CANADA

I love Canada.   I spent two years in Newfoundland back when Joey Smallwood was Premier.  I have traveled through every Province.  I have worked with Canadian Forces and been through their Winter Bush Survival School.

But; Canadian bacon  is not BACON!

The Ol'Buzzard

CRAZY WEATHER PATTERNS IN MAINE

This year in Maine was the hottest year on record, beating last year’s record, and beating the record from the year before – each the hottest.

This month the weather has been nutz.   We started this month with snow, and about three weeks with day temps in the single numbers and night temperatures dropping below zero.   That weather is more common in February than January.   

The last week or so we have had rain with temperatures in the upper thirties and forties during the day and nights dropping just below freezing.

Tonight, we are predicted to receive three to five inches of snow and tomorrow a front comes in and will drop up to one inch of rain. 

We have had ice out on the frozen rivers and lakes followed by flooding, then refreeze; and tomorrow probably ice out and flooding again.

So far, we have had twelve snowmobiles go through the ice; but no deaths.

The snow banking my house is pretty much gone; and I count on that during the winter to protect my crawl space from freezing. 

I am having to wear ice cleats on my boots whenever I go outside.    Last week I took a fall in the driveway – but had on so many clothes I just bounced. 

I am a winter person.   I love the winter; but this year is fucked up.

the Ol’Buzzard

DO IT YOURSELF ALLURE FLOORING

Back in august of 2015 I installed Allure GripStrip flooring, available at Home Depot, in my back room.  This room is joined by our back door which we use all winter.   This means that I often come in with snow on my boots and the room is a traffic area to the back porch.  

Two and a half years and this floor still looks good and I have had no trouble with the product.   

If you are looking to upgrade a floor in your house this is an easy and inexpensive fix.   I will add that it is imperative that you use a roller on the seams, other than that just preplan and follow directions.

I told my wife it would take about two hours.  She laughed.  About six hours later, and with sore knees, I finally finished.  

a good winter project
the Ol'Buzzard

DON'T VIEW THIS IF YOU PLAN TO EAT WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS

See the resemblance?

I'm some sexy - and I've got big hands.

This is what Melania bought into: fried chicken in bed with fat bastard.

the Ol'Buzzard

COOKING – NOT ABOUT TRUMP

I have mentioned before that I cook most of the supper meals and for some reason my wife doesn’t mind.

About thirty years ago we bought a Revere cooking set.  One of the items I use the most is the steamer – a pan with holes in the bottom that fits on top of the regular cooking pot. 

This is a thirty-minute, one pot meal that I regularly prepare:

 

·       I clean carrots and then slice them down the middle

·       I slice Yukon Gold potatoes about a half-inch thick and then quarter the slices

·       I quarter an onion then separate the layers

·       The potatoes and carrots go in the bottom pot and are covered with water.

·       The onions go in the steamer being careful not to cover all the holes

·       I take a fresh salmon fillet and place it on top of the onions.

·       Cover the pot and bring it to a boil

·       Fifteen minutes later supper is ready

Salmon, potatoes, carrots and onions served with a crusty bread and butter and a nice white wine like Clean Slate Riesling.     

The whole meal takes thirty minutes including preparing the vegetables.

I use the pot to steam any vegetable you would normally boil.  Steaming keeps in the vitamins and minerals and the vegetables don’t taste washed out and soggy.

the Ol’Buzzard

CONSPIRACY THEORY

Trump paid off the Porn Star to keep her from going public that he wanted her to spank him with a rolled-up Forbes magazine that had his picture on the cover.

This was published by Mother Jones and the attached link to Red State.

Why do the women that Trump wants to have sex with look so much like his daughter?

I heard it on the news this morning; whether it is true or not it will make a great meme.  

He never fails to entertain. 

the Ol’Buzzard

I WOKE UP STILL NOT DEAD AGAIN TODAY

I sometimes feel like I fell asleep and was beamed up and transported by a UFO into a future that is alien to me.   It is not the technology that I choose not to be familiar with, or the new music or colloquial use of the language; it is my basic values that make me uncomfortable in today’s society.

I have a wrist watch that cost seven dollars that has more functions than I care to use and will last three years on battery life.   It will be cheaper to replace the watch then replace the battery.   Kids with a perfectly good cell phone will camp out overnight at a store to get the latest iPhone.  Wayfair has just what you need and Amazon will deliver it by drone. 

My favorite sweater, hand spun wool and hand knitted, is forty years old.  My shotgun is fifty years old.  This Solstice my wife bought me a new pair of Bean boots to replace the seventeen-year-old boots I wear every winter; she also bought me a black and white plaid Woolrich wool shirt to replace the black and white Woolrich shirt that was 35 years old and thread bare at the elbows.  My compass, knives, books, camping gear… are all forty years old or older.   There is a piece of birchbark reading Did I Run and Am I Tired that is one hundred and five years old, that hangs above my (whatever you want to call it) room.   I am comfortable with things that are aged and uncomfortable with throw away things.

There is nothing wrong with today’s societal norms; they fit the needs and wants of the people of this age – It is me that is out of step and past my sell by date.     

the Ol'Buzzard