Boudin for Breakfast

  ​Boudin, [budɛ̃], or more properly, boudin blanc, is a mixture of beef, pork, spices and rice stuffed ina  sausage casing, cooked and served either as part of a meal, or as an hors d'oeuvre. Found in creole or Cajun cuisine, it is a staple in this area.  Normally, we can find it at gas stations or meat markets.

There are as many variations to this sausage as there are cooks that make it, and many aficionados locally can identify the origin of the boudin  by taste.  Locally, we use Guillory's Specialty Meats as our local butcher shop, and when I shop there, I'm apt to purchase a length of boudin along with the remainder of the order. Boudin is sold fully cooked and ready to eat, but I like to put mine under a broiler for five minutes on each side to crisp the casing and give it some "snap".

I bought some boudin yesterday and prepared it because grandson Quinton had asked for it.  This morning I found some leftover and ran it in the microwave to consume for breaksfast.

Leftover boudin.  It's what's for breakfast.

Sen. Kennedy questions Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett

I like Senator John Kennedy.  He's one of my two Senators from Louisiana, and he manages to use humor and common sense while getting into the meat of an argument.  Here, he questions Judge Barrett, drilling down on her judicial philosophy with style and grace.  It's nearly 30 minutes, but it i a fascinating example of two great minds holding a conversation.

Good stuff.  I think that Judge Barrett will make a wonderful Supreme Court Justice.

Listening to the Confrimation

 Listening to the confirmation of Judge Barrett, I am struck by the questioning of Mazie Hirono, (D-Hawaii).

T his woman is a complete and total idiot.  Her questions make no sense.

The people of Hawaii made a huger, regrettable mistake in electing this woman.

Count Packing?

 With the death of Justice Ginsberg and the inevitable (and totally legal) nomination of Judge Barrett. the left has gone crazy, (crazier?) claiming that the President is packing the Court with conservatives.  There are two problems with this argument. First of all, the Court is not packed with conservatives.  Right now, there are only two reliable conservatives on the Court.  Justice Stevens, and Justice Alito.    The two newer Associate Justices, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, are too new to know if the will opine conservatively.

We will learn, over time, if Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are conservatives.  The other Justice touted as conservative is the Chief Justie, John Roberts, who is a closet liberal.  He has screwed conservatives more times than I ever wanted to count.  He gave us Obamacare not once, but twice.  I hold him in great disdain, and as I've said here before, if I ever get the chance, I'll spit on his shoes.

We know who the liberal Justices are.  .  Kagan, Sotomayer, and Breyer.  They vote lock-step.  I also count Roberts in this crew.  So, right now, I see the Court as a wash, with four liberals and four conservatives.

Court packing is an old term that came during the term of FDR.  He famously threatened to put a bunch of new liberal justices on the Court, increasing the population to fifteen or more.

Jude Barrett, by every indication, is a fine choice to replace Justice Ginsberg.  I think that the timing is unfortunate, because she doesn't deserve the treatment to with she will be subjected.

But, the current media narrative that the Democrats and media are promoting that Trump is packing the Court is plainly and transparently ridiculous.

2nd Hand Lions Seed Salesmen

A favorite scene from one of my favorite feel-good movies, 2nd Hand Lion.

Re-watching this scene, I realized that they are wearing my favorite hat, the Diamond Jim.

If it's good enough for Robert Duvall, it's good enough for me.

Biden Loses His Mind

 The doddering old fool is spouting nonsense, but what else is new?  Now he is claiming that a sitting president should not appoint a Supreme Court Justice while he is in office.  And, he's claiming that President Trump's appointment of Judge Barrett is unconstitutional.

“The only court-packing is going on right now. It’s going on with the Republicans,” Biden told reporters Saturday in Delaware. “It’s not constitutional what they’re doing. We should be focused on what’s happening right now.”

You would think that after six terms as a sitting US Senator and two terns as Vice President, Mr. Biden would have a good working knowledge of the US Constitution.  You'd be wrong. 

And, the Senate has options.  They can choose to confirm Judge Barrett or they can choose to delay confirmation.  That is solely withing the constitutional powers of the Senate.  As it turns out, they intend to begin the confirmation process later today. 

Joe Biden is absolutely wrong on this issue.  President Trump can continue to exercise the powers of the presidency until at least Jan 20, 2021 at noon.  If the court-packing Democrats don't manage to setal the election, he will continue to exercise those powers for an additional four years.

BIDEN & HARRIS visit battleground state AZ - No One Shows

The local reporter seems a bit confused.  Biden and Harrish sowed up in Phoenix for a campaign event and no one showed up.

Can you imagine President Trump holding an event and no one showing up?

We still have to vote.  Early voting starts October 16th in Louisiana and you can bet I'll be there as soon as the polls open.

Pulled Pork

 Yesterday, I decided to cook a pork butt and we ate it today.  My recipe for pulled pork is just about as easy as it gets.

