Supremes, not the Diana Ross ones,

Gotta love it no matter which side you take on this one. Supremes say it is all good on Obamacare as it is a tax and Congress is allowed to tax.

When the dust settles on this one and people lose their insurance because it is cheaper to pay the fines, and the poor and downtrodden finally get insurance and find out it does not cover a sinus infection and the deductible is 10,000 a year for a gold policy, well I don't think people are going to be that pleased.

I can see my hubs company getting rid of insurance and giving raises to offset the change. The raises will reflect where you sit in the company and very few of the raises will reflect the actual amount you will have to pay out of pocket. Really, if you make a 2 or 3 hundred thousand a year you can prolly afford the insurance you can find on the market, just like Obama promised. For now anyway.

And if your kid is 26 or younger and on your insurance, well you are a drain on the company and your raise will never cover this outlay.

I am waiting to hear what is going to happen to all the people that work for the companies that were allowed to opt out of  Obamacare, you know like McDonalds and the like. I am also waiting to see if the UAW is still freed from any obligation to have to participate in Obamacare.

Pointers Part 2

Follow-up from yesterday, Big Bobb got a 15 million dollar bail for a 2 grand hit accusation.

Laughing my ass off all the way to the lake on this one.

And his next court date is the day after the "handy man" has his next court date for his second competency exam. Handy man needs the second exam before he and his court appointed attorney can plead.

This is so absurd it is almost not to be believed.

Keep in mind, handy man has a "reported" IQ of 67, and a history of acting out-appropriate for his IQ. He has no family members to rely on and lost custody of his daughter.

I can not remember a situation as sad as this one, mom dead, kids have a startling view of dad, and there is no place to go for comfort. Just sucks.

This is why they make fun of us

Making sport of Grosse Pointers is a time honored tradition. The one item they use most often in calling us out is cheapness, Pointers are known as cheap ass squeakers.

The big story here is the woman found strangled in her Mercedes on the border of Grosse Pointe Park and Detroit and the arrest of her husband's handy man for the murder. The handy man is maybe a real handy man or a charity case according to the husband. Nonetheless, the husband is supposed to have paid the handy man to kill his wife, the "offer" was reported to be around 2 grand and a used Cadillac. I kid you not. He is known to have actually paid 8 hundred and change for something. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

Well, there is all sorts of drama and what not associated with this situation. For instance a local group is selling yard signs, wristbands, ribbons for trees, and car magnets to support Justice for Jane. The yard signs on the street that the widower "Big Bobb" (his self imposed nick name) lives on keep getting stolen and the local police spend a lot of time taking reports on these thefts. Local eateries keep asking him to leave. Hell a church asked him to leave the charity fundraiser.

Well, Big Bobb was arrested last night, purportedly at the location of his sex dungeon (you did not think this could get better, right) not for killing his wife or not even for the conspiracy charge we were all looking for. Nope he was arrested for trying to arrange a hit on the jailed handy man. The big bucks that Big Bobb is said to have offered for this alleged crime, 2000 dollars. WTF. How stupid can this asshat be, you gotta pay more than 2000 bucks for this kinda shit. And everyone knows he shorted the last guy he hired.

The history of the area, Big Bobb lives on a street that used to be a mob haven with tunnels to who knows where-maybe the river (they are cemented closed now), his old next door neighbor-house is vacant-was always referred to as a mob guy, his lawyer is referred to a mob lawyer, well the mob was never accused of being frugal fuckers. Did he learn nothing from his uppers.

On a more serious note, Justice 4 Jane is a web site selling memory items and advocates for justice in the murder case of Jane Bashara. I am a member of the web site and they don't know me nor have they had any input for this post. They won't even sell me stuff as they are too busy.

Snippets of life in the burbs

Stealing from Pearl for this one, what changes when you get old and decrepit and why do folks keep it a secret? Well when my mother lied to me about how horrid birthing babies was I learned never to trust older folks. The day I hit 40 every little "saying" came true, eyes went first-could not read my birthday card. Worst thing I learned is you can have pimples and hot flashes at the same time. Oddest thing is the wrinkle factor, I slather myself with every wrinkle fighter known. I have a huge wrinkle on the heel of my right foot, this has been verified by my manicurist.

