Howdy, Citizens. This has been sitting in drafts since June 10th, and I'm very work-averse at the moment, so I'm gonna finish this up. My pickle juice brined Chicken Fingers await. Continue reading Brined and Breaded Chicken Fingers
Tag Archives: WGOM featured
Father Knows Best: Routines
Now that the Valet is eleven months old, he's pretty comfortable with his daily routine. He wakes, eats, poops, and naps on a consistent schedule for the most part. Thankfully, this gives us a decent amount of flexibility for our days because we know what times are "locked in" for him.
Anyway, last weekend I had the opportunity to be a single parent. I stuck to the schedule for the big activities (which meant I watched a lot of EPL because that was prime time for playing with toys in the living room) and they all went smoothly. Except sleep. He would not fall asleep.
On Saturday, he fought his morning nap for four hours (despite clear signals of needing sleep) before finally crashing and taking a much longer than usual nap. Then, at bedtime, he was extraordinarily sleepy but fought out for an hour despite books, rocking, bouncing, and lullabies (mainly 90s alternative music). On Sunday, he took just a twenty minute nap the entire day.
Sleepiness was clearly not the issue. Instead, it seemed that in his zombie stage, he finally would notice that mom hadn't been around and that would set him off. Strange, because I put him to sleep at least half the time when we're both around.
I have no idea what, if anything, I could have tried differently. Oh well, everyone survived and the house didn't burn down on my watch.
Difficult Choices
I'm taking my 10.5-year-old golden retriever, George, to the vet during lunch today. He's been on a downward slide for the past few months and, despite our best efforts, I fear it's time for him to move on. He's lost most of his mobility and hasn't been eating. At a vet visit last month, he was prescribed muscle relaxants & various meds for pain & joint health as he was exhibiting symptoms of arthritis and muscle atrophy in his rear end. He improved for a while, but is again back to being barely able to get himself up; he can't even support himself to go to the bathroom. When I went to the kennel this morning, I though he was dead - he didn't raise his head to acknowledge me until I was at his side, petting him. He couldn't even lift himself and I had to carry him to the yard and hold his ass end up to take a leak. He took a few steps and then sat/laid down hard. Some research online suggests both that his deterioration isn't out of the ordinary and his current age is within the normal end-of-lifespan.
In my house, the dogs* are more pets than family members. Since kids were added to the mix, our dog-ownership activities have essentially deteriorated to the point of co-existence. They have a large dog house & roofed kennel, access to a big yard (more than an acre), get fed twice a day, and we let them out to run around a bit and go to the bathroom every morning and evening. However, they don't get the daily 2-mile walks they got for the first 6 years we had them, we don't play with them every day, George hasn't been hunting since 2009 and hasn't hit the lake for a swim in over a year. Kernel is young enough that I don't think it'll be too difficult for her and I know my wife will be sad. I'm already grieving a bit. George has been a truly amazing dog - but if he needs to be put down (and if I'm being honest) - I'll also be somewhat relieved.
I don't want him to be in pain and his quality of life right now is for shit, but I'm not willing (or able, really) to spend two or three thousand dollars to get him another six months. Last time, they suggested x-rays ($$) and potentially surgery ($$$), thinking it might be damaged discs in his back or joint issues in his hips and/or knees. He's a retriever and he can barely walk, let alone run and fetch. He's a mostly-outside dog (kennel & yard) and another winter would be incredibly hard on him. I don't want him to suffer, but I don't want to put him down if there's a reasonable alternative. The vets can (apparently) refuse to euthanize if they believe there's a better course of action. I'm all ears, but I'm not very optimistic at the moment. I didn't have dogs growing up so I have never dealt with this before...
*I anticipate our beagle will be the one most affected by his absence. They've been inseparable for nearly 10 years. She's had a ton of health issues and I always thought it'd be her that went first. Not sure how my wife's going to handle it when the beagle (Emma) passes. We got her about 4 months into our marriage so my wife would have a buddy while I was deployed. On the plus side, despite Emma's chronic bladder infections and incontinence, she'll be the easier of the two to move back into the house, seeing as how she's only 23 lbs. and doesn't have the long coat like George. Amazing how adulthood produces such callousness pragmatism.
2015-16 EPL Prediction Contest
It's that time of year again. Here are your past champions:
| Year | Champion |
|---|---|
| 2011 | HomerDome (18 pts) |
| 2012 | MagUidhir (19 pts) |
| 2013 | Philo (21 pts) |
| 2014 | Philo (32 pts) |
This year will crown our 2015* Champion. Can Philo go for a three-peat? Will nibbish finally break through and unseat him? Someone else? Who knows!
*Years are based on the day of the first fixture of the season.
