Now is the Time When I Tell You Where to Shop for the Holidays

Okay, so first off, I have to tell you a freaky story.  I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but I finally decided to do it now because I was lying in bed, wide awake at 1:30 in the morning, and, well, now seemed as good a time as any.  Before I got up, I was thinking about what I would title this post, and I thought of the above title, which reminded me of Saturday Night Live's old Sprockets skits.

You may remember Mike Myers as Dieter, Sprockets' host.  "Now's the time on Sprockets when we dance."



Although disturbing, that's not the freaky part.  The freaky part is, I came into the office, brought the computer up out of sleep mode, and I heard a few random sounds-computer starty-up noises, some bell tones, a phone ringing-and then, no kidding, Mike Myers' voice saying, "Welcome to Sprockets.  I am your host, Dieter." You guys.  I almost had a heart attack.  Turns out our iTunes was running, and, among the 5, 833 items in our collection, we have a series of random sound clips that it was running through at the moment that I turned it on, and it happened to land on "Welcome to Sprockets.  I am your host, Dieter."  Are you kidding me?  I had no idea that we even had a Dieter clip.  HOW WEIRD IS THAT??

Anyway, that sealed the deal in my mind.  The time for this post is now!

So, all that is to say this:

If you have been surfing the internet at all lately, and I'll bet you have, you may have seen ads for Gary West Smoked Meats popping up all over the place.  Even if you haven't, I have, and my reaction is always, "Yay!  Gary West Smoked Meats!"  I realized that's not the normal reaction to an internet ad, but I know the people who own the store, and they are super nice people, and they have really great products, so I'm happy to see them, hopefully, garnering some internet traffic.

How do I know these people?  Remember when I told you about the Rat Race in Oregon?  Well, what I didn't tell you was that we stayed with Paul and Whitney Murdoch, the owners of Gary West Smoked Meats.  Paul and Whitney, whom we had never met before, who didn't know us from Adam, who already had five other visiting pilots as house guests in addition to their own two kids who had all of their freinds coming and going, who were in the middle of preparing for the grand re-opening of the bar and grill that is attached to their store, welcomed us with open arms all because they are some of the nicest people in the world.

They fed us, housed us, and let us be a part of their awesome family for the three or four days that we were there.  In return, we used their washer and dryer, took over their bathroom, ate all their food, and bumbled around their store, trying to help but also trying stay out of the way as much as possible.  Seriously, these people deserve a medal.

Gary R. West Meats (as the sign outside their store says) is located in Jacksonville, OR, which has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and is the cutest little town ever.  They have all kinds of meats, but they are known largely for their jerkies (Gary West, not Jacksonville), which are awesome.  These are not the little packs of dried out leather that you buy at the gas station, but hefty packs of chewy, meaty goodness made from buffalo, elk, and beef.  They have several different flavors, nitrite-free versions and they even have dog jerky (uh, just to clarify, that's jerky made FOR dogs, not FROM dogs), which comes complete with a picture of their awesome dog, Gus, on the package.

If you have a lot of people to feed this holiday season and are thinking, Gosh, I wish I could just order a meal in a box this year, you might consider the West Family Feast.  I haven't sampled this myself, but I'm tempted after reading this description from their website:

A huge and handsomely packaged gift box arrives stuffed with treats; One Whole Hickory Smoked Turkey and half a succulent and lean Yuletide Ham. Handmade German, Bratwurst and our trademark Summer Sausage. Papa Liebe's hand-tied Pepper Sticks and Smoked Wild Alaska Salmon. Savory Oregon Blue Cheese and Rogue Creamery's new Touvelle Gouda. Rise-up! Bakery's Ciabatta bread and Brandied Cranberry Garnish. Half a pound of our award-winning jerky, as well as fudge and our Sweet Hot Mustard. A very impressive smorgasbord of local Oregon treats.

That might be more food than you need, but you can also check out their other ham- and turkey-based gift items.  If smoked meats aren't your thing, don't despair; they have plenty of other great items to choose from.  They have gourmet cheeses and sausages, wine, condiments, and one of my favorite new discoveries hulless caramel corn.  I don't know how they do it, I think it's some kind of scientific miracle.  If you love caramel corn but hate all those little kernels and hulls that manage to hide out in your gums for days on end, this product is for you!  Science never tasted this good when I was a kid!

