Big Top by Rob Harrell for November 22, 2010

Good Morning TRIBLEANDALL!

Breakfast in a bit!

Good Morning, Tribesters

Good Morning ♠Lonewolf♠!

Good morning, Sojo.

Great looking menu, sir!

May I please have the Huevos rancheros, beans & rice, Flour tortillas and a large thermos of Doc’s World Famous Nuclear Coffee?

Sure thing ♠Lonewolf♠ - Orders up!

Thank you kindly, Sojo.

I need better writers too! I’ll just have coffee Sojo!

Good Morning WoodEye! - Here you are.

Good morning, Woodeye. Good to see you!

Well I need to get some shut-eye and hit the horizontal position,

Good Night Sojo.

P&L

Good Night ♠Lonewolf♠.

Time for my zzzzzz’s.

♪ P&L ♪ ≡≡ POOF! ≡≡

No long underwear, lots of blankets. Yes! It makes for good sleep.

Everyone eats bugs, fortunately I can’t remember any numbers. There are specific limits on the amount of bug parts allowed to be in our food. Spiders are attracted to warm moist places and I can’t remember how many the average person is suposed to swallow a year without being aware of it.

As for knowingly, on purpose, eating bugs. Don’t like that! No I don’t!

Bmonk, as usual you have left me confused and further considering what you have said.

Beer is Blechy!

Beer Is Blechy! Beer is Blechy!

Good Morning, Sojourner, ♠Lonewolf♠, WoodEye, Duckie One & Doctor Toon.*

Good Morning Tribe

Good morning, Doc, Luved One & Grog

Good Morning, ♠Lonewolf♠

Well, I have 4 days work to get done in three, so I better be moving along. Catch yall later.

Have a great day everyone!

P&L

You too, ♠Lonewolf♠

I’ve got to get ready for my dentist appointment.

Have a good day, everyone.

Morning All!

Good morning, tribe!

Doc - Sounds like you need to get some sleep, because I’m guessing you’ll be working hard tonight!

Good morning all for some like schools only two days then break. I wish everyone an early Happy Thanksgiving. For some of you (not me) dare I say

FOOTBALL

Others I guess shopping. My grades on two subject varies. Getting close to final exams dread this. Not sure of my future.

≡≡ P O P ! ≡≡ ♪ Good Morning TRIBE! ♪

Hello to all those here!

Hi, Kab & Sojo! Pretty nice weather we’re having, although it was fairly windy during the night.

Good Morning Rmom!

Sojo - I’m busy handling the paperwork from my sons’ wreck. Yuck! Is your day going better?

My day so far is okay. Though Wed. and Thrusday will be very cold. How long does one have to wait before ground temps cool? Weather shows temps dropping now at 40 cool front coming through.

Is everyone expecting a large family get together? Ous will be immdiedate family + 3 visitors. My dad’s side never gets together.

Good Morning Kab! - No get together here.

Rmom - My day is going fine. Last night I noticed my kitchen sink was getting pluged but I had enough drain clearner here to fix it this morning. I don’t envy your paperwork!

Kab - Until the highs stay below freezing, the ground won’t freeze. It will just be the four of us here. We talked about inviting someone, but couldn’t come up with anyone who doesn’t have extended family nearby. Sojo - I can’t say I enjoy handling the paperwork, but at least that’s in my skill set. My son is getting a dose of real life, since he’s 21, he has to do most of the writing. I have had to help him locate information for the forms, make calls, copies, etc.

Good morning! (esp: Rmom, Sojo & Kab Buch)

I see frost is falling from the sky again here–we got something like 4-6 inches in town over the weekend, mostly Saturday night. It’s OK for now, but when the wind comes up….

Besides, it’s too cold for late November, especially all at once like this.

Good Morning bmonk! - I don’t envy your frost also!

I just put it that way because certain people who frequent the Big Top get upset by the s-word….

;^)

Good morning, Everyone.

We;re in SoCal now, and will be here in Palmdale for a few days before heading to San Diego. Understand it was 2 degrees at 8 a.m. in Helena this a.m. I like 42 a little better!

