This is the way the Navy takes care of its own. AWCS Mike Muehlbauer was the lead AW on the SH-60F test program. When he passed away, he was buried at sea.
NAS Jax, up the river, a last look at NAS Mayport, and out to sea.
RIP Mike, those you’ve trained have the watch.
So, I hosted a Stupor Bowl party last night, and there was a spread of food as we played Super Bowl Bingo with the commercials. And I had promised Bread Pudding for dessert the other week, but ran out of time and oven space, so I fixed it last night.
Since it was pretty popular, here’s the recipe. Now I didn’t add raisins, just extra pecans… It’s a bit time intensive, and needs significant lead time, but it’s pretty good.
Ingredients
Bread Pudding
• 3 large eggs
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups milk
• ½ cup raisins Lemon Sauce (recipe follows)
• Chantilly Cream (recipe follows)
• ½ cup coarsely chopped pecans, roasted
• 5 cups very stale French or Italian bread cubes
• 1 ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
Instructions
1. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs on high speed until they are extremely frothy and the bubbles are the size of pinheads (about 3 minutes, or 6 minutes with a metal whisk). Add the sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, and butter and beat on high until well-blended. Beat in the milk, then stir in the raisins and pecans.
2. Place the bread cubes in a greased loaf pan. Pour the egg mixture over the bread cubes and toss until the bread is soaked. Let sit until you see only a narrow bead of liquid around the pan’s edges, about 45 minutes, patting the bread down into the liquid occasionally. Place in a 350° oven. Immediately lower the heat to 300° and bake 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 425° and bake until pudding is well-browned and puffy, about 25 minutes more.
3. To serve, put 1 ½ Tbs. lemon sauce in each dessert dish, then spoon in ½ cup bread pudding and top with ¼ cup Chantilly Cream.
Fix just prior to serving-
Lemon Sauce
• 1 lemon, halved
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup sugar 2 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
To make the sauce, squeeze the juice from the lemon halves into a 1-quart saucepan; add the lemon halves, water and sugar and bring to a boil. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch and vanilla. Cook one minute over high heat, stirring constantly. Strain, squeezing the sauce from the lemon rinds. Makes about ¾ cup.
Can be fixed while the last browning is happening-
Chantilly Cream Sauce
Makes about 2 cups
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp brandy
• 1 tsp Grand Marnier
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp sour cream
Refrigerate a medium-size bowl and beaters until very cold. Combine cream, vanilla, brandy and Grand Marnier in the bowl and beat with electric mixer on medium speed 1 minute. Add sugar and sour cream and beat on medium just until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Do not overbeat.
Author unknown, as far as I know…
But worth thinking about
Ten Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime
1. The Post Office
Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.
Right now Amazon and UPS are bailing them out.
Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with check by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.
The younger generation simply doesn’t read the newspaper. They certainly don’t subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.
You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can’t wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you’re holding a gadget instead of a book.
Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don’t need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they’ve always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.
Tried to get a POTS line when I moved, no longer available… sigh
This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It’s the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing Over 40% of the music purchased today is “catalogue items,” meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit.
The networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they’re playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in “the cloud.” Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest “cloud services.” That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That’s the good news. But, will you actually own any of this “stuff” or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big “Poof?” Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical?
Not blued steel and wood things…
Already gone in some schools who no longer teach “joined handwriting” because nearly everything is done now on computers or keyboards of some type (pun not intended)
If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That’s gone. It’s been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, “They” know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits.. “They” will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again and again.
All we will have left that which can’t be changed…….are our “Memories”.
Logic is dead.
Excellence is punished.
Mediocrity is rewarded.
And dependency is to be revered.
This is present-day North America. When crooks rob banks they go to prison, when they rob the taxpayer they get re-elected.
To get rid of the damn fire ants…
I’d be tempted to try this, as it seems to be the only SURE way to get rid of them…
And it’s actually pretty interesting to see what the actual nest looks like. I wonder why I’ve never seen this before.
