Molly Goatwax

Just stupid, I guess...

I got to work today a few hours late, but no one was there except the CFO who remarked on my presence; "Good Girl!", on his way out. After plowing through a few scans and forwards the phone rang. Some lady in Florida wanted a Satisfaction or Lien Release. I told her that there was no one in Corporate but me and the branches were closed, too. She asked me why was I there, then?

The Big Dig, 2010

It's a good thing we started shoveling yesterday. There's still more snow to be shoveled than can by moved in a day. Compounding the problem are huge berms the goons plowed across the alley head and city street when they cleared the grocery store access. They've trapped forty or fifty households. Eddie's phone lines gonna burn today.

Lima Bean Soup

Well, of course I couldn't find my Smokey Joe today. I anticipated that and cooked up four pounds of country ribs and a pound of Italian sausage yesterday afternoon as the snow started to fall. I also planned for the leftover smoked rib meat that makes this soup sing:

Soak a pound of dried baby lima beans overnight, covered in water.

In the morning, pull out the trusty steel soup pot. Dice up a big onion and some seeded mild green chile peppers, I used three handsome small conical ones with just enough bite to wake me up...saute in olive oil over low heat with a few shakes of the dried red peppers until the whole mess is soft and glows pink. Rinse out the soaked beans in a colander and dump them in the pot. Add a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes and a quart of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Top off with a few cups of water, then add your trimmed chopped up left over smoked ribs. If you don't have time to smoke your own ribs, consider ham or bacon. Maybe if you don't like pork you can score a smoked turkey leg. That would be tasty, too. Once all these things are boiling merrily away, it takes a bit over two hours for the limas to soften to perfection. Add water as it boils down. You know when it's done when the stirring spoon doesn't sound when it taps the beans and the broth gets decidedly thicker.

Yum. Yum.

Barbeque in mind

Holy cow, there's almost three feet on snow on the ground. And it's still coming down. I'd better get out the shovel if I'm ever going to find the smoker.

Snowman in the Median

  

At the confluence of Boston, Fleet and Chester streets, this is an extremely busy intersection and not friendly to pedestrians. Good thing our friend isn't walking anywhere.

Good bye, Mrs. Dixon

 
Picture courtesy me. I took this.

Have a sandwich and don't don't let Miss Stephanie slam the door on your butt as you make your way out, Madam Mayor.

Another year by

Maybe some day I'll get a grant. I'll not stop applying.

Blog posted here.

Wants to change channels but lacks the remote

I like the snow well enough. It's pretty when it's falling. This batch, though, is as slippery as white graphite lubricant and difficult to drive through. I wish it would go away. I'm done with it.

Station North Mews

On the drive home from the office I noticed a new street sign. I turned my head to follow it between newly built rowhomes across from a sea of hundred and twenty year old board-ups. They looked attractive to me. I hope all this redevelopment in challenged urban areas ages better than the twig and cedar shingle efforts of the 70's.

Drama

We had such stiff winds today that the clouds rushed across the sky fast enough to make me dizzy. It was like a time lapse film sequence as large as life, in real time. Then the water from the harbor surged into the street in front our office and I wondered if I had to move my car. There were dense fogs, dark clouds, bright sunshine and rattling windows. There were also cookies from the surplus bakery with my tea.