Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for April 13, 2013

I firmly believe that men should not wear flip-flops in public unless they are on their way to the beach or watering the lawn.

Martin has borrowed Marcus’ rehabilitated antique farm tractor from April 8 and will be plowing his north forty after a quick stop to read his magazine and put on his hip boots.

When people ask me my religion, I’m going to say “Utilitarian”.

Where on Earth is everybody? It’s 12:28am MDT.May as well turn in.

Mornin’ Dog!

I don’t know how many posts an hour you expect… but I just got here, which is pretty usual…and Briatollah is probably still here too.

Bev?

Of course, we do go other places on Ballard St. besides the Tiki….

Busy neighborhood, you know. Businesses to run, neighbors to watch carefully….

Like Martin, there….will he start a minimalist trend?There are just some people I’d rather not encourage to go shirtless.

Bev…. were you saying back there that somebody ate Stel’s pie?

I was so convinced that label would work!

Fenton, just in case Martin comes in like that,do we have a rule requiring shirts or…um… anything else Martin…well…might not be wearing?

Oh, you’re right, we can’t.

Not when the Monkey only wears clothes to please the humans.

Yeah, I know…and he says shirts are only useful as a place to pin his badge.

Bev… is that birdie taking two little ones under its wing?

Gosh… and I told Stel there was pie in the fridge for her.I have so much to do tomorrow….I guess I have to stay up and make her a pie….

Luckily key limes are available at the Ballard St. Shell All Night Gas ‘n’ Guzzle.

Oh…. g’night Bev… sorry… I didn’t answer before cos I thought you were already gone.

Oh gosh, Red…sorry I missed you…

Took a stroll around the comics…came back so sleepy I dozed off by the fire…Stel…if you really didn’t get your pie, I’ll make you one Sunday.I promise!

Too tired now… and a long day tomorrow.(But I have a feeling it’s still there…. my label may have kept them out.

I mean…. it did say that it was not a key lime pie….who would look there?)

X … where have you been?

And pcolli…. Don’t you guys want pie?

That reminds me…Brian and Bev and Shika were discussing “cow pies” and “cow patties” and such…

Funny… I have a weak stomach while eating…. do NOT want to hear about bugs or blood or any such at mealtime.

But while I admit to that girly weakness…I too have been in trouble over food names.

I once asked a boyfriend long ago if he wanted “more of this glop” in reference to some beef stew…and he was furious cos I forever “ruined” beef stew for him!Yikes.

Also, I love poultry hearts…and there’s a turkey farm here with a retail store where you used to be able to buy chicken or duck hearts by the pound…That may not sound appealing…but honestly they make great soup.However… my jokingly descriptive name for that soup got me in awful trouble.

LOL

Bedtime for me…Oh, and Shika… there’s lots of lemon pie left, even now…feel free…

Good night, Ballard Street….

BTW… Dogsniff mentioned snow and sleet….

To all of you experiencing this strangely unending wintry weather…I wish you an end to it SOON.

closet ornamental

Martin was hoping Mabel would tell him he looks like a hunka hunka burning love!!!!

A man should dress however he chooses around the house. And I love to see my man in as little as possible!I agree about the flip flops! Neither of us ever wear such. I always put a nightgown on to leave the bedroom (robe if it’s chilly) and he wears a robe independant of the weather.

MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to those that do not like flip flops:

I live in flip flops all summer! I have them in all different colors and I love them. The ones I wear for walking are thick rubber with built-in arch supports and are incredibly comfortable. They feel better than my very expensive sneakers!

Those people who do not like them, of course… should not wear them!

Well, I think Martin looks pretty good, over all.

We need to get to the bottom of the missing pies. Susan works so hard making so many and they should all be consumed as intended by those to whome she chose to give them. Nothing is worse than seeing the fruits of your labors stolen or wasted!

As to footwear, when I can, I will get around to making another pair in a somewhat modern simple style, but I go thru pair after pair of stretch ballet flats that fit a range of sizes around the house. They are no better or worse than barefoot but they keep my feet relatively clean and are easy to slip out of for workouts etc.

OK- now GoComics stopped letting me use < p > to produce a linespace. There IS one before “As to footwear…”

I confess to wearing flip-flops when I water the lawn or take the garbage out, but I don’t go places in them. Nobody wants to see dude feet.

Martin makes me nervous. I’m fearful that his straps will give way and he will bare all, rather than wear an overall.As for flip flops, be thankful they are no longer called thongs. ‘Cause if Martin is wearing a thong, I’m outta here!

Martin may look utilitarian, but neither of them have legs that are utilitarian!

@ imbaldeagle

Their legs are too thin to be useful for anything.

Thanks for the pie susan. I do hope that the key lime pie thief is caught and punished appropriately. Whatever that would entail.