YMMV, don’t try this unless you know where ALL your pipes and underground utilities are!
Now go forth and eat to much and watch the commercials in the Stupor Bowl! 🙂
Too good not to share!
So much this!
Thankfully, they don’t have smell-o-vision yet…
This is… just flat mean, unless this was a friend of mine, and she could solve that off the top of her head. 🙂
Y’all have a great weekend!
How many of us busted our asses with these??? And how many lost the key in the first week? (Raising hand over here to both)
This old cooler is another one- It probably dates to the late 50s-early 60s, and held bottles in the ‘racks’, and used chilled water to cool the cokes, which cost .06 cents.
Sigh…
In the middle of the summer, we would ‘skate’ down the road to the drugstore that was a couple of blocks away, and for less than a quarter get a Coke and a bag of peanuts (actually, I think for less than .20 cents, if I remember right). Once we’d cooled off, we would either skate back home or go to somebody else’s house, and end up walking home just before dark.
We were ‘free range’ kids in more ways than one, but I don’t ever remember us having any trouble other than getting our butts beat for coming home late for dinner. Now days, if you aren’t standing over your kids watching them from FEET away, apparently you get CPS called on your ass.
What ARE some of these people smoking???
Do away with insurance companies, health care for all, 70% or higher tax rates on ‘high income’ people, outright confiscation of properties…
THIS is the ‘new’ dems plan for America? Really? Did anybody do a basic math check on how much that would cost? Much less how many people it would put out of work? And where do they plan to get all the doctors they would need, when many doctors are retiring or going into other fields now.
Even if you taxed the ‘high’ income at 90%, it still wouldn’t be enough, and inevitably that tax rate would ‘trickle down’, probably into the middle class meaning even less take home, for what? An even longer wait for medical services?
All you have to do is look at the VA, THAT is government bureaucracy health care at ‘work’, if you want to call it that. 5-6 months for an MRI, physicals that ‘slip’ 2-3 months, other services that suddenly become ‘unavailable’.
And the rumor mill has it the dems will refuse to negotiate on the wall/slats/whateverthehellyouwanttocallit, because the President has ‘caved’ already, so they have him right where they want him. They seem to forget the Internet never forgets, and there are plenty of videos/documents/statements from the very ones saying the wall is immoral where they’ve voted for it multiple times in the past.
My feelings?
5.7B is dirt cheap compared to the estimated 150B that is being spent on illegals in welfare, medical care, etc… It’s pretty sad when an illegal can get more per month than a wounded veteran of the military can get…
And let’s not forget the media complicity in a lot of this crap! Glenn Greenwald’s post HERE, from The Intercept. OBTW, he actually provides sources/links…
A POX ON ALL THEIR HOUSES!!!
Got my bi-monthly poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Headache and not a lot of fun trying to look at the computer screen, so go read the folks on the sidebar.
Hopefully regular brain drippings will resume tomorrow.
So you get a picture…
It doesn’t really come through well, but there was a ‘beam’ of light in the center of the picture that was unusual. The bottoms of the high cirrus was scalloped just enough to get some interesting highlights too.
I’m busy writing, 30K words on the last Grey Man, and working on the western and a couple of short stories.
You’ll know yours is a Redneck Church If:
The finance committee refuses to provide funds for the purchase of a chandelier because none of the members knows how to play one.
People ask, when they learn that Jesus fed the 5000, whether the two fish were bass or catfish, and what bait was used to catch ’em.
When the pastor says I’d like to ask Bubba to help take up the offering. five guys and two women stand up.
Opening day of deer season is recognized as an official church holiday.
A member of the church requests to be buried in his 4-wheel-drive truck because it ain’t never been in a hole it couldn’t get out of.
The choir is known as the OK Chorale.
Boone’s Farm Tickle Pink is the favorite wine for communion.
In a congregation of 500 members, there are only seven last names in the church directory.
Baptism is referred to as branding.
