Author: BigCountryExpat

Greetings and Salutations!
So there’s going to be some re-dos of the pics (the very few I was able to get to upload during the trip) but it’ll at least give some perspective and some of the sights I saw whilst on my possibly last for quite some time “oot and aboot trip”.

It started with me ‘mounting up’ on the Margaritaville Islander, which is a 26 year old cruise ship and the newest of the Margaritaville line.

My bunk was an inner cabin on the 9th Deck “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere”

My A.O. was 9012, juuuust a wee bit forward of the red dot on the upper right corner of the map. Desk 9 was where ALL the pools and hot tubs were located, as well as all the chow and the majority of bars. The casino was on Deck two, as was guest services, and the main atrium, which ran 3 glass elevators top-to-bottom:

There was quite the ‘holiday vibe’ kicking as Christmas (in theory) is around the corner… Funny thing is I kept having the term “The Great Glass Wonka-vator” from the second Charlie and the Chocolate Factory running through my head whenever I climbed in one of them.

I then had to hunker down for about 2 hours while the room got ready in a piano bar, which wasn’t that bad….

They did a few drawings for some free shit, mostly inconsequential cheap assed sunglasses and/or hats… stuff that appealed to the 70+ age crowd that seemed to make up the majority of this bunch I sailed with.

The breakdown of demographics was mostly 85+ % white, 10% black (and NOT the hoodrat persuasion) and then about 5% VERY young families with rug-rat kids. A further breakdown on the whypeepo is that 40% of them were old-old. Like mobility scooter/wheelchair old, which meant learning what the best time to dodge the lines at the buffet were, as they tended to ‘gum up the works’ if’n you will.

There were three pools on board, as well as three hot tubs.

and then:

Lastly:

And a smol pool w/Hot Tub on the fantail:

Where you could see the water slide:

A very well set up boat for R&R to say the least.

And no I did not go down the waterslide.
Too fat, Too high. I’m Airborne/Air Assault.
Not retarded.

The last time I ‘did’ a waterslide was my sophomore year in high school and ended up with a broken wrist. I lern’t that lesson early, AND cheap at the cost IMO.

On the way out of town, we went under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which was pretty damned cool. I was a bit slow in getting outside to get pics from UNDER it, but either way….

It was nonetheless Very Cool
So it was off to the races for the night.
I tried my had at $5 Blackjack and realized that the JuJu was ‘off’ so I avoided the tables after the fact…

Best to lose $20 than my ass.

After a night at sea, and some drinking and carousing,

We hit the Yucatan:

We then travelled downtown, and went into some of the ‘shadier’ non-tourista areas, primarily so I could find an ATM that spit out pesos as opposed to USD.

This from experience that paying in the local dinero, it’s harder to rip off us Gringos as exchange rates fluctuate, whereas what’s printed on the menu is printed on the menu, and harder to not fuck around with (in my experiences). Because of this, like I said, we got off the beaten path and well, it was cool AF in my experience.

MY travelling companion was a bit weirded, but trusted me as I had spent the night before regaling her with some of my adventures in Baghdad and other points of dangerous interest I’ve been in in the past. Egypt in particular…

I told her worse comes to worse, hide behind me as I absorb knives and bullets (albeit for a short time) pretty well. So we hit the bazaar:

They sold EVERYTHING there, from sandals to bedsheets and everything in-between. By that time, we were hangry, so
we plonked down for chow

As I had mentioned, it was dirty, dingy and not up to the usual ‘Murican Tourist thing, but ALL the locals were eating like mad, so I figured it had to be some good grub.

As I stated before, brekkie was Empanadas and a Coke

The Coke(s) there were WAY better than the chemically made crap we have stateside… the real deal if you will. A bonus was that the waiter (or whatever he was) told me that the ice was from a purifier, and considering we didn’t shit ourselves to death, good on him! The chow was good/great, and as I mentioned the other day:

“The Green Stuff/Sauce”

OK
An explanation is in order.
Here in The US we have Habanero.
Leastways what WE call Habanero.
Then
In Mexico, THEY have Habanero.
The Real Fuckin’ Deal apparently.
Outside of the name, that’s about ALL they share.

