Reanimator

Happy Easter everyone -

I hope you had an enjoyable Spring day and that the annual family pictures with the new Easter Sunday clothes turned out well. I also hope that you enjoyed your Easter dinner.

Most folks will be having the traditional Ham dinner tonight. Here at the EB abode, we've actually have had quite a bit of pork product the last couple weeks, and weren't really looking forward to another evening with Wilbur. So the Squaw and I were trying to come up with something to have for the special Easter Dinner.

The boys chimed in first with "Hot dogs."

"No boy - we will not be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior with hot dogs."

"They're clean though - the Passover rules don't apply now because Jesus said we can eat pork now."

I thought to myself - 'Huh - no wonder we all have ham for dinner on Easter now. It's a big symbolic middle finger to the Jews who can't eat pork. I thought it was just because we're all tired of having . . . '

"Turkey. We can have turkey." the Squaw chimed in.

"Really? Turkey? That's like the standard holiday fare. Let's live (Easter humor - get it? Live - as in resurrection, alive after death? . . . oh jeez - it's hopeless) a little." I said.

"Well - what do you want?" the Squaw asked.

"What about lamb? That seems appropriate." I replied.

"Isn't that too expensive?"

"You're right. Let's wait to splurge on a holiday that is really more deserving than the victory over death and sin."

(You know when you think about it - Jesus is probably the best person to be pragmatic with when it comes to celebration. I don't think he'd be offended. Although it'd be just as easy to shortchange Charlie Brown or Eeyore because it's just too easy to take advantage of them - and they're fictitious [not Jesus, just Charlie Brown and Eeyore]).

"Dad, what's lamb?" the oldest asked.

"It's a sheep. But I guess folks don't like the idea of eating sheep. Counting sheep? Sure. Shearing sheep? Right on. Taking advantage of sheep while alone on a mountain range in Wyoming? Heck YES! But eat? . . . can we eat them when they're babies? Sure."

"ESKIMO BOB!" the Squaw chided. "Well - isn't lamb difficult to prepare? I'm not sure I know how to make it."

"You're right. I mean - how difficult could it be? 2000 years ago they seemed to figure it out. When all they had were open fire pits. It must be too difficult now with a Viking range."

"I don't want lamb."

So we ended up with turkey today. It turned out fabulous. And you know what? We're still grateful for this holiday season and had a great time at the dinner table having wonderful conversation. I hope you enjoyed yours.

A side note - tomorrow the Squaw leaves again for the week. So if I get moody or start crying just humor it.

St. Patrick's Day

So yesterday the boys came home from school very excited about St. Patrick's Day. I mean - why not? 1st: We're not Irish. 2nd: We live in ALASKA. 3rd: We don't imbibe.

Now - yes, I understand that I don't need to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I hold nothing against St. Patrick's Day - I wear my green and that's about it. I give it as much attention as I do Yom Kippor.

However - the boys were so excited I got suckered in. I bought into the hype. I am easily swayed.

I went to Blockbuster to rent Darby O'Gill and the Little People. I loved that movie when I was a kid - so I figure - why not carry on the tradition? Someone with more forethought than I - had already rented the only copy. Hmm - so I went to Wal-Mart and bought the movie for $7. I thought great - we're all set to celebrate St. Paddy's Day.

We got the movie going - and Caleb was so impressed by the special effects he kept asking if it was a real show and not fiction. I figure the kid wants to believe it's real so I tell him of course not Dummy - it's just camera trickery and the left wing agenda is going to swallow you whole if you buy into it.

Ok - so I didn't tell him that. I told him it was real and gave him a brief low-down on Leprechaun's and the mythology. He was stoked he wanted to make a Leprechaun trap. Sure thing kiddo.

We got some potatoes and a cardboard box (Coca-Cola) and set the trap. The boys fell asleep, and I realized that there was nothing to show that the leprechaun's showed up. . . so off to the store again. Apparently no one sells the chocolate gold coins - some sort of toxicity and other junk.

So I ended up getting some Easter candy that was in gold foil. This morning the boys were way stoked that we were visited. Not disappointed that the leprechauns escaped the trap, but left some goodies just to say thanks for the potato.

So go ahead - blast your U2. Grab a pint of Guinness. Share a limerick. In fact drop down your favorite Irish Drinking Song:

Wednesday - A day like no other.

Welcome my friends. It is the historic 54th post. There will never be another one. Most people take the time, this time of year to reflect on the past year, and plan for the new. I'll be getting to that a little later.

First off, I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas. Some of you are in difficult times, and are finding it painful to try to find the joy of the season. Others are experiencing the enjoyment that comes when being with friends and family and reflecting on the blessings in your life.

Which ever group you are in, I'm glad to spend this time with you. I have a deep appreciation for my family, friends and acquaintances in my life. I attribute this to growing up in remote bush Alaska. Life was hard, but good. I imagine there is difficulty everywhere, but I've been able to rely on a few, and happily those few have grown to many over the years. There are few times when I exhibit my sincerity in words, so I hope that I haven't cheapened it with previous cynicism. As you celebrate Christmas - I hope that you are able to reflect on the sacrifice our Father in Heaven gave to us, in His only begotten Son in the flesh, and the sacrifice our Savior gave to us, with his own life. May there be tidings of comfort and joy, as the reason for the season touches your heart.

So now I'm going to reflect a bit: I've actually given this some thought. 1983. Not much happened that year. I turned 8 that year. I was in the third grade. Ms. Mojin was my teacher. Return of the Jedi came out, and ended the Star Wars trilogy, so I thought. Michael Jackson's Thriller made its debut. I mean it was no 1982, several huge things happened in that year, very formative. And 1984 was even bigger. So 1983 was just kind of a filler. It's difficult to come up with anything specific. I mean, even with Star Wars, I remember going to the theatre, and I saw it twice in the theatre. The second time I fell asleep, because I got bored. So if there is no objection, I'm going to place a 'Meh' with 1983. . . . So it is.

My friends - once again Merry Christmas. I look forward to seeing you eye to eye someday, and sharing some laughs.

"Bells? I don't hear anything."

"If you take the time, and want to, you will."

"How about after our stroll, we go get some drinks?"

"Oh that would be lovely. I would like to see what Thomas is up to at the diner."

Addendum

Happy Post Halloween - I hope everyone is recovering from their candy, and other hangovers. Amber's home, and I'm still alive, or rather at my office on a Saturday morning (Weeping). Today's not a new blog per-se, but rather just letting you know that there is an addendum to yesterday's post. Please re-visit it, and check out Perfect Phrases, I know that there are other phrases out there that we wish we could've said, or not said -

Night on Bald Mountain

One of my all-time favorite memories about the Halloween season, actually originates from my music class in elementary school. It is one of my earliest memories of learning about classical music. We studied Mussorgky's : Saint John's Night on Bald Mountain. Though the intricacies escape me, it's basically about how the witches gather together to celebrate their sabbath and call forth the Black God : Chornobog. The man who witnessed this worship service of the witches, saw Satan himself. When morning came, the worship service was over, and the man who witnessed the events was left to ponder them. The outcome is ambiguous and left to the listener. I remember being swept with ranges of emotion from excitement, resolve, and of course trepidation and back to relief when daybreak came. It's an intense piece of music that captures the essence of what the spirit of Halloween is to be about.

I've also found out, that it's based on a short story by a Ukrainian author named Nikolai Gogal. Now Gogal is a name that you just expect some scary stuff from, and his short story is scary and gruesome. Hard to believe people had cognitive thought when they didn't even know what indoor plumbing was. What's even more scary is that the musical piece and the story from it, even though has a central theme too it, one would be hard pressed to find that it was actually based off of this short story.

Addendum: I had thought I had left a link to some material regarding the material, but alas I did not. So, Easter Egg hunting time folks, try to find some of the eerie left over candy from last night's Hellabaloo.