We are the mundane
Super category to hold the state/city/towns categories.
Chucky was out prowling Monday night looking for a new bride.
Some of the contenders were:
| Chiquita Banana | Aunt Jemima |
 |
 |
| Catwoman | Pocahontas |
 |
 |
Chucky even had to fight off the Burger King for this one:
For more photos of Chucky’s exploits, go here.
but I’m too damn lazy to go out and take photos. Woke up today with about an inch of snow on the ground and more falling. Fortunately, the ground temp is above freezing so most of it is melting but it is sticking to vegetation.
By now the temperature have risen enough (my outdoor thermometer says 34) that it’s turned to rain but the higher elevations are getting hit with snow – the forecast for the area says the precip will shift back and forth from rain and snow all afternoon with accumulations up to 6-9 inches in the surrounding mountains.
Many of the trees in the area still have a substantial number of leaves still on them so I expect numerous power outages from falling limbs as the snow accumulates on the tree branches.
This is the earliest significant snowfall that I can remember for a while.
ED Note: I knew if I waited long enough I could find shots on the web. Here’s one from on campus – to see more go here.
No – I’m not referring to another female, I’m talking about winning my fifth Mondo Martini contest at Tony’s Big Easy Bar and Bistro here in State College. My trophy is being held by UncleLar “niece” Ashley Schlosser on my right, “neice” Susan Kim is on my left – I don’t know the other two but how could I say no when they wanted to get in the photo too.
Tony has held this martini making contest for the past nine years and I’ve won it five of the last six (I sat out one year when I had tickets to a concert the same night but like Michael Jordan I came out of my semiretirement to capture another trophy).
My winning entry this year was called “The Rose Bowl” (I was kind of counting on the football team beating Michigan last weekend and keeping the Rose Bowl front and foremost in people’s minds but I was still able to sell the concept anyway). Here’s the recipe for those who are interested:
Mix the ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker (stir do not shake – shaking will create a froth while stirring will maintain a creamy appearance). Pour the ingredients into a brandy snifter that has been rinsed with Rosewater. Add a rose petal as a garnish.
Unfortunately, I was so dazzled by the crowd at the contest that I forgot to actually get a photo of the winning drink.
Tony really does a wonderful job of hosting the contest. Numerous liquor companies come in and provide samples of their wares to the crowd. Each companies display is created around an ice sculpture which makes for a quite beautiful arrangement. Some of the ice displays are actually functional in that you pour the liquor through a channel that has been drilled into the ice and it drains into the patrons glass quite chilled.
Here are some of the sculptures:
From left to right:
My previous winning concoctions were
I was downtown last night at Tony’s Big Easy Bar & Bistro preparing for the ninth Annual Mondo Martini Contest (yours truly, UncleLar is a four time undefeated champions of the event – FYI, it’s a martini making not martini drinking contest – more on Mondo Martini tomorrow after I win my fifth title tonight) when in walked Franco Harris along with Gary Gray, whom I have mentioned on this blog before. Gary and Franco were teammates on Penn State’s teams from 69-71.
Gary and Franco joined me and helped taste some of my creative work. Franco won four Super Bowls while with the Steelers and ever since then the Steelers have used the rallying cry “One for the Thumb” during their annual chase for another ring. I jokingly told Franco I was planning on getting my own “one for the thumb” tonight.
After perfecting my cocktail, Gary, Franco and I went over to the Gingerbread Man (or G-Man as it’s affectionately called here). It’s amazing to watch how much recognition Franco gets. He hasn’t played ball in twenty years yet he is still adored by many fans. There were bunches of college kids coming up to us using their cell phones to get their picture taken (admittedly they just shoved me out of the way but still I was still part of scene).
I have had some minor celebrity incidents here in State College (I’ll explain some time) but I can’t imagine what it must be like to go through that everyday like Franco. I even asked him if it bothered him and he very graciously said no, that the fans had always been good to him and he was glad that he could make them happy by obliging them with a photo. I thought that was a huge contrast to what we see in many athletes today.
