Ode to the Ides...

The Roman Colosseum We took this pic from the Palatino.

The Ides of March.... Not some special holiday just the day when Julius Caesar was killed in 44BC.

Before Caesars death the Ides simply marked the appearance of the full moon and chanting "Beware the Ides of March" was completely associated with Shakespeare, although Caesars Soothsayer most likely warned him of the date in a similar way.

So today we're going to a TOGA party. I'm baking a Roman Cake to take with us.

Here's the recipe....

225 gms spelt wheat flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp ground rosemary 100 gms almonds 1 tsp cinnamon 3 tbspns sweet sherry 4 tbspns dark red grape juice 1 tbspn honey Milk - enough to make a soft consistency Assemble ingredients. Heat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF). Mix the flour and baking powder together. You can sift the flour if you wish but it is not necessary and the more roughage in the cake, the better. Blend the rosemary, almonds and cinnamon. Add to the flour mixture. Combine sherry grape juice and honey. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and stir, adding the milk while stirring. Pour mixture into round or loaf tin lined with baking paper. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, less if browning too much.

We were just in Rome this past xmas, and I did promise to write about our trip, but for now I'll just post a few pics.

Ruins on Paletine Hill

More of Paletine Hill... I loved the trees!!

So there really isn't a connection with the Ides of March and my own life except maybe

the secret wish to see another TYRANT

taken out of office.

Inbred Uprising

Shelter, Wrong Turn, the MothMan..... I could go on and on..... What are West Virginians really afraid of? We've got a ton of freakish movies that were either filmed in WV or about WV.... what's one more?? Recently, poor schmuck Donna Belajac was fired from her job, because she sent out a casting call for extras with unusual features. This was for the horror/thriller Shelter to be released in 2009. The WV Governors "Office"called it insensitive. LOL!! Then the rest of the sheep lined up to give their opinions of hollywood and complain about stereotyping... blah blah blah. Of course the movie director claimed no knowledge of the casting call and apologized. Even the casting director claimed she meant no disrespect.... I'm sure that was BEFORE she was fired. My issue with this is.... How in the HELL are the backwoods, inbred folk of WV ever gonna get a break if we don't know Hollywood is looking for us. Somebody needs to tell them they don't have to look far for what they want. All they need to do is go to a 7-11 or any side-of-the-road convenience store anytime after school lets out, and take their pick. If unusual features means an entire family missing eyebrows, or having pointed ears, then you need look no further. Politicians just take themselves too seriously, and unfortunately want us to do the same. Try protecting our state from some serious damage like strip mining or deforestation or put a few more regulations on dumping sewage into our rivers and streams. In 2006 the Census recorded that nearly 1/5th of WVs population was handicapped. Now, either there's a lot of government scamming going on, or we've got a problem in WV. So, if the good folks from Hollywood had read those stats then they could only imagine there would be a plethora of freaky faces to choose from. Were the producers really intent on insulting West Virginians... I don't think so. Yes they may have been perpetuating a most often funny and not always untrue stereotype, but come on..... lets face reality. Humans have been making fun of one another since we stood on two legs for the first time. We've also used our differences to alienate, punish and kill. When we allow what anyone says to or about us to anger us, we're only empowering that person. I could be appalled at the gay community for their almost religious fervor when it comes to bad gay films. Usually the gay theme means there's drugs cheating, cross dressing and the always present, "fruit fly"! Worse, it might be anything like Will n Grace. Fortunately, by ignoring the gay stereotypes we see on TV, we're allowing a much greater thing to happen. While cunningly amusing the neandertals that stereotypically exist in places like "the south", we're secretly taking over the earth. The Truth??? We "gays" make fun of ourselves so you can't! Why can't we do that as West Virginians? Instead of getting all high and mighty and complaining about being cast as inbred and with physical abnormalities, just get over it. Only ignorant inbred apes still believe those things about WV anyhow. You want to be proud of where you're from West Virginia????? Try picking up some of the trash in your OWN back yard and I mean that symbolically. Go Hollywood..... keep that smoke screen going!!! I just wish my hump were bigger so I could be in your movie!! In case some of you aren't sure what symbolically means, then here's a more direct picture just for you. This is the typical scene at one of our local area recreation spots. Usually it's worse. Now you say anything about WV and they'll beat you down..... dump your crap on the side of the road and you're a good ole boy!