Now… let me tell you… it was delicious.
It was the ‘afterburn’ that got me… a slow, creeping burn that in the end felt like I had called in a “Danger-Close” ‘Snake and Nape’ airstrike on my tonsils… I just had to ride it out but damn if it wasn’t hotter than the norm. And I positively enjoy a good hot meal. There’s a new definition in my book as to my rating of heat, and it ain’t scovilles… Nope… it’s going to be “Local Hot” or “Mexican Hot” with the “MH” meaning the real deal.

My poor asshole took a few days to recover from it let me tell ya.. The songs that kept being replayed were “Ring of Fire” and “Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love” came leaping to mind when I had to do a ‘download’ so to speak. Ice cream wasn’t touching THAT burn let me tell ya…

So…
After lunch we wandered around a wee bit. The exterior of the Marketplace/Bazaar was at that point getting set up, in all it’s glorious veggie and fruity glory:

A positive riot of color…
Look but no buying as the strict rules about bringing fruits and veg back on board were in place per usual. I also saw them roasting some questionable ‘street meats’ as well:

….which just so happened to be across from the yet-to-be opened Chinese food place:

The name alone cracked me the Hell up… That and to come alllll this way to find Chinese Food in the Yucatan amiright?

I also found a place named after Frida Kahlo, apropriately named “Frida’s”:

A wee bit of a bougie upscale eatery, with the prices to match.
The artistry on the building however was great.

I also, as per an earlier poast interacted with the Yucatan State Police, and while I couldn’t take any pics of them, I did get a pic of their recruiting poster (I think):

So I dug the Yucatan.

I’d go back for another longer visit given the opportunity.
The local State Police sure enjoyed hanging with me it seemed…
It’s always nice to interact with fellow professionals…

The last thing I took of in the Yucatan was this weird assed sculpture of what appears to be a stylized heart that has some ‘stuff’ airbrushed on it:

The very bottom having what appears to be a Mayan Pyramid.
What’s unsettling is that a culture that literally sacrificed hoomon beans has a sculpture of what appears to be a heart, with a pyramid painted on it where the aforementioned hearts would have been ripped out?

Maybe it’s just me….

So onward back to the Boat, and I got ready for dinner. Said-dinner being part of my prepaid dining packages, and after a GREAT MEAL in the on-board steakhouse:

We went to a comedy show with Edwin San Juan,

He’s a Filipino comedian who was funny AF. Seems he’s been on Comedy Central, leatsways my dining companion told me this… It was a great show, and my sides hurt by the time I got to bed.

By First Call in the AM it was time for Cozumel.

And as far as Cozumel?

Unfortunately, it was WAY too crowded and commercialized and expensive.

“Thank you for coming Mr. Big Country, your total comes to one arm, half a leg, and your third born grandchild, payable on demand!”

Needless to say I hit the pharmacia, and chilled out by the pool for the rest of the trip, getting burned even more. At least I got a great base for a tan out of my efforts Aye?

So… I’m done.
Leastways for a while. It’s been 9 states, and two countries over the past 60-90 days. I’ve seen my Gran in TN, re-connected with old frens, connected with new frens, gone deep sea fishing, gone to Naw’lins to see the infamous Bourbon Street, went to California for a movie, met up with Aesop IRL and some excellent readers, plus done two cruises.

I’d say it’s been a lot of living packed in that timeframe.

No complaints.
No regerts either.
I only have One More Thing I want to get before the End of The Year, and this’s courtesy of WiscoDave:

I NEED THIS TAT
Right shoulder or right forearm… not sure which, but I am getting this inked come Hell or High Water! They had a tat place on the Boat, but they wanted $400 for it, and I was like ‘hard pass’… I’ll go down to Ybor and see, as MY tat place went out of business a ways back, which is a bummer ‘cos the guy did good work.

So… that’s pretty much a wrap for this trip. I’ll announce the raffle by weeks end, and yes, it’ll be for an Enfield.
So More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
A gorgeous day in Cozumel. Again -I- was one of the first off the boat (On the bounce Cap Trooper!)

One of the kind folks on the dock took that pic of me.

Cozumel: The best description I can have of it is that it’s waaaaay overly-commercialized. I was not impressed. LOTS of the usual crap, Senor Frogs (cheap drinks and obnoxious tourists) TONS of bogus souvenir shops and obnoxious locals (hustling a buck) and the only thing of not was the Pharmacia… wee that there are three of them right outside the tourist trap area.

