*dipping a toe in before claiming "First."*

:-)

Ye Olde Religious Reference, a working Boodle!!

*happy Snoopy dances*

:-)

Snoopy dances and Grover waves!

So.... Hi Scotty... How are you?

*crickets*

Fine, TBG, just fine. And you?

*drumming fingers*

:-)

Glory Be, etc.

Well hello, CP! How are you?

*waiting for the bunker door to open again*

I think I stayed in that log cabin back in the 1830's when I was passing through Cove Gap. It was pest-infested then, too.

Nice castle, Joel, but you still haven't shown us what its back porch looks like--only the view from it. Nice back yard, too--though I didn't see the kids' swing set.

And a fine how d'ya do to you too, 'Mudge.

:-)

Scotty, is it just you and me and TBG ?

I am fine save for nagging computer interestingnesses.....

Soon, off to campus for a BOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG meeting. I must put on nice clothes in this chill and ride my bike and de-witchify my hair before entering said building......

CP, isn't that a song --"you and me and TBG?"

Good morning! I am so glad to see the Boodle back.

I envy that house. I like rock and stonework and multiple floors but I am a real pushover for turrets. This may have something to do with growing up in a brick modified ranch-style house, one floor, no stairs. No turrets. No towers. When I was a girl I read this great book about a little girl, I think from an Okie California share-cropper style family, who would sneak into a big old house that had a library turret room. She'd sit in the window seat (more envy) and read. Sounded like heaven. Anyone recognize this? There was another, one of the "magic" series by Andre Norton I think, that had a come-to-life dollhouse in a big old house. My imagination puts a tower or turret somewhere in there too. Ah, memories.

*faxin' CP a portable hair dryer for the de-witchifying*

Hey there nellie! Howaya?

:-)

Thanks, Scotty, and next the portable outdoor electricity.

Ivansmom I READ THAT BOOK TOO!!!!! But am coming up blank on the author and name.

I drive through Cove Gap on a semi-regular basis on the way the EBT RR, but I've never taken the time to actually stop at the Buchanan birthplace (it's about 3 miles west of Mercersburg on your Google map). Should do that sometime. Got a lot of work to do; have another night meeting tomorrow night to prepare for.

Here! (for a minute, anyway)

I hope somebody had the mind to give Hal a swift kick. Maybe he took the jest about the no-longer working links being a trick to distract us from the lack of italics a bit personally and figured, "I'll show them... they want links? Ha! They want italics? Ha-ha! Let's see how they handle no Boodle at all for a while! Mwahahahahah...."

Hi Scotty!

Thank Goodness. I thought I'd been banned and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. Was it because I tried pulling a April Fools gag or because it was so lame?
I was sure it wasn't because of a nasty post as I've been bending over backwards to be rascible. I gotta learn not to take things so personally because it makes me so mad. Mad I tell you.

I hope everyone has read this-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR2008033102789.html?hpid=topnews

$295 billion is a big number. It is more than a million times the amount of the travel expenses of the Smithsonian museum director which were the subject of numerous articles and great umbrage a few months ago. Will this story get a million times more coverage? A million times more umbrage? A hundred? A dozen? Will we, in fact, ever hear about this again?

CP, thanks for fixing the white-out. I am considering the Day without Boodle when i see Ariana choking the Newspaperman in the Out of Print article Joel mentioned.

Goodness, that really does look like Stately Wayne Manor. I wonder if it comes with the flip-top bust of Shakespeare.

The boodle should take over government cost cutting. I just finished ordering a mascot costume for our county's early literacy initiative (Have you read to your child today?) and spent $500 less than we had budgeted, including shipping. Shout out to Wilbrod who many months ago tipped me off to some quality vendors. Crowd sourcing works, particularly when the crowd being sourced doesn't own the mascot costume companies.

Ivansmommmmmmmm!!! I read that book as well. I loved it and think of it often. I've remembered a lot of my favorites, "Wait for Marcy", "Seventeeth Summer", "Me, Cassie" and have bought them for my daughter, but I've never been able to remember the title of that book. If anyone recognizes it, please post it!

ftb - nice post about remembering your mom yesterday. Even after almost 9 years, I still have that chest clutch type of feeling at the sight of certain mementos of my mom. If you should happen to come across that recipe, please post it. Anything that tastes like cheesecake without the calories is worth a try.

The podcast This Week In Tech, aka TWIT, was dissecting the New Yorker article and were ready to send flowers for the funeral. The one bright spot was that they noticed a certain cult of personality forming in the news business. A lot of people that get their news from the internet will "follow" certain personalities they trust from portal to portal.

Joel is smart in naming the blog after himself because that gives him some portability when the vines grow over the WaPo building like in Logan's Run.

Flying penguins! I've always dreamt of such a thing! These rare beasts must be protected. In fact, I am going to write a big, big check to support their preservation. Just let me note the date to put on the check and ...

Oh Phooey.

A moat's a great idea Boss. If train enthusiasts can have model railways why shouldn't you have your own model canal. You could have miniature canal horses pulling teeny barges around and around, although you'd have to feed them gravol to combat the dizziness.
As I've posted before, I know a guy who can supply perfectly legal cannnon for those turrets, but you're on your own acquiring giant cauldrons for the boiling oil.
A pirate flag might be a nice touch.

I'm a sucker for turrets, or tower rooms, in Victorian houses. When we vacationed on PEI, the once in a lifetime Anne of Green Gables pilgrimage, our cottage was on the grounds of a farm house with what must have been a modest nod to Queen Anne style ornament. In a 12 year old's mind, used to a little Newport News ranch with carport, it was a palace.

Buchanan's the one that takes all the blame for the Civil War nowadays, right? Like Hoover and the Great Depression.

Hey everybody!

I was distracted by older dottir, who came by for lunch after having had her taxes done. SHE is getting a refund. I called this morning to get the money to pay our taxes from the investment gurus.

I like big stone houses but am glad I don't have to deal with upkeep and window washing. Especially during pollen season.

Good to hear that Raysdad is home and resting comfortably (and being diligently waited on by Raysmom).

My grandparents' Tudor house had the bathroom in a sort of turret above the front door. It's my impression that this arrangement was fine with Anglo-Saxons, but would not be acceptable for a Chinese homeowner.

