Relaxing and Laughing

Quinn kicking back and laughing at me.

Sweet Justice

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Like her father, Hannah sometimes has a temper that gets her in trouble or makes her do embarrassing or flat out funny things.

As she was eating, and was obviously tired and cranky, she was told that she couldn't do something (can't remember exactly was it was). That message made her take her chocolate milk bottle and pound it on the table, which made most of her chocolate milk shoot out of her bottle and fall on top of her head.

Sweet Justice.

The Boat

Here's the fishing boat that we still haven't used yet since the weather hasn't cooperated.

Music Thursday/Friday: "I Got Mine"

Enjoy The Black Keys' performance on Letterman.

This "band" is just a duo--one nerdy looking guy on drums and the other dude singing and playing guitar. This single comes from their most recent album, but their previous two releases are solid offerings too. 

If I had to describe the band's sound, I'd call it "garage blues." 

Click HERE for the performance.

Changes in Attitude

We've lived in Charleston for a year now, and we've adapted to life in a small town again.

Charleston, Illinois is no Oxford, Mississippi or Tuscaloosa, Alabama (great college towns), but it'll work.

Anyway, Diana and I were talking about this the other day, and my attitude about driving places has drastically changed. During the school year, after I drop the kids off at day care, I walk to work. But the days I somewhat dread are the days when I have to take Hannah to dance or gymnastics over in Mattoon. I don't like driving that far.

Mattoon is approximately ten miles away.

So my dreaded driving to Mattoon in our sun-bleached '95 Escort equals my daily commute that I had in St. Louis when I lived in Southwest City and drove out to Kirkwood every day.

I usually think to myself, "Oh, man, I have to drive all the way over to Mattoon yet again." 

Attitudes and perceptions have changed, my friends.

Hagel

A blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while.

Has Chuck Hagel been reading my blog? (insert laugh track here)

He's open to being Obama's VP.

Clicke HERE for the AP article.

Music Friday: "Wabash Cannonball"

The local radio station played Reed's "When You're Hot You're Hot" the other day, so they got me thinking about this musician, a guy who isn't appreciated as much as he should be. He's a heck of a musician.

This video offers Jerry Reed on the Porter Wagoner show, back when country music wasn't overrun by crap.

Click HERE for the link.

Kenson Comments about Racists...

in the previous post is something I've been mulling over lately.

Actually, I thought about this a lot as I was cutting the grass a week ago. 

One of neighbors of my parents commented recently that she's "going to have to vote for a Republican this election because I'm not going to vote for a nigger." 

That comment reminds of how many of the founding fathers feared that the republic would really be a "mobocracy," not a democracy, and that people would vote for dumb reasons. We hayseeds would get duped all the time. 

That person's dumbass comment doesn't surprise me, unfortunately, because as much as people like to believe that racism still isn't out there, it is. 

While Obama's race will not be the determining factor in the election, I believe that his race will play a small factor in some people not voting or some people voting for McCain. 

With the pick of Obama, what the Dems are implicitly assuming is that the American voting public has got beyond race. In as sense, Obama's candidacy appeals to our better natures, that we'll look at the candidates by the content of their characters and their positions on issues.

Although he had to address race after the Rev's rantings, the Obama candidacy, in part, is challenge for the American people to look past race. 

We'll see how that goes.

Candidates' Wives

Since the nitwits at FoxNews love bringing up Michelle Obama in downright strange and rude ways (one moronic commentator calling their fist pound a "terrorist fist jab," another calling Mrs. Obama a "baby mamma"), I thought I'd pass along this article about McCain's wife.

And it's not about Cindy McCain. 

It's about his first wife.

Click HERE for the link.

Culinary Adventures: Terroir Illinois

A while back Diana and I had the pleasure of dining at the Super Jumbo Buffet at the Cross County Mall over in Mattoon.

While this expansive buffet isn't a culinary gem or anything, it does have one curious offering on its buffet: frog legs.

Frog legs, I love those little things. 

They're much better than the ubiquitous chicken wings that every other restaurant shoves onto their menus. Talk about a good thing gone wrong from over-saturation. I'm buffaloed out, people.

While the wonderful gams of our amphibious friends don't offer the same amount of meat as the yardbird, frog legs offer tender, succulent meat to gnaw on, especially if they're lightly battered.

Besides Super Jumbo, the only other place I know of in Coles County that offers frog legs is Roc's Black Front, a bar/restaurant that's semi-famous because its facade is featured on Backyard Tire Fire's Bar Room Semantics album, a good disc by the way.

And today for Father's Day we ventured over to Casey to try out Richards Farm restaurant, an establishment that serves up home-cooking specialties like chicken and noodles, country ham, catfish nuggets, stewed cabbage, good pies, and wonderful fried chicken.

That trip coupled with getting two pies (blackberry and peach) made by Sweet Tooth Specialties here is ChuckTown made this a wonderful weekend of eating.

I pine for pie.

Our Beach

is in our backyard.

Quinn and Hannah Say...

ROLL TIDE!!!!

I expect we'll see a lot...

of this image in the coming election.

And I'm sure we'll see other comparisons too, which MoveOn is already doing: LINK.

Music Friday: "Ground On Down"

This is a performance from back in 1996, but Ben Harper kicks it as he plays one of my favorite songs of his, "Ground On Down."

This guy has consistently put out solid music for many years. Unfortunately, I think he's appreciated more in Europe than in the US. 

One of his more recent songs, "Gather Round the Stone," is probably one of the best protest songs out there. 

Anyway, for "Ground On Down," click HERE.

Not a Surprise

A recent study has corroborated what many level-headed folks already know: global warming skeptics have been aided and heavily influenced by those who fund their research--conservative think tanks.

Their voices, paraded by the MSM and abetted by journalists' simple-minded mantra of presenting "both sides" of the global warming "debate," created a rhetoric of scientific uncertainty that has stalled any substantial work on global warming, especially in America.

Click HERE for the link.