Late in the afternoon, drop a boston butt into a slow cooker.  Season with your favorite seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's), pour a beer over it, and set the slow cooker to low.  Ignore it all night.  When you get up the next morning, drain the grease, pull the bone, which should come out clean, and tear the meat with forks. Take out the big pieces of fat and discard. Use your favorite barbecue sauce, and put it all back in the slow cooker fill lunch. We prefer Sweet  Baby Ray's sauce, but use what suits you.  After putting the shredded meat in the sauce, I normally put it all back int he slow cooker until the guests arrive.

A five-pound butt will cook down and feed seven adults, but your mileage may vary.

today, we served it as a sandwich, with chips and Cole slaw.  After lunch, I made the ladies a dessert drink I call the Colorado Bulldog.  In a tulip glass, add ice, then one ounce of Irish Cream, one ounce of coffee liqueur, and one ounce of cola.  Fill with milk and stir.  Serve with a straw.

I've been playing with liqueur recipes.  I have Irish Cream nailed, but the coffee liqueur needs a little work.  It's ain't bad, but it ain't right, either.

Shooting Down a Lost Drone and why Dogs Tilt their Heads - Smarter Every...

This is a coll video about how your ears work to resolve direction and elevation.

It's also about problem solving.  Early in the video he has a problem and tells his son, "Go get a rifle."

This tells me several things., but mainly that he has taught his children basic gun safety, and he is confident enough that he knows his son also knows to get ammo, and the proper ammo for whichever rifle he selects.

It's interesting, and now I know why a dog cocks his head when I talk to him.

Well, That's Done

 Delta came across the house as a strong tropical storm, not the Cat 1 hurricane we were expecting.

This morning before daylight, I still have power and internet service.  The wind has quit howling, it's down to a gentle breeze, and the rain has devolved to a steady drizzle.  Every hurricane is different, and this one turned in to a rain event.  We probably got 12 inches of rain over the past 36 hours. 

For many people over the coming days, this will turn into a flood, and all the rain drains out of the hills, swells the creeks and bayous and as the backwater stacks up, the flooding begins. The Calcasieu, the Ouiska Chitto and the Vermillion won't crest for a couple of days, and the crest will flow toward the Gulf.

When Belle and I bought this place, one of he first things I checked was the elevation.  If this place floods, a whole lot of people will be treading water.

But, as I type this, Delta is moving off to the north, where over the next day or so, she'll turn into a rain event for the Tennessee valley.

Prep Contunues

 I learned in the Army that right up until contact, there is always something else you can do to improve your position.  Dig your hole a little deeper, find some overhead cover, check your frontal obstacles.  Keep working right up until the contact arrives to make your position as strong as possible.

Hurricane prep is the same way.  I've been walking around this morning seeing what I've forgotten or neglected.  

I was checking data ad found a map of the storms that have hit Louisiana this year.

TS Christobal came though in early June.

TS  Marco came ashore in August as a weakened tropical system.  Basically, it fizzled.

Hurricane Laura came ashore several days later causing major damage across western Louisiana.

TS Beta came across Louisiana as a weakened tropical storm. Honestly, I don't remember much about it  It was a rainstorm.  We're used to rain in Louisiana.

Now, it's Hurricane Delta.  We're watching it like a hawk watches a field mouse.

Here we go again.  There are two schools of thought on this storm.  One school is panicking, the other school is wary, but hopes it won't be so bad.  

Right now, I'm peckish.  It's time for some biscuits and gray.

Here Comes Delta

 Six weeks ago, on August 27th, we got hit by Hurricane Laura.  The eye-wall passed abut 50 miles west of my humble abode, but we experienced Category 1 conditions here.  I was lucky, but many of my friends and neighbors were not. Many people were out of electricity locally for more than a week.  The crews did a herculean job of restoring services, and I applauded their efforts.

It looks like we're in for round two.  The track of Hurricane Delta has firmed up.  It looks like it's coming ashore somewhere near Cameron, LA sometime tomorrow, probably as a Category 2 storm.  This time the track is a tiny bit to the east of Laura's track, which means that it's coming right up through here.

There will always be a tiny bobble or wobble, but as of this morning, the track is not good news for people who were hit hard six weeks ago.

That red dot with a 1 in it?  That's my buddy Mark's house.  Just north of there, under the track near Alexandria, that's my house. It will come across me either as a weakened Cat 1 or a strong tropical storm  The difference between the two is a nit-pick.

We'll be okay.  I have full faith that this is just another opportunity to show resilience and strength.  The one up-side is that much of our infrastructure has been rebuilt.  It should be stronger than it was six weeks ago. We'll see.

I don't wish anything bad on anyone, but I'm praying that it turns sooner rather than later.  The sooner it makes the turn, the more easterly the track will become, and they always wobble a bit before landfall.

God's will be done.

Tracking Delta

 This thing looks like it might run over us, again.  A second major storm for Louisiana in the space of several weeks.  Between the Covid, our dumb-ass governor, and the hurricane season, 2020 has been a total disaster since March.

Now, this thing is cranked up and my home sate is right in the bullseye.

Thankfully, there is some of my prep work from Laura that I never un-did.  That's a blessing, but there is still some prep that I need to do, so I'd best but on my shores and go do it.  If by some miracle, this thing passes us by, that would be a great thing, but at this point, it looks like Saturday will be spent in hunker-down mode.