I didn't take a lot of pictures while we were in the store, but I did take one of their honey display because I thought it was so pretty with the sun shining through those decorative bottles.

So, have I convinced you yet?  If you are in the Jacksonville area, stop by the store, have a burger at the grill-they are also awesome-and say, "Hi!" to Paul and Whitney if you see them around.  If you're not in the area, please consider making a purchase from their online store.  They are nice people and they have a great product.  In case that isn't enough, I will bribe you with a picture of Gus, their real-life sweet-heart of a dog who actually exists.  (He's the sleepy-looking old guy in front.  Awwwww.)

Well, thanks for listening to another one of my fairly-biased gift-giving recommendations, and, remember, if you know someone who would appreciate a bouquet of beef jerky, (come on, you know you know someone who would love that!) Gary West Smoked Meats is the place to go!

Help Stella find a new home

Stella, a five-year old yellow lab, is in need of a new home. She currently lives in Kansas, and her owner is getting ready to bring a new service dog into the home, and has realized that between the new dog, her new home, and Stella's needs, she just can't provide Stella with as good a home as she would like. Stella has some allergy issues, but she is well-trained.

If anyone knows of a good home for her, please visit L^2 at her blog, Dog's Eye View, and read her post about finding Stella a new home.

Traveling to Thailand

**Edited 7/17 to add: I've listed this as my Weekly Geeks post for Weekly Geeks 2009-26:Where in the World Have You Been? I wanted to get another post up with more information about my actual trip, but so far, this is all I've managed to post, and it DOES fit in with this week's theme. :) If you want to hear more about my Thailand travels please come back during the week to check for updates.**

Wow, where to begin?? I didn't mean to mysteriously disappear, but I'm always weirded out about announcing, "Hey, world, I'm going to be out of the country, away from my house, for the next 10 days!" It's not like I've got my address posted here or anything, but you know. I also didn't mean to cause anyone anxiety about wishing me a good time. Nanny Goats in Panties wished me a fun time and then worried that maybe I was going in for heart surgery or something, which would have been awk-waaaaaard. But no worries! I did not go away for surgery (even though I did go to Thailand and I hear you can get all kinds of things done there for a lot cheaper than you can here), and I did have a good time in some unexpected ways.

The main reason for our trip was to attend my bother-in-law's wedding. Since we were going to be all the way in Thailand, we figured we might as well make a vacation of it too. Now, I love living in Hawaii, but travel to virtually anywhere is a bitch. Thailand involves an 8-hour plane ride to Tokyo, then the inevitable 4-hour layover, then another 6 hours from Tokyo to Bangkok. Upon arrival in Bangkok, we waited for my husband's two other brothers to arrive from the U.S. mainland (so, okay, granted, they had a lot more traveling to do than we did) then had a 2-hour drive to Pattaya where my brother-in-law who was getting married lives.

Ah, but this brings us to our first photo Q &A from the other day.

Q: Where can I get me a beer machine like that??

A: Well, I don't know if you can get yourself a beer machine like this, but you can go visit one in any of the airport lounges in Narita International Airport (NRT), assuming, of course, that you can get into the airport lounges. My husband travels enough that he can. There is a cooler of chilled glasses next to the machine, and as you can see, you put the glass on the machine, press a button, and it pours you a perfect glass of beer. This is one of the ways in which the 4-hour layover is made more tolerable in Japan. Ah, wouldn't you know it, someone has posted a YouTube video of the beer machine in action.

Another way to kill time while wandering around Narita is to check out the Nippon Origami Museum that is located in Terminal 1. They have examples of all kinds of origami figurines, but my favorite was the basset hound.

Also, the hippos were pretty cute.

But, really, they have all sorts of things to look at; there are entire dioramas showing things like village life and dinosaurs if I remember correctly, which I may not because, really, I just wanted a picture of the basset hound, and no matter which way you cut it, I was on at least 6 hours of travel by the time I reached Narita. Either way, the displays were way more impressive than any of the shoe-box and chicken bone dioramas I made as a kid. What? You never made dinosaurs out of chicken bones as a kid? Huh. I guess my elementary school was just cooler than yours. And probably in a much drier climate as well.

