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Phil H's avatar

Good evening. Got back this afternoon fron visiting wife's brother and his family in Indiana.

Jay, I 👋 at you when I came back on I-70 this afternoon.

R.A. Watman (Anne)'s avatar

Substack must be having issues. I tried posting on their website, and it wouldn’t let me. And, in the app, every time I try to access a link, it disappears!

IncognitoG's avatar

It’s been janky for me today, too.

M. Trosino's avatar

Why don't you just to go to the grocery and pick up a few things? I seem to remember a while back when this thing acted up you said you went to the grocery and when you came back it was all fine, the lesson being a trip to the grocery was the equivalent of calling tech support or something to that effect...

C C Writer's avatar

I can only imagine that they decided to test-market a whole bunch of new possible issues in the run-up to Thanksgiving. Whenever they get finished with that, we will start finding out what issues they decided to make permanent.

CynthiaW's avatar

That's the kind of thing they would do.

M. Trosino's avatar

When Ford pardoned Nixon, Carl Berstein famously phoned Bob Woodward and informed him of the news thusly: "You're not going to believe it. The son of a bitch pardoned the son of a bitch!"

With the bigly-est turkey in the land returning to the White House, what're the odds that a few calls will be made declaring, "The effin' turkey pardoned the effin' turkey!" when the Bigly Turkey fans out his tailfeathers and gets his strut on?

Believe it. Especially if that effin' turkey ends up pardoning himself. Not that we actually need concern ourselves about that now with that turkey of a SCOTUS immunity ruling, lesser turkeys roosting on seemingly every other federal court bench, a gutless DOJ soon to be gutted even further just like a holiday bird and incompetent or compliant state courts preening or molting and no longer being a threat to him.

But he just might do it anyway, as a tailfeather in the eye to what's left of our criminal justice system.

R.A. Watman (Anne)'s avatar

Funny that this is the first comment I came across because my brother sent me a link to something he found on X that tells us why Ukraine is the villain and Putin is just trying to protect his country. OMG!!! I thought he was over this stuff!!

I think the person (or group) posting this was called “Social Truth.” 🙄

He’s all in on Trump again, and is also all on board with Trump’s various picks for roles in his administration. We went through two years after January 6 where we didn’t talk because it was pointless. Now, I can see things heading in that direction again, although I’m doing my best to avoid it.

We talked on the phone last week, and I said to him, “No offense, but it seems as though you only follow people who have the same point of view (like Tucker Carlson, and several podcasters who are MAGA, and whatever garbage he picks up on X).” He likes what they’re telling him because it fits his beliefs, I guess. My dad used to say that one son was a Communist and the other a Nazi. He was right.

This is when I really miss my dad. I’m not sure what he’d tell me, but he was well read (lots of history), pretty open minded, and he did not agree politically with either of my brothers.

R.A. Watman (Anne)'s avatar

Thanks for the link, Lucy. I just had a chance to read it. More than my brother, it reminds me of a friend I knew from high school. She is very smart, became a small animal vet (her own business), and we connected some years ago because we both have horses.

Everything was fine until Covid, and her intense interest in Q Anon. I couldn’t believe the things she was telling me because they were so crazy!!! She had a website she followed, and some of that was crazy.

Thank goodness my brother isn’t that bad. His biggest problem seems to be that he is attracted to these people who only talk about all their grievances with the left. There are things that bother me, too, but there are a lot of things that are highly exaggerated. Along with that, despite his claims, his knowledge of history is very limited. And, he NEEDS to be right!!

Thankfully, he has a wonderful wife who has some influence.

M. Trosino's avatar

It's stories like this that make me not unhappy these days that I was an only child. I feel for you having to deal with this. Not sure how I'd handle it if it were me.

R.A. Watman (Anne)'s avatar

I know what you mean. The sad thing is, if it wasn’t for this, I have a great relationship with this brother. He has a wonderful family, and is a good father, and he’s also a good provider. I’m proud of him for that. Unfortunately, he seems to be attracted to this kind of thing. I’ve noticed that whenever he gets “into” something, he goes all in, and doesn’t seem to question anything. I don’t think he’s quite as extreme as he used to be, but it was the same thing when he got into going to church. Suddenly he was taking everything literally, even trying to tell our dad on his deathbed that he needed to accept Christ or he would go to Hell. Fortunately Dad was unconscious at that point, but I did have a little talk with my brother. I think there’s a certain amount of low self esteem, and the need to come off as being really knowledgeable on topics (especially politics) where it would behoove him to do a little more research, and ask some questions, as in “does this make sense?”

Like everything in relationships, it’s complicated. My problem is that I keep having hope that he’ll change! I keep hoping he’ll do more research, and challenge some of his beliefs.

