Another Month is Gone!

Hello to All!

I am just now getting back to the blog.  I hope you haven't missed me too much.  ;)  I sent a couple of pics from my phone I took while staying at the Seelbach Hotel in downtown Louisville on the trip. The hotel is drenched in history and that is very appealing but over all I wasn't impressed.  I felt claustrophobic in my room and only stayed there to sleep.  Thank goodness one of my co workers lucked into a suite where I could hang out before I went to bed.

I am still eagerly awaiting my first visitor.  I could advertise the blog I suppose but that seems like cheating.

The insanely hot weather has abated and I'm sensing that fall is coming.  Everything here is dry and dusty and did I mention the garden is pretty much DEAD?  I do still get a few tomatoes but only because I water them.  I didn't even bother planting fall greens and its just as well since we haven't had rain in a month.

I have some ideas for stories rolling around in my head.  Maybe next time I will share.......

A Trip to the City

 Tomorrow I join my co workers for a trip to Louisville.  We will be staying in an old hotel that dates back to around 1900.  I haven't been in the hotel in 30 years but I'm certain it is as elegant as ever.  I will certainly enjoy staying in a place with marble mahogany and gilded everything.  Some might even say I've gotten above my raising as we say here in Kentucky!
   The conference will be hectic and tedious at times.  Thankfully, my co workers are nice well mannered men.  I will most likely have an escort. 
  I will try to post some pictures for your enjoyment!  Well, since no one has actually read the blog yet for my enjoyment.  But I do feel like you are listening to me blabber on about this and that.

100 Degrees

This is the hottest summer I ever remember experiencing in Kentucky.  No joke.  I have always had a garden of some sort and I have had droughts and heat waves but nothing like this!  We had August heat in June and its never let up except for a few days here and there.

As a result my garden is limping along.  I spent some time last night mulching around the tomatoes and watering.  Then I pulled a lightweight fabric over them and hoped the wind wouldn't blow it off.  It will help keep the sun from blistering the fruits.  Crazy weather.  The rutgers tomatoes keep right on bearing.  They are an old old variety and have stood the test of time.  I see why.  They are not spectacular nor big.  They are medium sized red tomatoes that are consistent.

100 degrees in Kentucky is very rare.  I'm talking ambient temperature and not heat index.  The HI is estimated to be 104 to 109 degrees.  IN KENTUCKY!  Whew!!  Where is that sweet tea?

I knew it was coming.  My little buddy hasn't been by.  He is holed up trying to stay cool.

I'll send some pics along later.

Silliness Incorporated

Good morning to all!

I had a most entertaining week that could have easily been stressful if I had lost my sense of humor. In my last post I mentioned the dip and had promised a picture of it but sadly it was all eaten up before I could photograph it! It won second prize though. Hard to believe bacon dip was beat out by rueben dip that has SAUERKRAUT in it. Anyway, from that point on it was pure madness. Read on dear reader!

I decided to upgrade my phone since I had killed it in a glass of sweet tea along with my ipod. What are the odds of that? My carrier wouldn't let me upgrade 5 days early so I researched the phones very carefully and decided on a phone. Unbekownst to me it was a smartphone and carried extra charges. Okay. No problem here go ahead. Then the phone just happened to be the carrier's first android phone and they picked one that was marginal as a phone. The android part was very good but the phone well....it shut off at random, muted itself at random and some other annoying quirky features. Google worked like a charm on it though (DUH!). So I took it back. After much prodding from the droves of Appleheads using Iphones I decided to get an iphone. Big mistake.

Now Iphone folks make no mistake your product is awesome and King of Appledom. The cost is silly and that is why I didn't get one years ago. The cost is now down to $99 for the oldest Iphone but you get no insurance with the phone you get to pay lots more that from Apple. I decided I didn't need a toy in my pocket that could conceivably fall into another glass of sweet tea and returned it. I do have a job you know and I'm just as prone to tinkering with toys such as the iphone as are my iphoning co workers. That was my second mistake.

Apparently the iphone hijacked my new sim card. When I took it out to copy my contacts from my old sim card I was rewarded for it by a change in my data plan. More money of course. My carrier, who shall remain nameless (wink wink) informed me this is within their rights and anytime I put that sim in a smartphone that will happen. I informed them I did NOT do that and SHALL not. They were non plussed. Even if I briefly put it in a friends smartphone that will happen. I have no friends. I blog for chrissakes!!!!! But the carrier's customer service reps and I parted amicably.

At 4 am on Sunday morning I get awakened by a text informing me my smartphone is now activated! Who doesn't sleep in on Sunday? No rest for the wicked though. I have also had multiple emails about my iphone. Doesn't anyone ever take one back?

Folks, the story is even longer and includes bribery of the sales person at the carrier's store. Incredible. I traded a letter of commendation (yet to be written) and an evaluation of 5 stars for the second trade in to get RID OF THE IPHONE FROM HELL!

So I figure I needed this lovely pic my brother sent on his trip along the blueridge parkway in the smokey mountains!

A Busy Week

This is my first post and I hope to make it as informative as I can. I have several things going this week and I'm happily running around getting things done. It isn't stressful mind you everything is done in a leisurely fashion. Oh and I have my job too. Its really an unjob as I enjoy what I do very much.

The main thing today is to figure out a dip for a friend to take to work. Its a contest of some sort for charity with a tasting. What a challenge! I love to cook but I rarely make dip and when I do its chili con queso or fresh salsa from the garden. Since the tomatoes are just coming in salsa is out. I will do some research and make the dip and let you know how it turns out. If its a winner I will post the recipe!

That's my little friend that meets me every morning for his breakfast! He's a youngster and has a short tail that got clipped somehow this spring when he was fighting the old squirrel for the spot on my windowsill. The old guy lost :( and I don't know what happened to him.