The pyramids (leastways the one I saw) was cool but TBH meh.r

….and of course Iggy was out and about:

THAT BTW is a stock pic as NONE of the Iguanas would sit still long enough to get a pic of… better either way as they tend to be ornery critters at best in my experiences from Guantanamo.

Now I’ve had a Hell of a time getting my pix transferred over to the lappie. The amount of time to do just ONE picture is insane, so yeah, Stock Pix (with the exception of the one of moi)

So I was able to stock up on some good meds at least.

Otherwise, when I get the pix I did get downloaded, I’ll share my observations and stories… one of which is “Never trust the Green Stuff”…

I’ll get into that later…
So off to dinner w/my Fren
More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!

Progreso!
The Yucatan (as you can see)!
Chichen Itza!
Which I unfortunately couldn’t hit. $$$ issues doncha know?
HOWEVER!
Cozumel and it’s ‘stuff’?
No problema.
Payday is overnight tonight.
Either way, the Enfield is going to be raffled off when I get back. I’ll poast pictures up of which on it’ll be. Understand the bore on it is shytte. Damned near shot out but it does fire and is pristine.
Soooo… dinner last night with the Tall Brunette went well…

The food was 5 Star.
The company was about the same, 5 Star as well…

Other than that, I’ll leave it at that, and I’ll poast the touristy sites as my internet is sporadic at best… utterly shitty at worst. Hopefully in Cozumel I’ll be able to get the pics onto the lappie and poast from there. The only pic (besides these two above) was the one I took as I/We were being taken downtown to check out the scenery:

Now, the Progreso pier is the worlds longest pier according to all the info I got on the boat, and even the Google agreed:

5 Miles long.
With all the security on it (backscatter x-rays and search points) it took almost 30 minutes to get downtown. Once there, We did the slow-exploration, after I pinned the “Evac Point” on my maps. The bus ran every 30 minutes, so getting back to the Boat wasn’t an issue. Since we left early, the town really wasn’t fully open yet, but this was a plus, as we were like the only folks out and about, and it was still cool temperature wise. It got as how as Iraq it felt like as we’re straight up on the equator, and that sun was physically beating down by noon….

Now, the bus was exactly the same model busses we had in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Chinese made and your basic ‘tour bus’ with seats that were seriously undersized for my Large Western Frame… and add on the pic above?

Those big stones are part of the breakers for the waves that hit the pier… at first, I thought they were HESCO barriers, as they sure as hell LOOK like HESCOs. Between being on the same type of bus, and what appeared to be HESCOs? Yeah, mad flashbacks. In a cool way that is.

For the uninitiated, HESCO barriers were the DotMil answer to a shortage of sandbags and such. They were 5 foot? by 5 foot? (I think) by 5 foot deep metal frames (like a heavy chicken wire but waaaay thicker) and a burlap bag, which was then filled with dirt and rocks to make BIG shrapnel-proof barriers which were then put ALLLLL around various buildings in the Area Of Operations.

Then downtown, we went to what was a bazaar…

Like LITERALLY a just-like-in-Kuwait and baghdad… A souk as the Arabs call them… a roofed over open air market selling everything from hot food to household cleaners to fresh veggies… pics to follow as I said.

I stopped into said Souk/Bazaar with my companion and we went to a smol cafe… She asked “Why are we eating here? It looks dirty…” To which I pointed out that it, compared to what were obviously tourist oriented places, the fact that it was positively packed with the locals who were obviously getting their ‘eat on’ before they opened their little stalls and/or businesses, and that was proof enough to me that the chow would be first rate.

And maaaaaan
I was right.
The empanadas were off the chain, and the cokes were ice-cold and REAL Mexican Coke. No chemistry and tasted magnifico…

And was it dirty?
Fuck yeah.
This was Third World Dining at it’s finest…. I was in my element however… “Back in the Saddle” so to speak… Eating in strange local places, keeping my head on a swivel, and being left the fuck alone as I had turned up my ‘vibe’ I was projecting to “lethal” so almost everyone was smiling and friendly, as they sensed it’d be a BAD IDEA to piss off or fuck with the HUUUUGE Gringo and the chick who was with him….

GOD I love doing shit like that!!!
I missed this shit man!

