D and I are off to Austin in the morning for a visit with herself, our
daughter and the apple of everyone's eye. But first I had to get the
car serviced over in the next county, where there's a Toyota
dealership, Fat chance any closer to Cow Hill. In fact, the closer you
get to Cow Hill, the fatter the chances get, and no, I'm not talking
about the local floozies.

But I digress.

We're working on a set of projects that'll perhaps make our town not
suck -- market days, art on the square, music nights, locavore meats
and vegetables, community garden, etc. So I had to do a little bit of
schmoozing with a local politician this a.m. before my trek west to
the land o' Prius maintenance. The shmoozles went as well as might be
expected -- if less productive than I'd hoped. "How much money is that
gonna cost? That much? THAT much?" (Actually, he was very supportive,
if realistic about other local politicians and their agendas.)

I got lunch on the road to the dealership at a Valero station fast
food joint out on the prairie. It was a Fuggedabout Mart or something
where the shift manager used my order as a training exercise for her
newest employee: "Corporate wants us to only give him one napkin, you
tripled the order." (But I'm a really messy eater!) The meal didn't
fill me up so much as kill my appetite, but at least I got some
calories in my gut at midday. That counts for something.

Eventually I rolled into the dealership a little before 2 and got the
Prius set up for its expensive automotive spa treatment. Owning a
Prius is a gas. Or not exactly gas, since it runs on air and my own
smug sense of self-satisfaction, but still it's pretty cool. The first
leg of our recent trip to Houston clocked in at 51 MPG. The latest
tank-up has it down to about 47 MPG, but still...

I got a loaner (It was to be a big maintenance day, taking hours) and
went shopping in the far north Dallas burbs. Bupkis as far as clothes
were concerned, but I did score a rutabaga, a parsnip, and a
portabello mushroom.

Since the car was still getting its joints lubed and tires rotated and
whatnot, I took shelter at a winery. "Tell me about the zinfandel."
"I'll give you a taste." UGH. Box wine. Funny about zins. Either
they're good or they're lousy.

I had the merlot.

Prius newly hybridized or something, I exchanged the loaner for my car
and zipped back home. If by "zipped" I mean dawdled behind one damn
chucklehead driver after another on a two-lane highway out on the
prairie between Toyotaland and home.

Back safely, I made dinner: pan seared pastured lamb chops with a red
wine (zin, natch) and portabello sauce, pureed rutabaga and parsnip
with garlic and feta, sliced fresh tomato, rice salad with lemon
confit and celery, etc.

After dinner, I called a friend whom I'd given a slab of home-cured
bacon only to discover that she has to limit her fat intake. She gave
me back my bacon.

After our quick daughter visit tomorrow, we'll head on down to Baton
Rouge with a slab o' frozen bacon for my mom and dad. We'll be back
after the weekend. And after some serious south Louisiana eats, I'm
sure.

Attention thieves: We have a house sitter, and she knows where I keep
the gun.
--

modom

In article >,
"modom (palindrome guy)" > wrote:

> We're working on a set of projects that'll perhaps make our town not
> suck -- market days, art on the square, music nights, locavore meats
> and vegetables, community garden, etc. So I had to do a little bit of
> schmoozing with a local politician this a.m. before my trek west to
> the land o' Prius maintenance. The shmoozles went as well as might be
> expected -- if less productive than I'd hoped. "How much money is that
> gonna cost? That much? THAT much?" (Actually, he was very supportive,
> if realistic about other local politicians and their agendas.)

Sounds good. Usually that kind of thing brings in tourists so the profit
outweighs the cost.
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein


Subscribe:

modom (palindrome guy) wrote:
<snip>
> Owning a
> Prius is a gas. Or not exactly gas, since it runs on air and my own
> smug sense of self-satisfaction, but still it's pretty cool. The first
> leg of our recent trip to Houston clocked in at 51 MPG. The latest
> tank-up has it down to about 47 MPG, but still...

Ahhhh, I laughed out loud at this little bon mot! Thanks, Mike, have to
forward to a Prius-owning friend. What's a liberal nutjob like you
doing living in East Texas? ;-) Come out to Cali and fellowship with
us fellow lotus eaters :-)))))))


<snip>

> Back safely, I made dinner: pan seared pastured lamb chops with a red
> wine (zin, natch) and portabello sauce, pureed rutabaga and parsnip
> with garlic and feta, sliced fresh tomato, rice salad with lemon
> confit and celery, etc.
<snip>

Lovely. I'm gonna snag me some lamb chops this weekend.

> Attention thieves: We have a house sitter, and she knows where I keep
> the gun.

Another law and order lib like me!

Love your posts, Modom, keep 'em coming.

TammyM in Lotusland

Tammy wrote:

> TammyM in Lotusland

I wish I could afford an exotic car like that...

Bob