ND has done about what I expected, Michigan was on a tear before yesterday, and Air Force managed to beat Navy, which is pretty much all that counts in that space.  Oh, yeah... there's Army... and the CinC's trophy, which should might be ours again this year.  That pretty much sums up my lack o' interest in the game.

That said, I did watch Michigan lose... and badly... in East Lansing yesterday.  Some elements o' my past cannot be denied and the rivalry game is one such.  Then I promptly fell asleep on the couch as OSU beat Texas, in Austin, and slept through that entire game.  So much for yesterday's football.

Speaking of elements of my past... it's been quite another story where the Beloved Wings are concerned.  I haven't missed a single game so far and the Wings have rewarded my dedication and loyalty by remaining unbeaten in this young season, going to a 4-0 start for the first time since '97-'98.  Those of us who are prone to staring into the dregs of our tea cup think the signs are good and there's hope that the 2011-2012 season will end up the same way as '97-'98... which is to say yet another parade down Woodward Avenue.  But last night was a near-run thang, what with the Wings having to engineer a come-from-behind victory (they were down 2-0 as late as the middle of the second period) and win it in the last few seconds of OT.  A "W" is a "W," innit?

―:☺:―

Yet another weird thing about my Return to Normal:  I always feel like I'm in a dish-washing detergent commercial when I empty the dishwasher, coz I'll stop and hold up a glass or three to the light and marvel at how they sparkle.  I mean that quite literally, the glasses simply gleam now.  My glasses were clean when I lived in ECMdP, but they didn't shine like they do now.  I've been wondering about that for days and weeks now but haven't arrived at a plausible answer, other than the wonders of a rinsing agent.  I suppose I'll just have to chalk that up to modern science; it's yet another example of "better living through chemistry."  That particular phrase used to have an entirely different meaning to me but we won't go there.

Dinner...

... was all that but no bag o' chips.  We didn't need a bag o' chips when we had this:

Out of the broiler

Dinner is served!

We got off to a rocky start this evening when we discovered our range isn't furnished with a broiler pan, the first such ever in my experience.  But that's OK, for we happened to know where a broiler pan was lurking, so we hastened over to ECMdP and retrieved it; crisis averted.  Everything after that was pretty much bid'niz as usual, and everything came together more or less on time and in the sequence desired.

We fixed enough for me and everyone who threatened in comments yesterday to drop by for dinner this evening.  But that's the normal state of affairs when you're cooking for one.  That's a Good Thing, though... tomorrow's dinner is just a matter of re-heating tonight's leftovers.  And we have a LOT of those.

Oh, yeah:  it was fucking GREAT!  And now it's time for After Dinner Whiskey Hour and some vintage Bowie.

It's Always SUMTHIN' XIII

This time it's in the "day late, dollar short" category... I got a phone call this morning from a very friendly lady at Golden Acres (no, not THAT lady) informing me (a) that I'd reached the top of their apartment list and would I like to make an appointment to swing by and (b) that they'd sent me a letter LAST WEEK that I failed to respond to.  Our conversation was brief but pleasant, wherein I explained I hadn't received her letter since the post office has been much less than efficient at forwarding my mail since I moved and that she should take me off her list, since I had moved, again.  "You've signed a lease, then?" she inquired and I replied in the affirmative.  So we were done.

That's that.  I could have been living in an apartment of equivalent size at literally half the cost had I not been so damned impatient.  I would have had to buy my own appliances but the ROI on that transaction would have been very quick in coming, my best guess being the appliances would have paid for themselves within a year or less.  But... I have the bennies of bein' a first-ever tenant in new construction and I'm not imposing on the gub'mint to subsidize my life any further than they already are, e.g., the Social Security and military pensions.  I think the latter is prolly the best aspect of this New Life as I know it.  I hope I feel that way next year when the rent goes up.

In the meantime... I think I need to go to the post office.  Again.

The Brain Works In Strange Ways

Well, mine does.  Blog-Bud Lou happened to mention today that she really liked the word "onomatopoeia" but there are precious few occasions when one can use it.  So the very FIRST thang that came to my mind?  This:

I swear to The Deity At Hand I hadn't heard that song in at LEAST 11 years (I have the album it's on, but said album is vacationing in Pennsylvania).  But Hey!  How many other songs are there where the chorus is a repeated "Onna, Onna, Onomatopoeia?"  None that I know of...

―:☺:―

In other BIG news... I'd mentioned in passing that I was gonna get a new teevee as my old one, while entirely adequate for the small space that was El Casa Móvil de Pennington,  was underwhelming in my new and larger digs. Like this:

Watching hockey on that tube was OK... but.  Underwhelming.  So it came to pass last evening that SN1 rang me up to tell me granddaughter Monique was downsizing and looking to get rid of her one-year old big-ass teevee at a VERY good price and would I be interested?  "Well, yes," sez I... "lemmee go look at it."  Cutting right to the chase, a little over an hour later Diego and I were drinking beer and watching the Red Wings dominate Vancouver on this monster:

It was Diego's very first hockey game and I may have made a convert.  As for me... watching hockey on a 53-inch 1080p HD teevee is almost as good as bein' there.  Really. 

The Day, So Far

We accomplished today what we meant to do yesterday, which is to say we cruised over to The Big(ger) City™ where we got The Green Hornet a bath, then rode on over to Cannon Airplane Patch where we picked up this month's meds, hit the Class VI Store for the customary and reasonable beer re-stockage, and topped it all off with a major commissary run.  We were back home around noonish, put the groceries away (how pleasant that was, and I kid thee NOT: storage, and lots of it!), retrieved a shipment of cigars from the mailbox and promptly adjourned to the verandah for to partake of a Partagas Black and a 1554.  Rewards, yanno?

So... that's done and we're in the midst of preparing tomorrow's dinner today.  We'll feast on the Pennington variation of a London Broil tomorrow evening after letting the flank steak marinate over night.  Here's what the main course looks like before going into the marinade:

Note the 1.65 pound flank steak is lightly scored on both sides and will soon be immersed in marinade, consisting primarily of three-fourths of a bottle o' red New Mexico table wine, about a quarter cup o' Spanish olive oil, three cloves o' crushed garlic, a sprinkling of parsley, basil, thyme, pepper, and a couple o' bay leaves.  If this were Former Happy Days we'd be using fresh herbs from our herb garden but it ain't, so we won't.

We may or may not post pictures of the finished product tomorrow but rest assured it WILL be delicious.

Now we have to figger out what's dinner this evening and prepare for more hockey goodness later on.  Tonight it's the Wings against the Canucks, at The Joe.  It would be good if the Beloved Wings remain perfect on this young season, but Vancouver is coming off of a tough loss to the Flyers last evening and will be motivated.  We shall see...