"Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They’re aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense. They’ve got really short hair and they always go for the throat."- Adm. "Jay" R. Stark, USN

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?

They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . .and they did?

When a 57 Chevy was everyone’s dream car…to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?

No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a .." and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?

Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

Not bad…

http://lifesmetaphors.blogspot.com/2009/05/big-bend-fall-of-2007.html

http://lifesmetaphors.blogspot.com/2009/05/big-bend-spring-of-08.html

Made a gumbo today.  A real, honest-to-goodness gumbo like Mom, Grandma and my aunts made.  This is a real South Louisiana, New Orleans gumbo; none of this new-fangled stuff that’s been popular over the last few years.

MUST HAVES:
1 cup of cooking oil (any kind, you’ll skim it off anyway)
1 cup of white flour
2 Onions
Parsley
Salt
Pepper
File (pronounced fee-lay; it’s French, go figure)
Rice

OPTIONAL HAVES:
Your choice of dead critter (this will be a chicken and sausage gumbo but you can use crabs (from the sea), oysters, possum or whatever)

HOW TO:
Chop the onions and parsley so you have about 2 1/2 to 3 cups and add this to a large stew pot with some salt and pepper.  (You can use dried parsley, it will taste the same if you mix up and let it set with the onions)

Mix the flour and oil in a skillet and cook until nice and dark, stirring the whole time.  This is important!  You are making a roux and you don’t want to burn it; this is considered bad form.  Once your reach the dark color of your choice (I get as close to a deep chocolate brown as I can) dump it into the stew pot on top of the onions and parsley.

Stir the whole thing together and let the hot roux cook the onions and parsley until the sizzling has stopped.

Take a deep whiff of the resulting mess.  Smell good?  Good!  This is the base flavor you’re aiming for.

Now add two quarts of hot water and turn the fire on low.  Stir the gumbo until it’s well dissolved; if you don’t, some will stick to the bottom and burn.  This is not good.

Once the gumbo has gotten to a low simmer, add your dead critter.  Add sausage straight to the pot.  Sometimes I’ll brown the chicken, sometimes not; depends on whether you want to skim off chicken scum later.

Cover, set the fire to simmer and let it cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  In the latter part of this stage I’m usually standing guard in the kitchen, keeping the ravenous barbarians at bay.  Disgusting what gumbo will do to hungry civilized folks…

Cook a pot of rice.  While doing this, turn off the heat to the gumbo and let it sit for 15 minutes.  Skim off the oil and sprinkle a generous pinch of the file on top.  Let sit for another 15 minutes.

Serve in individual bowls over the rice.

Eat.

It’s even better the next day when the flavors have had time to blend.  We freeze gobs of it for later and it’s even better.

Now, some of the family like to have it with potato salad, some like it with bread, some like it plain.  Do what you like.

And y’all ain’t seen a catfight until you see my family argue over the merits of okra in gumbo.  The WWF wishes it could have such rumbles…

Our founding fathers were wise men and understood this concept. When they drew up the plan for governing our Republic they expected that those who would “serve” us in Washington would do so on a rotational basis. They expected that new servants would come in regularly to ensure that those who were representing us would be fresh and able to perform their duties. Now days, we hear phrases such as “Senator xyz is retiring from politics”. How did we get to the point that our representatives became “career politicians” and have retirement parties? Maybe these career politicians have been in the battle so long that they have lost site of the concept of being a “servant” of the people and now believe that they are smarter and superior to the people they were elected to represent. Maybe they have been on the front line so long they don’t feel that they possess a skill that would allow them to return home and earn and honest living so they keep doing what they have been doing. Just maybe this is why we now have a group of individuals called lobbyist, whose job is to bribe our representatives to vote in their interest rather than the interest of the constituent.

I believe we have done these brave men and women of Washington a grave injustice by leaving them in the war indefinitely and keeping them away from their loved ones and communities. The signs of battle fatigue are obvious. I hold myself and the other voters of this nation responsible for mistreating our representatives. It is high time that we brought those who have been fighting year after year in Washington home to their community. Let’s allow new recruits to step up and carry the battle.

Beginning with the 2010 election, and for every election thereafter, let us all agree to vote for the individual who is offering to take the reins from the incumbent. Bring our faithful servants home to their family and community. After all, this is the only fair and reasonable thing to do. We should not expect someone to spend their entire life serving our interests (or their interest) in Washington.

Join us in Bringing Our Politicians Home!!!

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read ‘Vote Obama, I need the money.’ I chuckled.  Once in the restaurant my server was wearing an ‘Obama 08′ button, again I chuckled — just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept.  I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone whom I deemed more in need — the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $5 and told him to thank the server inside as I’ve decided he (the homeless guy) needed the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn, even though the actual recipient needed the money more.  I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.