Newsweek sinks to another low.

I was finishing up the weekly grocery shopping when this literally stopped me in my tracks:

Good grief.

Now, do I think the modern president has to deal with a lot of issues? Of course.  And some of them — like police incidents with Cambridge professors, NCAA brackets and threats to kick corporate ass — would be better left to someone else.  ANYONE else.

And yet? I know a lot of people who deal with a lot of issues and solve a lot of crap.  I admire those people hugely, but I’ve never managed to mistake them for deities.

Shall we play Looking Glass News for a moment?  Would you like to think of some alternate titles that might be used for an overworked George Bush?

“He Can’t Handle the Workload.”

“The President’s Not Up To The Job.”

“Bush’s $87 Billion Mess.” (That one’s real. You can find a partial listing of all Newsweek Bush covers here.)

“The Distracted President.”

“This Guy’s Ugly, He Smells and We Don’t Like Him.”

(Was that last one a bit much?  Maybe that was a bit much.)

Note to the editors:

You may want to zip up your fly; your bias is showing.

lovelissa

P.S. I’m disgracefully behind on all things internet, so I’m sure all the cool bloggers have already hit this up.  Meh — you gotta start somewhere 🙂

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Packing up for the frozen North

Good morning all! I’m savoring the last of my coffee and the last of my lap-Rajah before I bustle about getting ready. Luckily for me, I unpacked a box yesterday that held my hat, leather gloves and scarf. Cause I know I’m gonna need ’em. 🙂

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

Happy Caturday from the Sunshine State

Rajah sez: Tasty, tasty sunshine!! Mmmmmmzzzzzzzzz…

Strapping on my dancing — er, BAKING shoes!

Good morning all!  I slept REALLY hard last night — I skipped my usual “Oh god it’s 4 AM why the hell am I awake” and instead slept like I’d been wrestling alligators all day.  Naturally, the trade-off is that I had some seriously cracked-out dreams.

MIKE:  “How would you know what being cracked-out is like?”

LISSA:  “Dude, you see them all the time on COPS.”

After dreams of being 22 and moving to Canada (to share a studio apartment with three other people; even in my dream I was horrified); of being in Brazil for a dinner party, in which we had to turn off all the lights at dusk because the bats were vampiric and had nasty diseases; and a beach party in which some of the party-goers were half-human, half-alien . . . well, short version is, I was groggy as hell.

I’ve now chugged down a mug of coffee and, more importantly, figured out what desserts I’m going to make for the family dinner tonight, and now I’m so impatient to get the grocery store that I’m not sure I’ll be able to squeeze in breakfast first.  But it’s a bad idea to go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.  Isn’t it?

I hope that tomorrow’s post will have pictures of sweet, delicious and pretty treats!!

We killed a snake and I’m sorry.

THE SCENE:
Lissa is doing garden-y stuff in the front yard and walks around to the back yard to check her tomatoes.  Her eye is caught by a long, black, thrashing, sinuous shape in the corner of the screened patio.  She gasps.

“Mike!  Need help please, there’s a snake in the patio!!”

THE BACKGROUND:
Lissa has always liked snakes.  They’re cool!  And they eat pests.  And they’re pretty.  And when you pick them up, they contract and wrap around your arm (but never around your neck, kids!) and they’re just weird and they feel all smooth and cool and she wants a corn snake someday.

Mike . . . does not share this fascination.  In fact, he’s rather un-fond of snakes.  He has been known to growl, Indiana-Jones-style, “Why did it have to be SNAKES?”

HOW I IMAGINED THE SCENE WOULD PLAY OUT:
Lissa takes the brand-new garden rake and slowly approaches the snake from the right side.  She gently nudges him with the rake.  The snake, wanting only to escape and realizing that Lissa is much, MUCH bigger than he is, oozes to the left.  She delicately chivvies him around the corner and to the door.  He slithers quickly into the overgrowth behind the house as she watches with a peaceful smile on her face, content, and confident that he will keep her garden area rat-free.

HOW IT ACTUALLY WENT DOWN:
Well, the part about the garden rake was true.  And I did indeed approach slowly and gently nudge him with the rake.  Unfortunately, he did NOT turn tail and run.  He just thrashed harder.

I gingerly poked him some more.  He thrashed some more.  And then he started shaking his tail at us.

MIKE: “Lissa, are you SURE it’s just a black rat snake?  Why is he shaking his tail?”

LISSA:  “Well, there aren’t any rattles on it, so it’s probably okay . . . ”

Then he started trying to crawl up the rake.  I quickly scurried backward.

LISSA:  “Um, Mike, you want to try?”

Brave man that he is, he stepped up.  He didn’t have any more luck than I did with the rake — the snake continued to shake its tail and strike at nearby objects, NOT retreating at all — but he had more success with the big rubber pool hook.  Repeatedly picking up the main body of the snake (it kept oozing away), he carried it out of the patio and set it down in the grass.