The problem with losing newspapers is that we're losing those herds of curious, literate reporters who tend to find things out.

Don't know how diligent that "waiting on" really is. He's sleeping, and I'm boodling.

RD-
I read your post yesterday about happiness and gratitude and such. One of the simple pleasures I have enjoyed as a lurker is your ability to write and your outlook on life. I'm a big fan. big. there. I said it.

dna girl, thanks for the link on the science related art. I'm taking a mixed media course, and am now looking at my son's rabies project from a whole new artsy fartsy perspective!

have a good day, everyone.

Yes, Raysmom, but admit it: you got him his meds and popsickles and such. And I bet anything else he either might have needed or asked for. (P.S. you could always try a little chicken soup it couldn't hurt).

So the boodle was C-4 (to use my beloved Navyspeak) this morning? I just thought that Big Brother was on to my stunt of squeezing the boodle into the tiniest little window that I could make, and lay out some other windows all over my screen, so that it wasn't noticed.

Working in this land of black helicopters, (to use boodlespeak) really, really sucks. I just gotta get outta here.

Wonderful news, Raysmom!! *confetti*

Now you just have to keep Ray from jumping on Raysdad for a couple days, right?

:-)

Go Raysdad, go Raysdad,
glad you're feelin' better,
glad you're feelin' better.

That will be so much more effective after the chipmunk costume arrives!

Time to go meet the enviro types who are boring some test holes and checking the soil around some old fuel tank sites. The fun just never ends.

Yea, Raysdad! Be gentle with him and give him ANYTHING he wants.

I'm watching a PBS program about the Kite Festival on the Mall. I haven't spotted S'Nuke yet.

No, the Waldorf make-out-in-a-movie poster on the Weingarten chat was NOT, repeat, NOT, me.

There was a very excellent "Lost" joke there, however. (Also not me, alas, though I'd love to have taken credit for it.)

Slyness, what is this "window washing" of which you speak?

Ah, Ivansmom, such a terrible chore to inflict upon the maidservants!

Mr. T and I went ten years or so without washing the windows in the house. Then when we did it, it took all of a May Saturday. Of course, it involved taking down the storm windows and washing both sides of the eight-over-twelve panes. Such a pain the backside, literally! That fall, we got a deal on replacing the windows; they are double-paned and open inward so one only person can do the washing. Which I will, later in the spring.

Scotty, Ray's smarter than I give him credit for sometimes. Before I let him in the room with Raysdad, I told him he had to be gentle. Very uncharacteristically, he walked sedately in to see Raysdad, sniffed him, then turned around for a butt scratch.

And apparently, Raysdad's list of palatable foods at the moment does not include whole wheat macaroni and cheese. I mentioned soup, but that got the thumbs-down, too.

I just posted to the kit a link to the Michael Kinsley article in The New Yorker about having Parkinson's, and about longevity in general. It's excellent: He throws deep.

Um, I would just like to say that I will never change my handle again.

Also, in my next life I will fly like a kite or maybe like those penguins. :-)

Happy April 1.

Raysmom, glad all is going well--best wishes to the patient.

RD - thanks for sharing that random thought yesterday. I think we should consider that a subject that's always on-topic, and feel free to share stories of gratitude at any time.

Here's mine, today: I have repeatedly bid for sympathy by mentioning my windowless workspace. But on my lunch break I always go outside, and absolutely, any day of the year, it's exactly like going on vacation for a half hour. I can walk by the water and look at the yachts, linger under the palm trees and watch the pelicans, look for manatees, wander among the tropical foliage, etc. If I had a window, I wouldn't be looking out it anyway, since I spend the whole day staring at my computer monitor. So I'm grateful for what I have.

Joel, nice Greco-Roman theme. My immediate thought was, is that stone, or did you use styrofoam?

Nobody with any responsibility for cleaning my house, paid or unpaid, regularly washes windows. My dad, who built our house, put a window in every room but the laundry room (essentially a big closet). If I were meticulous, or scrupulous, or even mildly vigilant, about window cleanliness we'd never do anything else.

Occasionally I'll do it. It is about time to round up the Boy for the major living-room outdoor window washing - nine very large panes. I love Nachure and Light and all that, and we'll probably be shocked at how much more comes in after the spring window-washing is accomplished.

For "regularly" in my last post you could easily substitute "annually". Or even some longer period of time. Really, my projected window-washing experiment will be an adventure, a gala day.

slyness, aren't those replacement windows fantastic? The ease of washing was the main driving force for me (with the 25% reduction in electric consumption, I figure they'd pay for themselves in about 25 years or so).

Thanks again for all the good wishes. You guys are the best friends, imaginary or otherwise, anyone could ask for.

After reading "Dumb Money"
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725976,00.html
Kinsley's latest essay in Time, I thought "boy, why haven't I been making the effort to read more of his stuff lately?" Thanks Mr. A for eliminating that whole effort bit, your linkiness was well worth reading.

I wonder if the white boodle was an april fools joke? I wasn't here, but I wonder. The funny part would have been to restore all the hidden messages, which wasn't done. Or did Hal accidently change textcolor to white?

The Kinsley piece was oddly depressing. Sorry, Joel. I'd rather talk about newspapers. Or bad tea.

I'll tell you about bad tea. First there's the "tea" you get in Chinese restaurants. It's so weak you can't, of course, TASTE tea. You can barely see a tint in the water! And it smells sort of like flowers. Jasmine. If I wanted jasmine water, I would ask for jasmine water. But I asked for tea.

