They're yellow, I'm sure of that...

I *think* these are Engelmann daisies, according to a Texas wildflower website.

Scientific Name: (Engelmannia pinnatifida)
Definition: Part of the Sunflower Family (Asteraceae), the Engelmann daisy is a favorite for grazing with livestock and much of the plant has been eaten out of the grasslands, prairies and savannah that makes up so much of Texas. Grows upright to spreading with stems stout and woody, one to several. Flower heads 1-2" across, usually 8 petals. Flowers found few to several ending in clusters. Grows in all parts of state except Northeast. Blooms February - November.

On the other hand, they may very well be:

Damianita

Scientific Name: (Chrysactinia mexicana)
Definition: Damianita is a strongly scented, leafy shrub growing 1 - 2 feet. Flowers are golden yellow, 1 inch across on slender stems at the end of branches. Blooms June - October.

Both look very much alike to me, but it has more petals than what the first one described.

Taken on a dirt road just off of Hwy 60 in front of the Arrington ranch house (now a bed and breakfast). Some of the scenes from the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away were filmed there. (photos of that to follow!)

YouTube Recommends

Cast Away is one of my favorite movies, and this blog is at the top or very nearly so in searches for the flick (well, at least for the scenes that were filmed near here) , but I think YT is overestimating my interest in the movie:

(click for larger view)

Nic Cage as Everyone

Another of my favorite sites I subscribe to in my Google Reader.

Nic Cage as Everyone has a simple but brilliant premise, namely to put Cage's face on everyone's body. Granted, they haven't done everyone on Earth as of this writing, but most of the Photoshopped creations done so far are hilarious.

Here are a few of my recent favs:

Cage as Michael Jackson



as George Washington



With a nod to Cast Away:



Nic Cage as Everyone

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I had been meaning to post about this blog for a while, but always managed to forget. My memory was jogged today when I noticed Cage was the Caricature of the Day .

Texas Heritage Trails

From the website:

The Texas You Will Remember!

Big Region! Big History! Big Fun!

The Texas Plains Trail Region is a wonderfully warm place to make your holiday memories. Our communities are filled with old-fashioned ways to celebrate this season with your family. Our region offers lots of quaint shops to find that special gift and Christmas celebrations that are sure to bring a smile. Check out the events calendar to plan an outing that will be remembered forever.

I believe I had come across this site before, searching for links about the Panhandle area, but today noticed a hit from the website on one of the "Cast Away" posts. The webmaster has been good enough to include this blog on their Movies in the Plains Region page.

We're gettin' famous here, folks...although, face it, we're a Pee Wee Herman blog in a Robert Redford universe.

The British Invasion

Noticed that this blog was getting quite a few hits in a short period of time, most from places in the U.K. Went and checked and sure 'nuff, the movie "Cast Away" was just on BBC 1 (think it was) A few have found this site via searches and others by a link I left at IMDB.

Welcome to ToTG!

Wonder if I could make money by selling authentic dirt from the intersection?

In Russia

The weight loses you!

I follow a pretty cool website in my reader,  English Russia.  They post a lot of photos of ordinary people plus those of abandoned buildings & missile complexes, rusting military equipment, polluted areas, etc.  (It doesn't do much to allay the conception that life in Russia is bleak) Some of my favorite posts are of pretty girls and aspiring models, cheer leading teams and the like...IOW, women.

There's a place for comments after each post and as is almost always the case, there are some trolls trying to stir up trouble, with some saying the girls look like prostitutes and the regular Russian readers replying that all American women are hookers (or fat or stupid).  It's like a cold war of words. 

I don't comment there anymore, not since a year or so ago when I used another Gmail account as my address; before the day was out, it got hacked and I immediately changed my password and deleted everything out of my contact list and all mails I had saved. (I was warned because I have an alert that will email me in case of any suspicious activity.) I think I've commented once since then, but left a fake addy and name, something like "putin_sux@drunkrussians.com"   (Hey, if the cold war is firing up again, I want to shoot a round at 'em) If this had happened when I first got online, I would never have visited the site again, but I think I have my computer locked down pretty well and I haven't had any trouble since then.

This post just hit my reader:  Good Job, Tatiana! and it has a series of photos of a young woman from childhood all the way to now as a young woman.  She was a chubby little thing as a girl, then looked pretty good for about a year or so, but now she's *almost* painfully thin. (JMHO)

I'm not going to post a photo from the site because just today I found a site that had nabbed some of my Cast Away photos and passed them off as their own and I don't want to be a hypocrite by doing the same thing. (and besides, I'm leery of asking permission since the hacking job) If he had only asked, I probably would have given him permission to use them as long as he had credited this blog as the source.  I left a scathing reply and if he doesn't take them down or give me credit, I will contact his hosting service.  It's just the principle of the thing, y'know?