Um...anyway, our flight from Tokyo to Bangkok was fairly uneventful, except that I didn't realize it was going to be a 6-hour flight. For some reason, I had it in my head that it was like 2 or 3 hours, maaaybe 4. So, I was almost in tears when, at the 4-hour mark, I realized that we still had about 2 hours to go. Luckily, we at least had a pretty view for part of the flight. The sun was setting as we were heading to Bangkok, and this was the view from our window.

I've never really been above the clouds for sunset, and,I have to say, that's one of the coolest sunsets I've ever seen.

Happiness A-Z: H

If you don't know what's going on, go here, or just keep reading.  It's fairly self-explanatory. :)

H

Hawaii-I love living here.  It's warm and it's green, which were pretty much my main requirements when we moved from Nebraska, and now our friends visit us more!

Happiness-Well, duh, right?  Otherwise what's the point behind my Happiness A-Z project?  I'm not averse to wallowing in self-pity every once in a while or feeling sad when I'm sad, but overall, I like being happy.  

Heat-I HATE being cold.  It pisses me off.  

Humor/Hilarity-I like to laugh, especially the kind where you are laughing so hard you are crying and can't make any noise except for the occasional snort or wail.  This is the best if not always the most graceful!  "Recent" occurrences (recent being loosely interpreted to mean within the last 2-1/2 years) involve cheese, Salamander Man, and Tickle Me Almo.  I've told you my cheese story, which I realize is probably not that hilarious to anyone but me, but it was funny at the time.  Perhaps someday I will tell you about Salamander Man and Tickle Me Almo.  I bet you can't wait! 

Honesty-I've always been a pretty honest person, and I expect others to be the same way.  Sure, I'll tell the occasional white lie to spare someone's feelings or avoid a pointless confrontation, and there have been occasions where I might have exaggerated my inability to work due to some physical ailment (although, to be fair, I don't think I've ever outright lied about being ill, just the extent to which I thought it would affect my ability to make it in to and be productive at work.)  I have called in tired before.  It's a long drive, and I did not want to risk falling asleep at the wheel, and I didn't want to lie about being sick.  What?  It's a long, winding drive, and I didn't want to risk my life or anyone else's!  See?  Very honest.      

Houses-I am very happy about the fact that I have one right now.

Hounds-Traditionally, I think of Bassets and Bloodhounds (awwww!), but after reading about Jay's lovely Greyhounds, I see that they fit into the goofy, lovable hound category too. 

H sounds at the beginning of words-We are not in France, people; it's humor, not umor, historic, not istoric, and some other one that I've been hearing a lot of lately but can't think of. 

Of course, there are a few exceptions to the rule like hour, honesty, and herb, (unless you're English, in which case you can say herb and pretty much anything else you want because it always sounds adorable.)

 

Happiness A-Z: B

If you don't know what's going on, go here, or just keep reading.  It's fairly self-explanatory. :)

B

1.  Butterflies - An unexpected flutter of beauty bebopping its way through the world.  How can that not brighten your day?

2.  Baby animals - Technically, I guess I already covered this in my "A" list when I listed Animals, but I think baby animals deserve their own listing.  Holy Cuteness and Cute Overload are good resources for your daily fix of baby animals and other cuteness.  Some of my favorites include baby elephants, baby hippos, and baby Basset Hounds.

This was our first Basset Hound, Sadie, when she was a puppy.  She was mostly ears, and we had hard wood floors, so running was tricky anyway, but every once in a while those short little legs would step on one of those long ears, and then it was all over!

3.  Buster - I've mentioned Buster before.  After we had Sadie for about a year, we decided she needed a companion, and we adopted Buster from a Basset rescue society.  Here is what he looked like when we first got him:

See that spot on the back of his head?  That was a big scar from some injury he had sustained before we got him. We suspect that someone might have thrown him out of a car, but we don't know for sure.   :(  He recovered fine, and he's been with us ever since.  Here he is consulting on our landscaping a couple months ago.  

4.  Basset Hounds - Duh!  They are great comic relief, and according to this 2006 New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell, they are the only other dogs besides beagles that have never been implicated in a fatal human attack.  They are laid back and have no problem making themselves at home.  Case in point:

"I'm NOT moving."

"You're not going to make me move are you?"