BBL

I think I would sooner see a handyman’s “crack” than Martin dressed like that. My eyes hurt now.

Just in case anyone has an appetite…Cats in the Kettle

bev He looks better than Marvin, but not by much! He needs one of those new Duluth Trading Companies “Plumber’s Butt” T-Shirts! LOL!

OMG Bev! Can’t say as I have! LOL!

x_Tech Shame on you! Poor, poor kitty!

And then I saw the link and clicked on it! LOL! Good one x_Tech! The picture of the inside of the restaraunt looked quite eerily like a restaurant we had here called Hong Kong Garden. We got take out from there A LOT! Then all of a sudden they were closed, never reopened. A Domican Republic food restaurant opened up in that spot later on. Never ate there but those who did said it was a disaster. A mother and her 12 year old daughter ran the place. You had to eat in or go in and wait for your take out, no pre order takeouts. They barely spoke english and those who I knew that ate there said it was horrible. Some of us were talking at work about all the restaurants that go in and out of that building and one of my co-workers said a relative of his and his family was eating in the restaurant one day when the 8Board of Health came in and immediately shut the restaurant down*. I thought he was talking about the Domican restaurant, I misunderstood him.He was talking about the Hong Kong Garden. They were shut down BECAUSE THEY WERE RECYCLING FOOD! WHATEVER WAS LEFT ON THE PLATE FROM PREVIOUS DINERS WAS REHEATED AND ADDED TO THE NEXT MEAL!

Now PEDRO’S is due to open in a few weeks! I laugh because if I didn’t I think I’d cry!

Well, Bev, I hate to see any part of a stranger’s anatomy (just love that of my Lover). That t-shirt does improve the view by making it part of a cartoon rather than anything real. And X, I love massaging my lover’s feet almost as much as I enjoy other parts, and I often give him a pedicure (as I used to do mani-pedis for my mom in her later days and I’ve always done my own nails.

DAZZ I wish I had enough nails to do. Used to. :-(

I can’t wait to see what Susan does with these past comments! LOL! She’ll “run” with this one, don’t you think?

@Dry, just noticed about your nails! I did not know it was possible to lose those ?!My youngest son mentioned he thought his were not growing as much now. I told him he might put a fine line with indelible pen to watch how fast it moves up. Mine have grown 1/8 to 1/4’ since I painted them last. I use pale pink so I don’t need to keep that up like when I was working in an office. Did something strange happen, or just biting~if I may ask~?

Well, the party BS’ers will be showing up soon, but I can’t stay up, so PARTY ON BALLADEERS!

@DAZZ

Just caught your reply as I signed off. LOL! NO I have nails, I bite once in a GREAT while when there’s a rough edge or such, but mostly it is because I don’t wear gloves when I work in my garden in spring and summer, wearing gloves doesn’t get the job done properly in my book, and in winter they get brittle even with vaseline and gloves at night so I just gave up on them.

Okay, now I am saying Good Night! :-)

I see I just missed Dry. I came back to say Good Night myself.Early day tomorrow,Good Night Ballardeers!

I must try to talk more about nails tomorrow when she’s back. G’night All!

I went to the symphony this evening. They played Tchaikovsky’s Sixth (Pathetique) and Fifth Symphonies.A pleasant night out.

Hello all…

I posted last night that it would be a long day…and it was.Bev…. are you talking about avatars?I see everyone’s…except for those who have the grey question mark that means they haven’t chosen one.

Does Bev not see my avatar? Maybe it’s for the best.People seem to hate it.

@ bevNo, I went alone. Ladyfriend works two jobs.I put a new shifter on the spare bike, but it was rainy today, and will likely be rainy tomorrow.

I dunno Brian… I see it….

I do think it’s a bit… um… well… you know….let’s just say I’d prefer something a little more cheerful…

But it’s yours, not mine, and you can represent yourself any way that feels right!

Whoa… Brian… did you delete and edit that post?Cos I read it before I posted and now it’s after my comment.

I’m sooo tired…I didn’t expect to be out so late…and tomorrow I have to make a big pile of key lime pies…

And it’s Saturday night at the Tiki….sigh….Hate to go home early…

Thanks, everybody, for your concern for me, over the pie theft…But you know…. I made 96 pies…Some I gave away, some were sold at the Tiki….a few more than allotted were eaten by a certain long-tailed furry …. um…banana pie lover…who shall remain nameless… …

But it’s OK cos he owns the bar AND bought most of the ingredients….

If Martin stole one…and it looks like Cissy caught him dead to rights…I’ll just walk over to their house and ask for payment.He’s a utilitarian sort of fellow…and he’ll surely see the practical side of paying for a pie so he doesn’t have to pay the piper….so to speak.

