I grew up eating Beans.  My Mom would make it several times a year and I developed my recipe based on watching her.  A lot of people call it Bean Soup or Navy Bean Soup.  But for those who grew up in the South or with families who started out on/… Read full post »

So, I went out and did it.  After 4 or more years of dutifully checking each week’s ad flyers from Best Buy, Fry’s, Target, WalMart, etc.  I finally got myself a BATV for Christmas. 

 

In case you’re wondering, BATV is a Big Ass TV, also known as an HDTV.  I/… Read full post »

It’s still a couple of days before Christmas and like many others, I am by now extremely weary of the incessant clang of that which passes for “Christmas music” assaulting my ears.  Each year a local radio station goes to 24/7 Christmas music just after Thanksgiving. 

&nb… Read full post »

Oh Boy!  It’s Christmas week and I can hardly wait!  I’m 58 years old and still get excited.  Now, I’m not going to get silly and wait all night for Santa to arrive.  I spent too many years myself as Santa to do that.  But we are going to have fun.… Read full post »

OSPress—Doniphan, MO

 

In the social event of the fall, a full scale barn raising was held recently at Doniphan’s “Almosta Ranch” owned by “Torman” and Mel McClain.  This near ranch is a work in progress and the barn raising was in commemoration of the lo/… Read full post »

I can’t take all the credit for this.  I had lots of help from Mrs. CB (interesting that just happens to be her real initials too).  But, I have out done myself.  I have set the bar to new heights of “cheap bastidliness”.  And it was glorious.

We just managed to… Read full post »

All day, every day I sit in a cubbyhole that’s 15 feet from a compact stereo which is tuned to a radio station which is playing Christmas music 24/7.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I have nothing against Christmas music.  I love Christmas music.  I love to listen to Chris/… Read full post »

Carolyn went out and bought a bear yesterday.  Not just any old bear.  This is a special bear.  Wilford the Bear.  She thinks he looks and is built like Wilford Brimley.  And he’s about the same size as Wilford Brimley too.

We’ve been talking about what to get ever… Read full post »

I was really glad to see NBC doing a second season of “The Sing Off”—a 3 week competition of some of the top a capella singing groups in the nation.  This is the “real” Glee!

 

 

 

Last year’s winner was a group of 5 young men from Puerto… Read full post »

I knew this would happen sooner or later.  For a couple of years now I have been reveling in cheapness; celebrating frugality; turning feats of parsimony into heroism.  I have become a legend in my own mind.

 

All that came crashing down around me the other day.

 

It was a Saturday… Read full post »

Today’s the day.  I’ve got the day off and then I’m working for the next 6.  So today I have to do up my grocery list for Thanksgiving and check out where I can get “The Bird”.

 

 

 

But then again, we don’t buy a whole bird. … Read full post »

For years I have been either buying “dinner rolls” for Thanksgiving or baking up a tube or 2 of refrigerated “Grands”.  Not bad, but not all that fantastic either.  Recently, I started on a quest to come up with the “perfect” homemade biscuit.

 

Part… Read full post »

 

Garrison Keillor has often included references to Cream of Mushroom soup in his monologues about Lake Wobegon on “A Prairie Home Companion”.  According to him, Cream of Mushroom soup is one of the things that Scandinavian Lutherans and Germanic Catholics in his tiny town share… Read full post »

 (Note: I shared this story and  recipe last year and thought I’d publish again with enough time for you to make plans to give it a try). 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner—although it’s kind of hard to tell with all the Christmas advertising that’s going… Read full post »

I thought that at age 59 I’d be pretty much over this but I guess not.  You see, three weeks ago my 21 year old step-daughter moved in with us.  That’s no big deal.  She works full-time and goes to college part-time.  We’ve got a smallish 2 bedroom apartment… Read full post »

 

Today’s my day off.  And it’s really hot here in Vista, CA today.  Try 99 degrees.  Thank goodness we had some rain recently or there would definitely be some fires in this first real Santa Ana of the year.

 

But that’s not what I’m scribbling about… Read full post »

 

Dear Mrs. Freshley and Dollar Tree,

 

We were in your store recently to buy one of my favorite work treats—Mrs. Freshley’s Buddy Bars.  They’re a real deal at $1 a box.

 

(For those who are not aficionados, Buddy Bars are delectable chocolate covered wafers with… Read full post »

It’s Fall. And in some parts of the country that means that it’s getting cooler, the leaves have turned, nights are longer and there’s even been some snow.  That makes it time for “comfort food”.  Well, here’s a one pot meal that will warm you up and fill/… Read full post »

We’ve just about quit eating bacon at our place.  Have you noticed how damned expensive it’s gotten this year?  Our favorite brand (best quality and best price) at the grocery store has gone from $1.99 a pound about 6 months ago to $3.49.

 

 

Maybe I ought to che… Read full post »

Not that anyone else on the North American continent cares but that bastion of culture in which I live, California, continues to remind me more of a break-away former Soviet Republic or what used to be called a Banana Republic in Central America than the “Bear Republic” which joined the u… Read full post »

This comes in the form of confession.  A year ago I wrote a piece titled “Wuss Shows Beware, “Sons of Anarchy” will Kick Your Ass".  I am here to retract all those words.

 

We eagerly awaited the premier of the new season of “Sons of Anarchy”(Tuesda… Read full post »

For no other reason than it's Friday and people are getting ready for the weekend, I decided to post one of my favorite 3 or 4 Jimmy Buffett tunes, Pencil Thin Mustache.  It reminds me of younger, more carefree, fun times. 

Check out the old video of Buffett and the… Read full post »

Sometimes you can be just too damn cheap.  Like when sweet corn was on special last week at Fraiser Farms at 6 for $1.  That’s the cheapest it’s been all year.  So I bought some. 

 

 

 

Well, last week was a busy week at work.  I wasn’t… Read full post »

A couple of weeks ago, I saw my neighbor Tony head out with his large dog Brutus for a morning walk.  Tony wanted to turn either left or right down the sidewalk.  Brutus didn’t.

But Brutus is about the most even tempered dog I’ve ever seen.  He didn’t bark or grow…

Read full post »

Yahoo News just put up a story that shows comedian Bill Maher with a video from his old "Politically In-Correct" show of U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell (Delaware) confessing to having dabbled in witchcraft in her younger days. 

Now maybe this should be in the category of th… Read full post »