And since I live in the South, I can barely find a glass of iced tea. Well, that's not strictly true. There's good unsweetened tea available. Usually they want to push a sort of syrup at you, that might actually be good on pancakes. But, I was raised in Florida where tea is strong, and sugar is added later. If it won't dissolve, you are just trying to put more sugar in it than God intended. It's just that more thn half the time the server races by and refills my glass with the syrup variety. And then there's the matter of lemon. Sweet googly moogly! The resturant business is full of people who just don't get it. People put lemon in their tea because they want the tartness and taste of discernable lemon juice in it. I mean, it is an established custom. It's sort of well known. In theory but not in practice, apparently. Nowadays the practice is to achieve "cost control." This means try to get about 50 slices of lemon out of each one. The result of this insanity is twofold: all the lemon juice ends up on the cutting board and is discarded, and the resulting microtomed slice is impossible to grasp by the diner and extract the few milligrams of lemon juice remaining. And lately I've been eating at the Indian restaurant. Now I thought surely these folks understand tea: British Empire and all. And in the first year, all was well. I would order "strong, plain tea" and a pot would arrive shortly! This I would drink with a bit of milk. With the strong Indian food, it was perfect. In gratitude, I would tip 30%. But then things changed. Now the tea is getting weaker, and weaker, and tasting less like tea and more like... cloves. Which I can assure you, does not taste good with milk. And today I was told "plain tea is not available." So I switched back to iced tea, which also is approaching total transparency and also tastes like cloves. And comes with a piece of lemon exactly one millimeter thick.

Speaking of British Empire reminded me of some business news: Tata bought Land Rover and Jaguar.

I know Mercersburg very well, and spend a lot of time there (more and more, as it turns out). Nice town. Yep, yello, J Buchanan gets the bulk of the blame (some newer biographies place the responsibility squarely on his doorstep) but he sort of helped himself out there, you know? On the other hand, he won't be first on anymore 'worst' lists.

ebtnut, the actual birthplace is in Cove Gap, but the house itself has been moved to the Mercersburg Academy. The park just has a big pyramid marking the spot where the house used to be. But if you're over that way, stop and have pie at the Foot of the Mountain Restaurant. Good stuff.

RD, you had us all at hello. ;)

You know what I really love, Raysmom? The ability to OPEN a window. Any window in the house! Anytime I want to, without having to call Mr. T for help! Yes, the replacement windows are wonderful.

I don't miss storm windows at all. What a pain they were!

Jumper, I feel your pain. PF Chang's used to have decent hot tea, but I was disappointed the last time Mr. T and I were there. I put sweetener in my iced tea, so I always ask for unsweetened. (Yes, I realize that is completely uncharacteristic for a born Southerner, but there you are. Diabetes runs in the family.) Places whose iced tea I like: Harper's, City Tavern, Charley's.

Very poignant essay, Achenbach. I know what he's talking about.

There are people who are diagnosed with chronic diseases as children, teenagers, or young adults. It's even more frustrating when you're still in the midst of forming life skills and opportunities, I believe. The employment rate for disabled people is very low, and it is horrible to run into chronic illness that will restrict your ability to work full-time without accomodations even before you start working.

Jumper... I guess this doesn't really help you in restaurants unless you bring along your own bags, but I've recently discovered PG Tips, "England's Number 1 Tea."

It makes a nice, strong cup of tea without the bitterness associated with leaving the bag in too long. I steep it for 3 or 4 minutes, add some sweetener and some milk and it's my new morning cup of coffee.

I can buy it at most grocery stores in the box of 40 bags (no tag, no string, no staple), but can get the box of 80 at Wegmans. Apparently in the UK you can get up to 240 in a box.

And the box isn't packaged up like you're going to store it for months... it's clear that the tea is meant to be used up quickly.

Wow... that's a lot about a cup o' tea. Just like a new convert, no?

http://www.pgtips.co.uk/teas/

TBG, thanks for the tea hint; any tea that doesn't stew easily is good tea.

Normally I get 2 cups out of one teabag, so I guess I'd label myself a medium-strength tea drinker.

The secret to strong tea is not to steep the tea for over 5 minutes, but to use enough and also to have the water properly hot enough in the first place. The bag or tea caddy design helps.

I do find that Lipton is much more tolerant of over-steeping than Tentley (which is a reasonable tea if you don't mind medium-strength or weak and mellow taste).

NICE DIGS JOEL... forget college tuition... let's elope, I want that their turret... as long as you agree to cut the grass and take the garbage out :)

ha! Happy April Fools :)

Plan ahead, I guess. I will put some tea in the truck immediately, and then I'll be okay. I ought to put a lemon in there two or three times a week, and I'll really be set. Unless I forget them. Strong tea is really very good with Indian food. I have it only then, otherwise I just have regular. Or coffee. I also found out orange soda pop is really good with Mexican food.

For my morning cuppa, I ring the changes among PG Tips and whatever Twinings has been on sale. I like Earl Grey, Lady Grey, and English Breakfast. I never learned how to drink coffee.

There is always a gallon pitcher of iced tea in the fridge. This is a Southern household, after all. Lately, I haven't been able to find gallon teabags so I've been forced to use Lipton's quart bags. I finally figured out how to get the tea brewed without the bags coming apart. Pour the boiling water into the pitcher, then put in the teabags. Works much better that way!

I would like to fly "around the world to conferences where the world's suffering is deplored" but nobody asks me. Pehaps if I took on more umbrage I could produce some first rate deploring. I'm sure no one would mind if I borrowed some from the bunker.

My mother grew up in a big old upstate NY house with her bedroom in a turret. I was always jealous. (I only ever saw the outside of the house -- it left the family before I was born.) She said that the round room was very difficult to fit furniture in, and that the house was really spooky at night when you were the last one up. But I know she loved it anyway.

I've always loved turrets, too. In fact, I join with the rest of you who have Turret's Syndrome.

Slyness, I got selected teas for my more tea-oriented relatives for Christmas one year at Tea Rex. I ought to go by there for me.

I couldn't resist. I admit it: I have no will power whatsoever.

Jumper... if you don't want to pull out your baggie with lemon wedges, or your knife to cut up your lemon, try some of these...

http://truelemon.com/

And on windows --

The windows in our house haven't been washed since J bought the place. I thought about it when I moved in, but that passed. Now we're going to have to get to it, though, because we're getting ready to put the house on the market. Cleaning, sorting, packing, tidying, and keeping everything clean and neat for days (weeks? months?) on end. Not sure if we can manage it. But I'm looking forward to the prospect, because if housecleaning reaches the top of the list, it means that this thing I'm writing is done and defended and over with. Which isn't feeling very likely at the moment. So what am I doing on the boodle? (I gotta say, the spread of wireless is trouble. A nice non-networked computer is what I need. Willpower? What's that?)