M. Trosino's avatar

I'm sure it's hard to give up hope when it comes to a family member. Like I said, I've never had siblings so no idea what it's like to face this kind of division.

Brian's avatar

My BIL lives on a farm in ME and wrote that he counted 37 wild turkeys a few days ago. He followed with “Too bad they are out of season.” I followed with “How can Thanksgiving be out of season?” No answer.

Wilhelm's avatar

Turkey season tends to be in the spring. That's mating season, thus when Toms answer hen calls.

Freeze the bird.

C C Writer's avatar

Freeze bird! Freeze bird!

Oh, wait. Never mind.

;)

Citizen60's avatar

Who could imagine someone would put wild turkeys out of season over Thanksgiving?

This is a case of government bureaucracy for Elon Musk to tackle!

M. Trosino's avatar

So, we're going to have a turkey tackling a whole other flock turkeys? How long will the game last? Will there be a halftime show? Or will it all just be a show to begin with?

CynthiaW's avatar

I'm thinking of letting my hair go through the winter and seeing whether I want to totally get rid of it in the spring. I'll be wearing a scarf or cap most of the time, now that it's cold outside (and inside). On the other hand, maybe I could just get it cut a little less short.

C C Writer's avatar

I used to wear mine short. Then I decided to stop getting frequent haircuts and grow it out long enough to put up in a bun most of the time. That works best with a plastic or metal clip or bun cover (they go by various names) to keep it secure, after making a ponytail and wrapping the ends around and around. That keeps it out of the way, almost the same as having it short. Washing is a bigger production, but it's not every day.

CynthiaW's avatar

The last time I grew mine out was about 20 years ago. I looked a generation older than my husband.

M. Trosino's avatar

Like, say, in a BRRRrrrrrr!?

The original Optimum.net's avatar

I shave my head so I have no idea what you are talking about.

IncognitoG's avatar

I find shaving my head puts a fine nuance on my natural, God-given tonsure.

CynthiaW's avatar

I don't plan to shave my head, but my typical haircut is very short.

The original Optimum.net's avatar

Thank goodness!

Jay Janney's avatar

So lobbyists have been seeking favors from the government since the civil war? Those turkeys!

M. Trosino's avatar

Birds of a feather...

CynthiaW's avatar

More like "since before the Revolutionary War."

Good morning, Jay.

Wilhelm's avatar

I've never been much of a fan of turkey. The traditional Thanksgiving lasagna would have suited me more. But the leftovers work out sometimes. The Associated Press offers up a turkey Reuben sammich recipe, which sounds like a suitable end to dry, flavorless turkey breast. Here ya go:

https://apnews.com/article/thanksgiving-recipe-leftover-turkey-reuben-06181a8da6c74a5acb19629004030f6d

Brian's avatar

My BIL smoked ours and it was outstanding.

Citizen60's avatar

I used to do that and it's so delicious. Major envy...

M. Trosino's avatar

So. What kind of rolling papers does he recommend for that? Zig-Zag, OCB, ez wider?

IncognitoG's avatar

Anything made for Turkish blend, no doubt.

LucyTrice's avatar

Until now, my husband was the only one I know to eat "sammiches." Interesting.

The original Optimum.net's avatar

Here in vermont we have "breakfast sammies."

M. Trosino's avatar

You don't make 'em out of one of these things, do you? Doesn't look very appetizing to begin with and definitely a bit too well-done. Maybe that sous vide thing might help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKADyN1pB2c

The original Optimum.net's avatar

No modes of transportation used.

IncognitoG's avatar

I was never been a big fan of white poultry meat. But discovering the precision-cooking method called sous vide was a game-changer. Once you dial in the optimum doneness target temperature, the meat comes out perfect every time.

https://anovaculinary.com/pages/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide

It also does wonders for lean cuts of pork, which turns into shoe leather if overcooked. I’ve used it to get beef chuck roasts to come out the tender pink flavor of a prime rib roast.

The original Optimum.net's avatar

I'm a big fan of sous vide; have been doing it for over a decade. Haven't tried it with turkey but I will. As you point out, it does an amazing job of hard-to-get-it-right meats: pork for sure and duck, absolutely. Last Saturday, I did duck breast with a balsamic fig marinade in the sous vide bag.

The original Optimum.net's avatar

Agree with you about dry turkey but ours was very moist and delicious. That Reuben sounds good!

CynthiaW's avatar

My husband is going to make tacos. We were fortunate that the Uptown bros took a lot of the leftovers home. I told Dau. D that I'll make a sweet potato pie and more challah over the weekend.

Kurt's avatar

More proof that Abraham Lincoln was an awesome man.

