I am all for excesses if you are not involved in them to the excess. LOL. We are a generation of excess.  We are a society of excess.  We love living, even those of our society who publicly claim not to live in an excessive manner.  And it is my contention that there is nothing wrong with that.  It has led to inventions that were only cartoon ideas a few years ago.  The wrist watch telephone for instance.  We can all think of items that fit the bill.  Today our newspaper advertised itself as the years biggest issue and it was heavy.  I almost had to buy a wheeled cart from the Big Lots ad to get the damned thing in the house.  It had numererous ads for 96″ tv’s for prices that would astound you.  A 6′ prelit christmas tree for the low price of $ 18.00.  Who could ever buy another live tree with prices like that. 

There was a picture in the local section showing a man who had been camped in a tent, in front of the local BEST Buy since Tuesday waiting for it to open at midnight today.  Folks, I love a lot of people and adore many others but I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that there are very few high enough on the list to have me camping out to buy them a present.  How much could this person be planning on saving?  The DA took off work, probably giving up vacation time, which could have been spent with his family, or even possibly without pay, to save $ 29.00 on the purchase price of an electronic device that will be obsolete before the first pack of batteries goes dead.  And people wonder why the USA has lost the respect of the world as to our being a superpower.  Could the leader of the free world have evolved into a society of people so consumed with greed that they would lower themselves to “life under the bridge” actions to save money on an item they probably cant use to begin with.  Apparently so.

I like this holiday.  I like turkey.  I like dressing that goes with turkey.  I like giblet gravy, green bean casserole, and I like pumpkin pie.  I want to thank the Pilgrims and there friends the Indians for coming together and cooking up all those items.  The Indian that brought the little crispy onion bits that goes on the casserole is my choice for “Native Amercan Hall of Fame”. 

I am thankful for so many things that I could hardly mention them.  I am thankful for friends past,. present and future.  I am thankful for the people that I dont like as they make me like the ones I do much more.  I am thankful for family.  I can not imagine life without family.  I am also thankful for a devine being that made the natural world in the manner that allows me enjoy such things as forests, mountains, the Grand Canyon, etc.  Those are cathedrals of beauty that puts things in perspective for me. 

I wish each of you a happy holiday season.  Thanks to many of you for our shared memories.

GAry

I am not sure why our daughter chose such a place for her 50th birthday celebration but we went.  We try to grant as many of our children’s wishes as possible, within reason.  Since my wife likes the slots, Vegas is considered reasonable.

Vegas is a city of many faces but the underlying theme of the place is that of excess.  It thrives on the concept of “over the top”.  People flock there to be encased in the excesses of food, entertainment and sometimes debauchery.  How they approach this concept of living is the thing I like to watch while I am there.

Somewhere in Vegas there is a “little black” dress rental store, much like a tuxedo rental store.  There has to be.  I have never seen so many young ladies wearing the little black dress in my life.  I looked up once and saw 8 young ladies, approximately early 20’s walking along in a parade line, like ducklings behind a mother duck, and all of them were wearing a small black dress, mostly strapless, black hooker heels and carrying what I am told is a clutch purse.  The dresses were so short that any attempt at raising one’s arms higher than waist level would have exposed areas of their nubile bodies that mothers are supposed to warn their daughters to keep covered.  I am talking short and tight.  Any exposure to a winter gust of wind would and could cause some severe problems.  I was just dumbfounded that so many had on the exact same thing.  I can remember when 2 women wearing the same outfit at the same party was a social felony.  I have seen instances where such a thing caused tears to be shed.

High heel shoes are a thing of mystery to me and to most men.  Why and by whom were they invented?  Were they invented to tone a woman’s legs?  Were they invented to make a lady’s bottom bounce, which is actually what they do, or for some other unknown reason.  Why do the heels seem to be getting higher?  Our little gaggle of folks walked across the casino behind a young lady who was a newbie in high heels.  Although she was in her 30’s it appeared as if that night was the first time she had worn such shoes.  She wobbled like a Juarez string puppet and I had to hold back a couple of times to keep from grabbing her, thinking she was about to fall.  You could tell that her entire backside was clinched in her attempt to keep from falling so that  when she got to where she was going that she loosened everything and puddled like a melting popsicle.  All in the name of fashion.  She could have worn some comfortable SAS shoes and been much more comfortable and I for one would not have cared a wit.

As anyone knows who has been to Vegas, all things are for sale there.  Paid companionship seems to be a hot commodity.  Casinos take a great deal of care to monitor who goes up to the floors of the hotel where the guests sleep, so they have a hall monitor.  He checks room keys.  This is where the paid escorts gather to wait for their clients to come down and usher them up.  At times it appears to be a hooker supermarket.  I, for one, would be too embarrassed to come down to pick up the package for fear of someone seeing me going to the store.  You almost always run into someone you know in Vegas.  And that business about what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas is a total myth.  In the age of YouTube, action in sin city can be world-wide in less than 10 minutes.