Went to bed last night and forgot it was the day of the fireworks for our little town. Sammy brought it to my attention as he does not seem to be fond of fireworks. Personally I thought they were a little lame after China.

Big Daddy tells me he and his India contact stepped outside to talk as the inside of the plant was too noisy. His contact explained to him how they had to watch for snakes while they were outside as the neighbor company found a Cobra. Not to worry though, they have a couple snake charmers in the plant.

BD went back inside and looked for flutes.

Big Daddy arrived back in cattle country, aka India

I wonder if he remembered his hat. They called him B'wana,  with the hat ya know. He is all hat and no cattle unless he stands next to the homeless cattle. Then he is strange dude with the Aussie hat hanging out with the rogue cows.

He told me the airplane food was horrid and he enjoyed his sandwiches. The guy next to him was jealous of his food.

I know he remembered his handkerchiefs because last time he really got tired of sweating with no wiping off the brow cloth.

Favorite Things

The dust cover is a little worse for wear but the book is delicious.

I adore old cooking and housekeeping books, and yes etiquette books. The older the better. This was originally published in 1901 and I cannot afford those books, this one was published in 1966 and originally  sold for 3 dollars. I think the major updates acknowledged not having to boil calf hooves anymore for gelatin.

Thank you Big Daddy, he found it and had it shipped to me. And he got rid of the packing materials.

He is out shopping and cursing and shopping and cursing. Not thrilled about his trip back to Bangalore tomorrow and not happy that he did not get better seats as the flights were sold out.  He is going to pack his sandwiches so he does not have to depend on the airline slop.

Y'all know I can't cook

I decided if I did not take charge of this dinner situation we would have a meltdown. Big Daddy loves a challenge.  I mentioned macaroni salad with grilled chicken and grilled avocado. I offered to make the dry  rub and doctor up the chicken while I was making the macaroni salad. Big Daddy did not trust me to make the dry rub or to rub it on the chicken. Hmmm. Only thing that went wrong was the pasta had to be redone, first batch was ruined. 

After squeezing the lime juice on the avocado you can put some salsa and sour cream in the middle if you wish. 


New thing I learned that flabbergasted me, there is frozen oatmeal at Trader Joe's. Who the hell would buy frozen oatmeal and why? For horrible oatmeal wouldn't instant be just as bad and quicker to prepare? 


I took my down comforter and down mattress pad to the cleaners and no one could figure out how much to charge for the mattress pad. The comforter was 42 dollars. This dilemma required the owner making a special visit to price my pad. It will be 38.50. When I get it back I will make the bed with the Mysore silk coverings and we will see. 


Oh and I got a wild hair up my ass this week and decided I was tired of being a boring blond. So I changed my hair color. And no one noticed. 

The fountain of old

This is Don's fountain.

Big Daddy got Don's fountain running this weekend. Don is the guy that built this house and used to be our ghost. He has not been around lately. When we moved in and figured out the house was haunted it just seemed like needlessly making changes would piss Don off. So we fixed the fountain and painted it and decided to use it until we found a replacement. That was in the early 90's.

Punkin Head came for dinner and BD made him salmon and grilled pineapple and his famous no mayo potato salad, all was good.

They traded presents, PH got him handmade cufflinks from New Orleans streetcar tokens and he showed him the Roku set up on the TV, BD never noticed it. BD gave the boy his silk tie and elephant picture from Mysore. First the Lucky Cat from China and now the Lucky Elephant from India. Double lucky.

I am hopeful to figure out the Netflix thing.

Hi old friend

The flag for the "Grande & Secret Order of Obituary Cocktail"

If you have to make a decision to join something, well make sure it is something you believe in. This is especially good when you are on jury duty and the voir dire requests associations and such that you belong to, you know like church and the Cocktail Club.

It has been a few years since this one has graced the front porch. It only gets hung on Friday late afternoon.

The time has come for a Come to Jesus meeting

When I get disturbed about the way things are going I try to step back and take a deep breath and make a few suggestions that will right the ship. Quietly and serenely. Then I start correcting things and hoping that certain people notice that things are now in their proper place and how much nicer life is for all concerned. When all my good intentions fail I go into a sulk. For some reason the sulking process acts like fertilizer for the wayward actions of the dimwit, the foolhardy scalawag that is oblivious to what the future holds for one so lacking in historical reference.