And then, (no pics allowed due to security) I found a Yucatan State Police Checkpoint with a whole crew of cops…

The town was positively crawling with Fuzz… (a good thing IMO) both state and metropolitan… The State Police were something right out of “Sicario”… Ford F-250s with mounted M-240Bs or M249s. I went over and talked to El Sargento in charge, and explained (and showed my ID) that I was a former Soldado americano, and just wanted to talk guns and maybe get a picture or two?

He apologized, but no pics allowed (OPSEC, which I dig what w/cartel bullshit) but we talked guns… ALL of them were running Sig P226s in low slung cowboy style Blackhawk leg rigs, with M-4A1 (full auto able) and the aforementioned Squad Automatics… I was able to get across that I was an Experto en armas i.e. an armorer and they dug the fuck out of that.

I got to get an up close check of the squad weapons… Their gear was in pretty damned good shape… used but not abused and El Sargento said that on occasion the weapons got a lot of use.

I wish them guys good luck man… they’re on the pointy end Aye? So that was cool. I picked up some tchotchkes for some frens and the usual, and then we went back to the Boat early to hit the pool. Tonight is the Adult Comedy show… I got a taste of the PG side of it last night, but tonight is the Adult Only show… it should be good as the guy was funny AF even tho he was stuck doing a PG version…

So I’m off to meet up with my frens…

More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
….and you know we don give a fuck it’s not my birthday!

Yes
In Da Club Yo!!!!
Fo’ sho’
LITERALLY it’s been since Iraq when I last went to a club… which was actually a MWRO Tent with dancing and lights and such whatnot…. Now as far as my outfit?

‘Cause every girl crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man!!!

My Hawaiian shirt is a 1944 Marine Frogskin Camouflage:

Amazing how many Marine Vets have come up and asked either where I got it, or how cool it is…

Had a good night last night.
As you can see…
LOTS of dancing and carousing.
Had a bump and grind w/a couple of 20 something hawties…
LOVE dancing… don’t get a chance to do it too often
And yeah, I’m a damned good dancer from what females have told me… anywho…

One of which I noticed when one of them (a tall blonde) was jumping up and down, and her tube-dress, well….
Her boobies done fell out, or I should say, her dress slipped down, unleashing the bewbage…

VERY Nice Hooties mind you…|

Me being me, I started cracking on her, and joking and whatnot… BTW: Note to y’all… If you can get a chick to laugh and keep her laughing? Yeah, it’s a great start.
We’ll see where that goes.
Her fren, a TALL Brunette seems very innerested!
Me? I just enjoyed the dancing and the fun of it all.
Truthfully, I’m not interested in anything myself

My God, it’s official
I’m old.
Get the fuck off my lawn.

So no partying right now… for tonight is a scheduled ‘quiet night’, as I’m a wee bit sunburned (again) from my post-breakfast hot-tub soak (ahhhhh my back needed that!) and post-soak pool time so I’m wiped…

And burned AF on my face and shoulders and back….

So in the AM, we hit Progreso, which is where the Mayans were running the show so to speak back in the day, and the ruins of Chichen Itza and ‘other’ historically significant ‘things’ are located. I’m not sure if I can hit those however as the cost of the excursion(s) there are retardedly expensive, so I just might settle on hitting the town, and then heading back to be chillin’ on the Boat whilst evvabody is oot and aboot so to speak…

Unlike the Margaritaville Paradise (the last cruise out of Palm Beach) the Tampa based Margaritaville Islander requires cash up front (which I did not know) for a LOT of shit, and I thought the tab would be settled at the end like it was w/the Paradise. On the Paradise, I could run a tab, whereas this place? Not so mucho. A wee bit pain that Aye? Soooo, it is what it is… the more you know amiright?

I do know I’m ‘reloading’ the Isopropyl and the Pharmacia is on the list of ‘must do/have’ to handle while in Mex-hee-co. As well as some Aloe ’cause I’m a wee bit torqued.

And going back to Ye Olde Boat? An empty Boat = No full pools and whatnot so a bit of quiet.

Cozumel? Now there I’ll be able to do something as payday hits on Thursday night so the account gets a ‘refill’ so THERE I’ll have some ‘stuff’ to show from there.

So More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
Whelp…
I broke down and bought the ‘net on the Boat. So I can throw some adventures up as I go. First off: The Boat? The Margaritaville Islander.

A VERY nice (and newer) Boat than the Paradise that I was on last time. This one’s ‘central avenue’ is all done up for Christmas:

Besides being nicer, the beers are cheaper much to my relief.

