Now, for a crappy recipe

Oops. That would be *crappie* Other crappie recipes, here

Bill Graba's Crappie Recipe

Best and easiest recipe I've ever used!

Typical egg and milk to dip the fillets in to get the rest of the mixture to stick

Crush 1 sleeve of Saltine crackers in a large ziplock bag.

Add 1/8th to 1/4th teaspoon garlic powder and shake. (Not garlic salt as the saltines have plenty)

Melt butter in frying pan, dip fillets in milk/egg mixture and put in baggie.

Shake until coated with the cracker/garlic mixture and place in hot frying pan.

Fry for 5 min. per side or longer if you like crispy critters.

English Robin

Moon at dawn

Holding the Moon by stoneygirl

dcfrench

In France, they ask
"Where do the robins go in summer?"
The passerines all sing
Robins are darker in the Maritimes.

I sit, hands in lap,
and wait, somewhat patiently
for the indigo buntings' return
drunk on passion flower nectar

Passing at night
star steered
exactly home
perfect

The crows joyously
drive the hawks away
and it's time, past time
for the eagles' mating fall

The last of the ice
at river's edge clings
but is doomed -- spring smiles
around every trunk and blade




jjl
9 February 2009

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2009 06:42 PM, EST

We met with the surgeon today. She said Ally's G-Tube looked good.

Last Monday Ally weighed in at 18 pounds wearing only a diaper. Today (on a different scale and fully clothed) she weighed 19 pounds! The night time feedings are working! Now, if only we can get the pump to work correctly!

Our next big appointment is February 19th. Ally gets her regular set of scans, which will tell us if the tumor is coming back or staying away (where it belongs!).

Prayers are always appreciated.

Feeding the Eagles

Taken in Comox BC


A beautiful morning feeding the eagles. Jan.2009





Feeding the Eagles Jan.2009






No zoom! I was this close! Jan.2009





Aren't they funny! Jan.2009









Sorry I can't give more attribution, this came to me via email. If anyone knows, feel free to leave a note in the comments, and I'll transfer it here.

Full Snow Moon ~~ February 9, 9:49 a.m.

chandyman

Chinese Lantern Fesival ~~ February 9, 9:49 a.m. EST

Last day of Chinese New Year Festival. A celebration of light. The most wonderful lanterns I've ever seen! Plus, always, a full moon!

one step

A journey . . . begins with . . . one. . . .

It's in there somewhere!! by sandiquiz

more animals

We're in BIG trubble, kiddles

hattip to vb

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 07, 2009 09:41 AM, EST

Ally is doing well. She is tolerating her nighttime feedings like a champ. She gets about an ounce an hour pumped directly into her tummy. It seems to be helping her daytime appetite as well. She is eating more than she normally does while she is on the medicine. (It is still not as much as a normal 2 year old should be eating.) She is still taking Tylenol every 4 hours. When she wakes up in the morning and after her naps she is very stiff and it takes her about 20 minutes to be able to move around like normal. When we pick her up now she bends her legs so her knees are touching us and not her belly. The surgeon said it would feel to Ally like someone keeps punching her in the stomach. She said it would be about 5 days before it felt better. Today is day 5!

Design by a good friend. Click the little picture to sign up and vote. . . .

Gasp!!

Please note the (now former) pResident's wrists. . . It seems as if he's wearing, ahem, "Freedom" cuffs. . . . Talk about real, abiding, contempt for the Oval Office. . . . [look, they made it an issue, not me]

Oh. Wait. You already knew that, right?

Nevermind.




"There should be a dress code of respect," Card tells INSIDE EDITION. "I wish that he would wear a suit coat and tie."

Card is the first member of the Bush administration to bash Obama, and he's going after him for forgoing a coat and tie.

"The Oval Office symbolizes...the Constitution, the hopes and dreams, and I'm going to say democracy. And when you have a dress code in the Supreme Court and a dress code on the floor of the Senate, floor of the House, I think it's appropriate to have an expectation that there will be a dress code that respects the office of the President."

Card continued, "I don't criticize Obama for his appearance, I do expect him to send the message that people who are going to be in the Oval Office should treat the office with the respect that it has earned over history."

sweet peach blush at dusk
winter's afternoon to night
soft bruised blue lays
against white and white and white

wound tight against the clock
ticking, ticking
titmice and chickadees already
bound for sleep and torpor

tomorrow's promised morning
one day closer to the peepers




jjl
5 February 2009

PnDspgs

Another non sequitur

Christina's World

Andrew Wyeth

I didn't take this picture, but it's pretty much what it looks like around here. . . .

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 02, 2009 07:45 PM, EST
Ally's G-Tube was placed today. Things did not run smoothly, at all, today. I am too tired to give details now, but Ally is doing well, and of course she was a superstar all day. As long as everything goes well tonight she should be home sometime tomorrow.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2009 05:10 PM, EST
Ally and Daddy were home by 12:30 today! All of Ally's supplies had already been delivered. Daddy was taught how to work the G-Tube, so everything is all set for us to fatten up our kid.

Yesterday did not run smoothly. Everything was late and people were not telling us what was going on. It was frustrating and almost 1 year in I didn't want to deal with people who didn't understand our situation. The most helpful people to us yesterday were the receptionists. Those ladies were nice. Ally turned out fine and the end result was the G-Tube was placed. Ally is fine today and doesn't seem to have any lasting effects. She is on tylenol round the clock (that means waking up at 2AM) for 5 days. She enjoys having tubies again. We have to go back for a follow up on Monday afternoon. Hopefully she will have put on some weight by then!

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Bunk-n-Biscuit

For reservations
or other information about the
Bunk-n-Biscuit
or the
Campground
with RV hookups,
please call
The Jersey Lilly
at 406-358-2278.

