Dog Face is running for her life. Her breath comes in frozen gasps. Ahead in the shifting snowstorm she spies the one thing that may save her life. Paradoxically, it is the edge of a cliff. In the dim recesses of Dog Face’s brain is a spark that stores the memory of an ancestress who wandered this prairie in warmer climes. The cliff ahead masks an arroyo with overhanging banks under which flash floods have dug pockets just big enough for a humanoid to crouch, high above the streambed.
Dog Face risks a glance behind. What she spies causes her madly beating heart to stutter and skip. Huge, enraged red eyes glare above a massive furred trunk raised threatening to the sky above yellow savage tusks, thick as her waist, and just meters away from gutting her wide open.
She dives over the cliff edge clutching demonically for heavy frozen roots bared to the frigid weather. Her momentum swings her tough compact body into the depression while above her the huge female Mammoth careens over the edge.
Too late, the monumental beast lurches to regain solid ground but gravity wins out. A final crashing thud seals the Mammoth’s fate. Her neck is broken. Death is immediate.
Dog Face waits till she can breathe the raw air in slow measured breaths before picking her way to the bottom of the stream. No water flows. What little there remains is frozen.
But it is a good day. Before Dog Face is life for her for the rest of this cold season. She will have meat to eat, fat to render, fur and leather for garments and tools. Bones will yield marrow and building blocks for shelter.
I have a meeting at work later this morning that I’ve been dreading. This tale puts things in perspective for me. I’ll simply lure them to the point of no return and then use their shattered bodies for my own personal gain.
I’m reading this and it’s cold (although not snowy like other places, I don’t think; I’m afraid to look out the window) and it occurs to me that Puggy is in Florida, so how come she’s talking about ice…ahhh…mammoths…not Florida today. Or what happens when you fire up the computer while still waking up. OK - I’m awakish now and deeply grateful for things like central heating and running water and grocery stores because I’d be a terrible hunter.
Speaking of places with snow, Spats got all poetic (?) last night about the white stuff that finally fell where he’s at. See?
For those of you who didn’t catch the end of last week’s MMP, FCM won’t be in today because it’s the day FCD is having surgery. She’s not expecting to get to post today, but is planning to call me with an update this afternoon so that I can let everyone know how he’s doing. Won’t get to post till after work, but she’s not expecting to have anything to tell us till late in the afternoon anyhow.
We got snow yesterday too. Of course, about the only place in the country that gets less snow than us id Florida of today. So we have no mammoths running about, and didn’t get almost thirty inches anywhere. Just flurries. I miss living in the snow-prone NorthEast.
Puggy it’s cold, but mammoth hunting cold? You really need to be in at least north Jawja for that.
Prayers and good thoughts goin’ out to FCD and FCM. I sure hope this works for him.
Ok, I’m curious to know if anybody made buttermilk biscuits or attempted to. That recipe, I’ll admit, ain’t real precise but once you play with it a couple times, I gurantee you’ll be making wonderful biscuits. It’s so simple once you get the hang of it. I promise!
Yesterday, I had lunch at a friend’s house. She made white chili. It was good. Apparently it induces coma like states, however. I was the biggest ol’ slug yesterday afternoon. I was gonna do laundry and ironing. Instead, I watched stoopid stuff on Food Network and HGTV all afternoon while going in and out of consciousness whilst reclining in my recliner. She’s supposed to send me the recipe, so maybe I’ll post it. Chili made with stuff like chicken boods and navy beans might not sound right, but it’s tres yum!
I may or may not be having a two hour meeting this morning. I’m really hoping that I won’t be, but who knows.
oooo sounds interesting … any recipe in particular, or just take a stewing hen, make her into broth and meat, then cook beans, onions, garlic, and fresh seeded peppers and tomatoes in the result?
The most mundane post of the day: I packed my lunch for today, and once I put my cooler in the car to head to the salt mines, I remembered that the base’s open mess hall has Gyros on the menu for today. :smack:
No snow here, but it was a bit brisk! 35° may not sound cold to y’all, but it’s only our second day of cold weather this winter.
I brought some tortilla soup to show off my culinary skillz to my buds here at work. We’ll serve it up later as an appetizer before we go out to lunch.
How come the ads below are featuring “Sexy Belly Chains”? I love the random ad generator!
Work this weekend was heaven–and I mean that. I have an orientee who is almost ready to come off and fly on her own. So, since we had a stable assignment, I told her-off you go, holler when and is you need me. She didn’t need me much, so I played all weekend. Makes up for the last few months of pure hell, I tells ya! Sadly, there is no Dope at work.
There is snow here as well–but about a 1/2 inch. Lovely MMP, btw–at first I kept trying to put Dog Face into some kind of SDMB context–then the tea clicked in and I actually started to comprehend.
I am doing nothing this day. #1 son is home sick (he looks and feels like crap–that is an official nursing diagnosis). I need to go get some milk. I’ll work up to it.
swampbear, I totally would have attempted your biscuits, but I lack one key ingredient: a kitchen. Occupational hazard. My best thoughts for FCD, FCM, and rigs’ son #1. Today I have grand plans involving a barbershop and some money. I’m hoping shorter hair will be the result. Shortly thereafter I will hopefully be able to finally ask out this one girl. I was going to ask her out last Thursday but she didn’t show up for class. >_< Annnyway, gt, I don’t know if you’d call it poetic, but I did feel inspired, despite the fact that RPI got maybe 2" of snow, by the large amounts that others received. I’ll quote it:
Sorta like that, except she used all chicken boobs and apparently the chili is built up in stages. She explained it yesterday but the white chili induced stupor had started to set in so I didn’t quite get all of what she was saying. The jist was, it has to be in stages for the chili itself to stay white.
