December 31, 2007  New Year's Eve
 
First of all, I have to report that the Turducken (tur-du-kin) Roll we had for Christmas dinner was delicious! Being made of the breast meat from turkey, duck and chicken with Cajun sausage stuffing is juicy and tasty and was a hit with the family. The discreet flavors of each of the meats permeated the others via the juices. I could've taken a bit more of the Cajun sausage stuffing, although what was there was a wonderful counterpoint to the fowl. Next year I might try the full Turducken.
 
Now we've arrived at that time of year when we get to look back a the past 365 days and reflect on the good and bad things that have happened to us, in hopes that we can improve in the coming year. Here's my list of good (+) and bad (-) for 2007...
 

• (+)
I finally got consistantly good numbers on my cholesterol, triglcerides and other related health issues, as well as keeping my blood glucose levels from growing.
• (-)
Bush and Cheney have not been impeached for creating a phony war or for rapidly bankrupting America.
• (-)
The Democrats elected to change the fiasco of the Bush administration have caved in to practically every issue demanded by Bush.
• (-)
No reform has occured to aid US healthcare issues.
• (+)
Cheney has not shot anyone (that we're aware of) in 2007.
• (-)
Hillary hasn't magically disappeared as most have hoped.
• (-)
GW has managed to screw up petroleum prices to provide his buddies with record profits.

Hmmm.... The sad thing is that there are still die-hard Republicans who can't accept the fact that GW Bush is a bigger crook than Nixon and a bigger traitor than Aaron Burr, who conspired to detach the Western states and the Louisiana Purchase from the United States and create his own empire, or Benedict Arnold, who attempted to control, then sell the US military to foreign interests for his own gain.
 
Our economy is so messed up and devalued that foreign countries, rich in money (Japan) or oil (Dubai) are rapidly buying up American businesses and soil, thanks to Gee-Whiz Bush!! He has raised the national debt from just over 2 trillion dollars when he took office to over 9 trillion dollars....estimated to be the amount that could be paid off if every man, woman and child American citizen would pay over $30,000 dollars each out of pocket!!
 
So, enough of lamenting the absurdity brought to us by our dubious government this past year. Time to look forward to of another new year with the promise of hope and improvement that we all wish it holds.
 
Wishing Ya'll a Happy and Healthy New Year!
 

 
Until 2008.....DKHT

December 25, 2007     Merry Christmas!   2007
 

 
I went through a couple of boxes of old pictures and postcards that were buried out in mom's garage. There were a number that contained Christmas greetings sent between relatives from years long ago. I thought you might appreciate them.

 
   Merry Christmas! from DKHT

December 21, 2007  Countdown to Christmas
 
We've been fortunate to have some decent weather for the past few days, although it's supposed to turn nasty this weekend. Hopefully the weather will change again by Christmas day.
 
I've spent a lot of time on the Internet in the past month-plus. Part of the reason is due to the frustratingly slow internet connection here. Pages take forever to load and servers often time out. But I eventually got all online gift orders completed except for a gift card from the Gap/Old Navy/Banana Republic server farm...their code is unusually convoluted in the realm of checkout and dropped my order each time... After several phone calls for service, each one sending me to the wrong department, one service rep gave me the number I needed and a nice gal took my order in just a couple of minutes (The gift card I wanted was available only on the 'net).
 
The gifts have arrived at their appointed homes and all is well. However, Mom just advised me that we would be providing Christmas dinner not only for us but for my Aunt, Uncle and 2 cousins. The Turducken Roll I ordered months back is marginal to feed this group (a full-sized Turducken would be too much) and I'm not sure about some of my relative's tastes regarding Cajun spices, so we're expanding the tentative menu a bit.....
 
How does this sound?

• Traditional Toast: Brut champaign, non-alcoholic sparkling wine
• Appetizers: chilled shrimp, ham/2-cheese/green onion in low-carb tortilla roll-ups
• Main meat course: Turducken roll and spiral cut smoked ham
• Potatoes: Mashed potatoes and gravy (Dixie Diner low carb potato substitute for me), sweet potatoes with marshmallows, etc.
• Vegetables: Green bean and fried onion casserole, baked butternut squash with cinnamon and brown sugar (Splenda), sweetened baked pecans, small lettuce side salad
• Misc: Stuffing, fresh rolls, devilled eggs, lime jello with cream cheese and fresh pears
• Beverage(s): Coffee, Iced tea, choice of Merlot or Chardonnay or non-alcoholic sparkling wine
• Dessert: Pecan pie w/whipped topping, coconut cream pie
• After-dinner aperitif: Sherry, eggnog (spiked or plain)

 
On other fronts....
 