Windwalker


Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

~~ Henry David Thoreau

American Pie

A long, long time ago I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.

But February made me shiver
With every paper I delivered,
Bad news on the door step,
I couldn't take one more step.

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside,
The day, the music, died.
So...

Refrain:

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey 'n' rye
Singin this will be the day that I die.
This will be the day that I die.

Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above,
If the bible tells you so.
And do you believe in rock 'n' roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well I know that you're in love with him
Cuz I saw you dancin' in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes
And I dig those rhythm and blues.

I was a lonely teenage bronkin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pick up truck
But I knew I was out of luck,
The day, the music, died.
I started singin...

Refrain

Now for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be,
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me.

Oh and while the king was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned;
No verdict was returned.

And while Lennon read a book on Marx,
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark,
The day, the music, died.
We were singin'...

Refrain

Helter Skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and fallin' fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance
Oh but we never got the chance.

As the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed,
the day, the music, died?
We started singin'...

Refrain

Oh and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.
Jack Flash sat on a candle stick
Because fire is the devil's only friend.

Oh and as I watched him on the stage,
My hands were clinched in fists of rage,
No angel born in hell
Could break that Satan's spell.

And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight,
The day, the music, died.
He was singin'...

Refrain

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play.

And in the streets the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken,
The church bells all were broken.

And the three men I admire most,
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast,
The day, the music, died.
And they were singin'...

Refrain

They were singin'...

Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey 'n' rye
Singin' this will be the day that I die.



By Don McLean

The Day the Music Died --

Events leading to the crash

"The Winter Dance Party" was a tour that was set to cover 24 Midwestern cities in three weeks. A logistical problem with the tour was the amount of travel, as the distance between venues was not a priority when scheduling each performance. For example, the tour would start at venue A, travel 200 miles (320 km) to venue B, and travel back 170 miles (270 km) to venue C, which was only 30 miles (48 km) from venue A. Adding to the disarray, the tour bus used to carry the musicians was ill-prepared for the weather; its heating system broke shortly after the tour began. Drummer Carl Bunch developed a severe case of frostbitten feet while on the bus and was taken to a local hospital. As he recovered, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens took turns with the drums.

The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa was never intended to be a stop on the tour, but promoters, hoping to fill an open date, called the manager of the ballroom at the time and offered him the show. He accepted and the date of the show was set for February 2.

By the time Buddy Holly arrived at the ballroom that evening, he was frustrated with the tour bus and told his bandmates that, once the show was over, they should try to charter a plane to get to the next stop on the tour, Moorhead, Minnesota. According to VH-1's Behind the Music: The Day the Music Died, Holly was also upset that he had run out of clean undershirts, socks, and underwear. He needed to do some laundry before the next performance, and the local laundromat in Clear Lake was closed that day.

Flight arrangements were made with Roger Peterson, 21, a local pilot who worked for Dwyer Flying Service in Mason City, Iowa. A fee of $36 per person was charged for the single engine Beechcraft Bonanza B35 (V-tail), registration N3794N (later reassigned). The Bonanza could seat three passengers in addition to the pilot.

Richardson had developed a case of the flu during the tour and asked one of Holly's bandmates, Waylon Jennings, for his seat on the plane; Jennings agreed to give up the seat. When Holly learned that Jennings wasn't going to fly, he said, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up." Jennings responded, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes." This exchange of words, though made in jest at the time, haunted Jennings for the rest of his life.^[3][4]

Ritchie Valens had never flown in a small plane before, and asked Holly's remaining bandmate on the plane, Tommy Allsup, for the seat. Tommy said "I'll flip ya for the remaining seat." Contrary to what is seen in biographical movies, that coin toss did not happen at the airport shortly before takeoff, nor did Buddy Holly toss it. The toss happened at the ballroom shortly before departure to the airport, and the coin was tossed by a DJ who was working the concert that night. Valens won a seat on the plane.^[3]

Dion DiMucci of Dion & The Belmonts, who was the fourth headline performer on the tour, was approached to join the flight as well; however, the price of $36 was too much. Dion had heard his parents argue for years over the $36 rent for their apartment and could not bring himself to pay an entire month's rent for a short plane ride.^[5]

See below. . . .

I was wrong, the red/pink is more at the bottom than at the top.

ronko

Reprise

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Whistlepig Pome

Time, tide and spring

a month with a heart

in the center

Small things checking for sun

already spring

before we're ready

More rain than snow

more sun more shine

clouds white sky blue

Winter hearts doffing mittens

toes tingle to be free

sap runs rises

Our hearts already warm

as butter on a biscuit &

raspberry jam

come, come

jjl

2/2/08

Jakeof 1

http://www.sitins.com/

Three of the Greensboro Four
met in high school and formed
a tight bond. All were deeply
affected by the 1955 lynching
of 14-year-old Emmett Till in
Mississippi and events like the
1955-56 bus boycott in
Montgomery, Ala., and the
1954 Supreme Court decision
outlawing segregated schools.

More, here.

Forty-nine years ago, today. . . .

A section of lunch counter from the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's is now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History


four young men, little more than boys, really, changed the world they, and I, lived in, forever. I was 18, and spent the next five years of my life wishing, somehow I could go, be there. I didn't. But many I loved, and have loved in my lifetime did. And thank you.

And most of all Thank You, Ezell A. Blair Jr. (now known as Jibreel Khazan) (18), David Richmond (died in 1990), Joseph McNeil (17), and Franklin McCain (18).

Necdet

It's February!! The first month of spring!!

How can Spring NOT start with a month with a heart in the middle?