Clearing the cunfusion...

I guess from the e-mails I've received, I need to clear up an identity issue.

I'm proud to introduce to the internet world........ The Great Shaw P. Mills.... otherwise known by all us

folk from Down County as Shawpy.

He'll be using my blog once a week to share a lifetime

of experience with us all.

As soon as I can get him to agree I'll post his Pic! His latest and first post, "praise me sum jesus"

was just an introduction. I've know ole Shawpy my whole life and there's nobody who can tell stories

about my family and friends, better than him. Hell he's almost related as are most folk from down county.

I hope his words of wisdom carry through in a

bright light!

Here's a glimpse of the real Down County!! 1967

Praise me Sum Jesus

Good mawnin!! Dis here be da Great Shaw P. Mills. Dat would be P fo PRAISE Me Sum Jesus!!! Can I get a amen up in here???

I can't begin to tell you how exsited I was to get to speak to all you good folk! I promised I'd write tell ya all the stories of my friends and neighbors, but I feels the urgent need to share my feelin on this....

Now we's gots us an election comin up, and lets me tell you now, we in trouble people we in BIG trouble. We gots to decide who we wants to be leading this here God Given Country of ours.

So far we gots a black man, a white woman, and old geezer, and sumthin they call a Huckabee. I ain't sure what religion that is. He hasta be one of those paganists.

First of all we all know whats gonna happen if we elect the black man..... Yall think Bill Clinton had sum Hoes up in da white house.... Lordy Lordy Lordy! He's gonna have his own soul train of tail going up in there. He might be acting all straight n holy now, but ain't no black man ever showed his rightful color till after he got what he wanted. mmmm hmmmm...... ...... I no dat!!

Then yous gots the white woman. GAWD Hep us if she get in there. I gots one word for you... PMS..... ....... and if she ain't got that then its gonna be........ the menapaws. She already so angry she had to get her a surgery smile. Had you seen her ...... a lately? She be looking like the joker from that there batmens.

Now the old guy, he can't do da job. We already tried that with Ole Ronnie and we know how dat ended up! They might has well called Nancy the first woman president.

So I guess like gettin a suprise in a box of cracker jax.. ... HAHAHA I said cracker.... We just gonna have to see what this huckabee BE all about. So there ya gots it.

I hopes I was sum help to ya. Now lets bow our heads and pray to the awlmity gawd, that he direct us where we need to go. Hopefully sumplace wit liquor.... ...... hehehe! You good folk take care now and I be talking wit ya nex week!

Oh and tell yo momma, take da chain off the door. She be axsin me fo a password and crazy stuff!! Tell her I leave my shoes on next time.

Bye now.

What Really Matters?

We survived yesterday pretty well. Yesterday was two months since we lost Blaze. This is his memorial resting place. He's on the mantle in our bedroom. He loved this room because it was quiet and because here he got to spend the most time with us. Never big for being on the bed.... his spot was always on a rug next to it..... his choice. I took the opportunity yesterday to remember Blaze by removing the fence in our backyard. He always hated that fence and I hated the reason it was installed. Now he's free to run wherever the hell he wants. :) So here's to you Blaze! We miss you still.... our hearts remain heavy with sadness. This Eulogy is for you...... I'm certain you would approve.

Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn's rain. When you awaken in the morning's hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the stars that shine at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there, I did not die...

PSYCHO BITCH (click it for the 411)