Of course I’m did/am doing the “bottle of Isopropyl” like I used to do in Iraq. That’s triple rinsing a new EMPTY 91% alcohol jug, and ‘reloading it’ with Everclear… So now with the free lemonade and strawberry kiwi, I ‘juice it up’ with some octane, and hey! Bob’s your Uncle!!!

So I got that going for me!

I am having a raffle after this to defray costs. A basic M-4 from the collection OR
I can do one of the Enfield MK4s.
Y’all tell me.
Which do you prefer?

Now on the way ‘out of town’ we went UNDER the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (in the background) which was cool AF. The sunset was cool too:

This Boat even has a water slide!
PLUS three hot tubs
Oh, and before I forget, THIS crowd on the Boat?
85% or better ALL whytte.
Sooooo relaxing.
Now some of these amenities? Mind you I -think- it’s a wee bit much for a Boat, but what the Hell right? The food on this one is ALSO superior, so I got no complaints!
Except I’m bent my diet is out the window
AGAIN!

So More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
Sooooo many things…
First off, MANY thanks for the kind commentary on my helping out with Miss Daisy… she really appreciated all the kind words and whatnot as well, as she IS a reader here. Also… in response to the questions of the “Players” in this here place, even tho JimmyPX had a pretty good grasp on it, allow me to elucidate y’all a bit.

SAPPER: My bro. My strong right hand, my torpedo. AKA “The Gray Man” as he’s so innocuous and blends in to any and all crowds. A former combat engineer, he did a full 4 year tour before I met him, mostly in Korea. Great guy. SOLIDis the best term and someone I’d take a fatal round for. He got ‘voluntold’ that he’d be babysitting me when my first divorce happened as the rest of my frens were terrified that I’d go loco and decide to go ‘operational’… not afraid for me per se, but that I’d have done a lot of bad things before I got stopped… he’s good like that.

MISS DAISY: 92 years old… Originally one of Gretchen’s former BF’s mom. Nice guy… I met him as they had stayed ‘cool’ so to speak… He unfortunately died (as did his brother and father, all before Age 55… bad ticker syndrome) and she stayed close to her. I also have, and since I haven’t really got a fam anymore I’ve spend moar than a few holly-daze doing what I did this past T-Day.

DC: DumbC*nt. Simple as that. Gretchen’s millennial daughter. Lost custody of….

THE GRANS: There’s two. Addy and the RedHeaded Nukular Firecracker. BOTH are awesome. We fought to get custody of Addy after the whole shitshow w/DC Totalling my truck. Either way, Addy is doing great and whelp, the RedHead is awesome as well…

DEADDAD and MOMUNIT: Self explanatory. My ‘rents.

SPAWN #1 and #2: My kids, pretty much permanently estranged (bummer that one). One (Boy) is doing great as far as I know, and the other is…. well not sure… she said she was trans last I heard… no idea… I compartmentalize it… easier that way emotionally speaking….

STELLA THE SAUSAGE PRINCESS AND THE RED HOT CHILI PUPPER: My doggos. AWESOME doesn’t begin to describe them.

RANGER J: My bro from Iraq. Former Ranger. Just had his #1 Spawn (a son) making me and Sapper Funkle(s).

I think that covers it for the cast of characters around here.
There may be others occasionally mentioned, but for now, that’s about it.
Now
New News.
Curse Cyber Monday!!!
I’m off and out for another adventure.
This time to Mexico.
Progreso and Cozumel to be exact.
I mean why the Hell not?
So far, just to make a list, I’ve been to (in the past 45 days) by my count:

Georgia
South Carolina
North Carolina
Tennessee
Arkansas
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
California
The Bahamas
and now? Add Mex-Hi-Co to the list.

So if I’m out of comms, you know why.
I leave at 1400 tomorrow.
I mean why the fuck not amiright?