I feel as if this was my last trip to the city in the desert.  I don’t like to gamble, the buffets are marginal as far as food quality is concerned and there are no places to sit while watching people, except in front of a slot machine.  People are the greatest things to watch in the world, other than maybe a good 3 ring circus.  If they would only figure out that they could build an area in each casino, set up with comfortable chairs, a good view of the areas used by people, charge a fee for the time spent sitting and they could make more money than they do at the slots.  A comely cocktail waitress coming by periodically with a drink, a decent menu of finger sandwiches and a day of people watching would match the super  bowl as entertainment.

Chuy the entertained

I just read on the internet that we have all been either cleaning too much, not cleaning enough or cleaning ourselves in the wrong places.  Here I am marching boldly towards the age of 71 and find out that I may be unclean.  That is shocking.

Bacterial soap apparently removes not only bad germs but good ones also.  I guess you need some germs hanging around on your skin in order to fight off the cooties that will surely give you fits if you didnt have the good germs to defend you.  That makes sense, kinda.  I am at a loss as to what to use to keep the good ones alive and kill the bad ones.  I had always liked Lifebouy soap because it floated.  I had to get another brand when we deep-sixed our tub in favor of a locker room size shower.  You dont need a floating soap in a shower.  Lava soap is a real cleanser but is a bit gritty and will leave a lasting impression  if used in certain areas.  Camay sounds nice but it is hard as super clue to get off after you have lathered up.  It just seems like it stays on you for longer than I care to have soap on my body.  Soap made from goats milk is all the rage at the farmers markets but I wonder if  that is all that good in warm weather.  The smell of soured milk is not one of my all time favorite smells and I fear that in South Texas, goats milk soap would go bad faster than a rookie wide receiver in the NFL.

The article I read named your navel as the number 1 dirty spot on your bod.  I can see where they are coming from but for the life of me can’t see what I can do to help the situation.  I think if you are an outie, well you have got a step up on us who are innies.  I am not sure how you clean your navel other than soap up a finger, give it a couple of jabs and then go on to other areas.  Apparently it takes more attention to detail than I have been giving mine.  I guess you could pour it full of shampoo but feel that you might blow bubbles every time you breathe deep for the rest of the day.  An alcohol swab somehow doesn’t sound intelligent for some reason. I am in a quandary over this one.

Cavemen and native americans probably just bathed when thy accidentally had to wade across a creek.  I don’t do that much creek wading.  I guess my only option is to continue to do what I have been doing and hope that I am not damaging this temple I call my body.

Chuy the unclean

November is a bountiful month.  It is the month of my daughter’s birth, as well as that of my father, it is the month of elections and also the month that we give thanks for the things that have been bestowed upon us.  I love November.  In south Texas it starts to get cool and that is a real blessing. We have much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving dinner is, by far, my favorite meal.  I can’t remember ever eating any dish prepared for Thanksgiving dinner that wasnt something delicious.  Those Pilgrims had their acts together and started some real traditions.  Thank you Pilgrims.  I can eat turkey and dressing any time of the year and love left over turkey sandwiches.  I like dressing patties sautéed in butter until they are brown on both sides.  They are as fattening as eating a bon-bon, but who cares.  I keep cranberry sauce in the cupboard all year and serve almost every time we have pork or turkey.  You can even use it to slather on a good biscuit if you get in a bind.

Yesterday we received the Thanksgiving issue of Williams-Sonoma catalog.  This is a cooks answer to the annual Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog.  W/S has some things in their catalog that people only dream about.  No one ever has enough kitchen space for all the things one wants from this catalog.  They have pots, pans, dinnerware, recipes, wine parings, they have it all, including food.  They have Maple Bourbon turkey glaze, butternut squash puree, they have pecan pie in a jar, and these are only a few of their offerings.  Last year my children bought me some of their frozen croissants and I can vouch that they are about as good as it gets.  Considered as living high on the hog.  Last night I looked at a  selection of prepared meats that they are offering and was totally in awe.  They looked professionally prepared and I’m sure they were.  However, a Crown roast pricing out at  a mere $ 37.50 per pound was a bit much.  You can rest assured that if you come to my house for Thanksgiving dinner and you see a W/S Snake River Farms Kurobuta Crown Roast sitting on the table you damned well better not take seconds.  Leftovers are going straight to the freezer to have for next year.  That little piece of meat will be sliced thinner than an Arbys roast beef sandwich.  You can fill up on garlic mashed potatoes.  My wife asked if I saw anything in the catalog that I might want for Christmas, I am hard to buy for, and I advised no.  That was somewhat of a little fib.  I saw a lot I would like to have but have no place to put them.  I am currently storing some of my cooking gadgets in the garage and in my camping storeroom.  I am afraid to ask for more toys.  I guess she could buy me some Shellfish Firmaggio in Scallop shells, they are only $ 19.00 apiece and look as if they could be gulped down like an oyster on the half-shell.  Lord, wonder who eats food like that?

I hope each of you have a great November.  I hope you buy your turkey early and thaw it properly.  I love going to the grocery store and watching people, some obviously from other countries, buying a frozen turkey on the eve of Thanksgiving.  I always wonder what those people actually eat the next day.

Gary