CynthiaW's avatar

Yes, good point. One of Lincoln's young sons had died the previous year. You can see why he would indulge a surviving son with a pet turkey.

CynthiaW's avatar

Good morning, Thanksgiving survivors! I need more coffee before I'm ready to empty the dishwasher and wash up whatever else is around.

My husband and I and Daughter D are going to see "Wicked" later this morning.

Richard Maxton's avatar

No day off for me - 4 day weekends aren't good for cancer treatment schedules.

But that's not the bad part. The BAD part is both the hospital cafeteria and the in-house Starbucks are closed today.

HOW do they expect me to do this without my caffeine?!?

BikerChick's avatar

The three hour length has deterred me. I thought Ariana Grande was so good on SNL. I was looking forward to it until I saw how long it is. I’ll watch at home in two sessions.

CynthiaW's avatar

It was long, but I made it through without a bathroom break.

BikerChick's avatar

That’s a feat for a mother of 10! I’m jealous.

Citizen60's avatar

let me know your opinion of the Wicked movie. I loved the musical so much, I'm afraid they'll do a "Cats" treatment of it.

CynthiaW's avatar

We liked it a lot. I'll write my review, and then MarqueG can sit on it for a while, because Jack said he was going to do a review.

M. Trosino's avatar

Maybe he can just review your review instead?

CynthiaW's avatar

Too complicated.

C C Writer's avatar

I read the book back in the 1990s. It was conceptually interesting as a reimagining of the Oz myth, but too dark to really be my cup of tea. I can't even imagine what the musical must have been like. Will most likely pass on the movie.

Citizen60's avatar

There are 8 or 9 books in the series. Some are quite dark.

Return to Oz film in the late 80's was more faithful to the books, and was panned for being very dark. But my kids were old enough by then to enjoy it.

C C Writer's avatar

I might go back and read the original Baum series. I think I was given some of them as gifts as a child. But I never got totally oriented to the Oz "universe" (there are new characters and history in his 13 sequels) so it might be fun to do that. I remember some material I recognized as good-humored satire.

IncognitoG's avatar

Shuddering at the thought of *tea*! *shudder*

CynthiaW's avatar

I've always considered Jerry Seinfeld to be pretty insightful.

Jay Janney's avatar

All kidding aside, it scared me as a little boy. I'd go to the other room to avoid watching it. I played a winged monkey in middle school when we performed it.

When my oldest was 5 we were invited to see it at a dinner theatre in Indy. When she first came out she scared him as well. On her next appearance he hollered "𝑯𝒆𝒚! 𝑷𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒛𝒆!" The crowd roared with approval. Katie was embarrassed, of course, but she looks lovely as a tomato.

The next time she appeared on stage someone on the other side hollered "𝑯𝒆𝒚!" and the crowd applauded. And at the encore, of course a dozen people hollered it all at once.

BikerChick's avatar

You realize “Wicked” is the prequel, right?

Citizen60's avatar

I loved the movie, but watched it for 20+ years before my intended pointed out "the horse of a different color" really was a different color in each shot of it.

The entire book series was published in their original form in the 80's -- bought my son the set. Great to read them all.

CynthiaW's avatar

I read a lot of the books at some point. Might have been the 80s.

CynthiaW's avatar

I would hide behind the sofa at the scary parts.

IncognitoG's avatar

I had no clue about this until just the other day, but now would be interested in having a look. Definitely was a fan of the classic movie. I’m guessing from the trailer, “Wicked” has some parable about minority and identity…hopefully it’s not too ham-fisted about it.

BikerChick's avatar

It was a Broadway hit! We saw it in NYC when NYC was fun.

IncognitoG's avatar

Tuning out the news has some unexpected side effects.

M. Trosino's avatar

Maybe only a bit turkey-footed?

CynthiaW's avatar

I checked the musical recording out of the library, but that's just the songs: it doesn't exactly give you the plot.

We used to watch The Wizard of Oz once a year when it was on TV. It gave me nightmares. I played Glinda the Good Witch in 6th grade.

Citizen60's avatar

Good casting.

Made my daughter a Glinda the Good Witch costume for Halloween, upon demand, when she was 6. The crown was the easiest....

Debbie Durant's avatar

I thought I was the only one who had nightmares about the Wizard of Oz. By the time I was 6 I recognized the pattern and wouldn't watch it again.

LucyTrice's avatar

I had Wizard of Oz sheets when I was a little girl. No one seemed to see the problem with putting a sleeping child and a picture of wicked witch in the same place. I wasn't crazy about the lion, either.

Wilhelm's avatar

I look forward to your review of "Wicked." The beloved Vanessa, the pup sitter, and I have plans to go next week.

I'm a fan of the play. So I look forward to seeing how the movie shakes out.

