Greenfield Village Hobo Bread

Got a loaf of this @ Greenfield Village. Ridiculously delicious. And it's actually baked in cans, which is fantastic.

2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups boiling water
4 teaspoons baking soda
4 teaspoons butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups walnuts
4 cups flour

Pour boiling water over raisins; let cool. Stir in soda and other ingredients.

Fill 6 or 7 greased and floured large soup cans to half full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Cool and remove from cans.

Makes 6 or 7 large loaves or 24 servings.

Water of Life Write Up

CLICK HERE to read the story.

A Happy Dog Day

Happy birthday Dylan dog! 3 is the magic number. 3x7 is 21. She's celebrating by having a beer in her bowl now that she's legal, licking herself, chewing on a new rawhide & napping. Sounds like my last birthday.

feeding hungry children and learning how to talk real good-like

alright. you all must go to www.freerice.com. it is a fun vocabulary-building game - and for every correct answer, you donate 20 grains of rice to a hungry child through the united nations.

i heard the guy who created it on npr this morning and he can't really break a score of 45 (you will see how the scores go). i believe 50 is prefect. i am hitting about 41. see how you do.

good luck to you and feed the children

A fun beat from outer space (an experimental improv jam)

Not sure what to make of this dude. How about Youtube as a medium for a music career? Hmm...

Christmas Movie? Whatever...

So the other night we watched our recent Blockbuster online delivery that we added to our queue because it's supposed to be a Christmas movie.

Whatever.

We got scammed.

So this movie is about some middle eastern people who are oppressed by the Roman government and weighed down by their taxes. Some young girl gets basically sold off by her dad to some older dude named Joseph. The girl ends up pregnant, Joseph gets pissed but has a dream that says it's okay, it's God's fault not some other guy. And there's all these birds that change into glowing people in white robes that talk to the main characters.

So they go to this town called Bethlehem and nobody will house them so they end up in a cave where Mary has this baby amongst donkeys and sheep and stuff. Shepherds come and visit as do three astronomers who give frank's incense (I don't know who Frank is), gold and myrrh (which apparently is a burial ointment. Nice gift for a baby guys).

Then there's a scene where all the boys ages 2 and under in Bethlehem get slaughtered by soldiers.

Merry Christmas.

Anyway...we got scammed. What does this have to do with Christmas? Where's the Santa and the elves and the ho, ho, hos and the reindeer and the credit card debt and the tinsel and stockings and snow, for goodness sakes. There wasn't even snow! No frosty, no Rudolph, no "every kiss begins with K" commercials. About the only thing that was Christmasy was the fact that there was traffic. It was CAMEL and DONKEY traffic but at least it was something.

Christmas movie. Whatever.

Oh man...how many days until May 22nd?

christmas in EAST nashville - over the river and through the hood

christmas is upon our little home on the ghetto side of the tracks in east nashville.

despite my desire to support the environmental cause in buying a farmed christmas tree, it was out of our budget this year. our "tree" is not artificial either. it is, in fact, the ultimate in hobo christmas trees!

sabrina got us this little gem by cutting off two large branches of a couple of pine trees near where she works and we tied them together with twine and to my microphone stand to hold them up. nothing like doing things on the cheap.

please note that the red skirt around the bucket, in which the branches are held, is the cursed red flag we stole from the sacred taoist mountain in china. and we have a star atop the tree - and what bigger star could you ask for than john wayne!

yep, it is christmas in our shanty town.

merry christmas to all and to all, chug-a-lug.

The Eden Dance

Amazon Kindle

And here I thought my new Palm Centro Smartphone was cool.

CLICK HERE

I want this for Christmas but it's sold out with no telling when they will have more AND it's 400 bones. : (

I Am Toby Mac

So we're at Toys R Us earlier tonight with the whole fam. We were about to leave when Meka had a massive dirty diaper. Real close to a blow out. So being the dutiful dad I pretend to be, I snatched her up, grabbed the diaper bag and headed to the boys room.

So as I'm changing her diaper this little boy keeps kind of looking at me funny and came in and out of the bathroom a couple of times. Like normally happens in public bathrooms. I would have thought that was weird except for the fact that I was totally focused on trying not to get poop on my jacket.