Because until mama is happy, no one is going to be happy. And mama is really, really unhappy.

And you forgot to put the flag out for Flag Day.

They're baaaack

See that bug on the window?

That is one of our world famous fish flies. They come this time of year and last a few weeks or so. They are born and live and die in 48 hours. Sometimes we get a light crop and sometimes it is so bad you would swear you are driving on ice. The closer you are to the lake the worse it is. I actually bought a special broom to get them off the doorwall screens one year. I wonder if we still have that thing. They don't bother anything they are just messy and icky. And they are attracted to light so during this time everything stays shut up and no outside lights. If the Slavic half way house residents do not know this they will be covered in a few days.

There are about 20 on that window. When it is mid season sometimes you cannot see out of the windows. Will keep you updated.

Fancy people on the west side of the state call them Mayflies. Not us, fish flies.

Bits and Pieces

 

This Crab Apple tree just got the haircut of a life time. 3 years growth gone in 90 minutes.

Punkin Head I bet you are falling over laughing on this one. Big Daddy started at 7 Am and battled through the jungle until about 8:30.

We got a new outdoor thermometer at Ace this weekend and it was cracked so he is returning that and when he gets home he is starting to wash windows. Woohoo.

We tried the new Almond Croissants from Trader Joe's, I had the chocolate ones with PH earlier, and BD was very happy with the finished product. He is not used to me shopping and picking out shit on my own. Back in the day I never set foot in a grocery type store. I think it is weird for him to come home and find stuff in the refrigerator and the cupboards that he did not pick out.

We are having Smothered Chicken and Butter Beans for dinner, yes, I found the recipe, and I think that is gonna be fun. First we fight over how to cook it and then we fight over the leftovers. I found 2 new blogs for New Orleans style recipes and this is from one of them, will let you now if it is good enough to share.

Have my replacement cards, and replacement wastebasket and storage containers. Not that anyone cares.

Sad news from my niece, she was separated from the Navy due to an injury. She, all 110 pounds of her (dripping wet) was not able to consistently do 100 jumping jacks with her 120 pound sea bag on her shoulders. She has Plan B and I am proud of her, she tried and lived to try something else.

Gotta have a dream. Sometimes it is no more than some pepper jelly on a cracker with a smear of cream cheese, but any dream is better than no dream at all.

Not a happy camper

Don't get me wrong, this quitting smoking is no cake walk, there are moments where the devil stands in front of me puffing like Bette Davis. I just chant to myself, 7 grand and the urge leaves fairly soon. Smoking is expensive. I had a dental appointment today and my tooth cleaner was thrilled, and it was not fake, she smokes. I have started bleeding which she says is normal, smoking masks problems. I need more flossing, twice a day instead of once and liberal doses of Listerine. I may have to look into the Water Pik device.

But that is not what is bothering me; I lost my debit card and AMEX. That is really pissing me off. No one has used them and I am fairly certain I tossed them out last week when I was ill. I was doing great until the night before Big Daddy came home. I ordered pizza and a an antipasto salad from the usual place and heartburn ensued. Not a big deal, I tried the Trader Joe's coconut water and ended up with very bad results. It was bad, really bad. The next day BD ate the pizza and suffered too, so I think the food was hinky.  I did not leave the house again for awhile and did not need my cards until today when I went to the dentist. They are nowhere to be found. WTF. And no one has used them.

I went grocery shopping after the dentist and on the way home the freighters were out on lake and water was beautiful. I need to walk down there this weekend and get some photos, maybe the sailing race boats will be out. Elena Ford's big ass boat is in the GPYC marina so I wonder who got that in the divorce settlement?

Soda and Foie Gras

This post is not about good and bad, right or wrong, or even smart v/s stupid. It is about Karma, what comes around goes around. Yea for Karma. When the powers that be, or as most people call themselves, the good, right, smart people decided to make my smoking life miserable, well it pissed me off. Because smoking is legal (and a huge contributor to the tax bucket) I figured if it was so bad, make it illegal. Nope, "they" just harassed me for doing something legal.

Now however, the smartest people on earth have decided what size soda people can buy and what food they can consume. I always knew y'all were next. You see I don't drink soda, in Michigan we call it pop, because it is the worst thing in the world for you to drink. Vernor's ginger ale will settle your stomach and normal people need that, what, once a year. And ginger tea will do the same job. As for foie gras no one in California will be inconvenienced by this law because if you can afford it and know what it is you can get it shipped and have it cooked.