Went for a nice breakfast here at the hotel…….funny…..they never heard of Doc’s Nuclear Coffee!!! But they would make Lonewolf’s breakfast burrito.

Have a great week, Everyone, I’ll try to pop in later. :))

Gocomics seems slow today–I’ve got two comics trying to load, and it’s taking over a minute each.

Hi, bmonk! - You can keep that cold weather up there, but I’m afraid it looks like you’re going to share with us. Sojo - I’m glad the drain cleaner worked. It seems when mine have gotten clogged, chemicals won’t do the job.

I find that, as a temporary fix for slow drains–and even once in a while stopped drains–some of the cleaners with “scrubbing bubbles” or the equivalent will do wonders. Spray them toward the drain, and use maybe a half cup of water (at most) to wash them into the trap, and let them sit for 10+ minutes.

Those active ingrediments sure do work hard, even when you can’t push them around yourself.

Hi again. Church we attend had a Thanks for giving to missions dinner. Hubby fixed barbecue turkey meatballs. All went just barbeque sauce left. They had a goal of a certain amount for for a change in so many years far exceeded their goal. We didn’t stay for that as my mom doesn’t feel good. Strange one lady was sweating and went outside where as my mom was freezing. She has two types of infection fighting each other plus she has coughing problems. My mom is very cold blooded. Summer she has no problem while we sweat she is nice warm.

Bye for now soon be time for me to go. Show I consider mine last two days. Made it tough for homework.

bmonk - I’ve heard baking soda & vinegar can work, but it doesn’t seem to do enough when I’ve tried it. When it is our bathtub drain that’s slow, I use needle-nose pliers to pull out the hair & gunk. A few months ago, I bought a small snake, which helped when the dishwasher drain hose got clogged. I found out that works really well on the bathtub drain too.

Thanks for the update Montana Lady - S.Cal sounds good right now.

Bye Kab.

Afternoon, all

GoComics appears to be running very slow today. I’m now home waiting for the plumber.

Good Afternoon Grog! - Seems like I don’t envy anyone today. GoComics has been slow but may be speeding up now?

The Clownafia do need better writers. Or maybe they need to hire more mimes as enforcers…

NOT THE MIMES!

Clowns are bad enough!

Yes–but the scriptwriters are less expensive for the mimes…

He he he!

I hope the mimes aren’t paid by the line - or word.

I think the mimes should be paid by the word! :-)

(That’s how lawyers started writing the way they do. They were originally paid by the word.)

Sojo - I think lawyers must charge by the page now. I remember my lawyer insisting that everything had to have wide margins and double-spaced, instead of squeezing it a little to fit on less pages.

Rmom - LOL Could be!

But isn’t that on legal - not letter paper, Rmom

Odd how the ads on TV have the legal part so small and fast you can’t read it yet they require their own copy to be as stated.

Good afternoon Tribeandall!

Good Afternoon ♠Lonewolf♠!

Hi, Sojo! How are you this afternoon?

♠Lonewolf♠ - I’m having a great day. I hope your getting the work done you need to since you’ll have Thanksgiving off.

Sojo, I’m glad to hear your day is good. My day is progressing nicely. With any luck, I might be able to take Friday off also. :^)

♠Lonewolf♠ - That would be nice!

Just a tad bit more work to finish. Be back in a little while.

It is cold. The snow is gone here for now. There is more snow in the forecast for Wednesday. My daughter has lots of snow. I woke up this morning just in time to watch it snow for a while. It was kind of funny because it was snowing a whole bunch for about half an hour. Just long enough for the kids to be freaking out about being stuck at school.

Hello ♠Lonewolf♠ & Duckie One.

Hello Grog

Snow! Snow!! Snow!!!

 

@Luv Is Evil Duckie, that’s just mean. I mean, what if someone is allergic to snow? When you say SNOW so often, they are apt to have a reaction to the snow, aren’t they?

OTOH, I have plenty of snow ammo for the snow-trebuchet now and for the foreseeable future.

Another snow storm due Tues night through Wed night–and then the breezes come to blow it all around.

(Edit: to correct the errant snowflakes that got blown around somehow.)

