Thursday, October 29, 2009

Good Eats & Good Company - Not Much Could Be Finer...

...than a frying pan slathered with butter with a few good hot dogs cooking away in it to be shared in good company. That is until the dogs are cooked and you add a little more butter then toast the buns in the pan. To that we add a pot of baked beans, some macaroni salad (not for me but we it had so I dished it out and the other fella ate it) and the meal is complete. Well, not complete yet, of course we needed some beverages. Orange juice for the youngster and something in a green bottle from Holland for me.

I am at my sister and brother-in-law's house watching my nephew. His mom and dad had to head up to MA for a family emergency. I came out last night to kid-sit D-----. He is 9 and his mom told me he is in the dark on it all. Then again, he just told me his parents went up to MA because his grandpa is very sick (and he understood exactly how sick). We sometimes hope we can keep certain things from them but nah they always have a way of knowing what is going on more than we think we let on. But anyway we kept our mood festive tonight if for nothing other than his sake.

So - our situation then was one of guy's night at home with none of the fairer sex, and will be the same for the day tomorrow after school. That made for a good dinner for us men tonight. We did not have to do it mommy's way - we did it my our way - the he man's way. While I was cooking, little D----- was playing a video game of some sort. I would not have it. None of that leaving me to be the only one doing anything so I got him to set the table, get himself a drink, and whatever else I could get him to do that he probably normally does not do. Of course his mom says he does it but I got the impression that at first he was none too happy about having to help me. I would soon see if I could make that change.

Then we sat down to our meal - Uncle Glenn's Too Greasy Hot Dog's On Too Greasy Buns. Well, that is he sat down and started to eat before I was done toasting the last bun. He probably doesn't start ahead like that when mom is home - I think he was ravenous because them eats smelled really good and he just dove in. Well he got set straight by me with no fuss and he waited another minute or so for me to finish toasting the last too greasy bun.
All in all, getting himself fed tonight amounted to him having to do a bit of work for his dinner, then having to wait awhile after that, but when he finally got to it he went at it with gusto. He said he never ate any hot dogs that tasted so good before tonight's meal, and he told his mom that on the phone when she called to check up on us later in the evening. Truth be told we both liked em - them was darned good eats at that - too much grease and all.

After dinner D----- got his fingers looking as if they had been dusted with snow as he put away a fat donut sprinkled all over with fine sugar powder. Now he had to work for his dessert too because he did not get one bite of it until he helped me clean up. He cleared the table, threw away the trash, wiped of the table with a damp sponge, and rinsed off some of the dishes. Again he did not seem to happy having to do all that but when he got to being finished he got himself that donut. He sure looked to have enjoyed it. After that, he cleaned up a final time, then was back to the video game. I'll have to work on the video game thing - not too much - I like em myself - but enough to assure that when we get away on a man's adventure together someday he will not miss them too much when faced with telling stories around a camp fire.

Not a bad night. Some day D----- and his dad, and Brendan and I, will all have to go on that camping trip I just hinted at and do some more manly things without any of the potential for incessant nagging, pestering and nurturing from the womenfolk. Note, I said potential for those things because whether womenfolk actually do that or not it is important for them to think we men believe they do so. That is just as it is important for us men to think womenfolk believe us all good for nothing loafers. It does not have to be so - we just need to believe it. Why? Where would the world be if men did not think such of women and women did not think such of men and both truly believe it? There would be little to no excuses to get away from one another if we all believed each other was perfect and thus there would be no fun in the getaways because there simply would be no getaways! So I just keep believing as does my wife too, as do most men and most women that the opposite sex is just a pain in the neck and that we all need time away from one another now and then and the world is a better place for it. It may not be based on reality, then again maybe it is. Either way it does not matter - what matters is what we believe it and thank goodness for blind faith is all I can say.

Well now, back to us and our camping trip get away from the women in our lives. Who knows, we may go for a hike, go fishing, actually catch some fish, gather some wood, build us a campfire, wait for it to burn down to embers, clean the fish while waiting for the fire to burn down, then fry those fish we caught over the embers. I am willing to bet that all the while we are getting those fish to being ready he will complain that he doesn't like fish. And when the other three of us get to eating them, I would bet his brain will start to realize that all the while they were cooking over the fire his mouth was watering. All it will take will be one bite and he will be hooked for life. Then, after we are done eating all those fish we just cooked up, and in the absence of television and video games, we will get down to tell some tales, that we will swear are true and not too tall, as we sit back and enjoy an icy cold root beer by the light of the fire that we just stirred back to life and added more wood to. After that, when away from the fire but hopefully well before we are snug and warm in our sleeping bags, we may do something else that I just did while sitting here. Pardon me but those beans sure work fast....and I had better go open a window. After the air is clear I need to see that the youngster heads off to bed to dream about a camping trip or something like that. And to think - his mom - my sister - thinks I am putting some off the wall ideas into this young boy's head when all I am really doing is enjoying some quality time with my nephew! Those off the wall ideas, they can wait for the camping trip.

All the best,
Glenn B

Fox News versus The Obama Administration

I urge all of my readers to click on this link, read the brief article, then vote in the poll before it closes. The poll shown is by NPR (National Public Radio) which has an overwhelmingly leftist following. Yet, as you can see, they appear to side with Fox (that is NPR seems to side with Fox - not their readership). So why not go there and leave your opinion by way of taking the poll. I would have thought, had you been liberal, neutral or conservative in politics, you would have voted for Freedom of the Press - but it appears liberals only want that freedom for leftist news organizations like CNN.

All the best,
Glenn B