Boko,
You have to commit some serious crimes against humanity to get that gig, so you're better off without it.

Michael Kinsley is the greatest political writer alive. Two wonderful essays that prove it.

I make "at work" iced tea. I take a plastic mug, put two tea bags in it (Tetley or Earl Grey) and fill the mug with hot water from the coffee maker tap. I let it steep for five minutes, then I throw away the tea bags. I top of the cup with ice. Once the ice has melted, I sip out some of the lukewarm tea and then add more ice.

It's a lot less work than it sounds.

Just go with it, Mudge!

My husband is the sweet tea drinker (it IS like syrup) and I like unsweetened, but we both agree that Red Rose Tea is the best for our side-by-side gallons of iced tea. Much smoother than Lipton, IMHO. That is, if we don't spring for Constant Comment, but that's pretty pricey for the way we drink iced tea, year round.

Raysmom - good news!

LiT - You're right, it's official, first on the worst president list is all GWB's. Even one of my die hard Republican friends said it. I nearly fainted, but I didn't say, "I told you so"!

bia... you and L.A. lurker are both using the boodle as dissertation disractions (hey... alliteration!). Keep plodding away... it'll be nice to start seeing the handles "dr bia" and "dr L.A. lurker."

I hate to copy and paste, but this chatter in Weingarten today should be a speechwriter for the Dem presidential candidate...

"Worst, Redux: You've said, and I agree, that W. is the worst president in the history of presidents. But what about the other end of the spectrum? I'm thinking these days Franklin D. Roosevelt is looking pretty good by comparison. Since Reagan got in, the Republicans, chanting "smaller government," have been trying to get rid of all the regulatory systems and financial safety net that are a legacy of the New Deal, but the minute Bear Stearns looked ready to collapse the Fed got all scared of leaving things in the hands of market forces and jumped in with billions. Republican Congressmen are torn between the commitment to limited government intervention demanded by party orthodoxy and help out of the sub-prime mortgage crisis that voters are asking for. W. tried to privatize Social Security a couple years back, and the country responded with a resounding "don't you dare!" So when you're looking at Roosevelt versus Reagan on economic intervention, it seems like Roosevelt wins.

"Then there's government spending. Roosevelt's big economic stimulus package didn't involve sending checks to taxpayers. It was instead huge public works projects, which built much of the nation's infrastructure. Well, now a bridge collapses in Minnesota from neglect, the lights go out in New York City, levees in New Orleans fail and aren't repaired to the heights they'd need to avoid a similar disaster. Years of high deficits and low taxes have led to a threat to homeland security that has nothing to do with terrorists. It seems like maybe the government could do some real good deciding how to spend your hard-earned money.

"It's not all Bush, of course, but I think that under him it has become apparent that the conservative Republican philosophy we've had to listen to for the past 30 years is pretty much a bust. About the only ideas that leaves the Republicans with are being mean to gays and immigrants and keeping dirty words off the television."

Regardless of yello's thoughts, there's plenty of umbrage in the fridge in the bunker, Boko. Help yourself, it's in the back on the middle shelf. It's gonna go bad if somebody doesn't use it.

If mudge's going to pun, I'm going to assert my right to rhyme.

Heed this foundation fundamental and you won't get hurt by your turret greed:

Adorable pert turrets supported by horrible cobbled-together corbels soon topple into the dirt.

SCC: distractions. Dissertation distractions. Clearly I'm not writing mine.

Thank goodness. (I lived through 10 years of my husband writing his.)

:-)

The newspaper article at New Yorker was good. My neighbor in the news biz was trying to tell me about it for a few days; now I've read it and can converse more knowledgeably. Neighbor was gloating about Huffpo surpassing Drudge in the internet views competition.

I live in a city with a very stodgy newspaper. Like much of my region, they are afraid to take many risks, waiting for someone more "important" to perform their experiments first. The attitude is depressing to me and self-defeating for them. For example, they short-sightedly cut way back on their political blogs a few weeks ago. Just in time for one of the extremely rare years when North Carolina and its late primaries will nevertheless make some decisive difference nationally. The timing of the paper could not have been worse.

Revenue streams can still be improved.

My neighbor ran off a copy of an article about Condoleeza Rice's history. I wouldn't have read it online, I have only so much deep reading I'm capable of on the web. But the portability and easy-on-the-eyes features of the printout led me to borrow it and read it. It's the mechanics; the behavioral; the time-and-motion aspects of paper and print that still rule.

I recall a scheme from a while back that failed. To put barcodes in newspapers and the reader was supposed to scan them and then load them into the computer to follow up. It was a total ridiculous bust. But at least someone was thinking; they just should have discarded the idea before it went much further. Or more precisely, kept thinking.

My computer is not in my living room. My TV is. Even if I had a laptop, it would not be a television. Soon I am going to merge my TV and my computer. Oddly enough, the type of furniture and the mechanics of a keyboard have a lot to do with this. I don't look forward to having my keyboard in my lap. I just don't.

I have 7 or 8 remote control devices on my coffee table, plus a timer and a calculator. Often my cellphone too. Sooner or later all this is going to merge together. I will eliminate all the separate devices. TV, internet reading, email, stereo, telephone will merge. The newspaper will be consumed into this mix somehow. Yet as surely as I still have a desktop printer, which at present churns out stuff that rivals newspaper home delivery in cost-per-copy, (meaning my newspaper is cheap and my printer is really expensive in comparison) some form of paper will continue. The newspapers just have to see further than I can.

Interesting TBG. Dehydrated citrus powder. I actually dehydrated an orange once in the oven on low-low. It took a day, a bit too long for me. And ground it into a powder for an impromptu recipe additive. You know I'm a do-it-yourselfer. Now I have to buy a vacuum pump!

And I should mention, even with the remarkable features of the little telephones nowadays, I will NOT be watching the widescreen version of Bridge on the River Kwai on a telephone anytime soon.

Jumper... I hear ya. But when you started talking about all your remotes, it made me think of this...

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39226

OInk.

Hey, anybody seen/heard from Cassandra today?

I will just BE a boodle hog for a few more. Who among us has not texted themselves from the computer so as to make the phone beep, so we can find it? I liked that TBG.