Oh we also had a nummy spinach salad with strawberries, pecans and a raspberry vinegarette dressing and a blueberry crunch thingy for dessert. Major stupor inducing meal it was!
I believe I got a total of twenty-six inches on Saturday night.
(Pause for everyone to <snerk>)
Of snow, that is. And alas, all my grandiose plans for the weekend came to naught. Didn’t get that last bookshelf out of the car and put it together (thereby almost finishing the library) because it was snowing. Didn’t take anything down to the storage area and get it the hell out of the living room because I was lazy. I did, however, finish the painting in my bedroom. But there was a price to pay. While sliding along the ledge over the stairwell in a sitting position (because I’m afraid of heights), I took a casement window crank to the right buttock. (Be sure you say it as “butt-tock”, like Forrest Gump would.) The bruise that is forming is so splendiferously impressive that I might actually have to take a picture of my bee-hind and post it on the internet.
Other than that, we made pancakes and hot chocolate. It was a good weekend. I completed my bedroom (at last) while watching the entire first season of Smallville, and started crocheting a blanket. We set up the Tivo to record only the parts of the Olympics we want to see (figure skating, snowboarding, and maybe some ski jumping), and I anxiously await going the hell home tonight after a day of being receptionist.
I so need a new job. And now that I’m not going to be the person on the hook for covering a friend when she’s on her honeymoon in April, I wouldn’t feel guilty leaving before then. But give me time, my MMP friends. I am insecure and unmotivated. Just thinking I need a new job is the first step in a journey that could take ages.
Good thoughts goin’ out for the FCParents and #1 Son. I may not get much of a chance to check in today–the daughter of my company’s owner has a snow-day today, so she came to work with Dad, and she loves to hang out with me. Right up in my computer monitor, to be exact.
Yeah, today’s going to be fantastic. Did I mention my buttock hurts?
Okay, okay, maybe mammoth hunting is stretching things a tad. BUT there were rumors of snow flurries over in Tampa this morning. The only reason we didn’t have any snow was cause it’s too dry. It certainly was cold enough. Oh, and mammoth bones have been found in one of the springs here in Central Flawduh. I thought it would be fun to do a 180 play on unca rue’s futuristic spacey OPs what with the weather bein’ all coldy like.
fcm, good Dog Face vibes going out for fcdad. Hope this is the last surgery he has to have. Oh, and your house/snow pics were so pretty.
Anybody ever cook Swiss Chard. I bought some labeld “neon swiss chard” cause it was so pretty and I’m not sure how to cook it. Anybody???
I missed the biscuit recipe (though I’m currently off biscuits; the low-carb thing, you know)–but mine have been known to resemble hockey pucks. Even the White Lily flour doens’t seem to help much. I’ve been told the secret is to not handle the dough much.
My white chili is not pristine white, but it is mostly white and damned fine and yummy. I also use breast meat only, and do not add tomatoes. At one point I even used white pepper to try and keep the whiteness, but eh, who cares. Basically make white beans and throw some chicken in it. That’s what I do, to rave reviews. Lots of garlic is also key.
I’ve thinking of FCD today and offer a prayer for a successful surgery and recovery!
Draelin (or was is Lissla?)–I’ve been meaning to recommend this book to you: Ladyfingers and Nun’s Tummies : From Spare Ribs to Humble Pie–A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names. I know the author, Martha Barnett, slightly and she is a smart, funny woman. It’s not a coffeetable book, but interesting nonetheless. She’s also written a tome entitled Dog Days and Dandelions: A Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words.
I made a most excellent supper last night consisting of steak, fresh broccoli and portabello mushrooms sauteed with garlic, sweet onion and red pepper. We also had fresh cataloupe that was to die for!! I don’t know what business a February cantalopue had being so awesomely delicious, but it was like August in my house last night, fresh-fruit wise.
Ah! I missed the Swiss chard question. I have cooked it. Treat it like spinich. Cook it very little, and expect to get about 1/8 of the volume you had when you started. I like to saute it in olive oil.
Ellen, one of the regulars on my weight loss surgery board has a recipe for low-carb biscuits made with soy flour that’s supposed to be pretty good. I haven’t made them myself (yet), but I’ll repost it if you’re interested.
One warning: they’ll never fluff up enough that you could call them cat’s head biscuits, FWIW.
That’s what I thought…the spinach thing but, boy, these are some big-gassed leaves and the veins are yellow and red and on steroids! :eek: I think Mr. Anachi would like them sauteed in olive oil. Thanks.
I hope you like it Puggy. I’ve only had the red-vein type.
Bobbio, I have made biscuits with soy flour. I thought they were pretty good, but no cat’s heads, that’s for sure. Unless your cat has a head like a hockey puck. But, they were moist. The flavor of soy flour is certainly different, but good, I think. Try 'em and let me know what you think. I usually use the soy flour to make crepes.
It’s been very cold up here, and I can sympathize with Dog Face. Brr! **Spats ** and **cabbie ** know how I feel.
But - I am almost finished with my robe! The one for the SO? It actually looks not half-bad, the stitches are not all neat or anything, but it was a lot of fun making it. And I feel like a teen, giving a badly-stitched project to my boyfriend. Still.
I’m going to wrap it tonight and give it to him tomorrow…tonight is the night to go over it one last time, and make sure the stitches are not coming out or anything, and that it looks OK.
Still.