We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
A few of my pals and I were splitting firewood this morning (giant 3' wide logs from the trunk of an old Ash tree - with tons of knots), and rambled onto the topic of deep-fat turkey frying. We decided to do a First Annual Bird Fry tomorrow after church. Nobody really wants to crank up a fryer just one one item, plus only one of us owns the gizmo.
We're going to do smaller turkeys, and also ducks and chickens, and will drink a bit of beer in the process. It's a nice neighborhood I live in.
I am brining my birds now with a cider and OJ recipe for infusing.
We will not have a comparable Supermoon until 2034,so make sure to check it out Sunday and Monday night. The article begins:
The full moon of November 14, 2016 is not only the biggest, closest and brightest supermoon of the year. It’s the closest supermoon since January 26, 1948. The moon won’t come this close to Earth again until November 25, 2034. Should you watch for this full moon on the night of November 14? Sure, and, if you do, it’ll be beautiful. But, for us in the Americas, the moon is closer to full on the night of November 13.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there. I let my neighbour know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!" We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out-door game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: "Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him, But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather He said it for himself. I see him there Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me, Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."
Frost is mocking his wall-loving neighbor, but also admits that he mends wall too - together with his neighbor. A reflection on boundaries of all sorts. We happen to have a (stone) wall mending project at hand. New England dry stone walls have always been fragile things because glacial residue tends towards rounded shapes.
Leftist pundits (which is almost redundant) always write that, sorrowfully, but only when their team loses. Of course the country is divided: It's a big country and there are only two teams. I happen to feel that division and disputation is mostly good and healthy.
A good Repub plan would be to turn it into something entirely different. For starters, an interstate marketplace with all sorts of medical insurances offered.
Italian savory pies range from the humble snack of "pizza" to the mind-boggling Timballo.
There are as many recipes for Pizza Rustica as there are Italian grandmas. They are not just for Easter but the ricotta one is an Easter special. Sometimes they are cooked in a pie pan, sometimes in baking pans.
A Timballo is a pasta-based pie (as is lasagna) which everything in it: sausage, whole hard-boiled eggs, noodles, lamb meatballs, spinach, peppers, etc.
It became easy to say that a “crude” Trump and a “crooked” Clinton polluted the 2016 campaign. The real culprits were a corrupt Washington elite, who were as biased as they were incompetent — and clueless about how disliked they were by the very America they held in such contempt.
True the Dems became the party of banks, big corporations, lesbians, and feminists and abandoned appeals to the rural areas, the shopkeeprs, etc. - but they are wrong about Trump's appeal, which is heavily to the old Dem base. Lefties keep bringing up Trump as authoritarian, when he is just Populist even to the point of complaining about Amazon. Of course, old-fashioned populism no longer works in a world of multinational corporations and relatively free trade. If you somehow broke up Amazon, for example, Mr. Ma in China would buy the pieces and keep running it.
Whoever takes over what’s left of the Democratic Party is going to have to find a way to appeal to a broader cross section of the country. It may still be true that in the long term, Republicans can’t win with their demographics, but we found out Tuesday that the long term is still pretty far away. Democrats have to win more white voters. They have to do so in a way that doesn’t erode the anti-racist or anti-sexist planks of the modern party, which are non-negotiable. If only there were a model for this.
He is so very wrong about this. "Trump has been in the public eye for at least thirty years. He was never accused of racism until he opposed a Democrat."
You are welcome to just walk in and watch a wedding. We chanced to watch one 2 weeks ago in Madrid in San Jerónimo el Real, right next to the Prado. Man, the French did a lot of destruction in Spain during the Napoleonic era.
Quite formal wedding, ladies dressed to the nines. There is no bridal party, just dressed up kids as bride assistants. Pic is awaiting arrival of the bride. The party after at the Ritz was wild and crazy and went on until the wee hours.
Throughout the campaign, the media was quick to emphasize and denounce Trump et al for everything done by anyone in any way supportive of him, regardless of whether it was true or actually hateful, regardless of whether the Trump campaign had anything to do with it. And, the actually hateful and violent behavior of Trump opponents was passed over or played down, including those actually hired by the Clinton campaign as was revealed by Wikileaks.
This continues today as the same media fails to denounce the unlawful behaviors of anti-Trumpers, the violence and threats of violence and hate language spewed forth by those demonstrating in the streets and blocking access to highways, schools, and places of business. It's all well and good that President Obama and Hillary Clinton have made pleasant soundbites about cooperating with Mr Trump, but where are they now to speak out against the hate they in fact created themselves by speaking and drumming up such hate speech and actions during the campaign.
I thought Hillary had it wrapped up months ago. I have been wrong about many things before, but I spoke about this with too much certainty and I burst Mrs. BD's balloon - but she never entirely lost confidence that Trump would win.
A friend in Calif. was so confident of Hillary that he promised his Trumpist wife that if Trump won, he'd quit ceegars. Now that was confidence. Mind you, he is a Trump voter too, but in Calif. what does it matter? I feel terrible for him now.