I was bad, I got out of the car and took pictures after we pulled over. Monkey 2’s other parents had texted her to let her know that ‘Oh, she didn’t have to come home last night after all because they had enough snow to close school today.’ We were most of the way there, but we went ahead and came back because she likes me better and the roads were quickly getting worse.

It doesn’t look too bad. Should be gone in no time - assuming you don’t get more.

Good Afternoon Bmonk, I never have made Santa’s nice list. Should I just switch to Demon Duckie?

Hello Luv Is Duckie! - Nice photo of the snow. Yellowstone has been getting a lot of snow from what I’ve seen by their web cams showing the snow.

Reminds me of this fall. With all the oil development work, we have a lot of guest workers from other states, like Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia, and other places where they don’t get much winter. A local paper ran an article suggesting that some of them, if they were going to stay, might consult a local about preparing for winter–windbreaker jackets and checking the antifreeze in the old pickup wouldn’t quite cut it. Mobile homes might need extra insulation. Heavy coats might need to be bought. This article resulted in several irate letters to the editor: we were being patronizing and the help was not needed.

A couple of weeks later, we got a nice little flurry–under half an inch at most. A few schools opened an hour late. This time we got at least one irate letter that school had not been called off, and it was actually snowing!

What did these officials think of, to endanger the kiddies that way? Someone could slip and fall! Or worse!

(The locals just laughed.)

bmonk, we once had a HR manager like that back in Montreal. Once it started snowing, he was already itching to send people home without even knowing what the accumulation would be.

@Luv Is Duckie, but the appeal to innocence is at least half the fun. We might not recognize it as you with a demon duck.

And, besides, the white duck can hide in hide in any snow so much better, if there is snow.

No patronizing the Snow Wimp! The snow was pretty.

We generally don’t get enough snow for me to have to learn to be an expert at driving in it. Since I don’t have to go anywhere, I don’t. If I really need something. I beg relatives that have more experience driving in it. Usually, I just stock up in advance. The most we ever get stuck here is a week.

There’s a feel to driving on snow or ice. Depending on how slick it is, you simply act more gingerly, turn more slowly, react more lightly in general. Of course, it’s easier when you are traveling slower–but you still should try to keep up with the flow of traffic, as long as they aren’t being insane about it. (And, believe me, some will be insane!) The less you have to pass or be passed, the better.

Like in walking on ice also: you try not to exert too much side force on your foot–almost as if you plant your shoe, and don’t try to move it in any direction. And you drive in a similar way, if that makes any sense at all. (At least that’s how I think of it.)

Oh, and often in October or so–when there is some nice slick roads or parking lots–I like to go and practice sliding and getting out of skids a bit, just to get the reflexes back.

ECHO!! Echo! Echo. Echo echo

(echo)

I have been learning not to care how slow I am driving. If others don’t like it, too bad for them. Slowing down on slick roads is scary!

The main reason I don’t like to go out in bad weather is because I know there are tons of people driving who don’t know what they are doing! I am glad you do Bmonk

Snow! Snow!

Snow! Snow! Snow! Snow! Snow! Snow!

Yes, there is that worry about the other idiot. (Or, to use your kinder term, those people who don’t know what they are doing.) But I tend to drive when others are not–early Sunday morning, for instance–so I tend not to have so much traffic to buck.

Bmonk our other inexperienced people tend to be people who are used to under a week of snow and under 6 inches at most. I will just leave the driving to the ones who know what they are doing or want to spend the holidays in the hospital.

Monkey 2 said we might see a lot of snow this winter but I hope not. If we do I might not see a lot of her. I suppose we could text through our holidays and talk on the phone but some might consider us rude.

Hello Sojo!!!

Sorry (embarassed cringe). Monkey 2, looked a little afraid someone she knew might drive by and see her mom taking pictures of the snow. I think I may need to get a special hat or something for these occasions.

Riding a motorcycle a lot I’ve learned I have to watch out for what other drivers do. When I had a sales route in western Kansas I had to drive at least 1,000 miles a week in four days no matter what the weather was. Fog at night was one of my biggest worries as I drove on two lane state highways that had a lot of truck traffic. If you drove the speed limit you couldn’t stop in time if you needed to. If you drove slow enough to stop a truck would probably run into you (and you wouldn’t have enough time to get where you needed to be). I solved that by pulling off the road and waited for a truck to go by. I’d then follow it just close enough to see his tail lights. That way if he had to stop suddenly I could stop faster and if need be I figured he’d clrear a path for me!