Anyway...I walked out of the bathroom towards the check out where Cheryl and her mom were and this little boy came up to me and said, "Are you Toby Mac?" I chuckled and said "No, I'm not. Sorry."

Who knew I look like the niche celebrity Toby Mac? I must have looked pretty sweet rock starish!

(FYI: Toby Mac is a Jesus followin' recording artist probably best known for being in the band DC Talk that had that one hit, Jesus Freak.)

Worth a 1,000

The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses

CLICK HERE

Thanks to Josh Reitano for the link.

The Greenest Christmas Tree

Charlie Brown knew what was up.

Okay, so I have been reading up a little bit on the subject and it seems universally agreed upon that buying a real Christmas tree every year is a true act of environmentalism. The evidence is pretty compelling. I suggest you all keep your fakes if you got 'em but consider a real tree as well with that sweet smell, perfect needles, and slight sap for the good of the green world. Here are a few words of support on this matter:



While they're growing, Real Christmas Trees support life by absorbing carbon dioxide and other gases and emitting fresh oxygen. Every acre of Christmas Trees grown produces the daily oxygen requirement for 18 people. In the United States, there are approximately 500,000 acres of Christmas Trees, which means that 9 million people a day are supplied with oxygen thanks to these trees and 500,000 acres of land stay green and do not get parking lots.

The farms that grow Christmas Trees stabilize soil, protect water supplies and provide refuge for wildlife while creating scenic green belts. Often, Christmas Trees are grown on soil that doesn't support other crops.

Real Christmas Trees Are Renewable.

Real Christmas Trees are grown on farms just like any other crop. To ensure a constant supply, Christmas Tree growers plant one to three new seedlings for every one tree they harvest.

On the other hand, artificial trees are a petroleum-based product manufactured primarily in Chinese factories. The average family uses an artificial tree for only six to nine years before throwing it away, where it will remain in a landfill for centuries after disposal.


See what other environmental experts have to say on the subject...

A Real Tree is five time more environmentally compatible than a plastic tree, according to this study by Swedish researchers.
The former president of Greenpeace, Dr. Patrick Moore, endorses Real Trees as the best environmental option for consumers.
The polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used in most artificial trees is boycotted by environmental groups. Read about the dangers of PVC.
The American Forests organization also supports the growth and use of Real Christmas Trees for many reasons.
For environmental reasons, Yoga Journal recommends a live or cut Christmas Tree over the use of an artificial tree.
According to an article in Newsweek, experts recommend that you should "always go real."

Song of the Week

So maybe this will begin a series of Christmas Songs of the Week?

This is a FABULOUS rocker from Reliant K. Meka and I were jamming out to it in the wagon tonight. She started head banging unsolicited.

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Reliant K CLICK HERE

"According to the 23rd annual survey, the cost of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is $19,507 in 2007, a 3.1 percent increase over last year."

And there is some symbolism from the song as well.

1 True Love refers to God
2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Ultimately I agree with Reliant K: "What's a partridge? What's a pear tree? I don't know so please don't ask me. But I can guess those are terrible gifts to get."

McBengals

This toy kitten from McDonald's is what the Bengals are like. Nice turquoise collar.

So the Bengals looked good on the first drive. And then . . . they turned into the McKittens.

How many takeaways did they get? And how many times did they fail to score on them? I can't even COUNT that high without my calculator. Okay, it was 4. To the Steelers 1. Ugh. The Steelers were handing them opportunities on a silver platter.

In fact, coming into the game the Bengals were 4-0 when they were + on turnovers and 0-7 when they were - on the turnovers. That changed. Ugh.

If only I had a good reason to be a Packers fan. Oh yeah, it wasn't a good week for that either.

Back to writing my paper, which sounds like a refreshing break after watching the game.

Reason I Love My Job #47

I purchased from Walgreens:

-10 pairs of Queen sized nude colored pantyhose
-3 packs of 100 balloons
-3 pairs of Christmas socks
-One pair of flashing antlers