"The Infamous Exploding Whale"

http://www.perp.com/whale/video.html

http://www.theexplodingwhale.com/

Beer Muffins...

Back by popular demand....

I bake these every once in a while.... They may sound a little odd, but I get plenty of compliments and folks seem to enjoy them as they always disappear….

I got a homebrewing kit from my Mom a few Christmases ago, www.mrbeer.com. In the instruction booklet there was a section on cooking with your product, including a recipe for beer muffins:

4 cups biscuit mix
4 tablespoons sugar
12 oz. beer (I like to use homebrew)

Heat the oven to 375 degrees (Fahrenheit) and bake for about 20 minutes or until the muffins get nice and golden. I use the little metal baking wrapper cup thingies that allow them to be distributed like cupcakes….

Elephant Ball....

The CC fair a few years back....

That hurt.

Went for a run last week....

Just had to share....

We were talking about keeping wild animals as pets in my property class, and I just had to remember those tigers they found out on the Gaston County line a few years back....

Going back to the Gulf....

Yep, this winter break I'm headed down to New Orleans with some of my fellow UNC law students to do a little pro bono work for hurricane survivors....

Looking forward to actually getting into the city this time -- last time, ~ a week after Katrina, they weren't letting folks in....

Wiccan symbol on grave of fallen trooper....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/13/widows.suit.ap/index.html

Well, maybe I'm just biased because I've got some friends who're Wiccan, but I've got a certain mind that if you get your butt shot off for your country, you get to have darned well whatever you please on your gravestone....

Thanks, Vets....

It's Veterans Day, not Memorial Day, but still I'm going to repost this as quite appropriate...

"Recalling Life on Memorial Day"

I read this years ago and found it again online recently. It’s by a columnist for Raleigh’s News and Observer.

Recalling Life on Memorial Day
By Dennis Rogers

I think they would understand the way it turned out. Memorial Day is their day, isn’t it?

It is supposed to be the day a grateful nation pauses to quietly thank the more than one million men and women who have died in military service to their country since the Revolutionary War.

Or is it the day the beach resorts kick into high gear for the summer season, the day the strand is covered by fish-belly white people basting themselves in coconut oil, the day the off-season rates end and the weekend you can’t get into a seaside seafood restaurant with anything less than a one-hour wait.

Or is it one of the biggest shopping center sales days of the year, a day when hunting for a parking place is the prime sport for the holiday stay-at-homers.

I think the men and women who died for us would understand what we do with their day. I hope they would, because if they wouldn’t, if they would have insisted that it be a somber, respectful day of remembrance, then we have blown it and dishonored their sacrifice.

I knew some of those who died, and the guys I knew would have understood. They liked a sunny beach and a cold beer and a hot babe in a black bikini, too. They would have enjoyed packing the kids, the inflatable rafts, the coolers and the suntan lotion in the car and heading for the lake. They would have enjoyed staying at home and cutting the grass and getting together with some friends and cooking some steaks on the grill, too.

But they didn’t get the chance. They were in the Marine Barracks in Beirut and died in the oily waters of the Persian Gulf. They caught theirs at the airstrip in Grenada in the little war everybody laughed at. They bought the farm in the I Drang Valley and on Heartbreak Ridge and at Hue. They froze at the Chosin Reservoir and were shot at the Pusan perimeter. They drowned in the surf at Omaha Beach or fell in the fetid jungles of Guadalcanal. They were at the Soame and at San Juan Hill and at Gettysburg and at Cerro Gordo and at Valley Forge.

They couldn’t be here with us this weekend, but I think they would understand that we don’t spend the day in tears and heart-wrenching memorials. They wouldn’t want that. Grief is not why the died. They died so that we could go fishing. They died so that another father could hold his laughing little girl over the waves. They died so another father could toss a baseball to his son in the backyard while the charcoal is getting white. They died so another buddy could drink a beer on his day off. They died so a family could get in the station wagon and go shopping and maybe get some ice cream on the way home.

They won’t mind that we have chosen their day to have our first big outdoor party of the year. But they wouldn’t mind, either, if we took just a second and thought about them. Some will think of them formally, of course. Wreaths will be laid in small, sparsely attended ceremonies in military cemeteries and at monuments at state capitals and in small town squares. Flags will fly over the graves, patriotic words will be spoken and the few people there probably will feel a little anger that no more people showed up. They’ll think no one else remembers.