I kinda bought myself a present, although it's practicality will serve to cover a number of legal and technical needs. Years ago my HP scanner technology became obsolete, so I bought a Visioneer OneTouch 9120 scanner that has a nifty backlight feature for scanning photographic slides. However, my old HP came with a rudimentary OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that lets you convert the sheets you scan into editable pages in your favorite word processor or spreadsheet programs. My mom's possessions are in a Family Trust for tax purposes, and occasionally major items change and the associated documentation requires change. The Trust document occupies most of a 1.5 inch notebook. Changes do not require an attorney but they do need to be properly signed, initialled and notarized. I take care of most of this stuff, but I hate to retype entire pages when only a few words are changed. So... I researched OCR software and decided that ABBYY or Read I.R.I.S. were what I needed, although they're both kinda pricey. However, I found, bid and won ReadIRIS Pro 11 for half the normal price. I received it in 2 days (the seller is in Dallas), and I couldn't be more pleased. This is heavy-duty software that can be trained to read hand-written notes! But it cleanly reads and interprets font changes, embedded pictures and other such features, and has multi-format capabilities across word processor and PDF formats. Cool....! And it works with the 9120 even 'tho the 9120 isn't listed in it's covered interfaces.
 
I've been trying to send off a few e-cards for Christmas, but I'm not having much luck. I select the card, customize it and prep the email info, only to obtain a cryptic error message. This is all on the ICQ site which offers great cards and is usually robust.
 
Lastly, best wishes to pal Paul who bought a huge multi-mega-watt guitar amplifier and messed up his innards with the bass boost. OK, maybe that's really not the cause and effect, but we still wish him the best at getting through his medical problems with a minimum of pain.
 
Until later.....DKHT

December 11, 2007  Winding Down From the Holiday Rush...Maybe...
 
Finally all holiday shopping is done, gifts are flying through the ethereal delivery realms shared by USPS, UPS, Fed EX, DHL and 'Murray, the Delivery Guy' (a new contender in the discount delivery market).
 
98% of my Christmas cards are in the considerate hands of the Post Office. When in the H..E.. double hockey sticks did they up the price of a first class stamp to 41 cents? I'm not mailing this stuff to the moon and back! Pony express riders used to carry a letter from St. Louis, MO to San Francisco for a penny postage. They had a 95% probability of havin to fight off Injuns and robbers, and plain ornery weather to deliver the mail. The Pony Express riders had a very short lifespan. But you can't convince me that our modern postal workers, comfortable in their heated and air conditioned facilities can charge an additional 40 cents just because one of their own kind occasionally goes "postal" and may bring an AK-47 to work! Where is their Pioneer spirit? Maybe the USPS should return to energy-efficient horses. Based on my research the mail might actually arrive a day or two sooner.
 
I do have e-cards or e-greetings to send to friends for whom I don't have an address. Actually, e-cards are the future, but it's hard to send an e-card to someone who doesn't have a computer. I've tried and it doesn't work. There's a very important group of folks that are part of my online community.... friends, acquaintances and pals who have relied upon email for our primary source of communication... Maybe next year will begin a large downsizing in paper Christmas cards sent by moi.
 
The weather changed from a balmy 75° when I arrived to 35° the day after. North Texas weather can be much like a yo-yo this time of year: warm and sunny for several days only to chill out with sleet and frozen rain for several days following. Since the most severe weather in North Texas history happened to coincide with my visit last year, I feared becoming the scapegoat of another super storm predicted for this area. I managed to dodge that bullet when the storm shifted north and wreaked havoc in Oklahoma instead. We just got tons of much-needed rain which may have saved the local wheat crops.
 
However, Wichita Falls has had a few days of freezing and wet conditions. Which has shown just how incompetent the TXDOT and their civil engineers are. The big project downtown for the past several years has been the construction of the "FLYOVER". Granted, with one Interstate, seven primary highways and several business highway alternatives virtually colliding at one point downtown, traffic has been confusing and dangerous for a long time. TXDOT came up with the FLYOVER project that puts many of the LA elevated interchanges to shame. Most of the project was opened to the public earlier this year. The topmost tier is in .... suspension. Construction crews attempted to set the two remaining sections when they discovered that the sections were offset by several inches.
 
Yet, last week was the first time that normal traffic on the lower tiers met the effects of freezing rain and below freezing North Texas winds. The FLYOVER suddenly became the SLIDEOVER, SKATEOVER, SPINOVER destroying car after car. The sand trucks were dispatched and encountered their own difficulties negotiating the spider of steel and concrete, until local authorities finally caved in and closed this marvel to engineering gone afoul. Hasbro has better designs. There are rumors that the major auto insurance companies are in feverish bidding to erect billboards in this region
 
A day or so later the weather warmed up, the FLYOOPS was reopened and we got to go out to the farm.
 
The farm is a 20 acre tract owned by my uncle and cousin. Cousin Steve's house occupies an acre or so on the west end. The rest is set up for grazing the herd. My mom and I met up with my Uncle Al and Aunt Gean out there to check on the animals since Steve was out of town for several days on other family matters. The animals consist of a red bull, a red cow, a whiteface cow (due to deliver a calf any day) and two newbies...A wild mustang from the national mustang adoption program and a wild donkey from a similar program. Enjoy a few pictures of that visit....
 

 
Until later.....DKHT