Building character.

There is that old trope out there about fathers making their kids do something right on the edge of horrible 'for their own good.' We often call these things 'character building experiences.' 

Well...today I decided the time had come for my daughters to build some character...so after a stretch of 4 days where the temperature hasn't broken 28 degrees, we loaded up the car and headed up to Palouse Falls.  Having been there in the summer, I was more than a little curious what it looked like after a deep chill.

The answer is, beautiful, if you were able to keep your eye balls from freezing shut. 

When we arrived there, it was about 16 degrees outside...and so after an hour and a half drive, we lasted about 10...maybe 15 minutes outside.  More than long enough to put a twinkle in everyone's eyes.

After that, we piled back into the car, and headed down the road into Dayton, for some lunch and antiquing.  I also had a cup of gourmet style European Drinking Chocolate(please, do NOT call it hot chocolate)...and it was flipping amazing.  Oh, the price made Starbucks look cheap...but...yum, yum, yum.

It was a pleasant day.  For a good part of the drive(a four hour loop), most of the Palouse was snow covered, which I agree with my wife on...if you are going to have cold, let it be pretty and white, too.  We saw a few coyotes, and a field or two with pheasant in them...and I think the kids built a lot of character.

That squeal you hear? It's me.

 A little-girl type squeal of pure, sweet joy.

'X-Men: Apocalypse' will open in 2016

It doesn't matter that all we have to go on so far is a title, and a release date of May 27th, 2016...if I had a calendar in the house that went that far out, I would have circled the date already. 

I'm a comic book geek...even though I have bought a new comic book in almost half a decade(at least).  I grew in the 90's when the X-Men was HUGE...and I have been pretty impressed with every X-Men related movie that has come out since 2000, when Bryan Singer's 'X-Men' came out(well...excepting roughly 50% of 'Wolverine: Origins'...and everything involving the bald, mute Dead Pool at the end).  News that that they still have a vision for the path forward is outstanding.

First though, I can only look forward to X-Men: Days of Future Past, coming out this next May.  It will have to do.

Home Made Christmas

While I have been 'busy' cruising the internet and various stores busting out my Christmas shopping, my wife has been approaching things a different way.  Other than things on my list which require embracing consumerism, she is trying to make things by hand...which, is okay, because she is WAY better at than I am.  She is actually crafty and good with her hands.  Currently, she is working through crocheting a stack of dresses for some American Girl Dolls. 

Her way of getting ready for Christmas seems to be less stressful, and get her snuggling time too.

It only LOOKS old

Ashley Monroe, a member of Pistol Annie's along with Miranda Lambert, has an okay solo career going for herself also.  In her newest video, 'Weed Instead of Roses', she looks like she should be sharing a stage with Tammy Wynette or Barbara Mandrel.  Looks are deceiving though, because the lyrics of the song are something that neither of those other two ladies could have gotten away with in their time.  Not that I don't think they wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity...it's just that Tammy Wynette never got the opportunity to sing about smoking the mary jane.

Christmas List

Yeah, we were just thankful for everything we have, and here I am being all material...but my wife wants a wish list for me, and this seems like as good a place as any to put it. May be it will give someone else an idea.  Had to get done in time for Cyber Monday.

First off...I want a kilt.   Now...keep in mind that in junior high school, I wanted to grow a rat tail in my hair 2 years after all the other kids started growing them...and about 6 months before everyone cut them off. What I'm saying is, I am not the most up-to-date on trends...but I know more than one person who wears a kilt.  I am 100% certain that the folks at Utilikilt make a great product...but if I asked for one from there, there would be no presents for anyone else. Rather, a few of my buddies have bought kilts from U.T. Kilts, and they have been very satisfied with them.  Waist size 42...color...anything other than blue/black/grey...which leaves several shades of khaki and green. 

Books:  There are several series that I am reading that I have been unable to locate the next book of at the used book stores...and spending $10 on a book for myself this close to Christmas is out of the question.  But, as a gift, well, that's different.  I have read through the 6th book, Blood Rites of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.  Book 7 is called  'Dead Beat', and book 8 is 'Proven Guilty'.  I can also use the 3rd book of John Ringo's Troy Rising series: 'The Hot Gate'. 

The big thing, and in the real world I am not sure if the budget is going to stretch this far this year, is a 6-position Recoil Reducing Stock for my Mossberg 500. Something like the Blackhawk Spec Ops 2(also here).   This would be a nice toy.

More important, and affordable in the shooting sports realm, would be some noise canceling electronic earmuffs.  I'm sure there are nicer ones out there, but Harbor Freight has some for under $14(either online or in the local store here in Richland).  A guy at the local range had a set of these very muffs...and for the price, he was extremely happy with them.

Let's see...if I am getting a kilt, I am going to need some new socks.  Not necessarily thick, HOT wool socks...but some socks that would look appropriate sticking out the top of my boots I will wear with my kilt.

Finally, in the world of emergency equipment...I need a jack for my truck.  Would I LOVE a 48" or 60" Hi-Lift X-Treme...you betcha'!  But...that falls more in the category of actual 'tool'(jack, clamp, winch and Jaws of Life)...I really just need a simple bottle jack...something like this 4-ton unit(also available at Harbor Freight...or Amazon, or Walmart).

As always, if all else fails, one can never have enough knives or flashlights. 

Day-em.

That whole Mississippi Pot Roast...it's pretty tasty.

It goes in the 'Do Again Soon' rotation.  The flavor is hard to describe, other than 'yum'.  It has some zing due to the pepperoncini's, and a tang due to the ranch dressing powder. 

Good, good, good. 

Hold onto your butts.

In Jurassic Park, the catch phrase of ill-fated chief systems engineer John 'Ray' Arnold(played by Samuel Jackson) as he is trying to reboot the computers is 'Hold onto your butts'.  Now, since he ends up getting eaten in both the book and the movie, this might be a poor choice of a motivational line for me, but...eating is involved, so, let's go with it.

After weeks of reading about, and hearing about it, I finally bought the stuff this weekend to make a Mississippi Pot Roast. 

Well, in about 8 hours, we'll see what all the fuss was about.  If it doesn't turn out right, rest assured I'm blaming it on the fact that I have sliced pepperoncini's and not whole ones.