The Sheriff said he’d be away all weekend, and I said we’d take good care of the Tiki….I’d hate to bring in the Sheriff’s Dept just to investigate one pie….BatPug and Lt. Canine are already working overtime.And Martin is a reasonable fellow, over all.

Fenton…I’m going to have to turn in….

I think Sid is working the full shift at the hotel….Do you want me to see whether I can get some of the little mo….

OK, OK! I know you can…just thought you might want some extra help…

But you’re right…. it’s pretty late…. you’ll be OK.

If you see Red, would you tell him, please, that I’ll try to do some raspberry pies, too, if I can find any raspberries?I wasn’t planning on baking at all for a while…but if I need to fill one request, I might as well be filling two!

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Wow! Some of you really stay up late (5 AM my time). I woke at least around 6:30 but with the lovely pink light thru my curtains, I was comfy just hugging my other pillow and day-dreaming. Great for a Sunday morning.Sometimes it’s just not important to get up right away.

Even tho’ I want to call Ace Hardware today to see if they make replacement screens for windows. (Now that I decided it is broken beyond repair). I really want to get that ASAP to have a lovely breeze through the window in this moderate weather (still 65F at 8AM). If Ace does not do it, I’ll try the place where I had the special glass cut for this computer cabinet. There are many little things I’d like to fix before he comes to visit (but I don’t think he will this year).

Brian!

I hope it’s not hard to get back home after that!

Say…. do you think that can be done selectively?Like for, say… a bit off the hips or some such?

pcolli… I do hope you wished him a happy birthday from all your good friends here on Ballard Street.(especially if you don’t want to get invited to many of those pesky family occasions….LOL)

OK, finally called my local Ace and they said the guy comes in around 11 on Mondays to pickup screens to remake and then returns them on Friday. I want to schedule a window washer (as the rain was also full of mud) and the window washers take them off and on (might be difficult for me alone) This one is 58″×28″ is the opening part of my big window – gives a good view of the yard and mountains behind.

And I almost forgot about Dry’s problem with her dry brittle nails. Susan may have some advice (or do you only do hair?). I did everything for my family – cooked dinners since I was 13, cut my own and husband’s hair (and my 3 sons too), always colored my own (except when I used Clairol factory) and always shaped and painted my own nails. There was a brief time when I used a salon near my workplace and they had a bar next door so we had something to sip while hair was done. Everybody chatted (much like the Tiki) but then my fav stylist moved to a fancier area and bought her own place. I helped her decorate the main wall as well as do a pretty velvet drape in the window and lettering with gold accents on the glass.

Regarding good strong nails (which I DO have) I would not recommend keeping them in oils or lotions (Dry, is that what you do?). Important for nails is a good diet (as for hair and bones) but a basic polish without harsh chemicals actually protects them from all the abuse of household work, just as a basic makeup actually protects the face (I need to be reminding myself of the latter because I seldom put anything but a little moisture cream on my face). Depending on her work, she could just apply a single coat of clear and touch it up as necessary (edges show less on thin coats). It is not a good idea to just settle for the idea that they are soft and brittle because that will not improve on its own. The index finger nail on my right hand is a little thinner than other nails because I lost the nail on center finger at my Riverview accident. Once it grew back it is misshapen and thick (so it robbed some material from the neighbor) and that finger is now same length as the other pair. The reason I don’t wear any jewels on right hand or even normally bright polish.

Bev! Aha! It is indeed the PRO sticker, if you’re not seeing that, cos it’s right where that goes.

though it’s got a word in the oval, it’s a little image. .. and for some reason you’re not getting it.

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I’m not at my computer, and my phone is doing odd things to my posts. .. sorry.

Have you shut down your computer since the image was fIrst miSsing? If not, it may come back next time you reboot.

That wOuld mean the site doesn’t load it fresh each time, and something happened to the copy stored on your computer.

Too complicated to really explain now and not that interesting anyway.

And if you HAVE rebooted that’s not it anyhow.

But it will show up again.

Bev… well, I didn’t want to mention it…but yes…we DO leave that to you….LOL!

Well, Dazz….

I think we all share part of the “honor.”

Good one ;-D

Hi Oddballs!I mean Ballardeers, not just bev.!

I just came to say Good Night. I had lots to do tonight. Have fun at the turn over. See you on the other side.

Oh…. good night Shika!

And Bev…. ol’ pal… ol’ buddy….

You know I was just playin’ with ya….

Didn’t mean anything…

C’mon… let me buy you a drink at the Tiki….

How about a screwball?

I mean…. a margarita, of course..now where did that come from?

C’mon…. we can watch the comics turn…and jump into tomorrow!

Is he flying a plane commando?!?

https://cleoandcompany.net/april-13-2023/

Good morning Balladeers and Tigressy!

This ^ looks like ten percent of the local Wal-Mart.