Thursday, August 13, 2009

Organic Veggie and Topsy-Turvy Tomato Update

It is week 9 of my veggie experiments. Here is the update:




I hope you can see from this photo that I finally have a "tomatoette" on my heirloom beefsteak tomato plant. I checked with the girl at the organic veggie farm about what the issue may be and she suggested that the plant may be getting too much water, thus producing the lush vegetation on the plant. I went out the other day with my trusty kitchen shears and trimmed a good number of leaves and other vegetation from the plant hoping to push some of the growing energy into setting fruit. We'll see if that works. Not much time left in growing season so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.




On the other hand as you can see the Roma plant is loaded with fruit. We have not had any ripen yet but that should happen soon as they are started to lighten up in their color a little bit. I am very excited about this plant because this is the plant that will provide us with sun-dried tomatoes over the winter. Yum!









Here is the weekly allotment for the organic farm program. In the box: 1 bag of field greens, a bag (I guess about 1.5 lbs.) of green beans, 3 small cucumbers, 1 small bunch of Swiss chard, 3 lbs. potatoes, a small bunch of green/red onions, a bunch of flowers and a small bunch of a green vegetable (lower left) that I cannot identify. Still not anywhere near $23/month's worth but the veggies are tasty. I'm looking forward to when we start getting fresh eggs from the farm too. That happens in September.


Stay tuned!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Monday Photo "Dump"

As you may know I have not been posting a lot while I was in training for my new job. (More about that later). So I am cranking them out today. Here are some of the fun photos that have been crying out for posting.

I thought this was a soccer match!


HRH goes for the gold!


Honesty is the best policy


Ditto


I love it when someone gets "photo bombed"!


Hey! Get your face out of my underpants!


Drive-up climax? An interesting business model.


Is this what those parents want for their kids?


That's gotta hurt!


Uh honey? You dropped something.


Don't touch it, you'll get cut!


Get a room girls!

The Beehive

While I was writing the previous post I was interested in the fact that beehives were a hairdo of choice for these girls. Why? I don't know but there it is.

I am not going to post any images of that harridan Amy "Crackhouse" even though she is working a massive beehive in most of her photos. She is just too much of a skank.

Here are some photos of great beehives and the women who wear them.


Fabulous Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's"


Ginger Grant (Tina Louise) on "Gilligan's Island". Frankly I am amazed that hair stood up to the humidity on a deserted island.


"Anygirl, USA" c.1960


A cool contemporary Beehive.


This girl knows what she's doing. A fabulous 'do!


Lt. Janice Rand. Communications Officer and coffee babe on the USS Enterprise. Get a load of the basketweave on the front of that hairdo. Incredible!


The Ronettes


Not really a beehive but a massive coiffeur on Lt. Uhura, Chief Communications Officer on the aforementioned Enterprise. Star Trek was a great place to see the kookiest hair in the galaxy.
(A shout out to Pat Westmore, Jean Austin and Virginia Darcy the hair stylists on the Star Trek series for these great do's!)


Cool, sophisticated, artistic and dreamy!

Toddlers & Tiaras

What has happened to The Learning Channel? It used to be that you could see how skyscrapers are built, how Persian rugs are made and an occasional cooking show. Now it is Jon & Kate Plus 8 and this monstrosity called Toddlers and Tiaras about the Kiddie (Porn) Pageants that are blighting the countryside.

Most of them are children from, at least in the 2 episodes (train wrecks) that I couldn't help but watch, poorer areas of the country with parents who are "making an investment" in their child's future by parading them dressed in costumes and make-up that make the child look like Vegas putannas.

In one scene a mother (and I use the term loosely) has her 7 year-old daughter at the local hair-burners getting her hair done and getting her first pair of fake french nails. The mother is shown giving her little girl her second cup of coffee while this is being done.

Another scene shows a couple, where the "dad" is the driving force behind the little girl's participation in the pageants, and the dad is the biggest queen since Richard Simmons. He is standing at the end of the runway in the competition doing the turns, winks and blowing of kisses as the little girls is trying to do them. It is the most ridiculous display of transference one could imagine. Take a look at these kids and tell me what you think.



They sometimes give away puppies as prizes in these things.


Yes, that is eye liner and false eyelashes on this kid.


Does this kid look happy to be doing this? I think not.


Ditto this one


French nails

I don't know about you but I think this sort of thing is pretty repulsive, but like most wrecks you can't take your eyes off of it.

Openly Gay Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Arrested on Sex-Abuse Charges

This guy is a scumbag. No doubt!

From the Miami Herald:

In a series of events that Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti called ``an abuse of power'' and ``a tarnish to the badge,'' law enforcement agents arrested one of their own Monday and accused him of sexually assaulting victims -- while in his uniform, in marked vehicles and on the job.

Jonathan Bleiweiss, 29, of Fort Lauderdale, who in March was honored as employee of the year for the Broward Sheriff's Office's Oakland Park District, was booked at 11 a.m. on 14 charges, including sexual battery, false imprisonment and stalking in connection with abusing one of the victims, a 30-year-old male. Bleiweiss was held without bail Monday.

Investigators said Monday they were preparing to file charges involving seven more male victims, and said there might be even more. The alleged victims range in age from 17 to 30, but all have something in common: They are undocumented immigrants, mostly from El Salvador and Mexico, who speak little English.

``I can't think of a worse betrayal of public trust,'' Lamberti told reporters Monday evening, adding: ``The fact is, he preyed on one of our most vulnerable communities.''

The investigation began in April, when an attorney contacted the Fort Lauderdale Police Department to say two of his clients claimed to have been assaulted by Bleiweiss. BSO's sex crimes unit took over the investigation.

Lamberti said they gave Bleiweiss ``the benefit of the doubt'' until they fully substantiated the allegations in July, which is when he was placed on restricted administrative duty. He is now suspended without pay.