What did amaze me is that there is no restriction on "diet soda", which is so much worse with the chemicals used for the sweet taste and the high sodium content. So I guess the general health of soda drinkers is not the top priority with this crowd. And I have never seen a skinny person order a diet soda.

The best news of the day was that Disney is changing their advertising directed at children, there will be no junk food allowed. My question, just who is the arbiter of junk food. I personally think that Tyson chicken, all ground meat that is mass-packaged, all processed food, Wonder Bread and any chain restaurant fare is junk food. And don't forget ball park franks, the preservatives ya know. Juice boxes-junk food-all sugar and no fiber. Fruit roll-ups junk, anything not fresh-junk.

So I think no one wants me to choose what is junk and what is good food. Let the games begin.

The secret person in city government

This is Sammy protecting his house.

The next door neighbor, fence building, asshole idiot's dog came to visit. With no invitation and no collar. Sammy was friendly with the dog until he went onto the porch were Big Daddy was standing. When brown dog came onto the porch Sammy went into Navy Seal mode. Nobody was messing with his peeps. I was scared to death and the brown dog ran away with his tail between his legs. Amazed that Sammy had such a protective instinct as so far he has not noticed anyone coming and going from my house at any hour of the day or night.

The cretin next door said this is why he needs a fence. Big Daddy told him most people have a collar and leash.

The city is on top of this foolishness, he can do more than I thought but not easily. And his home is now flagged and I am sure his folks are not gonna be pleased. And if that dog does not get a collar and license we will have more to discuss.

I actually felt sorry for the dog, no owner around, no discipline, how can you expect the dog to be the adult in this group?

Oh Hell to the No

The kinda new next door neighbors, the grandson of the dead lady has announced he is putting up a fence. He has measured and set up a stake where his fence will go. I am really not happy with this shit. For one thing he can't measure to a stake survey. For the second thing he acts like he is stupid. For threesies he does not seem to understand that he cannot do shit without our okay on our property line. What a dick head.

He is measuring from the neighbors on his left fence to our fence line. I tried to explain does not mean shit to me, you need a stake survey. And we actually have our original plats and blueprints for the property. Big Daddy is going to have to go to the city offices tomorrow and inquire if this big piece of shit asshole can build a fence on his own whim. And he wants to fence it in to make a dog run. Under my bedroom window, I do not think so.

So we have agreed that he will pay for a stake survey and I will send BD up to the city to find out just how miserable we can make his ass.

I did point out to him that the Al Qaeda's could not put a fence without my permission, for fucks sake the lady across the street asked me to sign for her ac unit.

What he really wants is a fenced in place for his dog and an outside storage area for his tool shed and grill. The asshat has an attached garage so just how much storage does he need? He has had crap sitting on his driveway  garage entrance for 4 months and we have not said shit.

More to follow after the city visit tomorrow.

Adventures of Big Daddy

He arrived as promised Friday evening, rode hard and whipped. I was glad to see him as I was sick and needed help. I had taken out 2 bags of garbage in the mild rain when the heavens opened and the rain became blinding. When they never picked it up I was concerned until I remember it was the week after Memorial Day and all the garbage pickup was a day later. Big Daddy took the rest out Saturday morning.

After the garbage fun he went and got a haircut and shopped for a gas grill. Now this part cracks me up, both of our big box stores have done something to piss me off so it does not matter where you go. You can pay 3 times the highest price at any other store or you can go to one of the assholes. He found the grill he wanted at Lowes, it would be on sale next week and they could not deliver until Wednesday. The he went to Home Depot and found the same grill for 200 dollars less and they had a rent-a-truck for 25 bucks to deliver it yourself. These stores are on the same shopping center or mall campus. WTF?

So we had steaks last night and big daddy broke the curse of too much mutton and chicken.

Today he found and cleaned his smoker for possible treats tomorrow, got one fountain working and is out shopping again. He is so happy to be home. He goes back to India the end of the month.

He and Sammy are getting along quite well although BD declined to take him to Lou's Pet Store. Yesterday he got his first hot buttered toast and he enjoyed it. Dogs can only have it once a week, and if BD is not home, no toast. Big Mama does not do dog toast.