Kim -- We, too, on the Red Rose tea as right for iced-drinking. I like tea made in the sun. About coulda done it today!

Jumper I was enjoying your tea tirade right up until the end. I have become a big fan of Chai Tea - although I usually use two teabags per big mug just to make sure it is strong enough.

I remember the first time I drank the Iced Tea when I was in DC - unsweetened it surprised me but I quite liked it.

Joel there is a house not to far from me that looks a little like that Tudor house you posted. I live in an area with a great many Victoria homes circa the late 1800's or early 1900's.

Somebody should give that Indian restaurant a good kicking, Jumper. It's cardamom you put in Indian tea, not cloves.
Or chai masala, if making chai-- one I bought had black pepper in it (honest!), ginger, cardamom, etc. A very little went a long way. A coworker gave me a homemade masala that was better.

Cloves are most suitable in Russian tea with Tang, not with milk. Completely different directions involved there.

I'm a very open-cupped teadrinker.

I actually have a brand of jasmine tea I like, and I found that liking green tea varies by the type used, same as with black tea. I'd say Oolong is my favorite overall.

PG Tips save me when my stash of loose leaf tea from home runs out or when I'm pressed for time to brew a fresh cup, which is often, as I drink 4-5 really large cups a day! (3 teabags).

My brew would probably kill Jumper (and Wilbrod for good measure); it's got fresh ginger, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, fennel seeds, peppercorns, ajowan seeds (thyme-ish flavor), bay leaves and star anise sometimes, a drop of honey, and a spot of milk.

Very Moroccan.

I had some excellent iced tea a while back. Imagine my surprise when I found out it came from Long Island.

DNA Girl... I wish you were my next-door neighbor.

DNA Girl, you made me curious so I looked on the ingredients of my Twinnings Chai Tea (not my favorite brand of Chai tea but all that is around at the moment).

Ingredients: Tea, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves, Ginger.

Your Moroccan tea sounds interesting - is it available in bags?

Hello, friends. My computer is acting up something awful. Mudge, this might not even go through. I allowed my grandson on the computer yesterday, and I don't know if he hit a wrong button or what, but this thing is not working. I will have it checked out, in the mean time, if I get missing you'll know the problem.

Slyness, I will definitely be in your city on Saturday, at Saint Paul's Missionary Baptist Church, I think. We need to name a place. Try to email me, please. I don't know if I'll get it. Do you still have my phone number?

Love the place, JA. It's like a fairytale.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

I grew up in a town with many old Victorian and Tudor homes and had a girlfriend whose house had a turret. We used to play up there, the round room was inviting. Another girlfriend lived in a larger old Vic with curved glass in some of the windows on the rounded sections of the house. I remember they burned coal in the big living room fireplace in addition to the central heating as the house was huge and, I'm sure, drafty.

Glad to hear that Raysdad is home and resting comfortably.

Cassandra! Would love to get together on Saturday, I'll email you.

Boko, don't drink that iced tea and drive :-)

dmd, I just have pots of the spices at home and throw them in haphazardly into the mug; I've had days when I bit into >5 peppercorns--wakes me up better than the caffeine!

I did find a site that sells Moroccan tea bags, but they've sold out?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10660748

Numi's golden chai has some of these ingredients, but I don't like their tea much
http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=175633&prrfnbr=198289&pcgrfnbr=191349

Marteani tea! I am not a fan of gin so this tea doesn't hold a great appeal for me - but it amuse me.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10562794

So... DNA Girl... is there some sort of recipe or can you give us an idea of how to make a cup of your delicious-sounding tea?

Yes, younger child completely fooled her dad with her homebaked brownie (a cleverly disguised mud pie with sprinkles). He would have inhaled a spoonful if I had not yelled STOP.

Very amusing - to a 7 year old a life long memory of tricking Dad - doesn't get any better than that.

dmd... Love it!

I've been telling my little sister "Oh my God! It's snowing!" on April 1 for more than 40 years. Sometimes it still works, but not on days like today when it's in the mid-70s.

*Tim. Thank you.

I have gotten a few people today, but most are too wise to me and won't even speak to me.Also it is hard to pull off pranks without phone or internet service.I saw a man on a pole turning off my service this morning. Oh well, such is life sometimes.

Love the pics of Mercersberg,I spent a wonderful day with my mother there 2 years ago and It was so much fun.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day!!

Thanks *very* much for the kind comments posted earlier. They made my day.

Bring it on, DNA girl. I make it a rule to never refuse a tea-like beverage unless I'm pretty sure it's toxic.

Although frankly, I'd rather not drink ginseng tea again if I have an option. It's just an insult to the tastebuds.

Korean ginger tea, barley tea/coffee are pretty good (if caffeine-free) herbal teas though.

Morroco tea sounds similar to a good authentic chai masala I have, only lemony instead of milky. I can do that.

This just in.

The Chamber of Commerce has canceled this year's Maryland Seafood Festival for several reasons: the economy, the price of gas, construction near the site, etc. etc. They promise it'll be back for 2009.

Got a nice little booklet in the mail today from Fairfax County called "Protecting Yourself From Disease Carrying Insects."

Shouldn't I be more worried about insects carrying disease?

Hyphens, people. Hyphens.

'Evening, everyone. We've had a busy day, capped off with our boy's birthday celebration. I'm glad to see that the boodle is back up and operable.

I just read the pieces by Kinsley and Hitchens. Both write so beautifully, it's a pleasure to read them. I find myself becoming tired of Hitchens, though. Maybe it's just me, but he seems in writing and on TV to be filled with contempt for just about everyone, which grows tiresome. He did write a very moving piece some months ago in Vanity Fair, I think, about a soldier who died in Iraq and the soul-searching (is that a proper hyphen, TBG?) that it prompted in him, but other than that, I've only read cranky and dismissive work from him, however beautifully written.

Kinsley, on the other hand, is a joy to read, whether I can agree with him or not. I sometimes find myself pausing mid-article to re-read the first part because he makes his points in such a fresh and striking manner. Thanks for the links!

Every now and then I find myself wanting to say *something* on kit.

Jumper - I've enjoyed your thoughts today.