Remember how I told you by waiting too long to Blahg, too many things happen and I wouldn't remember them all or be able to properly SHARE my experience? Well, If you ever have a friend tell you she's getting divorced..... RUN. Run as fast as you freakin can, because if she starts confiding in you then you're in it for the long haul. I should know.... I tried to get out. Recently an old friend of mine told me her hubby confessed he wasn't happy in their current situation and that he'd been this way for a couple years. Now he hadn't cheated, he just wanted out. Of course I was concerned for my friend and I told her so, but I also told her I wasn't taking sides. I was once the victim of an evil oxygen sucking cow and was COMPLETELY aware that divorce is a two sided story. I heard how he had broken their vows... lost her trust... ruined her life and I admit... some of what she told me upset me, but I still was NOT taking sides. My problem here and the reason I HAD to stay involved was because I had some antique furniture stored in their basement. Their impending split meant I would have to retrieve it soon. Now she had told me several times how "dangerous" he had become and once even told me not to take my 3.5 yr old grandson by there, because she didn't feel it was a safe environment for him, that she was unsure what her future ex might do. WTF???? I might not know whats going on between them, but I can pretty much guarantee that a friend I've known for 7 yrs and who's known me, is NOT going to harm my grandson.... Unless of course he has a fucking death wish. So I call him.... we talk for over an hour and I'm feeling sorry for the guy. I'm concerned for his well being. I explain how I got roped into helping his future ex pack and move, but that I REALLY DON'T want to be in the middle or anywhere near their house on that particular day. Too much of a possibility for mayhem. So, we make arrangements for me to get my stuff the day before the move. Oh, I forgot this... he's not suppose to know she's coming.... that was a big secret I was suppose to keep. NOT........ I told him. That very evening she called him herself and told him, so I was off the hook. So I go friday, get my stuff and before I get home, she's called me. Apparently she has a bitchy bitter neighbor that felt it was her business to call when she saw us there. Being a seasoned MAN.... I know to NEVER return a call to an upset woman after the first call. Give her time to make the second call and see if her mood changes. Hers did...... 17 calls in 2.5 hours. The messages started with "call me" and ended with "YOU OWE ME AN EXPLANATION!!!" I never called her back and I never will. The one and only reason she'll never get a phone call from me....... I DON'T OWE ANY BITCH THAT YELLS AT ME..... AN EXPLANATION...... FOR ANYTHING!!!! Ahhhhhh.... I feel better. I probably should have gotten therapy for that issue years ago, but I guess as long as friends keep getting divorced I'll always have a place to vent. I have my furniture back. She did show up when she said she would...... Cleaned him THE FUCK OUT..... May she figure out a way to enjoy all the THINGS she took, because there is no joy in anything acquired the way she did it. Her bitterness will be the death of her. I wish her a calm understanding of what has happened to her life. Seven years as a friend and she put me in a situation that has caused me much grief. I'm done.

Now I know why most people blahg every day. Sorry for labeling it "blahg", but my rambling just doesn't rate up there with what so many people think of their blogs. Too often my daily writing would be about mundane things like how I felt this morning or what we ate for dinner, so I wait a few days in between. Well, Now my heads full of thoughts and emotions are pouring out of me and since Im NOT a writer.... it's all gonna fall to place a big jumble. This past week we had our grandson stay with us. He's almost 4 and thank the gods he's potty trained. He's also capable of emptying every bottle of liquid on the bathroom counter in less than 3 minutes. Secretly posing as a poster child for ADHD you can pretty much guess I'm beat dead tired now. I have to say though... he gives the best hugs!! He really got into our daily walks. A few days it was just too bitter cold for a nature walk so we'd just go to Mal-Wart or the grocery store and walk the aisles. Just outside on the patio! We made MANY road trips. Often we went for breakfast just as an excuse to get out of the house. Allowing a 4 yr old to decide where we would eat was always an adventure. Sheetz seems to be his favorite! Here we are eating in the Jeep across from the horse stables. The obligatory Jefferson Rock shot. If you've ever been to Harpers Ferry and missed Jefferson rock then you've got to come back. It's best early Early EARLY in the morning before the tourons show up. He's showing off for the camera in one of the many sets of stairs that seems to pop up out of nowhere and often lead to nowhere. I hope this pic isn't some sort of foreshadowing. Sitting on an ammo case in the John Brown Fort (The Engine House) Gathering up ANOTHER rock. I still have all the rocks he's ever collected. We parked ourselves on the JB Obelisk to watch a train go by. This obelisk sits where the engine house sat when John Brown was captured there in 1859. Well sort of where it sat..... Several feet down was the origianl street level. Much has changed in the name of preservation. Funny how that happens. Here in the toasty warm train station he discovered chimneys have an echo. All our walks involved stairs or steps or hills of some kind, but he loved the town steps the most. Maybe it was because they were wooden and he could really stop on them. So our week came to an end.... his mom n dad returned stayed a couple days and today the house fell silent once again. Poor Dash really misses his playmate. He's still moping around like he's lost his best friend..... same thing JR did his first couple days here. It's funny how puppies and little boys are so alike.