Frog and Goat

Here’s Frog and Goat’s Top 8 of the Aughts! It should be no surprise what’s #1.

8. We got on a jet plane or into the car and traveled to the U.K., the Bahamas, the Pacific Northwest and parts of Canada, Chicago, Florida (West Palm Beach and New Smyrna Beach), Boston, the Outer Banks and New York City.

7. We learned how to cure bacon (thanks Belmont and Ruhlman).

6. We found financial security in the aughts. It was hiding in the couch cushions.

5. The MIL is in a safe place now. It was a bumpy ride getting there.

4. We built two screened porches in this decade and both were/are awesome. We spend a lot of time outside.

3. We moved into our second house and have made it comfortable. We didn’t have to structurally change the house which is what we would have had to do had we stayed in the little house in the woods.

2. I started and finished a Master’s.

1. We now have nieces. Yay Nieces!

Sometimes when the snoring wakes you up too early on a vacation day, you get to see this:

The picture really doesn’t do it justice. In the time it took me to race outside, snap some pictures and then return to the computer to pull the pictures off the camera the sky totally changed. It’s all washed out and gray now.

We have leftover bathroom tile from when our house was built. The tile was hiding in a bathroom cabinet when we moved in and I moved the stacks to the floor of the guest bath closet. Where they now collect litter dust as that’s where we store Simon’s cat litter.

It’s bugged me that those tiles have been laying around since forever. Today I got out the hot glue gun and some corks our friends gave us. Since they are coming over on Saturday, I decided to make them some coasters. The first one is from wine corks that I split with an exact-o blade and glued to a tile. I thought it turned out fairly well. If nothing else they can use it on their patio table.

Then, I dug through the bag of corks and came across my friend’s father’s vodka corks. He died last year just after Thanksgiving. I know these are his corks because it’s vodka made from potatoes. It was the only vodka he drank because of his intolerance to gluten. I cut the corks off, leaving just a little for the glue to adhere to, and glued the tops to another piece of tile. I hope my friend likes it.

We’re having some friends over on Saturday and I bought them a bottle of Garum Colatura di alici di Cetara (which is basically Italian fish sauce that goes on noodles). They went to Italy several years ago but I don’t know if they know about this sauce. We have a bottle too, but haven’t broken into it yet.

These friends are always generous with tasty treats and so I’ve also made them a pint of pickled grapes and a pan of cheese straws. The recipes come from The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern and The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook both are by Matt and Ted Lee. I don’t have either of these cookbooks but the internet is your friend so you should be able to find the recipes should you suddenly need a pickled grape.

What does a pickled grape taste like? I have no idea but I’ll eat a pickled anything and our friends share that sentiment.

We saw somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 concerts from 2000-2009. Some years we only saw one show all year and some years we saw about 9 shows. I know for some folks 50 concerts is what they see in one year, but we live in Richmond and up until recently we haven’t really had venues that people over 30 should go to…meaning we have small clubs/bars but we’re not looking to hook up so we don’t generally go to those. One of the city’s major venues was closed for an eternity while the city and people with large pocketbooks argued over how to renovate and expand it. It has only just reopened. We also traveled out of town for almost 20 of the shows we saw.

Last night I compiled a list of all the shows we saw and we picked our top 6. Here they are in no particular order, but they are grouped by year:

1. John Mayer, Charlie Hunter and Guster (2002). This show was on Brown’s Island and it was before John Mayer exploded. His guitar playing was outstanding and that’s what has kept me listening even when it seems like he’s on the cover of the tabloids way too often. I know he plays like a guitar god. Also, Charlie Hunter!

2. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (2003). We’ve seen him twice but this was the first time and with the E Street Band. I had, before this show, been kind of on the fence about Bruce. It all changed after seeing them perform live.

3. Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Dar Williams and Patty Griffin (2003). They called it a guitar pull which basically means it feels like you are hanging out in someone’s living room while really amazing music happens.

4. Blind Boys of Alabama with John Hammond (2003). John Hammond was so-so. Jimmy Carter and the other members of the Blind Boys burned down the house. It’s probably why that venue I mentioned had to close for renovations.

5. Eric Clapton with Robert Randolph and the Family Band (2004). There’s really nothing I can say other than Eric. Fucking. Clapton. and Robert Randolph smoked.

6. Patricia Barber (2009). Old speakeasy bar in Chicago with nothing but drinks on the menu, people wedged into tables and bar stools and then Patricia Barber sings. A nearly perfect night.

Verizon has a great wireless network. I can use my cell nearly everywhere.

My home phone, not so much. The line is dead again. It dies frequently especially when there’s a speck of wet outside. Verizon home service is about to get a swift kick to the groin. Then when it is down I will deliver a volley of kicks to the ribs and then hock a loogie into its face.

Hi Comcast Digital Voice. Nice to meet you, will you be my friend?

From the horrible picture of the ruler:

To the picture of the back of the house:

You might guess that we were on the right side of the storm.

Liquid is falling now which is supposed to turn back into snow later today. The wind has picked up so I hope we keep power for most of the day but I’m not really that hopeful.

I am lucky to have a job. I know that. I’m in a semi-secure position. Even though my project is grant-funded, it is federally mandated and funds are available. I am lucky.

We just got a press release from our Governor and there will be no pay increases for state employees in FY2011 and 2012. I looked it up and the last time I got a change in my pay was 2007 and that was for COLA (which is a tiny 2 or 3 percent).

In other head scratching news, there’s someone who works on the other side of the building who sits in an interior office. The only light that is ever on in her office is the small florescent directly over her desk. How does she not snooze through the day?

I’ve been to the restroom twice this morning and both times I’ve been in there there’s been someone camped out in the second stall. I realize it probably isn’t the same person each time, but if I go in there one more time and someone is parked in that stall then I’m going downstairs for the rest of the time I’m here today. By the way, I know she’s not dead…although the way things are around here that’s not a stretch.

Today we close for winter break for two weeks. The head scratcher for this bit o’ news is why I decided to come to work at all. I should have planned better. There’s absolutely nothing I can, in good conscious, start today and then drop for two weeks and I’m finished with everything that had to be finished before break.