Part of the reason is I got the COLA bump on my retirement which is helping defray the cost, and also, I’ve never been to Cozumel, so why the fuck not? As the man once said:

Who am I to say otherwise?
So More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
Whelp!
Sapper got us home!
Not for a lack of trying from all the reee-tards and knuckleheads on the road that’s for damned sure. There were a few points where I debated if shooting them would be considered ‘defensive driving’ as there was no “Road Rage” involved… just the cold reality that some people on the road should not be and are absolutely dangerous behind the wheel. The Hindu in the semi who was on his phone texting when he tried to ram us off the road as he was drifting -so badly- it scared me enough (as I was navigating and the gunner) to unlimber my .45 and chamber a round…

I figured if he hit us, I was going to roll the window down and mag-dump as we’d be dead anyways… Thankfully the fucking twat ‘woke up’ and then almost overcorrected where he almost ditched into a ravine, which would have been sweeeeet. Alas however, Mister Hindu-Dindu recovered…

Now whether or not he survived the Highway Patrol is another thing, as when I realized we weren’t going to become roadkill, I called the emergency line, and dimed the motherfucker out… Sucks to be Singh I suppose… serves the non-American fucker right.

Deport. Them. All.

So… LAST night I had ZERO Blogability left in me, as well as I had ONE MOAR MEAL to cook… namely a beef stew… a simple but flavorful and healthy meat-on-yer-bones jobber…

An easy recibee:
BCE Stew:

2x Pounds Stew Beef. Brown it first, don’t cook all the way through. Add to slow cooker.
1 Full ‘thing’ (stalk? bunch? who knows?) of Celery, sliced.
1 Bag Chopped Carrots
3 Tablespoons Diced Garlic
1 LARGE Onion, Diced
6 LARGE Taters, Diced Bigley
4-5 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning
Salt and Pepper to Taste (add as you go… like I said, to taste)
1 Quart of Beef Broth

Add water to cover when everything is in the slow cooker
Then, after 3-4 hours on High, Add either 4-5 bags of the McCormick Brown Gravy Sauce (the $0.89 cent ones) which I did, and then I had to add a wee bit more corn starch to it on top of the gravy packs… otherwise the broth is just watery… this thickens it up, and adds some density and flavor…

It usually takes about 6-7 hours to cook fully:

Now, as an added bonus, one of Miss Daisy’s neighbors came by to drop off a freshly baked loaf of sourdough bread… it was a killer loaf, and matched up w/dinner perfectly:

The crust on it was magnificent.
VERY hard to cut without a proper bread knife… it practically laughed at my Shun blade…

I’m mad jealous.
That’s one skill I lack… I can’t bake bread to save my ass…
DeadDad was a bread-master. Me? Notsomucho. Never have been able to figure out the why of it… even my automatic breadmaker that Scoutergreg gifted me, I was only so-so with, whereas Gretchen could bake her ass off with it
Dammit.

So… after we chowed on some EPIC grub, it was time to tray up the leftovers for Miss Daisy to have some MOAR great food for later:

Unfortunately, only 9 meals out of that, but truth be told, it was a smol crockpot. Overall however, it was a total of 47 meals I was able to put together and pack her freeze and deep freeze with:

Those are all doubled on layers in there BTW.
We also got her some ice cream as you can see.

So overall, a great but busy trip.
And OtherGran sent me a picture of the Nukular Powered Redhead looking coot as all get oot:

Yep…
I’m starting a savings fund to assist with the orthodontics for her… I mean right now she’s in ‘cute mode’ but those fangs are going to need some work sooner, rather than later. Either way, that smile positively melts me. She spent T-Day up with OtherGran’s Fam in Upstate New Fookin’ Yawk… hence the cold ass gear she’s wearing…

In fact that was part of the hairy part of the trip home this AM… 0700 it was hovering between 30-34 degrees with rain on the Mountain Miss Daisy has her Redoubt on… made the first two hour leg out a wee bit hairy if’n you know what I mean…

However as you can see, I made it, so I got that going for me.

So More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
No rest for the wicked I suppose.
Even when I’m doing a good deed. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, especially in this fallen world I suppose. I got (not rudely) awakened initially at 0500 by Miss Daisy who apparently is an early early riser, much to my horror.

Damned man… can’t a negro get his beauty sleeps?

It was the smell of the coffee that roused me from my crypt.
Sapper as well.
We both came out looking like Death Warmed over, and had a cuppa, and then I went into “T-Day Mode” meaning that I started my brainium in figuring out ‘what needed to be made first, how long it’d take, and then what was next.’