There is a special fund raiser for a new church septic tank.
Finding and returning lost sheep isn’t just a parable.
High notes on the organ set the dogs on the floor to howling.
People think rapture is what you get when you lift something too heavy.
The baptismal font is a #2 galvanized washtub.
The choir robes were donated by (and embroidered with the logo from) Billy Bob’s barbecue.
The collection plates are really hub caps from a ’56 Chevy.
And not real sure this is a joke or not…
A Few years ago, my wife and I moved into a retirement development on Florida’s southeast coast. We are living in the “Delray/Boca/Boynton Golf, Spa, Bath and Tennis Club on Lake Fake-a-Hachee”. There are 3,000 lakes in Florida; only three are real.
Our biggest retirement concern was time management; What were we going to do all day? Let me assure you, passing the time is not a problem. Our days are eaten up by simple, daily activities. Just getting out of our car takes 15 minutes. Trying to find where we parked takes 20 minutes. It takes a half-hour in the check-out line in Wal-Mart, and 1 hour to return the item the next day.
Let me take you through a typical day: We get up at 5 am, have a quick breakfast and join the early morning Walk-and-Fart Club. There are about 30 of us, and rain or shine, we walk around the streets, all talking at once. Every development has some late risers who stay in bed until 6 am. After a nimble walk, avoiding irate drivers out to make us road kill, we go back home, shower and change for the next activity.
My wife goes directly to the pool for her underwater Pilates class, followed by gasping for breath and CPR. I put on my ‘Ask me about my Grandchildren’ T-shirt, my plaid mid-calf shorts, my black socks and sandals and go to the clubhouse lobby for a nice nap.
Before we know it, it’s time for lunch. We go to Costco to partake of the many tasty samples dispensed by ladies in white hair nets. All free! After a filling lunch, if we
don’t have any doctor appointments, we might go to the flea market to see if any new white belts have come in or to buy a Rolex watch for $2.
We’re usually back home by 2 pm to get ready for dinner. People start lining up for the early bird about 3 pm, but we get there by 3:45 because we’re late eaters. The dinners are very popular because of the large portions they serve. We can take home enough food for the next day’s lunch and dinner, including extra bread, crackers, packets of mustard, relish, ketchup and Splenda, along with mints.
At 5:30 pm we’re home, ready to watch the 6 o’clock news. By 6:30 pm we’re fast asleep. Then we get up and make five or six trips to the bathroom during the night, and it’s time to get up and start a new day all over again.
Doctor-related activities eat up most of our retirement time. I enjoy reading old magazines in sub-zero temperatures in the waiting room, so I don’t mind. Calling for test results also helps the days fly by. It takes at least a half-hour just getting through the doctor’s phone menu. Then there’s the hold time until we’re connected to the right party. Sometimes they forget we’re holding, and the whole office goes off to lunch.
Should we find we still have time on our hands, volunteering provides a rewarding opportunity to help the less fortunate. Florida has the largest concentration of seniors under five feet and they need our help. I myself am a volunteer for ‘The Vertically Challenged Over 80.’ I coach their basketball team, The Arthritic Avengers. The hoop is only 4-1/2 feet from the floor. You should see the look of confidence on their faces
when they make a slam dunk.
Food shopping is a problem for short seniors, or ‘bottom feeders’ as we call them, because they can’t reach the items on the upper shelves. There are many foods they’ve never tasted. After shopping, most seniors can’t remember where they parked their cars, and wander the parking lot for hours while their food defrosts.
Lastly, it’s important to choose a development with an impressive name. Italian names are very popular in Florida. They convey world travelers, uppity sophistication and wealth. Where would you rather live: Murray’s Condos or the Lakes of Venice? There’s no difference. They’re both owned by Murray, who happens to be a cheap bastard.
I hope this material has been of help to you future retirees. If I can be of any further assistance, please look me up when you’re in Florida. I live in the Leaning Condos of Pisa in Boynton Beach.