But we do remember. We remember Carlton and Chico and Davey and the guys who died. We remember the deal we made: If we buy it, we said, drink a beer for me.

I’ll do it for you, guys. I’ll drink that beer for you today, and I’ll sit on that beach for you, and I’ll check out the girls for you and, just briefly, I’ll think of you. I won’t let your memory spoil the trip, but you’ll be on that sunny beach with me today. I will not mourn your deaths this Memorial Day, my friends. Rather I’ll celebrate the life you gave me.

This Bud’s for you.

" Deer breaks free of plastic jack-o'-lantern"

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/11/deer.pumpkin.ap/index.html

Whew... had me worried....

"Under God...."

"College's students clash over Pledge at meetings"

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/11/10/no.pledge.ap/index.html

Um, how's this for a thought -- nobody can force me to say "God" when I don't want to.

And nobody can stop me from saying "God" when I do want to.

So, God-willing, I will say "God" whenever I Gosh-darn well please and I don't really care....

"plastic jack-o-lantern threatens deer's life...."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/10/deer.pumpkin.ap/index.html

The latest brewing adventure...

"Tripel Tipple"
as per MrBeer.com....

"This is an impressive version of a Belgian-styled strong blond beer. The delicate yet potent flavor balance of the tripel is the crowning achievement of one’s beery pursuits. Experiment with spices if you wish, but by all means condition this beer a minimum of six months before consumption for optimum flavor."

and here's the label....

Elections....

Aren't they exciting!

People seem to like these....

So's here's the recipe....

These days I'm trying sprinkling hazelnut chips on them while the chocholate is still hot....

Chocolate-covered peanut butter balls... a Christmas favorite

Chocolate, peanut butter, powdered sugar…. What’s not to like?
Chocolate-covered peanut butter balls have long been a holiday favorite of mine. First we would get them from a family friend, Darla Hamm. Then, to feed my insatiable appetite for the little treats, my mother got the recipe.
But now I’ve moved to Shelby and am starting my own bachelor kitchen. Neither mom nor Mrs. Hamm is here to cook for me so I’m learning to make my own chocolate-covered peanut butter balls.
The basic concept of chocolate-covered peanut butter balls is very simple. They are balls of peanut butter covered in chocolate. VERY simple.
Making the yummy snacky-poos [YOUR CALL ON WHETHER WE WANNA USE THE WORD SNACKY POO] is only a little more complicated.
Mix together a cup of smooth peanut butter, a teaspoon and a half of vanilla, two sticks of margarine and a cup and a half of powdered sugar. Then add in another cup of peanut butter.
Personally I find an extra half cup of sugar is necessary to keep the peanut butter from being too sticky, but I imagine that may depend some on the type of peanut butter used.
Roll the mix into grape-sized balls. I use the palms of my hands. Plop them on a baking sheet, put a toothpick in the top of each one and place them in a freezer.
While you’re waiting on the peanut butter to harden enough to dip them in melted chocolate, you can start melting the chocolate.
Double boil 12 oz. of chocolate chips and one ounce of paraffin. Using the toothpicks as handles, dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate and place them back into the freezer to harden. I like using two trays – having one in the freezer while I’m using the other one.
So far I’ve had to melt a second batch of chocolate because I still have batter left after more than a hundred balls. But that’s good since the sweets tend to disappear so readily. Especially in an office.

Vets Day cards....

Well, Veterans Day is coming up and I’ve got buddies serving overseas. So I got some Thank You cards to mail over to Iraq and took them up to the law school to have some friends sign.

And as much as folks get on UNC students for being a bunch of uber-liberal hippies (and yeah, sometimes that’s right), I didn’t get a single bit of guff.

Instead, I got:

“We appreciate your sacrifice and brave actions. Thanks so much!”

“Thank you for your service, I’ll pray for your safe return.”

“May we, here at home, prove deserving of your sacrifice….”

Some years back I asked folks to sign a 24-pack of Budweiser that I then gave to some of my Army buddies….

But I don’t think I’m allowed to put that in a care package….

" 'Jelly bellies' memo costs police chief his job"

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/01/jelly.belly.ap/index.html

I actually worked in a town once where we had a less-than-strapping officer go down after the kid he was chasing just flat wore him out.....