The Democrats are united under their latest echo-chamber theme: President Trump should be "the President of all Americans." Then they list their litany that they endlessly repeated during the campaign of how Trump's positions are the devil's. Some may quickly say they misjudged the electorate but then return to their rants. By "all Americans" they do not mean all Americans but, instead, the Democrat constituencies of those privileged by their government giveaways and crony deals. The hell with the rest of us.
Unless President Trump manages to stay firm and persuade the runaway Republicans in Congress to cooperate, it will get worse and this will be America's last chance to survive as a pillar among a world of berserkers and thugs, while what will prevail longer term is the demographics of illegal and other immigrants importing socialism or selling our welcome for a bowl of porridge and the leftist indoctrination shamelessly imposed on our students.
The people have spoken, but do not expect the Democrats and their media surrogates to listen any more than they have in the past. Expect more of their derangement and vile hateful attacks and lies. Be prepared to defend and fight back. Do not forget that is they who have been and will continue to be vile, and call them on it.
Trump's humble brief speech last night was good. He noted that he had somehow caught onto a movement that few realized was there. This is a revolt against the Elites, against Wall St., global corporations, crony capitalists, Davos, central bankers, academic totalitarians, political correctness, Jonathan Grubers, massive powerful and out of touch bureaucracies, careerist politicians, climate loonies, political dynasties, George Soros, the "intellectual-yet-idiots", and moonbats in general. It's about time. Let's be grateful that Pence is in there - he knows the world that Trump is getting into far better than Donald does.
Two things of note: Trump spent half of what Clinton spent. So much for money and politics. Second, this is the first time in a long while when Repubs will have had the White House and both houses of Congress. I guarantee they will disappoint you. Be bold and wise, you government people.
How did I vote? I voted for Melania because she is cute, and an immigrant. Here are a few fascinating reactions:
This wasn’t an election. It was a revolution. It’s midnight in America. The day before fifty million Americans got up and stood in front of the great iron wheel that had been grinding them down. They stood there even though the media told them it was useless. They took their stand even while all the chattering classes laughed and taunted them.
The Obama era ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. With a national consensus that maybe he didn't really matter so much after all. And those to whom he mattered the most were his enemies determined to undo everything he did.
Stunned to get up and check Drudge on the election results while getting ready to head to the gym. I was curious to learn how much Hillary won by. I guess that was a Hope and Change vote - plus a Hillary is Horrible vote.
Comments are open for all amateur pundits. I am going to do my Deadlifts now.
- Spain is for Spring or Fall, not summer. Too hot unless well-north of Madrid. - People in Spain dress well and look fit. Seems to be a matter of pride. Best to look a bit elegant and well-dressed. - Spanish people, we feel, are the most friendly, warm, and freely helpful people we have seen in Europe. - Spanish people go out at night, eat in restaurants, drink wine and beer, stay out late, socialize. - Spanish food is not great. It's not about eating. - Spain is a young country. You see far more youth than grey hairs. Old Seville is a romantic town, maybe Disney Spain. and it's not mostly about old stuff and museums - it's more about life. - Spain is supposed to be one of the sad PIIGS of Europe these days. If it is poor, you would never know it from the city life. - Andalusia embodies a lot of the stereotypes about Spain - bullfights, Moorish architecture, flamenco, etc. Andalusia, and the Iberian peninsula in general, used to be one of the poorest parts of Europe, really since the flow of New World gold and silver ended in the 1600s. Doesn't seem poor now - at least in the cities. - Seville is a charming, human-scale tourist trap. Tourism the main business there, plus higher ed. As in most European cities, local people prefer to go into the Old City to hang out. - Seville is far up the Guadalquivir River, but it was the starting port for the New World expeditions, including Columbus'. As the river silted up, Cadiz became the port for the New World.
Rainy night alley in the old city.
Lots more below the fold, with plenty of small streets and alleys in the medieval maze. We saw lots of other places in Seville, but these posts are a lot of trouble to put together so give my pics a look.
It's an interesting mix of thoughts from lifting hobbyists and pros. Readers know that I am convinced that moving weight is an essential component to fitness even if, or especially if, your goal is not to be a body-builder or a gym rat.
In a way, the lifting part of my fitness program has changed my relationship with my body. I know that sounds stupid, but I don't know how to express that I am aware of, and feel, my physicality more than I used to - even when just sitting in a chair. That feels like a good thing.
Perhaps a reader can explain that better than I can.
A few of my pals and I were splitting firewood this morning (giant 3' wide logs from the trunk of an old Ash tree - with tons of knots), and rambled onto the topic of deep-fat turkey frying. We decided to do a First Annual Bird Fry tomorrow after church. Nobody really wants to crank up a fryer just one one item, plus only one of us owns the gizmo.
The True Story of Hacksaw Ridge and Desmond Doss:
We will not have a comparable Supermoon until 2034,so make sure to check it out Sunday and Monday night. The 
Mending Wall
Italian savory pies range from the humble snack of "pizza" to the mind-boggling Timballo.
Photo via 
What the Gym Teaches You About Life