Another Crook from Illinois? Thanks Capone!

This is a pipe bone - sometimes they are much smaller

I think Jeff is a hoarder. Every couple of days or so I will give him a pipe bone. Many times I will also give one to his friend Kona (you may have seen her butt in a photo on Jeff Helser's Facebook page a few days ago). The reason I say that he is a hoarder is because today he took the bone and went out by the log pile near the fire pit and buried it. Right now Jeff is in the backyard looking up in a tree near where he buried the bone and he is barking his head off. Can you guess what is up in that tree? Yes, his arch nemesis - the squirrel. This time it is nowhere near the house or any other tall trees so the squirrel is probably pooping his little pants. The smart money is still on the squirrel. He will just hang-out in the tree as long as it takes or find things to throw at Jeff like he/she has done in the past. Now, it is just a waiting game. Never-mind, the squirrel won. Kona barked next door and Jeff lost interest in the squirrel and went to their yard. Kona was probably barking, "shut the Hell up Jeff."

Last night for Taco Tuesday I made tortilla soup. I had never made it before but I must admit that it is delicious. I say is because I am having another of bowl for breakfast right now as I type this. I got to use some of the leftover chicken from Poultry Monday. Tonight is Italian night (Prince spaghetti) and my top priority is to find spaghetti squash for the pasta. I will be successful one way or another. Even if I have to use a regular squash and slice it in to angel-hair pasta myself.

I guess our kitchen needs a make-over. I am going to be staining our kitchen cupboards next week to lighten-up the kitchen. Our front door also need sprucing up now that I pained all of the outdoor lights black as well as the front door. So, the gold kick-plate and the nobs and handles (that sounds like something British blokes would call the wedding tackle) will be changed to silver. That will be though replacement rather than painting.

Halloween is about three days away (actually it is EXACTLY like three days away - but four nights away based on me writing this in the morning on Wednesday). I am not sure if we will be home that night or not. We have thought about just making bags for the younger kids that we know and taking those to them but I will probably just sit on the porch and watch a movie and hand out treats. Last year we weren't home and we left a big bowl of candy on the porch with a sign that said to "just take one" but, as we suspected, when we got home the bowl and everything was gone. Maybe we should have been more specific in the note. We didn't say they couldn't take just one bowl of candy so, technically and Halloween traditionally, we were in the wrong. Maybe I should dress-up too huh this year? I think I would make a good Oompa Loompa. Nothing scary for sure because A) kids should not take candy from strangers anyway especially scary people (Halloween seems to send mixed messages there) and B) I do not want to turn my neighbor kids into psychopaths because that could come back to haunt me both figuratively and literally. I used to love Halloween as a kid so I think we will be home. Of all the things I remember I have to remember nice memories of being a kid trick-or-treating. RATS! I will actually just sit at the end of the driveway to help the beggars stream-line their quest. TIME IS CANDY!

 I guess the company you keep can define your character. Good thing I have you! 

Who would have guessed that a politician from Illinois would be a liar and swindler? Former Speaker of the House of the United States and Illinois Republican Dennis Hastert (we called him Denny) pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Well, if you're guilty of something rule number one is to lie to the authorities. Perjury is not that big of a deal. You don't lie, however, if you can cut a deal to get less time for telling the truth. Aren't we always supposed to tell the truth? I am so naive. So, that is what he did; as long as the FBI didn't lie he is not supposed to get more than six months in Club Fed. Is this bad timing for the Republican party just before a Presidential election year where the party has been parading a bunch of right wingnuts in front of us? I guess it won't help MATTers much. You can read about the story and we will probably hear a lot about it on the news for the next week or so but, basically, he was falsifying bank withdrawals so they could not be seen so he could hide the way the money was being spent. Basically, to me, that sounds like bank robbery. That kind of makes me sad because he was a big deal to me as a kid. Primarily because he was from my state, made it big and I remember playing for him several times with the Fox Valley Raiders Drum & Bugle Corps and that was a big deal to a young kid. Also, he got his college degree right here in the town that I have called home for about twenty years and on the campus where I work. I have also always heard "never trust a politician." There are so many mixed-signals in life - no wonder I am going Matt mad.

Have a great day. It is a chilly, rainy day here again; maybe it is a sunshiny day where you are? Thank you for stopping-by. I hope I gave you something to think about or made you smile or provided you with something to read while you were doing some of your private business. They used to say that the newspaper was good for wiping your butt but I would not recommend that with the blog unless you print it out first. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!