CynthiaW's avatar

D wants to see it because some of the other girl Boy Scouts like to sing some of the songs. One of the Scouts is in musical theater at her high school.

Wilhelm's avatar

V was greatly impressed with the traveling production. We caught it in New Orleans a few years back. But honestly, I doubt I would recognize a single song.

Among my biggest questions: Is the Ariana Grande available in a venti from Starbucks?

CynthiaW's avatar

Dau. A saw the show long ago. Thor is fond of musicals, but he has to do homework this weekend, and Sheldon was mildly interested, but he has to work. Maybe they'll see the movie eventually.

Ariana Grande (and I understood the joke ;-) is not to my taste as a performer, but I'm keeping an open mind. At least she doesn't have a lizard alien face like Kristen Chenoweth. Daughter B took lessons at the same performing arts school in Broken Arrow, OK, where Kristen Chenoweth got her start.

BikerChick's avatar

Ariana is too thin these days. She looks a bit like a human bobblehead.

CynthiaW's avatar

Yes, I observed that she was disproportionally thin. She's also had stuff done to her face: not yet lizard-like, but you can sense the lizard's approach. My husband thought they'd altered her face for the movie, but Vlad and I (Vlad went, too) said, "No, that's really what she looks like."

Wilhelm's avatar

I had to look up Chenoweth. Couldn't have picked her out of a lineup. But you're right about the alien face. I was reminded of a Donald Fagan tune of some decades back...

https://youtu.be/S0QelYQhMw0?si=OwK42upaAtDkVhnQ

The original Optimum.net's avatar

But she is a very good actress

CynthiaW's avatar

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/pardoning-the-thanksgiving-turkey

More information on this interesting subject.

** During the latter years of the Nixon presidency, Patricia Nixon accepted the turkeys on behalf of the President and in 1973 sent the bird to the Oxon Hill Children’s Farm. The 1978 turkey, presented to First Lady Rosalynn Carter, met a similar fate when it was sent to Evans Farm Inn to live in a mini zoo.

After 1981, the practice of sending the presentation turkey to a farm became the norm under President Ronald Reagan. The turkey ceremony also became a source of satire and humor for reporters. The formalities of pardoning a turkey gelled by 1989, when President George H. W. Bush, with animal rights activists picketing nearby, quipped, "But let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone's dinner table, not this guy -- he's granted a Presidential pardon as of right now -- and allow him to live out his days on a children's farm not far from here.” **

Phil H's avatar

When we lived in Northern Virginia in the '90s and early '00s, pardoned Thanksgiving turkeys were sent to live out their years at Frying Pan Park near Herndon VA. That was probably the park George Bush Sr meant. Frying Pan Park was a restored farmstead that had farm animals. We visited the Thanksgiving turkeys several times when our daughter was little.

The original Optimum.net's avatar

During Trump’s first term, Rudy probably tried to sell the pardons…

IncognitoG's avatar

If they could talk, modern farmed turkeys would probably beg to be killed and eaten: “Please, sir, that’s what I’ve been selectively bred over generations to do. It is my sole wish and purpose in this life, to provide sustenance to your kind. I recommend using an accurate temperature cooking method—perhaps sous vide—to keep my breast meat moist, tender, and delicious.”

M. Trosino's avatar

"I recommend using an accurate temperature cooking method" like that fancy-Frenchy-sounding-whatever-it-is...

I recommend using my wife. I don't know what she does beyond throw the bird in a bag, throw the bag in a pan and throw the pan in the oven. But it works great every time. You might say she throws like a girl, but in this case that wouldn't be an insult.

IncognitoG's avatar

Get her a sous vide device—you’ll both love it. It’s not as complicated as the Frenchified name implies. “Precision cooker” is actually a more accurate description. It achieves optimal temperature by heating the water bath to the exact temperature, which makes for more efficient heat transfer than heating the air or using radiative heating.

Here’s the shortest description I could find; some of the longer ones go into more detail.

https://youtu.be/LuG7zrU-Uw0?si=bEoe_WIIwwdGI5W9

M. Trosino's avatar

Thanks. Will show this to my wife. But I'll just say that when it comes to vids about French stuff and my own preferences, that French taunting thing from M P is more my speed. :-)

CynthiaW's avatar

As we reviewed on Wednesday, the Broad-Breasted Whites are quite pitiful.

IncognitoG's avatar

Yes, we’ve redesigned them genetically to suit our purposes—and fickle tastes. Your article is where I confirmed what I’d thought I’d heard somewhere before.

Wilhelm's avatar

"Our fickle tastes" reminded me of the dog show yesterday (on immediately following the bloated balloon parade). I love dogs. But sometimes, I don't love what we've done to them.