See, when I do this sort of thing for Miss Daisy, I cook my ass off non-stop. Usually two-three BIG meals. Then I use some single serve food take-a-way containers to box up and freeze a shitload of meals as otherwise? She’s stuck eating goyslop as she’s just too old to ‘do’ a full on meal for herself. It’s just the fact that no one in her immediate fam does squat for her that burns me the fuck up…

She’s been eating shit faaaaar too long IMO.

So, I started simple. A basic meat base Bolognese Meat sauce.

I was able to start with that, and at 0700. It stewed while I got the bird to room temp, and then around 10:00 once I prepped the Turkey, I jammed IT into the oven, which it had about a 4+ hour ‘ride in the roaster’ so to speak.

At 11:30, I boiled up 2 pounds of rotini for a light lunch.

The ‘extras after we ate our ‘lite lunch’??

Into the foil containers.

15 meals into the deep freeze.

Her dearly departed son Barry had a BIG deep freeze that he had for when he went hunting, and now? It’s stuffed with ready-made meals so to speak. I wasn’t near done however…

Every hour I kept working the bird, as well as the fixin’s.

I ended up doing two HUGE trays of food, one Italian Mac n’ Cheese, the other my first X-Wife’s Italian Sausage Dressing:

BOTH trays, as you can see were magnificent.

Sapper, on the other hand, used his Martial Skills to assist.
The Army DOES teach useable skillz yannow?
Namely Peeling Taters.

He, as you can see, took the job seriously, and did a great job and the mashed came out fantastic.

Then the only thing left was the Italian green beans (noticing the trend? Yeeeeah… that’s what I get for being married to a Sicilian for 20+ years LOL) The recibee for the beans is easy… on bag of fresh green beans (pluck the ends off each bean, the most laborious part IMO), then melt 1/2 to 3/4 of a stick of salted butter in a pan on medium (5) and add two HEAPING spoonful’s of fresh diced garlic. Brown the garlic for about two minutes. Throw in the beans, and ‘stir-fry’ them. If you want them ‘limp’, turn up the heat to high, wait 30 seconds and braise them by throwing some water in to steam them. Then serve.

About that time I also threw a smol honey-baked slice ham, about a pound, pound and a half into Zee Oven. I came out as well very very well. Didn’t really have to do anything w/it… but to me Turkey day ain’t done UNLESS there’s ham available. This was already a pre-cooked jobber, all I did was heat and serve really, BUT my timing was impeccable…

As a bonus, Sapper had made a home-made from scratch cranberry sauce BEFORE we left Florida, so it’d gel nicely (which it did) and THAT came out AWESOMELY. The very very last thing was a batch of Hawaiian sweet rolls, and BAM!
We had a dinner

It was off the chain good…

Oh yeah, I made gravy too, using a base stock and adding the diced guts and drippings… I swear Miss Daisy was eating like a prisoner who’d been on starvation rations… which she sorta-kinda was… no worries tho, she’s fine… it was just she loved the home made factor…

AND

Tomorrow?
I have a Beef Stew I need to make and feed her, then freeze.
Breakfast (late morning) is going to be scrambled eggs and bacon (which she has onhand) and then Beef stew for dinner for us, with the leftovers being deep-freezed again, giving he at least a month of seriously good eating, nevermind when I get done slicing and dicing ALL the turkey carcass, and making insta-meals for her.

So, I’m done

Done Done.
More later, I’m crashing… it’s been an 18 hour cookfestivus.
My back is moidered.
I’m wasted.
But
It’s been worth it…
This’s God’s Country
And HE reminded me of it after Dinner

Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!

Made it to Miss Daisy’s place!

11 Hours in the car…
Of course it didn’t stop the Sausage Princess from immediately getting lovin’s from Miss Daisy

It’s full-on dark here and we’re crashing.
So Happy Thanksgiving to one and all… I’ll be cooking ALLLL day tomorrow as we’re doing it up right.
More Later
Big Country

Greetings and Salutations!
Welp
LOTS of info flying out of the District of Criminality at Sodom-on-the-Potomac about two National Guard kids getting gunned down. Not a lot of info other that two guys have been shot by ‘someone’.

Now… whether they’re alive or not is still up in the air.

What we DO know is that two National Guard kids got shot by a single individual near the Farragut West metro station. Now this’s about 800 meters +/- from the Whytte House which locked down as soon as this happened. OrangeManBad is down here in Florida apparently so there’s a nothingburger there.

However, ONE of the guys? I have to say that I’m not hopeful.