According to bassethoundrescue.com's the Basset Hound's Indoor Energy Level is, "Low-From One End Of Couch To Other."  LOL.  That's about right, but they are actually very energetic and have pretty high endurance if you get them out somewhere where they can run around and smell things.  So they're still good for someone who wants a dog that they can go out and do stuff with, but they'll be right there with you when you want to sit down on the couch, have a beer and watch TV too.  Also, they're stubborn.  If you've ever tried to reason one of these goofballs off the couch, you know!  They'll totally pretend that they don't understand English when it suits their purpose.

Haha-I just went back through and reread my post up to this point, and I realized that the quotes I made up for the two pictures above totally captured both dogs' personalities.  Sadie was stubborn and independent and a little aloof.  Buster is stubborn too, but, when it comes right down to it, he's a total pushover.

5.  Bees - they do good things-they pollinate flowers, they make honey, and they give directions to food sources by wiggling their butts.  I can't do that.

6.  Books - Since we're on the "B" list today, one of my favorites from the past year is Backyard Giants:  The Passionate, Heartbraking, and Glorious Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever.  You can read my review of it here.        

7.  Braveheart - I love this movie.  This is one of those movies that I can always stop to watch if it is on TV.  If I'm flipping through channels and Braveheart is on, that's it, three hours-gone!

8.  Butter - I'm no Paula Deen, but butter makes everything better.

That's all I've got for today.  What "B" things make you happy?  

  

Ten Things I Love, Brought to You by the Letter "O"

Of all the latest and greatest memes that are currently going around, I saw this one over at Trish's blog, Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? and thought it would be fun.  Basically, you are randomly assigned a letter, you come up with a list of 10 things you love that start with that letter, and then if other people want to participate, they let you know in the comments, and you randomly assign them a letter.  Trish was assigned the letter "O" and has already given us her list;  now I've also been assigned an "O" so I'll have to see if I can come up with 10 more.  I guess it's probably ok if we love some of the same things though!

1.  Olives-Unlike Trish, I do love olives.  Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving if I don't eat an entire can of black olives all by myself.  When I was a little kid, I ate a whole bunch of black olives (probably an entire can all by myself) and they made me so sick I threw up.  Never once did my loyalty decline.  That's how much I love olives.  Kalamata olives are awesome in pasta and salads, green olives are great on pizza, and black olives are great out of the can.  Running around with them stuck on the ends of all your fingers is totally optional.

2.  Orange-colored "Rosalind"-Isn't she lovely? This is a hibiscus that I found at a local nursery a few years ago. I bought two of them, and was thrilled to find that one of the plants was a double-blooming variety like the one shown here.  Unfortunately, they both came to a disastrous end.  I don't remember exactly what happened, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with our then-new puppy who, for some reason, seems to have a beef with a lot of the plants in my yard.  Of course, I haven't run across another since.    This picture by Dick Johnson is from the International Hibiscus Society.    

3.  Olympic gymnastics-I enjoy watching the different routines, and I am always amazed by the pure strength exhibited by these athletes, not to mention the flexibility.  I can't even touch my toes, let alone the back of my head with my foot!

4.  Olive Garden-Okay, okay, I know, but the thing is, we don't have one here in Hawaii.  I love their salad and their bread sticks with alfredo sauce, so whenever we make it back to the mainland we always hit up an OG to get our salad and bread stick fix and then we're good to go for a couple more years.

5.  Oreos-Self-explanatory.

6.  Our Old house in Omaha-Do I get three points for that one?  When we lived in Omaha, we had the cutest remodeled Victorian house on about 1/3 of an acre on a quiet corner lot.  Technically, we weren't in Omaha, we were actually in a little town outside of Omaha, but nobody would know where that was if I said it, so I just say Omaha.  Our house had all the charm of the Victorian design, but it was completely remodeled with a new basement, so we didn't have all the headaches that go along with a 100-year-old house.  We used to sit outside and watch the fireflies, which were not unique to our house, but were unique to me in the sense that that is the only place I have ever lived that had fireflies.  I want to import them to Hawaii.  My husband thinks that I would somehow be responsible for killing off all the dolphins if I did.  He's probably right, so I guess I won't.  I don't want to be responsible for starting some invasive-species epidemic that ends with the death of all the marine wildlife.  I would feel really bad about that.

7. Old Man Buster-This is my dog, and his name is just Buster, but he is an old man and sometimes that's what we call him, as in, "Hey, Old Man, how ya doin'?"  He is sweet and funny and a big slobbery mess, and I love him so much.  This picture was taken a couple of days ago when we were outside reading.