And a reminder on scoring:
- 3 points for correctly predicting the finishing place of a team in the final league table
- 1 point for being +/- one position in the final leage table
- A bonus point for correctly picking the league champion
- One bonus point for each relegated team correctly predicted, up to three total. (Position doesn't affect this. If you pick them 18th, and they finish 20th, still a bonus point cuz they're going down)
Half-Baked Hall: 1935 Results
So the new format of Half-Baked Hall was a success in that we had a robust discussion about all of the new players. We also had the lowest voter turnout yet. I'll blame the heat. If anybody else wants to volunteer for bios, let me know.
Arguably the best player of all-time managed to snag 100% of the vote. Good job voters.
Mauer's career is arguably already better than Sisler's due to positional adjustments, but man Sisler fell off a cliff. Still good enough to nab 83% of the vote, though.
I asked Nibbish for a quote for Heilmann's plaque, as nobody has ever talked about him in the history of the WGOM. This is what he said. Harry got 78% of the vote. Now let's stop talking about him.
Remaining on the Ballot (19 Players)
Nearly everyone who carried over got a bump this time around, with Zack Wheat and Urban Shocker leading the way. Coveleski gets oh so close to election on his 3rd ballot. Scot's avatar starts out with 56%, so I think he has a chance.
The only guy to lose major ground was a catcher. Go figure.
Stan Coveleski (72%) +4
Dazzy Vance (72%)
Sam Rice (56%)
Zack Wheat (56%) +14
Urban Shocker (50%) +13
Red Faber (44%) +12
Hack Wilson (44%)
Burleigh Grimes (39%)
Joe Sewell (33%) +7
Max Carey (28%) +2
Eddie Cicotte (28%) -4
Heinie Groh (28%) +12
Eppa Rixey (28%) +7
Earl Combs (22%)
Edd Roush (22%) +6
Wally Schang (22%) -10
Rabbit Maranville (17%)
Lefty O'Doul (17%)
Herb Pennock (17%)
Falling Off The Ballot (11 players)
Bobby Wallace falls just short of election on his final ballot. Carl Mays, who somehow snuck onto a 2nd ballot, crashes and burns this time.
Senator Joe Judge completely whiffs.
Bobby Wallace (72%) +9
Sherry Magee (39%) +2
Sad Sam Jones (17%)
Max Bishop (11%)
George Grantham (6%)
Willie Kamm (6%)
Carl Mays (6%) -15
Riggs Stephenson (6%)
Joe Judge (0%)
Dolf Luque (0%)
Marty McManus (0%)
Half-Baked Hall: 1934-1935
So we're going to be this a little bit different now. We have some wonderful volunteers who agreed to write a small blurb about a player or two to generate discussion and help us all learn more about baseball history.
Final Ballot
Sherry Magee
Bobby Wallace
Below is the list of new batters and who is responsible for writing about them. Remember, this is just a short blurb. Don't stress out about it. Find one thing interesting about the person. You can talk about if you like them for a vote or not but you don't have to. If it's more than two paragraphs you're probably trying too hard.
Due Date For Blurbs: June 30th
New Hitters
Max Bishop (CanofCorn)
Earl Combs (Freealonzo)
George Grantham (nibbish)
Joe Judge (AMR)
Willie Kamm (Beau)
Rabbit Maranville (bhiggum)
Marty McManus (DPWY)
Lefty O'Doul (Geoff)
Sam Rice (New Britain Bo)
Babe Ruth (philosofer)
Riggs Stephenson (yickit)
Hack Wilson (daneekasghost)
If I get any more volunteers, I'll add them to the pitcher list. Otherwise, I'll probably write something up.
New Pitchers
Burleigh Grimes
Sad Sam Jones (philosofer)
Dolf Luque (Scot)
Herb Pennock (Scot)
Dazzy Vance
Half-Baked Hall Results: 1930-1933
From now on I vow never to add a player during the middle of a ballot. The spreadsheets got all wonky. I can only hope I got everyone's vote right in the end. I think I did.
Half-Baked Hall: 1930-1933
Babe Ruth retired in 1935, so you're going to have to wait to argue about his candidacy. For now you'll have to settle for these scrubs.
Final Ballot
Miller Huggins
Joe Tinker
New Batters
Dave Bancroft
Lu Blue
Eddie Collins
Harry Heilmann
Edd Roush
Wally Schang
George Sisler
Cy Williams
New Pitchers
Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander
Red Faber
Jack Quinn
Eppa Rixey
Eddie Rommel
Ballots Released: About Tuesday, May 19
Ballots Due: Tuesday, May 26
Truck Time with Twayn…with Mags! Sway Bar Edition
"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
So, I decided to share my automotive repair experiences. Now, I'm definitely no Twayn, but I like to think I can be somewhat useful. What follows is replacing the front-end sway bar on my 1998 Buick Century. Click to embiggen all pictures. Continue reading Truck Time with Twayn…with Mags! Sway Bar Edition
Half-Baked Hall: 1929 Election Results
How did Joss and Griffith do? Did Ray Schalk use his Field of Dreams fame and surprise everyone? Is this whole process truly half-baked?