One of the pictures I saw on Twitter

shows (as you can see) what appears to be a black kid with a head wound… the Uniformed Secret Service Guys were –trying– to help him, but the pic showed a short-cut afro’d kid with a HUGE pool of blood under his head while one of the USSS is trying to work with a compress on him, while the guy on the left?

The look on his face tells me this is a hopeless endeavor.

There’s another pic out there of what appears to be some fat nekkid Hajii looking motherfucker strapped to a gurney.

OK STAND BY BIG NEWS/HOLD UNTIL LATER
OK
My man Ranger Jay texted me (and we moved out post-haste) that his wife had delivered (three weeks Early) a healthy baby boy!

Fuck….
It’s nice to get some good news!!!!
So “Ranger Jay the Second” made it out.. the green light flashed early, and he made it down to the D.Z. where he’s now safe with Momma and Da.

Shit like this makes me teary-eyed.
And now, not only am I a Papi/Grandad, but now I’m a (F)Uncle! (That would be either a ‘Funky’ or ‘Fuckin’ Uncle, take your pick….)

How cool is that!?!

Maaaaan this’s so far been a good month
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, Blessed be the Lord.
Amen.

So… to continue the rage-a-thon I was on BEFORE I got interrupted by the text letting me know that RJ2 was on the way, while I was waiting on Sapper to get out of the shower, the new broke as to WHO done did the deed in D.C.

This’s some Bullshit… per Fox News:

The gunman accused of shooting two National Guard members blocks from the White House the day before Thanksgiving is 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, three law enforcement sources confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Lakanwal, an illegal migrant who entered the U.S. after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, overstayed his visa granted under Operation Allies Welcome, sources said.

Authorities are investigating the shooting as a possible act of international terrorism.

FBI officials confirmed the two West Virginia National Guardsmen remain in critical condition.

OK
Too easy
Start shooting the Afghani “Rapefugees” on sight.
Fuck ’em
90% of them are like this POS motherfuckers.
If OrangeManBad had balls, he’d put a bounty on Illegal Afghanis. Take the ones who ARE ‘good guys’ (terps and whatnot) and put them in protective custody.

THEN go full covenant
Men, Whammens and Children
Kill. Them. All.

It’s time to bring the Crusades back.
Sword and Fire.
Change my mind.
Tell me I’m wrong?

Considering I have seen and know the Afghanis from a 1st Person Experience???

Waste ’em.
Waste ’em ALL….
Nothing of value would be lost.
Call me brutal.
Call me irresponsible.
Call me unreliable.
Throw in undependable too.

But wrong?
That ain’t happening.

Name me ONE IRL Afghani who’s worth a shit and I will NOT take that bitch that the UN went and crowned some sort of bullshit ‘peace ambassador’ as there’s no way in fuck she survived an AK round to the head… shit like that does. not. happen.

Otherwise, slaughter ALL of them who are within our borders, cut off their heads, slather their corpses in pig fat when you dispose of them, and mount their heads as a warning to ALL those fucking followers of Islam that we ain’t fucking around anymore.

The gloves need to come the fuck off.
We’ve coddled, hugged, made nice and generally allowed our “Whytte Guilt” to override our survival instinct, mainly due to a smol-hat-big-nosed tribe. I’d say it’s time to start stacking bodies.

LOTS OF BODIES

I mean fuck…
They’re doing it to us, and IF they were the majority, they’d do it en-mass and enjoy it. What really kills me is that the smol-hat tribe is so inbred and stoopid to NOT understand that we’re the only reason they haven’t been extinguished as a race

Lord knows they deserve it

As it’d be natural selection.
Too stupid to live
FA-FO, the Full Racial Erasure Edition.

My BIGGEST problem with MoustacheManBad?
He was weak, corrupt, and failure at what he did.
A shitass weak assed attempt.
Loser.

A real baller would have made sure they never got a chance to do what they’ve managed to perpetrate over the past 80 years.

That being said, Alas Babylon! I guess…
Make of my rant what you will.

So…
Lots of plusses tonight, and prayers for the fallen.
Time to take OURS BACK
Whether the fags on the Left like it or now.

Let them dare to stand between us and our righteous rage
I gar-ron-damn-tee they’ll fold like a lawn chair when faced with Reality, as they so often do.

So More Later
Big Country