ness

My kinda eats right there!

I've never seen House. Sounds like I need to give it a try.

Sorry, I'm not at liberty to disclose any information regarding this recipe out of respect for those who 'served'.

At least the bleeding is over quickly with a $50 thousand hunting trip. With a bass boat, the $60 thousand purchase price is just the first of years and years of negative cash flows.

Yeah, frozen ravioli make for a good, quick, meal. I've usually got a bag in the freezer. Now, mushroom ravioli -- I haven't seen that at the store. Sounds great!

Hogan's Heroes was great. Interesting backstory is that several cast members were European Jews. Funny you mention Barney Miller. I've just recently been watching that again. what a great cast. Fish, Wojo, Yomana, the internal affairs guy.

Sgt. Schultz? He was on my short list. Klink was too.

Holy chit, this has gone a direction I didn't think of . I gotta say, Foghorn Leghorn is an all time favorite of mine. Kramer, well who enters a room better?

I don't know if there's some hidden meaning in all that. I'll just say -- those two dudes crack me up!!

This is exactly what I was hoping for from this post--somebody's ideas shaking things up a bit!

I started thinking about this a few days ago, and gave it a while before I posted because I wanted to be sure I wasn't overlooking something. But I'm comfortable with this list even though it's weighted heavily in a couple shows show. So, here goes: Barney Fife Ernest T. Bass Briscoe Darling Eddie Haskell Archie Bunker Honorable mention: Frank Burns Ted Baxter Col. Henry Blake This isn't limited to comedy characters, but I just lean that way I guess. So, who are yours?

Cut my first asparagus of the year this morning: We bottomed out at around 25* last night, so these guys are a little soft.

I had a hard time finindg it too -- I ended up ordering 4 or so of them off Amazon.

I'm sure you're right. I'd bet: your dad didn't have to outfit his entire family with cell phones and data plans; the house was small by today's standards; no cable; ate out every once in a blue moon rather than several times a week; his car didn't have seatbelts, airbags, electric windows or a single microchip; if he needed to add some numbers, he got a pencil and a scrap of paper; he didn't own a four function calculator, much less one or more computers; he probably had one camera for the whole family; probably had one B&W TV in the house; he probably got his shoes resoled rather than tossing them out; etc...

Maybe I need to rethink my rule of thumb

Well, if you made it all the way through that brain vomit to the goulash, you win a cookie.

My rule of thumb is pick 'em when you see 'em. But I generally can't get out several days in a row. I'm interested to see how your experiment turns out.

I start a lot of stuff from seeds indoors --- I like the wide range of varieties available compared to the plants available in the spring. Cost is part of the equation, but either way it doesn't add up to a ton of money. I really enjoy it too -- something to do in the doldrums of winter, and I just flat enjoy watching the stuff grow. I start early, but I don't put my stuff out too early, because a cold plant isn't going to do much no matter what. Tender stuff (like peppers, maters) are gonna do just fine in my basement, and I'll move them out into a cold frame to acclimate. They'll go in the ground when they're ready and the forecast looks good, not so much based on the average last frost date. (We all know how averages work, right?) If we get an unexpected cold snap after that I'll deal with it. Stuff than can take a freeze (pea, radish, spinach, garlic, onion) are already in the ground. Some stuff that can take a frost are are in the ground too (beet, carrot). Other stuff is still under the lights in the basement. So, I could wait until May 1 and buy plants and start seeds. My uncle and gardening mentor has always done it that way. I just enjoy my way too much.

....and, there's an even more significant difference between having stuff and being happy.

Interesting -- I was gonna guess 7 years at 7-8% with 10% down for someone with good credit. 7 years at 3.25%?? Sheesh!! I guarantee you Arvest is buying that paper from the dealer at a discount.

Just curious Bill, or anybody -- any idea what the terms are like if a guy borrows to buy a boat? How much down, how long to repay, rate?