8. Oprah.  There, I said it.  I know a lot of people can't stand her, and I know she can get a little up on her high horse at times; but geez, come on.  If you had reached Oprah status, are you telling me you might not slip up every once in a while and think you know better than some other people?  Maybe forget that not everyone has an entire walk-in closet of $500 shoes?  I'm pretty sure I would.  She's taken a talk show and turned it into something respectable.  Sure she still does the interviews with celebrities promoting their latest movies and the makeover shows like everyone else (but come on, don't we love those?), but she's encouraging people to take charge of their health, to be charitable, to be spiritual, to generally try to be better human beings.  She's also encouraging people to read.  I know a lot of people won't read a book specifically because Oprah recommended it, but I think that's as silly as only reading books that Oprah has recommended.  If you want to read a book and then Oprah recommends it, you'll just have that many more people to talk about it with later.  If you've hated everything she's ever recommended, then don't read what she recommends.  No big whoop.

9.  Open minds-Because I love people who will still love me even if they hate Oprah!

10.  Opportunities that you didn't expect-Whether it's the opportunity to leave work early, travel somewhere you didn't think you would get to go, take a trapeze class, or talk about the fact that you took a trapeze class, it's usually a good thing!  Sometimes opportunities don't work out, but having the option is nice.  

What?  I know you were all waiting for me to go there with the list of things I love that start with "O", but I'm not going there.  So there.

So, if you'd like to play along, let me know in the comments, and I will randomly assign you a letter.

Weekly Geeks 2009-01

From the Weekly Geeks web site:

"In the spirit of the amazing community building that Dewey was so good at, tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google Reader, that you visit on a regular basis.  Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh.  Be sure to link to them so we can find them too."

While I enjoy my regular visits to all the wonderful book blogs in my Google Reader-there's always something informative, entertaining, and/or inspirational-I think all of the book bloggers that I follow are pretty well aware of each other, so I am going to take this opportunity to highlight some non-book blogs that I enjoy.

Dealing in Subterfuges was the very first blog I started reading, way back in 2006.  As it turns out, even though Jordan Baker is not a book blogger, the post that turned me on to her was book-related and has great potential for discussion.  Her posts now tend to focus on baseball and recaps of shows like Top Chef and Project Runway, but she throws other stuff in there too.  Also, she cracks me up.

Laurie Perry is the author of the book Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair as well as her blog, Crazy Aunt Purl.  I discovered her when one of my loved-ones was going through a divorce; I was Googling something or other and found Laurie's blog.  She has an entire divorce section on her blog, as she was going through one when she started her blog.  I read through all of those entries, hoping to find something helpful, and I just ended up reading more and more of her blog.  I think the entry that resonated the most with me and with my loved-one was this one...which I can't seem to link to directly.  It's the April 1, 2005 entry in the "d-i-v-o-r-c-e" category which I have managed to link to.  Also, she cracks me up.

Margaret and Helen run a blog by the same name.  These feisty octogenarians sound off on whatever they feel needs sounding off on, though since the election ended, they've been pretty quiet.  Whether it's Thanksgiving etiquette, breast feeding, or the presidential candidates, you can be sure they won't hold back on their opinions.  Also, they crack me up.  (Hmmm, are you seeing a trend here?)

Walking the Amazon Blog is one man's record of his journey from one end of the Amazon to the other in an effort to promote environmental awareness and educate people about the Amazon and the people and animals who live there.  Ed Stafford began his journey in April, 2008, and is currently in Peru, approximately 1/3 of the way through his adventure.  You can follow Ed's progress on this map.  His traveling partner Luke left the expedition unexpectedly about 3 months into their travels.  Ed has guides and other support team members in place, so he is not traveling alone, but it was still a definite morale buster.  He is soldiering on though, and between demonic donkeys, villagers who fear that Ed might eat their babies, and wasp attacks, it's always an interesting journey. Also, I think he would really appreciate any encouraging words anyone could send his way.     

And, finally, Upside Down Dogs is a collection of pictures of dogs lying on their backs with their faces all squished up and looking silly.  They add new pictures on a regular basis; it's quick, there's not much to read, and it will brighten up your day.  Also, this may come as a surprise, but those dogs crack me up.