I bet he's got some Russian blood in him.
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If you're wondering about the title "In Russia...the weight loses you" it's a tribute to that great Russian comic Yakov Smirnoff and his "Russian Reversal" jokes.

Rich German Chocolate Brownies

Yesterday (Friday) the StartSampling website had this recipe:

The trademark German chocolate brownie is made of mild, sweet chocolate and has an irresistibly rich and gooey nutty, coconut frosting.

Prep Time:15 min
Start to Finish:1 hr 50 min
Makes:24 brownies

Ingredients
1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/4 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy coconut pecan frosting
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Heat oven to 350F. In 3-quart saucepan, melt 2 cups chocolate chips and the butter over low heat, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Stir in flour, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, salt and eggs. Spread batter in ungreased 13x9-inch pan.

Bake 27 to 34 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

In medium bowl, mix frosting, 1 cup chocolate chips and the walnuts. Spread frosting mixture over brownies. For brownies, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): No change.

Source: Betty Crocker

(hey, if they can copy off of Betty Crocker, I can copy it from them)

Not that recipes will become a part of this blog, but I just wanted to put this in. The brownies look SO delicious....but I don't really like coconut.

Back when I was a kid, my sisters and I would wake up on Christmas mornings to presents and goodies. Sometimes our goody basket would have exotic nuts, a pineapple and coconuts.

I woke up in the middle of the night, went into the living room where Santa had already left the presents, looked at mine, snooped around my sisters and decided I'd eat one of the coconuts.

I took it out to the garage, put dad's claw hammer to work and gulped down the milk and gnawed the coconut meat down to the shell.

That wasn't enough for my little greedy gut: I decided one coconut was good, so two must be twice as nice. I crept back into the house, careful not to awaken anyone, grabbed the other coconut, took it out to the garage and ate it, too.

Like the character in Cast Away says "Betcha didn't know coconut is a natural laxative."

I've known that since that Christmas Day.

I also took the cure on pineapple, too. My mom had one of those big jars full of brandied fruit, pineapple and cherries, I forget what-all was in it. It was fermented, and was an adult treat, not for kids. The alcohol content wasn't all THAT much, but it adds up...

...if you eat nearly the entire jar.

Nope, to this day I don't like pineapple or coconut. I'd be in a helluva shape if I was stuck on some desert island like Tom Hanks was in the movie.

There's always monkey meat, I guess.

FedEx Cast Away Commerical

Lazy Sunday

I haven't been doing much in this blog - as you can tell, huh? I really haven't felt like it, plus I really need to run a new line to this computer and increase my speed back up to where it's supposed to be. In fact, the snail's pace of my DSL connection has kept me from doing much at all online. I've got some photos to upload, but I don't care to play a half-dozen games of Hearts waiting on the upload and I can forget having more than one or two tabs open at a time. I really enjoy listening to my Launchcast radio, but it takes so long to load the player I've almost given up on that.

Yesterday was really a lazy day for me and other than playing the ToTG Triva Tournament, I didn't check in here, not even to check the visitor stats from either of the "counters" I have. It must have been a lazy Sunday for everyone else because we had the least amount of visitors since I started the blog, unique OR repeat.



Still, there were a few visitors to the Cast Away threads and a couple for my post on "The Short Bus" but I was surprised there was no one checking out "My Sister's Feet" or the Gay Dwarfs.

Your Vote DOES Count!

I've pretty much voted Republican since I became of voting age and when I didn't like the candidate that particular party put forth, I would either leave that selection blank or vote Libertarian. I have voted for a Dem. representative a few years back, an incumbent that was doing a decent job. I also used to vote for a few local offices held by "Democrats"; they usually ran unopposed. (it's a small town)

It was the election of '92 and while I had voted for Bush (sr) in '88, his "Read my lips..." fiasco made me turn away from him on his re-election. I was also disappointed he (Bush) kept Dan Quayle as his V.P. I didn't want to vote for Clinton because his sexual escapades were beginning to come to light. (I was just jealous.....just kidding.) Even though Perot was a Texan, I didn't think much of his candidacy and his reliance on charts and graphs to "prove" his points. (Shades of Al Gore!) I also didn't like his accent. -grin-

So, I cast my ballot for the Libertarian candidate, even though I knew nothing about him. (I like the Libertarian party's platform, but I'm not convinced it is realistic) I vote Libertarian a LOT for the state races, especially against an incumbent. I simply don't like someone staying in office too long.

I vote in Precinct 10, and when the results were published in the newspaper, I could see my vote REALLY counted, it was out there in black and white for all to see!