“Los Angeles Commuters Brace for Carmageddon”

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Actually, it’s a bridge that’s falling this weekend and if you live in Los Angeles, you know exactly what I’m talking about. They are shutting down one of our freeways for two days this weekend and you’d think it was the end of our civilized world. Let me clarify: They are shutting down ONE freeway for TWO days. Not the whole freeway – just ten miles of it. It’s the lead story on every news broadcast, people are stockpiling food & water, the mayor held a news conference, there are signs everywhere, flashing lighted signs warning of the impending doom. “Do NOT Drive This Weekend!”

Our ancestors didn’t have freeways – they didn’t have cars. If they had a wagon and a horse, they were happy. If a road got shut down, they took another road. Get over it. Here’s the stupidest part: News reports are warning us not to drive Saturday or Sunday, then they promote huge events all over town this weekend: food festivals, a tattoo expo, computer fair, craft fair, poetry festivals, art festivals, a soccer game, and a cat show. I don’t mind staying home all weekend. I have something I need to take care of in my back yard: Squirrelmageddon.

It’s Denis’s birthday today!

Happy Birthday, MPLPF.

He’s just as cute today as in this photo so my pet name for him is  “My Precious Little Puppy Fluff.”

We’re going out to dinner tonight and then coming home for birthday cake. I made a two-layer strawberry cake from scratch and it’s chilling in the fridge.

He’s been my partner and best friend for over 25 years.

I love you, Mr. Fluff.

xoxoxoxoxo

xoxoxoxoxo

UPDATE: 9 p.m.

We’re back from dinner and just had cake. It was heavenly good, like dipping strawberries into sweet clouds from heaven. I made it with two pounds of strawberries. So delicious!

I had two slices and Denis may have to hide the rest. It’s his birthday cake after all. But it’s not his birthday after midnight so all bets are off at 12:01.

It’s too much food! Everything’s ready at once. This is what I picked just today: Grapefruits, oranges, lemons, apples, tomatoes, peac…. oh right, no peaches. They all got picked early and made into a pie. Now that they’re gone, the squirrel has moved on to my tomatoes. Every morning, I find the remnants of a ripe, red tomato on the ground. I’m thinking about putting a mouse trap in the tomato plant, baited with a nice red tomato. If it snapped in his face, that squirrel would catapult himself all the way to the 405 freeway. Then with a little luck, he would meet head on with a semi – a tragic accident. BREAKING NEWS: There was a splat-and-run on the 405 today but the CHP is unable to identify the victim. All that remained on scene was a piece of tomato and some fur.

I  took all the peaches off my tree today.

I wanted to fire up the grill and make squirrel-beque.

I made peach pie instead.

It was the therapy I needed to let go.

Feeling better today.

I still hate the squirrel.

I thought everyone might  like to see my peach tree. I’ve been pampering and fertilizing it and the peaches are just now getting ready to pick. These are white peaches, the ones that are super sweet and oh so juicy… at least that’s what I’m told. Take a closer look. You’ll see a rat-faced, no-good, low-life, beady-eyed, scum-sucking, fruit-stealing squirrel. I’m so mad because now I have to pick them before they’re ripe because this rat-faced, no-good, low-life, beady-eyed, scum-sucking, fruit-stealing squirrel takes them before they’re even ripe. I scared this squirrel so bad he dropped the peach and literally flew out of the tree. He bolted so fast he was airborne most of the way up the hill. “Get out and don’t come back!” I bought a plastic hawk and put it in the tree. This is no way to live.

Casey Anthony was found not guilty today of being responsible for the death of her child.

A shocking verdict, to say the least. It defies understanding.

Does this mean they will now try to find the real killer?

I’ll be doing what everybody else is doing this weekend – barbeque!

It’s going to be 100 degrees on Sunday so cooking indoors?… not a good idea.

I’m sharing my recipe for this 4th of July weekend and it’s really, really easy. Basically everything in one pot & cook it.

I usually make baby back ribs but my homemade sauce is great on chicken, too.  I cook my ribs for 2 1/2 to 3 hours and they fall off the bone.

Have a great 4th of July weekend, everybody. Enjoy my recipe, and some fireworks too.

The only fireworks we will see is after I cook all day and Denis says, “You know we could have gone out and got ribs.”

“What did you just say?!?”

He defends himself by saying he doesn’t want me to work too hard (at something I love!)… He just doesn’t know any better. But I still love him. Happy 4th! And Happy Canada Day!

click here for the recipe

I cried when I heard this but I’m still not sure if it was from sadness or joy. Someone told me they were at the cemetery today and heard violin music nearby so they went to see where it was coming from. They saw a young woman, sitting on a stool at a family plot, playing the violin for her father.

We always want to get something we can use for our birthday.

Now this, I can use. It’ll be my new credit card. I can use it to buy things, like….

A new hip, a walker, a motorized scooter, one of those chairs that pushes you up to stand…. and some teeth.

Finally, a gift I can use! 🙂

We went to a concert at the Greek Theater in Hollywood last weekend that featured Sierra, War, and Tower of Power (remember “So Very Hard To Go” and “What is Hip?”) Tower of Power rocked the outdoor arena. (I hope the surrounding neighbors were fans!) It was a four hour, loud concert – outside – and around 9 p.m. it got cold! I wore three layers and was still freezing. Oh… my new pet peeve: people who stand up at a concert when everyone else is sitting. About twenty people kept getting up to entertain the rest of us with their own personal choreography. One guy, who made five trips to bring more beer (which they served in giant cups big enough to bathe a small child), danced as thought he was alone at home listening to headphones, oblivious to the other 5,000 of us forced to watch in disbelief. His moves were a bad combination of country line dancing without the line and the hokey pokey. He may not remember it but all of us do.