Have to leave now but more tomorrow on my Mondo Martini (hopefully) winning entry.
Cayuga Concrete Pipe was founded in 1958 in New Britain, Pennsylvania. A second facility located in Croydon, Pa was acquired in 2000 and a third facility located in New Britain, PA was acquired in 2002.
For the past 3 years we’ve been seeing a praying mantis in our backyard. I get quite a kick out of it. I don’t recall seeing any as a kid. The children really dig it, too. We found one yesterday and I took a few pix.
I also read a little about them. They live only a year, so we’ve apparently got a family in our yard. And they’re carnivorous. Here’s an article about a praying mantis that caught a hummingbird. A picture, too. Pretty cool.
BTW, I’m pretty impressed by the macro lens on my little camera. Charlotte said, “I never saw the eyes before.” Not sure I do, but I do see slits that could be eyes.
I really like the small opportunities our yard offers the kids to experience nature a bit. Lightning bugs are plentiful (tho Lis and I fight over calling them lightning bugs or fireflies). We have a pair of cardinals, some blue jays, a catbird or 4. Occasionally a flock of crows create havoc. We have a family of skunks nearby. I crossed paths with a baby skunk (8 ft away) while taking the garbage out recently. I ran like hell. Possum, raccoons, a family of bunny rabbits, dead moles that the kids bury. Bats, neat.
Just a bit of the mundane I thought ya’all might enjoy.
It’s Friday night, the kids are watching Superman II, we’re waiting for pizza, and it’s raining for the 8th day in a row. Just remembered a picture I’ve been meaning to put up here in hopes of stimulating some conversation. Ron, you can contribute, too.
Greetings. Here in Utah the soccer playoffs have begun. The Judge Memorial Bulldogs face a difficult task of returning to the State Championship game. Last year we were runner-ups to Park City (who are currently ranked number 12 in the country). We were State Champs in 2002 and 2003. Park City are the heavy favorites this year, they are led by a midfielder who is on the U-19 national team.
This year has been rougher than the last few. Three starters have gone down with season ending ACL injuries. Our second leading scorer broke her arm last week, and her doctor’s say she’s done for the year. Natalie has been plattooned at center mid, forward or outside mid…and it’s been difficult for her to win a starting spot despite the injuries. The head coach has started a youth movement, the freshman and sophomores are in many cases as good or better than the upper classmen. Last night Nats played about half the game…where her great passing skills were on display in our first round victory (5 to 1 over Millard). But this weekend we travel five hours to St. George for our quarterfinal matchup against an unbeated Dixie squad. Two more wins and we make it to the finals, which would mean a likely rematch with the hated Park City team.
We’ll keep you posted.
As some of you know, Eric is running on his school’s cross country team. This is his second year on the team. Last year he went out for the team just so that he would be in better shape for his soccer club team, but he really ended up loving it.
This year has been a lot of fun again. Their first meet was at Fox River Grove, who were the state champions last year. Eric surprised everyone and won that race. He told us one of his goals for the year was to win a race, so he made it the first one. After that, he took several third places. At a big invitational meet, he took 15th out of over a hundred runners. The first 20 runners receive ribbons. No one at his school had ever qualified for a ribbon until Eric did it last year.
For a few weeks, Eric wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t do as well as normal at a few meets. Once he started feeling better, the coach told him to take it easy for one more race, just to be sure.
Another one of Eric’s goals is to qualify for the state tournament. Yesterday was the conference meet and he finished in 8th place with a 2 mile time of 12:33. That qualified him for sectionals which are Saturday morning. We figure he’ll have to finish somewhere in the top 25 or so to make it to state. The top 3 teams get to send 7 runners, and the next top 10 or so runners also qualify.
So we’ll see how he does and look for another posting on Saturday.
