Monday, April 24, 2006

And Yet, No Crazy Blog Money

Thanks for the Memory to Vonski.


My blog is worth $135,489.60.
How much is your blog worth?


Your Weekly Dose of Steve Taylor Lyrics: Installment #2 (3 days late)

I promised to make ths a Friday occurrence, and dropped the ball. Sorry about that.

No germane personal or cultural anecdotes to accompany this one, it's just that this song got stuck in my head and has been there for a few days:

Jenny
( From the album "Meltdown")

On a Saturday night all the girls run free
singing "bury me not on the lone prairie"
but where do you go when you finish broken-hearted?
back to the dust where you started

Jenny cut her teeth in a midwest shack
as a shantytown girl on the wrong end of the tracks
her mama taught her everything she'd need to get along
and her Sunday School teacher taught her right and wrong
raised to be respectable but born to be poor
it was all she'd ever known but she figured there was more
when she came of age Jenny made herself a vow
"I'm gonna get out and I don't care how"

It appeared every Autumn on the courthouse lawn
and the leaves never fell till the carnival was gone
Michael was a barker for an arcade ride
with a smooth-talk tongue and a wandering eye
"get your tickets here for the Halls O'Mirrors maze
if you can't get out I know I couple ways"
he caught Jenny's eye but her thoughts looked down
all she wanted was a ticket going out of that town

chorus:
Oh how I wanna bury you
bury you and run away--done away
how I wanna bury your memory
why don't you let me be?

Michael stole a kiss then he whispered at last
"you're a little old-fashioned so forget about your past
these Bible belt folks think living is a sin
so they all start dying from the day they're born again"
and there atop the Ferris wheel the colours were a blur
the morning said he loved her but she wasn't really sure
he made her promise not to leave until he came to get her
she promised him but she should have known better
she cried she cried

(chorus)

Bridge:
On a train--stowaway
Jesus loves you still and your mama wants you home
but oh bridges burn
when you carry your shame and you think you can't return

(chorus)

When they finally found her body on a cold dog day
it was in a cattle car buried in the hay
a note in the pocket of her calico dress
said "I'm guilty as sin but I can't confess"
once you know the truth you can hide it on a shelf
but unless you bring it down you can't live with yourself
in her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other

On a Saturday night all the girls run free
singing "bury me not on the lone prairie"
but where do you go when you finish broken-hearted?
back to the dust where you started


Spring has Sprung

Wow, what a gorgeous weekend we had! Both days were sunny and bright, with only a few occasional clouds. Saturday was a bit breezy and cool, but yesterday it was very warm.

On Saturday, I took the Lad for a very long walk, and incorporated a little grocery shopping. The daffodils are starting to fade, which bums me out a bit, but the bluebells were out in force, and to their visual beauty, Spring added a frangrant one: the lilacs are in bloom. I absolutely love their fragrance.

I also tried my hand at Asian-style barbecued beef ribs. Well, ok, I used buffalo ribs. The barbecue sauce was inspired by Chinese and Korean barbecue:

1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 tsp Chinese hot mustard
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

The flavor was good, but I broke my cardinal rule of cooking buffalo: Cook it fast or cook it in liquid. I believe in cooking barbecue slow. Next time, I think I'll reduce the sauce to make it thicker, and use a faster cooking method.

Yesterday we did some preliminary Spring Cleaning -- mostly taking stuff to the recycling center, followed by a spate of long-overdue yardwork. The place is looking much better -- at least the front yard is.

The back yard is another story. The duplex is L-shaped, and the yard is in the northeast corner of the property, with our half of the building to the west of it and the other half to the south. This means that the southern half of our back yard doesn't ever get sunlight (except maybe on Solstice). So it's been reduced to mud and moss. Ironically, the northern half is lush and during summer, needs to be mowed every 3 days or so.

So I'm hoping my readers can help. we need a pet/child-safe means of killing the moss, after which I plan to plant some Dense shade-friendly grass seed. I also need some ideas for pet/child-safe weed&feed alternatives for the front yard. Suggestions?