Phew! I followed them out, still looking forward to the peaceful and contented smile.

Only the bugger wouldn’t leave.

Instead, he stayed coiled up, hissing, and striking at anything nearby.

LISSA:  “Mike . . . I think we might have to kill it.”

MIKE: “You want to kill it?”

LISSA:  “I think so.  If it’s not going to crawl away, and it’s going to stay here and be aggressive, I think I’d feel better with it dead.  The neighbors have kids, y’know.”

So I held its neck in place with the pool hook and Mike got the shovel and chopped his head off.

*sniffle*

I didn’t WANNA kill it!  I wanted him to crawl away!  I did!!!

Oh, well.  I told our neighbors — who had warned me they’d seen a snake the day before — that we had killed it, and that I felt bad about it.  He didn’t QUITE laugh at me as he nicely informed me that his sons are five and seven and he kills snakes on sight.

*sigh*

So far our Florida Death Toll consists of one spider (that apparently only eats six-legged creatures) and one snake that eats rodents.  We’ll probably move on to killing butterflies and kicking puppies, next.

(a decapitated snake picture is beneath the fold)

SWEET SAUSAGE PANCAKE BITES!!!

No, really! Sweet peppery sausage wrapped in pancake batter:

There oughta be a law against these 🙂

Off to a wedding – y’all have a good weekend!!

Thank you, Veterans!!!

“The nation will remain the land of free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”
– Dick Cheney

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

New Gun Acquisition: Meet Kevin

He’s pleased to meet you!

I wasn’t sure, when I finally managed to get my grubby little paws on a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380, whether it would be a Whitney or a Kevin.  Having finally taken it shooting, however, there’s no doubt in my mind: He’s Kevin.

He’s very unostentatious in his carriage.

He’s not shiny or flashy or diva-licious.

He quietly, neutrally, without any expression gets the job done.

Unemotional, flat, and taciturn – just like Kevin Costner in, oh, EVERY movie. 😉

We first took him shooting this past Sunday.   I will freely admit that shooting him is a very different experience than shooting Siguette — after about 60 rounds with Kevin my wrist was aching, my finger was sore, and my right hand was quivering slightly.  (In comparison, I ran about 250 rounds through Siguette in each of the Sig classes with little or no ill effects.)  Also, I had some trouble seating the magazines until I realized that I had to press the mag release button while inserting them; after that I had no further difficulty.

But that’s the trade off for a Bodyguard and its relatives: You trade comfort of shooting, and perhaps some accuracy, for the light weight and the ability to conceal it in your waistband. Though I must say: For such a little (and light!) gun, the sights are just dead on.  Not to mention the laser!  I took it back to the range to finish breaking it in; here’s how we did (at seven yards):

18 in body using sights, then laser-sighting in head

As you can see, my laser-sighted shots tend to be a bit high and right.  I’m not sure whether the lasers are slightly off or if I’m jerking the shots.  I’m not used to lasers so there’s a definitely possibility that my form was the culprit.  (And this is, of course, why we aim center-mass!)

Perhaps because I was expecting it, the second day at the range didn’t cause the trembling or achiness that the first day did.  Here’s how we ended up:

Last 16 shots - half laser, half sighted

All in all, I’m VERY pleased with the Bodyguard! The sights are accurate, the shape and weight allow waistband concealment — something that the Kahr PM9, pretty much the smallest gun legal in MA, could not do — and it’s easy to field-strip.  Happy Lissa does the Happy Dance!

P.S. We’re using fairly cheap 380 FMJ ammo.  Downside: It sometimes takes more than one pull to touch off the primer.  Upside: When that happens, it forces you to concentrate on a smooth trigger-pull — if the gun jerked but no bullet went bang, you know you’re yanking it!  Upside X2: It only happens with the cheap target ammo, never on the expensive hollowpoints, so I’m not worried about it happening anywhere besides the range.

Happy Caturday – Zonked edition

Rajah says: May your weekends be THIS relaxed.

Are there any Glenn Beck fans out there? Can you explain this to me?

I’ve never been a Glenn Beck fan.  Or a Rush Limbaugh fan.  Or a Sean Hannity fan.  I just don’t listen to Talk Radio.

So perhaps it’s incredibly unfair of me to judge a man, and a show by one clip.  Anyone want to help me out?

This clip was linked by both Ace of Spades and Hot Air yesterday morning:

I watched the whole thing waiting for it to get better.  To get funny.

I wanted to jam a pencil in each eye and drumsticks through my eardrums.

What is WRONG with the high-pitched hysterical laughter guy?  What is UP with the stupid singing?

If I had walked into this cold I’d think this was an SNL skit from the same people who made “I can see Russia from my house!” possibly the most famous line that was never spoken by a politician.

Someone want to enlighten me please???