I look at water too, but it's usually in the context of fishing. I wonder if I could I get to it; if it holds fish; could I get my canoe out on it, or would the float tube be the trick.; what would MSA's Matt Weir do?

I'd like to start with a photo of tonight's entree: Many of you will look at this and say, 'Oh yeah, goulash -- I learned to make that in Home-Ec'. But this is not goulash. Please read on. I grew up in the Dust Bowl years, and it wasn't until I was 30 that I could quit work in the salt mines and attend elementary school. By then my family had overcome the hardships of The Depression, and moved to the blue-collar town of Independence, Missouri. At that time, Independence was known as the Gateway to the West and the hometown of Judge Harry S. Truman. In the previous century, the three major trails westward -- the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon -- had originated in Independence, and the town was universally recognized as the last stop before the western frontier. Traders, speculators, dreamers, and hardened criminals (who had been driven out of St. Louis by the regular criminals), all converged in Independence to procure supplies for their long trek westward. In the new century, Independence became an industrial center, with the Standard Oil Company employing more than 40 percent of its citizens. Over the years the ancestors of the St. Louis criminals of the previous century, bitter at the success of it's 'red-haired cousin' to the west, and keenly aware of the opportunities lost, convinced the notriously corrupt officials at the Federal Parks Administration that the 'gateway to the west' was St. Louis. The FPA -- under increasing scrutiny from the public due to a $12 thousand accounting discrepancy had rejected the idea of a monument to the western frontier located in the east-coast town of St. Louis in favor of the more suitable Independence. But a slick marketing campaign by the Post Dispatch, bankrolled by the corrupt French power brokers in St. Louis, convinced the gullible FPA officials, and the 'frontier' was relocated 250 miles to the east. The St. Louis stainless steel cartel made a series of 'donations', which coerced the FPA to scrap its plans for the modest 25-foot tall limestone 'Gateway Arch' in favor of a 640-foot stainless steel arch, on property owned by the well-connected LaClede family. History was rewritten. Having it's heritage stripped away was devastating to the hard-working citizens of Independence. Tempers flared, and a vigilante group formed with the intention of traversing the state on the newly formed Inter-State Highway No. Seventy (later, I-70) to exact revenge. However, the heavy semi-trailor traffic, numerous detours, repair delays and lack of decent BBQ proved too much for the weary patriots, who abandoned their campaign near the hamlet of Lee's Summit. They retreated northwestward to the Mason's lodge on the downtown square in Independence, and decided the only way forward was to find a new identity for the city. Thus was born 'Independence, the Queen City of the Three Trails'. Fast forward to mid-60s Independence. Three Trails Elementary was my school; through a gerrymandering of the school district boundaries, it was in the Kansas City School District. As a 30-something, well-built (due to my years toiling in the salt mines) male I was understandably quite popular. The girls flocked to me, asking me to be their partner in square dancing, to help them with their Dick and Jane, Chinese checkers (on rainy days), kick-ball, rope climbing, glossary, times-ing, or whatever. I had 27 invites to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and I accepted them all -- plus 4 others. It was the best of times. It was then that my love of the culinary arts took root. The cafeteria served delicacies I had never experienced in our modest ½ bedroom bungalow. I immediately recognized my love for food and its preparation, and the hair-netted ladies on the other side of the snot guard recognized my potential and took me under their sweat-stained wings. I continued under their tutelage -- drawn in by their musky scent and Viking-like culinary skills -- until my graduation from elementary school some 11 years later. By then most of them has passed, but their recipes are forever mine -- scratched out on pages of a tattered Big Chief tablet with a Ticonderoga #2 pencil some 40 years ago. No, this is not goulash. This is John Marzetti, and I prepare it in honor of Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. Davis, and all the other unnamed heroes of Three Trails Elementary cafeteria.

Where da corn at? Them taters look nekkid!

Dry here, but the temp is through 70 degrees today, rain expected later in the week and warm this weekend. Time to get out my stick, and reload my mushroom hunting duds with permethrin.