My Friends are a Bunch of Saps...

Funny saps, but saps nevertheless.

I got about as much response to the "thankful" blog post as to any other. I thought you people would be sickened by the smarm.
But no. You're saps.

OK, perhaps most thanksgiving thankful essays/blogs/whatever don't include references to testicles, horse poop, Big Mama Thornton or other things I like. Still, I found it gag-inducing.

So, how about something more interesting today?

For example, why is it that the first couple of icy/snowy days people drive like crap?
Why? Most of them had cars last year.
I was in Plummer yesterday doing some christmas cookery and watching movies. When I got ready to leave a bit before 4pm, there was snow everywhere. Fine. I have a subaru and good tires. It was also foggy and rainy and slushy so I was taking my time. In a half hour I'd made it 10 miles. The roads were crap. The other drivers were horrific! Some were passing me as though it was mid-day in summer on dry roads! It was not. There were a minimum of 3 cars in the ditches. Those were the ones I could see. this is in 10 miles. There were other spots where people were milling about on the shoulder of the road (in dark clothing with no flash lights...idiots).

Right about then, El Kid called me cell phone and asked if he could stay overnight at a friend's house. I was all for that. That meant I only had to make it the 10miles back to Plummer, not the 40 up to Spokane. I made it back there just fine. But criminitly! What were people thinking?

Just for the record, we ALL have "4-wheel-stop" vehicles. Your big 4-wheel-DRIVE vehicle is no advantage when trying to slow down or stop. In fact, the extra weight will make it go further when you hit that black ice. You may well find yourself milling about the shoulder of the highway in the dark, your hummer so far off the road that I can't even see it as I crawl by at 50 miles an hour, not stopping for your stupid butt.

Aside from that, I had a cool thrift find today. This morning I was on the phone with Jeanne (Hi Jeanne!) and trying to grind coffee beans when the blade of the grinder decided it wanted to take a new, calmer path in life and so disconnected itself from the motor. The machine makes a whirring noise, but the blade just dangles all flacid among the unmolested beans. Damn.

Once back in Spokane (all the snow and ice melted by 9am), I went a-thrifting. At the second shop I found a hand-powered coffee grinder for 3$. Woohoo! Pam: Don't worry. It's got a plastic grinding teeth thingy so it will be well and dead by christmas just in case someone bought me a hand-powered grinder. I love it when I go out with something in mind and actually find it.

I also need christmas tins for home cooked goodies but haven't brought myself to buy them. I keep thinking something cooler will present itself but so far, no luck. There is no shortage of christmas-y tins at thrift stores so I'm not worried.