I'm not working until Monday...woohoo! It's Fess Parker Chardonnay time!

Geez, I haven't even had any wine, but I apologize for all the SCC's...

I'm watching the PBS show Frontline, an episode called "Bad Voodoo's Company," about a company of National Guard troops in Iraq doing convoy duty. They've been given a bunch of camcorders, and they are filming their daily lives. It is riveting, just riveting. And heart-breaking, and maddening.

Happy Birthday, Son of Jack! It's a good day to have a birthday!

I still think it's a shame that a president who joined the National Guard to avoid going to war has sent our National Guard overseas to war.

What's up with that?

Oh, now I'm really torn: I'm channel-flipping between a PBS history show on the 1691 Glencoe Massacre in Scotland, versus the Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee "Hound of the Baskervilles." I'll never get any writing done this way.

That show just finished on my local (sorta,it's across the border) PBS station, Mudge. Very intense.
Before that they showed a program on the Cassini/Huygens mission to the Saturn system.

Try saying Huygens in a Jerry Lewis voice.

TBG, The tea recipe evolved thus:

Until a few years ago I made tea the 'traditional' Indian way at home--heated water with some fresh ginger pieces, then added cardamom seeds (a pod per mug), then 1/2 tsp tea leaves, brought the water to a boil, turned off the heat, added a spot of milk (most Indians put in lots of milk at this time), waited 5 minutes, strained the tea into a mug, mixed in 1/4 tsp honey, and drank it (-/+ dunking tea biscuits--Rich tea biscuits are a pretty good substitute for Britannia Marie Gold biscuits--you'll find them near the PG Tips in grocery stores)

Then DNA Guy and I took a trip to Spain, and had Moroccan tea in Granada (with crepes :-); what luck! Later, poking around the tea leaves in the pot, I found most of the stuff mentioned my earlier post, except for the ginger (funnily there was no mint even though Moroccan tea is often minty--ok by me for I hate mint-tea).

So now, I add a bit of cinnamon bark, a clove, a couple of peppercorns, a pinch of ajowan seeds, a speck of bay leaf, and a tsp of fennel seeds to the brew described above (in the mug along with honey). Alternately, I throw everything into a mug along with a tea bag and boiling water and run to class/meeting/lab/seminar...

All these spices can be found easily and for cheap in an Indian store (the quality of the spices depends a lot on the quality of your neighborhood store)

What's that, you say? You want to fly around Saturn with Cassini? Well, why didn't you say so: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/CASSIE/

Wow, DNA Girl... Thanks. I have everything but the ajowan seeds. I'll stop by an Indian store tomorrow.

And as much as I love mint in cooking (I *am* Greek), I also hate minty tea. I hate minty toothpaste, too; only cinnamon for me.

I've been drinking Good Earth Chai tea, which I think is quite pleasant. It has cardamon, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, ginger. Tried Thai iced tea last summer - does it have coconut milk in it? It was really good.

I'm not crazy about mint in tea, either, or in toothpaste. Love mint chocolate chip ice cream, though, but hardly ever get it because Mr Ml doesn't like it...And Mystic Mints - they're not much more than fancy Oreos now, but they used to be a delight.

distracted? moi?

bia: si se puede

i love all the teas described so far, although i'm not crazy about tea that's too sweet. moroccan mint tea i can tolerate as a dessert, but the southern syrupy stuff, not so much.

Thanks, TBG. My son made an April fool of me when he told me there was a spider on the car headliner. I looked up, of course. The mind of an eight year old can be so devious.

Funny there should be so much boodling of tea and iced tea. I grew up primarily in VA but with northern parents so milk is what we always drank at meals. The Frostrents equated allowing children to drink iced tea with neglect. I don't know when I got away from milk at every meal, but next to coffee and water it is still my beverage of choice. Tea, in all its permutations does nothing for me.

Toodles boodlers in North America, and hello Rainforest and other night shifters.

WAYCROSS, Ga.-A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said today.
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/408897

That's really sad. Eight to 10 year olds having such idea and being so revengeful.

You can't start porching season without a good glass of iced tea, see?

Although true outdoors season is months away, Wilbrodog is already doing a lot of porching on the deck. And lurking.

That is ONE advantage of always being inside a fully lined snow suit, I suppose.

Today was a mini-spring cleaning day, so I'm starting to feel hopeful even as I crunch through 8 inches of leftover snow.

TBG, for me the biggest aversion in herbal tea is to chamonile (too cross-allergenic to ragweed allergies)--

I've never liked dried mint tea, I must say. I once steeped mint tea then dumped hot chocolate powder in the tea, stirred, then I liked my minty hot chocolate very much. Only way to drink those herbal mint teas, in my opinion.

I was once served a nice iced tea with freshly picked mint and lemon that I liked, though. Not sure what variety of mint it was, but it wasn't overwhelming.

(Dried mint-- yuck).

I only have oil of peppermint in my pantry now. I made some lassis I rather liked with it-- very cooling. I also like orange peel oil-flavored lassis, but that's expensive and runs out too quickly.

I do miss the rose-flavored syrup I used to be able to buy in Indian stores in VA.

It makes a lovely pink lassi-- first tasted it at a Sikh gathering, and it's really amazing; I had never liked rose-flavored anything before (reminded me too much of perfume). Of course, it was rather sweet, so that helped.

I very seldom drink unsweetened tea. When I do drink, I like oolong or jasmine. I like strong tea so I usually use 2 sometimes 3 teabags steeped together with cloves, cardamom and ginger in a mug. And then lots of evaporated milk.

There's a type of tea, called "teh tarik" or pulled tea that is very popular around here. It's just tea with condensed milk pour from one container into another many times. Some people say the tea taste better after it's being "tarik"ed, but I don't taste any difference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teh_tarik

Mostly, the thai iced tea I've had was with heavy cream or evaporated milk. Some variations with coconut do exist.

http://www.blueray.com/thaitea/recipes.html

It is indeed delicious, I like ordering it as a dessert. Regrettably, it can be as strong as an tea espresso, so gotta factor that in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_tea

Frostbitten, milk is good if you can digest it. For those who can't, ew.