Detectives said Bleiweiss used his authority to manipulate recent immigrants who feared the police. About 6 a.m. April 23, investigators said, Bleiweiss approached a 30-year-old man who was waiting for a ride to work outside the man's apartment complex.

The man told BSO that he was then frisked and fondled, with Bleiweiss sticking his hand inside his underwear. He said Bleiweiss demanded his cellphone number, then continuously called and sent him text messages.

According to the arrest warrant, Bleiweiss is accused of performing oral sex on the man on at least four occasions between that day and June 7. He ordered the man to comply or risk deportation, said BSO Detective Graciela Benito.

She said that when BSO investigators interviewed residents at the apartment complex, they discovered a similar pattern: On multiple occasions, she said, Bleiweiss stopped a victim, demanded an ID, then sexually abused them when he determined they were undocumented.

Bleiweiss, a graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, came to BSO in 2002 after serving almost two years with the St. Petersburg Police Department.

The only consistent criticism in his BSO personnel records concerned his penmanship. However, in March he was suspended for one day after improperly reporting an illness, according to an internal affairs report.


This guy is a disgrace. Imagine having a police officer coerce you into letting him give you a "BJ" and then having him call you endlessly wanting more.

Uh... Nevermind!

Holy Crimes

From JoeMyGod.com

Over the last seven days...

Florida: Pastor Bernard LeCorn charged with grand theft, uttering a false instrument, forgery and exploitation of the elderly. (Nice!)
Connecticut: Father Michael Fadden claims that Bishop William Lori threatened to send him to a nuns' convent after Fadden helped expose another priest who had embezzled $1M.
Tennessee: Lawyers for Pastor John McCarroll claim that his arrest for indecent exposure was wrongful because the glory hole in a park restroom stall cannot be considered a "public place." SRSLY.
Kansas: Father Doug Campbell arrested in sex sting at Wichita park. KAKE-TV editorializes that "it is important to note" that the charges against Campbell "do not involve children." Why would people think that?
Georgia: Pastor Otis Ray Hope sentenced to three years in prison for conspiring to defraud a bank of $1.75M.
Texas: A mistrial has been declared in the case against Pastor Elbert Edginton, whose lawyer argued that the 800 kiddie porn sites found in Edginton's internet history were for research purposes. (Yeah... Right!)
Kentucky: Pastor Henry Humphrey indicted on 11 charges of defrauding the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Humphrey faces 160 years in prison and a $2.5M fine.
England: Father James Robinson extradited from the U.S. to face 22 counts of molesting young boys.
Illinois: Rabbi Marvin Berkowitz charged with filing $35M worth of tax refunds in the names of 3300 federal prison inmates.

This week's winner:
Florida: Pastor Kent Hovind's creationism theme park, Dinosaur Adventure Land, has been seized by the federal government three years after Hovind and his wife were sentenced to ten years in prison for refusing to pay employee payroll taxes and money laundering. The theme park depicts the "true 4000-6000 year history" of the Earth, in which dinosaurs and humans existed side-by-side.

Prayer Booths At A Public Beach???

I got a message from Tobin this morning with an article from the Falmouth Enterprise noting that the Town Council in Falmouth has approved "Prayer Booths" at a public beach on Falmouth. Prayer Booths! Have you ever heard anything so patently absurd in your life? (Well yeah, but it was a literary device after all.)

These religious groups are using the same old bullshit that they always use. Mr. Washburn, one of the permit applicants said "We all feel the burden to pray for our people". Well, uh, no we don't. I am relieving you of that burden. Mr. Washburn. You needn't pray for me. He also said "the premise of the First Amendment is not freedom from religion, but freedom of religion. He explained that the goal of this piece of the US Constitution is that government should not become involved in church affairs. That is not what the Constitution means. It means that you have the right to "have" religion or not. And the Town of Falmouth permitting these people to take a nice day at the public beach and turn it into a prayer meeting is just plain wrong.

Tobin remarked about the carnival atmosphere that these booths might have. I wrote this back to him:

Hur-ray! Hur-ray! Step right up! Get your red hot plenary indulgences here! Plenary indulgences 2 for $10! Cape Cod baptisms... Go to God with a statue of Jesus in one hand and a model of Nobsca Point Light in another. Step right up! Afraid of the water? We’ve got rubber rings with Saint Peter’s head on the front to protect you! We’ve got Pope Benedict squirt guns... “Let Us Spray”! Hur-ray Hur-ray!
Ludicrous!

Sunday, August 09, 2009

One more item re: LJ's BBQ

Doing the last post I came across a little video I took of Linda at LJ's when they were located on Douglas Avenue in Providence. Remember... They have moved to their beautiful new location at 727 East Avenue in Pawtucket.

Take it away LJ!



LJ's Barbecue "Smokin' Hot" on TV

Barbecue Pit Meister Bernie Watson and his lovely wife Linda of LJ's BBQ in Pawtucket, RI appeared on Fox News Providence morning show, The Rhode Show, this week to offer tips and tricks to grilling salmon and shrimp on the "barbie". They offer great information about cooking seafood on the grill which can sometimes be intimidating for novice barbecue cooks.

Owners Bernie and Linda Watson created LJ’s BBQ to replicate the feel of the “Eat it ‘n Beat It” authentic roadside barbecues that Bernie’s family from Arkansas and Virginia had come to love. LJ’s is named after Bernie’s wife, Linda and his late grandmother Miss Leola Jean, whose recipes fill the menu.

If you are in the Providence area and are hoping to find some good ol' home cookin', make sure you visit them at their restaurant LJ's BBQ, 727 East Avenue, Pawtucket, RI (401-305-5255). (Try the greens... you'll plotz for them)

Here is the video: