The Lost Cruller

Yesterday, a local columnist who I think highly of had knee surgery. I felt for him. When I had my hip replaced, and when I had my gastric bypass, it was a great comfort to me that many people who knew me in passing stopped by to see how I was.
So I stopped by the gentleman's home this afternoon after work, and I came bearing comfort food: a half dozen crullers from Vallos bakery.

Those of us who live in the Lehigh Valley know how wonderful the products of Vallos bakery are. Their loaves of bread are made WITHOUT preservatives. Sure, the mold will show up in a week, but whose loaf last that long? Their pastries are without parallel. During lent they make their standard glazed and powdered sugar crullers, as well as chocolate glazed and Blueberry glazed crullers. Talk about LARD! Just put an IV of cholesterol in my arm, it wouldn't be as dangerous as eating one of those crullers, but it damn sure wouldn't taste as wonderful!
I stopped by Vallos on the way home from work near Montgomeryville, and picked up a half dozen for my ailing friend, who was grateful.

I also purchased 3 powdered sugar crullers for my wife, as well as one chocolate and three glazed crullers for me. I did purchase a fresh loaf of Vienna bread, that was still warm from the oven when they bagged it. Try driving home with that smell in your car!

So anyway, I went to the gym and worked out this evening, and when I came home, Mrs C broke the news: "You lost a cruller."
How do you lose a cruller, you might ask?
What happened was Mrs C decided to indulge in one of her powdered white sugar crullers, but somehow dropped one of my glazed crullers on the floor.
Now with three dogs in our house, what do you think happened when that cruller hit the floor?

I love my dogs. I just hope nobody goes into sugar shock.

The 5 Worst TV Miniseries of all time ( My Opinion)

This is off the top of my head, from reading other blogs, but here goes.

I like Stephen King as a writer. The guy has scared the hell out of me, starting way back when with "Carrie", "Cujo", and the original scary movie, "The Shining." Those were great books that were good movies, with the Shining being a very good movie I still get shivers at the utterance of "redrum!"

Unfortunately, Mr. King has allowed just about everything he has ever written to hit one form of screen or another, and with some pretty awful results. The lone TV miniseries exception was "The Stand" which had the brilliant foresight to cast Rob Lowe as a mute. It was quite good. But other than that lone shining bright light, Mr. King's TV adaptations have, for the most part, SUCKED.

So I present to you, the top 5 WORST TV Miniseries of all time, from bad to Worst:

5. The Shining (Recent TV Remake) Why mess with a good thing? Did you need the money?

4. Rose Red A haunted mansion that devours souls? On Network TV? That's Ironic.

3. The Tommy knockers Digging up an alien spacecraft buried in the woods, it powers itself off your brain waves, and makes you build green glowing, floating typewriters and exploding soda machines.

2. The Langoliers Cross Pac man the video game with the Friday the 13th movies. Say what?

And the worst Miniseries ever made is, drum roll please...........

1. The Storm of the Century! Where a Satan like demon holds a town hostage during a blizzard until it gives him an apprentice. Satan holding a small town hostage? Man, like that has never happened before! Politicians do that all the time!

I would have put "It" on the list, but I have a soft spot for the late John Ritter, and having Tim Curry play the demon/shape shifting clown was a pretty bold stroke of casting.

Stephen King is a great writer, but his books on the big or little screen? That's hit or miss, and in recent years, it's mostly been a miss.

Time to Shave Sally!

This is Sally Ann Casey. Sally does not liked to be groomed. She does not like to be bathed either. Once a year, usually in the spring, when it is warm enough, Sally goes to the vet for grooming. They put her under anesthesia to do it.

We adopted Sally from the humane society shelter on Dixon street in Allentown way back in 2003. She is very fearful of strangers, and because she runs and hides every time I unravel a garden hose, we believe that she was beaten with one by someone. Everyone who has tried to groom her ends up getting bit. We are able to give her occasional trims, as she will let me hold her while my wife uses the scissors.

When we first moved to Trexlertown, right after we got Sally, she was afraid to go off the porch because the invisible fence shocked her. Then she learned that if she ran fast enough, she could get through it, no matter how high we turned it up on her collar. So see, it wouldn't work on your kids! I know some of you were thinking that!

So Sally has a run that allows her a radius of 50 feet, and allows her to chase the rabbits and cats at fully Sally speed, at least until she hits the boundary of the invisible fence. Lucy and Ethel are both approaching 13 years of age, so they are content to let Sally do all the entertaining.

Monday I took Sally to the vet for her yearly check up, shots, and the required blood work before anesthesia. You don't want to know how much it costs, but for all the love and protection our Sally dog gives us, it is a bargain in my book. Wednesday Mrs C drops her off before 8 AM for her shearing, and we will pick her up tomorrow night. I'll post an after picture on Thursday.

Proof of my own ignorance

Sunday morning I had a post ready to go, that was all about a sign in front of a local Volunteer Fire Department. The sign promoted an upcoming fundraising event "Adult Bingo."

I had all these witty lines about Adult Books and Movies, and wondering aloud if "Adult Bingo" meant Firemen (Or Firewomen) running around selling instant games in thongs and G-strings. But alas, Mrs. C smacked me back to reality by informing me that "Adult Bingo" meant no kids allowed.

As an Irish Catholic, you would think I might have realized that, God knows, I've worked enough Bingo games in my time. I don't ever remember seeing that many kids at them though, it was something of an unwritten rule, right?

This episode just goes to show how stupid I can be at times. So give me DUH!

"Lost" in Trexlertown

I don't watch all that much Television anymore. What I do watch is HD episodes online, when I can watch them at my convenience. That is exactly how I watch "Lost"

I watch Amazing Race the same way, but other than Battlestar Galactica, that's it.

Lost is, by far, the best show presently on TV. The story, the mystery, the tragedy of a Paradise lost, it is so compelling to try and follow.

I read the TV watchers blog on Mcall.com, and I debate with some of my twitter friends about what has happened so far, and what will happen yet.

When you consider that the story arc concerns an island that can not only move its physical location, but it's location in time, using the term "what will happen" has a different kind of relevance.

So to keep my Twitter peeps happy, here are my predictions on what is going to happen in coming episodes.

1.Anthropologist Charlotte, Love of Daniel Faraday, is not dead. He's going to do something at the Orchid construction site that changes the time arc. I know he said it can't be done, but he found a way to use Desmond to contact Eloise, didn't he?

2. What did Kate do with Aaron, Claire's son?
Aaron is now with Claire's Mom. Due to the Island's time hopping ability, I predict that Aaron shows up in the final season as an adult, looking for his Mom, and he ends up as the new leader under the tutelage of Richard Alpert.

3. Why was Ben so bloody before he got on the plane?
Because he killed Penny Widmore, love of Desmond's life. Which will lead to Desmond returning to the Island with his sole purpose being to kill Ben Linus. And Desmond's son, Charlie?
The raging argument among certain Lehigh Valley Lost Groupies is that either Charles Widmore is his own grandson, having been marooned there during a time jump after Desmond kills Ben, or Charlie will be raised by his grandfather, and come to the Island in the expedition along with Aaron in the final season.
Two good hypothesis, but they could both be wrong.

4.How the hell is John Locke alive?
Just like Michael trying to kill himself, the Island won't let him go until he fulfills his purpose. I like the idea that he is a facsimile of himself, created by the island, just as Christian, Jack's father may be.

5. My last one. The Dharma station that blew up was built as a counter balance to the time wheel. The reason it was frozen when Ben moved it was because the Dharma group had figured out how to neutralize it. Blowing up the Swan station removed that counterbalance. Things went along fine until Ben bumped the turntable, so to speak. So now, everybody is back in the past before the counterbalance was built. I have a suspicion that once that counterbalance gets built, everybody gets back where they belong. That's my wild guess. Okay guys, have at it, what's your guess?
I won't even touch the Mayan Temple/Smoky defense system today, I'll wait until we get another appearance. One theory floating around is that as the earth approaches the galactic celestial plane on 12/21/12, that the machine the Mayans built is to stabilize the Earth as it passes through that plane, and all this tinkering has knocked it off kilter.

Nice theory. It's as good as any!