ness

Oh, man -- those smiles!!

Speaking of chili… The missus was over in Independence today and when I got wind I asked her to bring home some Dixon’s chili. Dixon’s has been around for over a hundred years and was a favorite of Harry Truman, and more importantly, my dad. It’s very different. Lightly seasoned beef, kidney beans cooked separately and you order the mix the way you want: meat only, juicy with meat juice (grease), with beans, soupy- with bean juice, over spaghetti or a tamale. There’s no tomato in it. If you want ketchup, there’s a “fine” or extra charge. It’s about how you dress it. I do ketchup and pepper vinegar but they offer diced onion, cheese, etc. To us, it’s the perfect chili dog topping because it’s not too wet. So that’s what we had tonight. Freakin delicious. You’ll have to use your imagination though because there are no pics.

Holy cow that looks good!!

When I was a senior in college I needed one more class for a biology minor so I took Prairie Research. You had to be a senior and have a bunch of prerequisites, and it was known as an easy A. We worked on reestablishing native prairie on a plot of ground south of Lawrence, KS. We cut out trees, planted native grasses, etc. In the spring we were tasked with burning a few acres on the north edge of the tract. Well, the wind picked up and changed direction and we ended up burning something like 90 acres. The five of us, armed only with wet burlap bags, just couldn’t do it. LFD finally got there and got it out. No structures were in immediate danger but it could have been much worse if they hadn’t showed up. The area eventually became The Baker Wetlands, in case anybody here knows where that is.

Happy birfday, Pat!

I didn’t think to say it last night, but he didn’t just last, he later became president of the bank! He left after 30+ years and is now CFO of a global non-profit institution.

We’ve all lasted and, well, done pretty good.

Oh geez. You’d have never lasted 🤪

Back to working extra for a minute...I had dinner with one of the old timers last week. One of the things we discussed was working Saturdays. It's always nice to work without the interruptions -- you get a lot done, and there was a chance at some fun too! What was great was when you pulled into the parking lot and the other guy was the only one already there. You always parked where your car couldn't be seen from the windows. Only one other person in the building meant there was a real chance at scaring the @#$% out of the other. But if you got there first, your head was on a swivel You never took the elevator -- that made noise -- you took the back stairwell. Then it was just a matter of how far you could go with it. Best one ever: He hid in a closet and waited for me to go down the hall to go to the loo. He jumped out with a broom and screamed, and I about had a heart attack This is the kind of work ethic that’s missing with today’s kids!

Nah, not me. I just love an underdog. Or anybody playing Mizzou

It's always fun to see the initial bracket. I counted 12 colleges I don't remember ever hearing of before. It's also fun to see a smaller program make a run for it. Go Drake!

Irish soda bread with cranberries Guinness beef stew over some Champ (mashed taters with onions) An annual tradition here

I think mine are from the roots that radiated out from the trunk that didn't get taken out with the stump. Resilient suckers!

No kidding! I think mine have been gone and stumps ground out about 5 years now. I still get suckers coming up that I get to deal with.

When my neighborhood was developed around 2000, every house got a 'street tree' from the developer. Not sure if it was required by the city, or just the developer trying to make the place pretty. They were all Bradford pears. And me not knowing better at the time, I put in a second one. It was non-sterile and made a mess for us every year. I took both of ours out, but most of them still remain in the neighborhood though many have split. We have undeveloped areas nearby that are just blanketed in white in spring. I'm not bothered by the smell, but I know many folks are.

Yes. Good. No. No. Everybody does. 😀

Well said.

Monday night I had dinner with some work old-timers at Jasper’s. Yesterday I had lunch with an old friend at Gates. I think you know the neighborhood 🤪 Seriously, glad you had some success fishing!

My 40 year job anniversary was last Friday. As one of my colleagues said, “He lasted!” 🤪 I really hope you whipper-snappers find something you like to do at a company you can grow with that meets your financial needs. I think hard work, an eagerness to learn and a dose of loyalty will serve you well in the long run. And if start time is 8, try getting there at 7:30. And add ½ hour on the back end too. Working, of course. stay off your #%^* phones!

USPS promised they’d have mine to you today.

First day in the office with the new accounting hire. He blew in at 8:48. The start time here is 8. What the hell?

Flies dun, and just passed final inspection. Rusty likes the pheasant tails. I tied a combo -- Size 10 Stimulator, and a size 16 pheasant tail nymph. Tippet not included but fish these dry/dropper. Pheasant tails harvested by yours truly. In the mail tomorrow.

That right there will get you ahead in practically all circumstances.

Just got off a too-long chat with agent Brie at HF. Got a refund for the meals we got yesterday, cancelled our subscription and restarted it to deliver on Sundays. Just did two meals, their minimum. We just need to go in and skip if we don't want a delivery on any given week. They sure aren't very transparent in their setup and it's easy to mess up. But, now that we have found the secret passageway to skip meals we'll be better off. So, I guess we'll stick with it bit longer.

I'm kinda pist at HelloFresh right now. The first time I ordered, I thought I had just put meals in my cart and would go back and place the order at some point. Well, I was working from home and got a text saying our food had been delivered. What the heck? Oh well, I figured I screwed something up. We did like the meals though. The other day the missus and I were looking things over and decided to order three more meals. They wanted to deliver on Thursday but that didn't work for us so we set it up for this Sunday. I was looking over her shoulder while she did the order. So, yesterday we got three meals delivered -- and they were their 'default' meals, not anything we ordered. The missus left school on her 5 minute lunch break and brought them inside and hurried back to school. What the heck??? And, the ones we did want will be here Sunday still. They always have some fresh ingredients, and a protein that could be frozen, so now we're gonna have to sort this all out, but possibly do 6 days in a row of HF. We're not liking this situation!