Luv, I thought it was good that Monkeys be embarrassed by their parents once in a while–it gives them something to complain about with their friends, right?

You should see the people around here on snow - even light showers…it’s like their walking on eggs.

@Sojo, that trick (following a truck) has also worked for me in a car on a blizzard-drifted road–I figured the truck driver could see better where the clearest part of the road was, so I just followed him, as far back as I could be to see his lights–from shoulder to either lane to other shoulder. We only were going about 45, so it took longer to get home, but I made it.

Yes, Monkey 2 embarassed me last night. But she would probably end up bragging, I think she is torn between being proud that all her friends seem to like her mom and wanting one that is normal. I’m thinking something with black ribbon and bells.

And then, in ten years, think of all the therapy she can blackmail her parents to pay…

Ha! I have been trying to get her to go to a good counselor. Her da……………. never mind. She just started seeing a new counselor we both like. I am hoping things work out.

Sojo, I am always extra careful of motorcycles. An airbag probably is not going to help them much. Maybe a parachute?

Yes, a good counselor you like can do wonders…

POP! The day got busy all of a sudden. Mixed up another 6 dozen cookies - a gross wasn’t enough to let the star of the show have her fill of them. Took one son in for his chiro appt & a couple errands. Baked said cookies. Now, off to take second son to his tutoring session. (Taking some cookies with us, as his tutor was the star of the recital.) Two trips to ICT in one day is unusual for me, but one is on the far south and the other NE. With 3-4 hours in between, so since I needed to trade out the sons, I decided two trips was best, especially because my PT gets better mpg than the van. The oldest isn’t comfortable driving my PT (stick shift) yet. Grog - Nope, it was on letter size paper. Luv - My kids think I’m strange for taking scenery pictures too. bmonk - Don’t point that thing this way! Scoot! Hope I can BBL!

I’m running a side tab on Cake Wrecks–and here are a couple of cakes for terminal embarrassment: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-11-11T09%3A30%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=2

[Go down to Tuesday, November 9, 2010, near the bottom….]

I picked some tomatoes today. I think this is the latest I’ve ever gotten any.

Luv Is Duckie - I that they have a cycle with a type of air bag now. Helps in certain kind of wreaks.

bmonk - Once on a light snowy day a was following a gasoline truck westbound with a north wind. He had to drive slower than was safe for cars. You couldn’t see oncoming cars due to snow from his tires. I talked to him on the CB radio asking him to let me know when it was safe to pass (also had him tap his brake lights twice to make sure I had the right truck). A long line of cars was behind us when I passed, they must of thought I was crazy. I had to keep on the road by staying next to his truck because the snow blocked out everything else. The next town had two 90° turns entering it with the road covered in ice. He was still in range for me to return the favor by warning him.

Hello Saucy! - It is late for that!

Saucy ~ Garden Fresh Tomatoes! Yummy!!!!

The only time it was easy to get me to eat vegetables as a kid was when I could steal them directly from the garden.

Sojo, does that mean I shouldn’t be careful any more? Nah!

@Luv, they say that stolen fruit is always sweeter…

Luv Is Duckie - Only one cycle had it and now I can’t remember if was being tested or put into production. :-)

Good evening everyone!

Glad to see your done for the night ♠Lonewolf♠ - In time for FOO BALL!

Foo Ball?!?! Yucky!!!

Bmonk, probably my parents didn’t mind when I stole vegetables from the garden. I am not sure it even counts as stealing. They were a might upset when they found out I peeked ahead of time at my Christmas presents. The ice cream definitely counted as stealing though.

Hi, Sojo, Luved One & Bmonk

Yes, I’m ready for some…………………………….

FOOTBALL!!!

Hello Lonewolf

Sojo Catch!  

Luv Is Duckie - Okay, but I don’t get Monday Night Football. :-(

I haven’t even checked if I get it. I just wanted to play keep away from Lonewolf (giggles)

Luv Is Duckie - He may not notice if he’s tied up in the game!

