Party Hearty

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Every year on the Sunday closest to my birthday, we throw a party and guess what, a Super Bowl breaks out. This year they called it XLIV. All the regulars showed up minus Leslie (we missed her) and plus Brian (welcome to the tradition!). Food was prepared and consumed; money changed hands. It was a beautiful day and a great good time was had by all. Not only that, the Saints triumphed over the mind numbingly boring team from Indianapolis, faux Colts. WHO DAT! WHO DAT! Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!

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We swapped last year’s Bacon Explosion for piles of veggies. That stuff in the jars is my home made pickled cauliflower and carrots. Here they are on their way to the dining room… betting central.

Not that we didn’t have meat, we had plenty. That’s a Burgers’ Smokehouse “City Ham” from Missouri. I made a K-Paul Meatloaf and macaroni salad with a barbecue flavor. Now that was good, and it’s a good thing because we had enough to eat for a week.

We didn’t make everything… here’s Paula with her deviled eggs and Sarah with her chili. After a taste of Sarah’s chili, one need an egg to cool down one’s palate. Continue reading “Party Hearty”

Markie’s new drivers license

Weirdness prevails…

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You must think I haven’t changed clothes in five years. I did think about what to wear for my picture, but didn’t consult the 2005 license. Well, the 49ers tee shirt is the same. The blue shirt is a Polo Ralph Lauren shirt I bought last year.

I think the 2005 shirt is the food.com shirt that Tom gave me. I pitched it about a month ago.

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The DMV experience is a whole ‘nother story.

I had the car on Thursday to take the former kitchen and bedroom TVs to recycle. After dropping those off, I went to the DMV to renew my driver’s license. When folks reach a certain age, folks have to take the written exam again. I have reached such an age. I’ve been reading the DMV Manual that I got on line as a PDF; been a while since I took the test and it would be embarrassing to flunk, not to mention a waste of time.

It was pouring rain as I drove around the DMV parking lot for 15 minutes looking for a space. When I was able to park and go inside, I saw wall-to-wall people… I could barely get in the door. I heard the words, “Systems are down.” Screw that, I went home. Wait for a nice day, scooter to the DMV and take the test. (Turns out the systems were down statewide.)

The next Wednesday was sunny and nice cool, so I scootered to DMV… 2pm, wait for my number to be called… eye test – guy says my eyes are good!… picture… 3pm, in line for written test… oops, I have to take the motorcycle test as well… didn’t study for that. Passed the auto test with flying colors… the motorcycle test, flunked. Y’know they ask like what you do when you swerve. Well shit, you just swerve, it’s intuitive and only takes a second or less. Swerve right: press down on right grip, keep body straight, don’t lean, brake before or after the swerve, not during. Jeez!

Anyway, I downloaded the DMV Motorcycle Manual, read it and took the test again on Thursday. Aced it.