Yogurt drinks (lassis) are suitable for the lactose-intolerant, and quite cooling as well. I'd never drink milk alone to relieve my thirst, just too thick, but I admit, milk with a chaser of water has been nice on some hot days.

I can't stand coffee myself; the smell of some brands has triggered migraines for me.

Each to their own; you're ideally suited to Minnesota's rich coffee tradition, while I am not.

'Morning, Boodle. Not much to report this morning, although Slate has a piece about Germaine Greer defending Shakespeare's wife, of all people. And another day has gone by and the Nats are still 2-0 and leading their division. Now, if we could only freeze that standing for, say, six months.

Mudge! So nice to see you early of a morning! Glad the connection issues at home have been solved.

Good morning everybody!

Cassandra, did you get my emails last night?

I'd just like to thank everyone for contributing to that little "Tea for Two" tune cootie that's been driving me stark raving spare...

Where's mah coffeh?!?!?!

*Happy-Hump-Day-that-would-be-happier-if-it-was-next-week-already Grover waves*

:-)

I love Chai Tea. I find soothing and full of complex flavors. Unfortunately, making the real stuff is too involved for work. Instead I sometimes make a mixture of powdered milk, instant tea, and this extremely potent "Chai Powder" that I purchased a few years ago from an Indian store in Balston Virginia. (It is brutally powerful stuff.)

While lacking the subtlety of real Chai Tea, this concoction is still a great way to keep awake after lunch. And the exotic aroma helps create an ambiance of mysterious eccentricity in my cubicle.

I like that.

The one house looks like the one on College Ave in Ellicott City.

Also, looking at that picture of Stately Wayne Manor, I can't help but appreciate the advantages of all-stone construction. For the problem with these new-fangled "wood frame" structures is that repairs to the interior, such as the ones I am now making to my own modest home, often require the use of these sharp pointy metal things called "nails."

Actually, the nails aren't really the problem. The problem is correct application of the heavy mallet-like "hammer" device intended to drive these nails into place through the application of highly-energetic impulsive blows.

I find proper execution of this procedure problematic. (There is a reason the little art boxes I like to make are held together entirely by glue.)

But eventually I was able to stem the bleeding from my thumb and continue work. Although I fear the dog may be traumatized for some time.

RD -- mysterious eccentricity. I shall, attempt to, channel that today in the classroom, where we will discuss approaches to defining.

TOPIC as the teaching exhibit: entropy, and why economists might want to think about this elusive idea.

RD -- two plants that you and darling, darling dot may like this summer:

Spanish lavender -- blooming now in medium sized pots at my Home Depot. If they have the same supplier, you can nab some. Otherwise, let me know. The thick wand of lavender is bulby at the end with PURPLE RABBITY EARS ATOP!!!

I have read about a hardy grass ground cover called bunny toes....will find pick later. Off to teach the willing and the unwilling, plus the sleepy, plus the bored, plus the falsely angry punky rage against their parents type....

well I have some serious catching up to do.

I like Earl Grey with a teaspoon of molasses.

Before that I was a big fan of Darjeeling. Unsweetened.

Non herbal teas should never be steeped longer than 3 minutes. No matter how strong you like it. Unless of course you like the bitter taste of a <it>stewed</it> tea. If you want stronger use more, not longer.

The tea you get in Chinese restaurants is green tea, which is a mild tea to begin with. I don't understand Jumper's complaint here at all.

Then there's Long Island Iced Tea...

oops, just caught up to boko's 6:18

Whoa. If Catherine Oxenberg was born in NY and raised in NH why does she have an English accent?

And did you all know she is a Princess. Of the Serbian-Yugoslavian Dynasty. She also starred in the Soap 'Dynasty'. And she is in the line of succession to the British throne.

Oh, and Happy BDay Jackson...

Thanks CP - That Spanish Lavender sounds fun. As I shall have many occasions to visit Home Depot in the next few weeks I will keep an eye out for it.

And regarding tea, has anyone else visited a store called "Teavana"? There is one in Tyson's Mall that I frequent whenever I feel the burden of excess money in my wallet. Yes, the stuff is pricey, but the amazing assortment of exotic blends has opened for me a whole new world of tea appreciation.

Oh, I am such a boring tea drinker.

I don't drink much hot tea now but I wasn't much of a coffee drinker until my 30's so tea was it if I wanted a hot drink in the AM. But only plain tea. Maybe a little lemon once in a while. I once got into the loose tea-teaball-teapot thing but quickly reverted to the ole teabag convenience.

We drink a lot of iced tea, especially in the warmer months. I like sun-brewed the best but will boil-steep as necessary. Never sweetened but we both like lemon in iced tea. Mr. F got quite used to that instant iced tea mix (unsweetened) when he was working construction on the road because he could mix it in his thermos in the morning. Then he squirted in that juice that comes in a lemon-shaped squeeze thingy.

We do not have sophisticated tastes. Obviously.

Hi Everybody.
RD. Most people who use a hammer impulsively come to grief, or at least those around them do. I suggest you review the instructions that came with your hammer.

I think I've been misled. Born in NYC and raised in London. She is the second cousin, once removed of Prince Charles. She is named after her ancestress, Catherine the Great.

Turn's out she went to St. Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, London, England. Not St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire).

If *I* had a hammer...

Maybe I'm just confused. I can find cites that list her as an alumni of both St. Paul's.

My head hurts.

Maybe I'll just focus on Alison Armitage instead.

OW! Alison played a character named Catherine in the Same show as Catherine Oxenberg.

RD, Could you hit me upside the head with that hammer.

Paging bc, paging *Tim...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/01/AR2008040102840.html

:-)

Jeez. I go from no boodling yesterday to boodle hogging today. Hammer upside the head indeed.

omni asks: "Whoa. If Catherine Oxenberg was born in NY and raised in NH why does she have an English accent?"

Same reasons ancient Romans and Greeks spoke with that very same accent:

It sounds great.

Shakespeare knew that; that's why he wrote everything in that British accent.
How do you think the St. Crispin's Day / Band of Brothers pep talk would sound as delivered by Larry the Cable Guy? Hello?