Funny, Luved One!

Na! Na! Na! Na!

Reminds me of a story my uncle told me, I think it was about an Oklahoma football team. They were behind and the coach told one of his players (large but not smart) to get their quarterback, meaning for him to tackle him. The player said “Okay” and went on to the field and hit the quarterback in the face breaking his jaw.

Duckie One, is that a football or a pie he’s passing?

It is a foot ball of course! Geesh!

I bet the other player never went on the field without a quarter in his pocket again!

Yeah, there even a few players in the NFL who are a few slices short of a loaf.

Hi, Grog. Somehow I missed ya!

That Raider who hit Rothlesburger for one. But I wonder what Rothlesburger said to him.

LOL

I wonder too, as he got fined but not suspended for a game like the announcers thought he might.

Sojo! You were supposed to catch that! Oh My Gosh! Must Be Going! Poof!

Yeah, that surpirsed me too. Which is good for the Raiders, because he is one of the better defensive linemen.

Luv Is Duckie - It wasn’t filled with DWFNC was it?

He also has a reputation as a fairly clean player.

They have them in the NFL?

Supposedly!

(peeks around flap) Ummm…… yes, maybe……. but I am sure that it will be just fine. No need to worry. You are trained in Hazardous Materials right? I know Lonewolf is. He could probably handle it.

Again?

[I thought it was more “Still”]

Another vote for “still”!

I don’t blame you, DocT–it’s the uses to which that poor, innocent Nuclear Coffee have been put.

Hi, Doc

But the side effects are most adventurous!

Good night, Doc!

Ah, Doc - But it is such fun!

Have a good night Doctor Toon.

I’m glad there’s no Nuclear Pepsi. Can you imagine what would happen if you shook the can?

Or added Mentos??

Good evening, Rmom!

Hi, Wolfie!

I’m not familiar with Mentos, bmonk, but I take it they would add a little fizz?

Here’s one illustration–of many: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wfppG7Tt0k&feature=related

Thanks for the link, bmonk I tell you, some people have too much free time on their hands.

I’m going to call it a night now.

Gunite, Tribeandall

bmonk - I don’t remember any science experiments like that in my books I used for homeschooling. Most of them were baking soda & vinegar. Another one used an Alka-Seltzer tablet.

Hey, maybe that’s the secret of an interstellar overdrive? Nuclear Pepsi/Coke plus Mentos?

It would certainly produce an indescribable super-eruption!

Good Night, Grog.

Good Night Grog.

(peeks insides) It is still burning! Oh flying ball!!!

Sojo, just look at this mess you caused.

No! Not The Chocolate Cake!

Good night, Grog!

Luv Is Duckie - That’s what happen when you blame me! :-)

Goodnight, Grog! Pleasant dreams!

I think it is time for me to head to bed, too. Good night, everyone!

Good Night Rmom.

Goodnight Rmom–the home-school texts probably didn’t want too big explosions…

Good night, Rmom. Rest well.

Good Night Grog & Rmom

Sojo, you were the one who didn’t make the catch. Do you blame the cornerback when the quarterback doesn’t catch the ball? No? I didn’t think so.

Pulling a Shika move here… Way back when my oldest son started first grade, I added science to his list of subjects. The first week we did a series of baking soda & vinegar experiements: popping ziploc bags open, popping corks off of bottles, etc. The next week we had a different theme for our science experiments. At the end of the first day of the 2nd week, my son said school couldn’t be over yet, because we hadn’t done science yet. I told him we had, and reminded him of what we had done for science that day. Then he responded, “But we haven’t had any explosions!”

@Rmom–LOL! Great comeback!

Now you need to show him some Mythbuster episodes–their rule is, “When all else fails, blow something up!”

I know nothing! (in the voice of Sgt. Schultz from “Hogan’s Heroes”)

One of my all-time favorites, Sojo.

Monkey 2 has snow and no power. Hey! The little brat doesn’t lose her water like I do. And she has a fireplace. She is okay and knows I love her so all is good.

Glad to hear that all is good, Luved One.

Thank you : )