As far as tea goes, I like mine like I like my coffee - spoon-stands-straight-up strong. I've found that if I keep a couple of day's worth of used teabags and put them in one of my used gym socks from the hamper, I can use that sock as a Super-meta-mega-teabag when having a cup during those evenings of *serious* housework.

[For those of you who thought I would use some other piece of athletic wear for that endeavor - ha! I would never suggest such a thing.]

bc

OK, but then why do so many American TV producers and directors insist that English actors lose the accent.

I bet "The Bionic Woman" wouldn't have been cancelled if Michelle Ryan had been allowed to speak 'English'.

Man was she ever a hottie in "Eastenders".

Yeah that's the Ticket: I'll think about Michelle. Time for a walk...

Good article Scotty, but isn't there a distance issue for the cards that emit RFID, as is you have to be quite close to pick up the signal - hence tap and go.

The Tim Horton's up here use tap and go, from what I observed the technology needs some tweaking - people have to tap repeatedly, in the exact manner etc.

Morning all... I'm enjoying my hot cup o' DNA Girl Brew tea. Delish.

Twinnings Irish Breakfast tea, strong, plain, hot or cold. No milk. According to the British without milk is a crime.

Joel, gee, with a garden that large, I was wondering if you have staff. You know - for the heavy lifting.

I profess to a liking for the guest accomodation over the turrets, but only I repeat, only if it is vermin free.

FYI, the reason Joel's manse has two turrets is that one of them is a guest room for visiting space aliens from Alpha Centauri or wherever. You might say it is extraturretstrial.

That article goes into my "pet peeve" territory: The metal foil that I buy at the supermarket is NOT tinfoil, but aluminum foil. Now, since this is a news article am I to assume that the writer is not referring to aluminum foil by a misnomer, but actually means to say that to line my wallet I need to find this difficult-to-obtain metal? Or should I assume that "tinfoil" is a colloquial term that really means "aluminum foil or any other metal foil?"

What am I grateful for today? Happy memories, good dreams, a place to vent my pet peeves--

Scotty, that's an interesting article about the metal-lined wallets.

Someone alert me when they make one with a duct tape cover.

Oh, nevermind - I think I can make one out of metalized duct tape myself... hmmm.
Shiny.

And RD, if you live in a stone castle, driving nails into the walls to hang little glued-together artboxes or huge tapestries is even more of a thumb-crushing exercise, requring a 5-lb sledge, at least. Since you *are* living in a stone castle, I'd suggest borrowing a couple of gauntlets from the nearest suit of armor (standing in a castle alcove, natch). And maybe the helm, too. After all, you'll want eye protection from stone and mortar chips. And maybe skull protection in case the hand sledge slips.

Y'know, now that I think about it, maybe you should just don the whole suit of armor.

Ladies love a knight in armor - I learned that in Boorman's "Excalibur."

[Something tells me that the idea of RDP as a knight in armor is sending many Boodlers into a full swoon at this point...]

bc

bc

kbertocci... you lead me to another aluminum foil question. My older, more monied sister, used to make fun of my mom's "cheap" aluminum foil because the foil was so thin.

But I think it must take expensive, more-delicate equipment to make a foil that thin. What do you think?

Perhaps this could be a Gene Pool question... it's no less interesting than the ones I've seen there.

I'm sure you have sophisticated tastes, TLF

But, if you're not addicted to spice, you obviously do not have psychic powers, nor the ability to guide space-folding ships, nor solid blue eyes...as I do...

Hmm, I wonder what powers can be acquired with spice and a Super-meta-mega-teabag?

BTW, "Excalibur" is where I first noticed Helen Mirren.

bc

I would think brute force makes aluminum foil thinner. Delicacy has less to do with it.

(The Hulk says, "More thin = more CRUSHING!")

DNA Girl, that last question at 10:00 caused a tsunami onto my keyboard.

Paroxysms.
Thanks for that.

bc

*skeered of DNA Girl*

*but she probably already knew I wuz gonna type that*

:-)

I need to give coffee making lessons pronto. Today's brew is nothing more than tinted water. The way I feel today, I could use a properly stout brew, perhaps with a dollop of dark molasses.

Al Atomic #13
Sn Atomic #50

I think it is easier to make thin aluminium foil than thin tin foil.

Also I don't thinhk you can even get tin foil anymore???

Ladies love a knight in armor, but they love him more out of it. That is the message of "Excaliber."

Aluminium:English
Aluminum:American

Sn:Stannum:Latin
Tin:English and American

This concludes today's Chemistry/Language lesson.

I think.

Wait, Tin is a poor malleable metal. So making thin aluminium is definitely easier than making thin tin. As to whether its delicateness makes it a more expensive operation: Don't know.

Al is the most abundant element in the earth's crust, and third most overall after oxygen and silicon.

The Earth is composed of steak sauce? Next you'll be telling us the moon is made of green cheese.

We won't be fooled again!

kguy, you might remember from the film that some may not wait until the armor's off to get the amor on.

I don't remember if a church key or sardine can key was used, but that's immaterial.

bc

Thanks for the encouragement, L.A. lurker. Ditto!

And RD, belated thanks for the positive thinking post. Almost all of my stressful chaos this spring is based on really good things for my life (ultimately); it's good for me to keep that in mind.

Just a quick stop in this morning -- I'll be back to backboodle this evening.

Yes, brute force makes the aluminum thinner, but what about the machines that pull, roll, cut and package it? Wouldn't the thinner foil be harder to manage without breaking?

Clearly not... because the cheaper the aluminum foil, the thinner... just like my sister pointed out. But I just thought it seemed the opposite would be true.

See also the chastity belt sequence from Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask."

New kit!

Hmmm...maybe I should rent Excalibur. Sounds interesting.

Tomorrow's supposed to be cold, but today we have spring! I could buy plants and get busy, but I'm afraid it's still a bit early. Actually, I have bought plants but am keeping them in a protected spot for a while. The Easter freeze last year was the second weekend in April. I so hope we don't have a repeat.

bia, good luck! What a pain it is to have a big project hanging over one. What a relief when it's done! One day at a time, just do what you can, one day at a time.

slyness, please don't rent it on my account.

It was lavish for its time, but not very good.

bc

joel, i can't believe you're 47? what does that make me other than old?