I'd best get busy.

Watching Delta

 I've been watching Hurricane Delta all day, wondering what's going to happen.  We really won't know anything for another day or so, but this is a major hurricane, with winds now at about 140 mph.  The track is uncertain tonight as I type this, the track is uncertain, but all the models have it hitting Louisiana on Saturday.

And, I have an invitational shooting event planned for this weekend.  Is it going more east, or more west?  No one has a clue, but one thing I know is that I know is that southwest Louisiana really doesn't need another Cat 3 hurricane.  Some of the models have it taking the same track as Laura, and that would be a horrible scenario.

I don't wish anything had on anyone, but we really don't need  another major hurricane right now.

A New Hat

 Over a year ago, I bought a new hat, a Stetson Diamond Jim.  It's a hat that suits my style.  Straw for cool wearing in hot, humid Louisiana.  It has a pinch-front crease, which I like because I eschew the Cattleman's crease.

It's a little dressy, and I've worn it a lot.  Past Saturday, Belle and I were our-and-about, and she remarked that my hat was beginning to get a bit more character than she liked. I agreed that it was getting abit ratty, and that I should perhaps order a new one.

Shepler's is still open and I put one on order this morning.

I would love to own an El Presidente, a premium dress hat made of 100% beaver felt, but every example I've seen comes with that damnable cattleman's crease.  If they offered it in a pinch front, I'd order it in a minute.  I suspect that I am going to be forced to find a custom hat maker to get what I really want, but I'm not familiar with who I can trust.

Suggestions?

Monday Morning

 Monday morning, and the coffee is brewed.  Grandson Quinton has left for work, and Belle is puttering around getting ready to start her week.  I have a laundry-list of stuff to get done, but laundry isn't on the list.  We're hosting and invitational shoot this weekend, and we're in the final prep stages for that event.

President Trump has Covid.  It looks like he should get out of the hospital soon and continue his convalescence I haven't heard anything about the First Lady.  My prayers go with her.

First thing on the list today is to pay bills.  I'm still one of those old dinosaurs who writes out the checks,  and puts them in the mail.  My kids tell me that there are better ways to do that, simpler, ore convenient, but I still write checks.

Friday I was in the yard inspecting the water meter.  Down on my knees, and it wasn't until I stood up that I realized that I had put my right foot into a bed of fire ants.  Fire ants, for those of you unaware, are an invasive species that have plagued the South since the 1960s.  When disturbed, they attack with a vengeance, and their bites form little painful blisters  In the vast majority of cases, they are painful, uncomfortable and not life-threatening.  I'm okay, but they seemed to have attacked my right foot more than anywhere else.

Colion Noit Takes Down Congressman Cedric Richmon

Colion takes down our token Democrat in the Louisiana Congressional delegation. Cedric Richmond.

Richmond represents New Orleans, a city known for local corruption, bad governance and other disasters.  Currently, New Orleans is known for being a massive, festering infection pit of Covid.  In this interview, Richnond demonstrates that he is woefully ignorant of 2A issues, woefully ignorant of basic gun safety, and woefuly ignorant of the current law on gun topics.  Of course, he represents New Orleans.

Reflections on Freedom

 Since March of 2020, the state of Louisiana has experienced the greatest contraction of freedom since Reconstruction.  In  the opening months of 2020 we were woefully ignorant of something we now call Covid-19.  Since then, we have learned a lot about the China Virus, and we have allowed our governments to enact, often by executive fiat, restrictions on our personal freedom and economic freedom that would have been unthinkable at that time.  

Since then, we have accepted as common-place certain aspects of this pandemic that are absolutely anathema to a free people.  The idea that we should wear masks in public like common bandits.  The idea that we should not congregate in public, the idea that certain businesses are "essential" while others are not.  The idea that private venues should have occupancy limits far below their they were designed to accommodate.  

Somehow, the State Fire Marshal has become the primary enforcement arm of the pandemic response.  Whether by design, or mission-creep, that office is the one primarily responsible for the contraction of pubic freedom i Louisiana.

Our governor, John Bel Edwards bristles at the idea that the people have elected representatives  that have oversight and the ability to curb these excesses.  And, our legislature, to its enduring shame, has failed to constrain the power of the governor.  They are seeking the wrong solutions.  The question should not be how to respond to Covid-19, but how to restore freedom to Louisiana.  

At this stage, the proper response to governing a free people should be to educate, not dictate.  To these ends, I recommend the following:

• The Legislature should immediately end the public health emergence.
• The Legislature should immediately limit the office of the State Fire Marshall to regulating those things that are currently or were recently ablaze.

The Governor would be able to continue to educate the public, but not dictate a response. 

Louisiana has many problems right now.  A decking tax base, outflow migration, a  struggling education system, poor roads, and a crushing budget problem. Yet, the Governor seems to eno all of this.  It's time to open Louisiana  and restore freedom.  

 I've been playing around with liqueur recipes, and I think I've found an Irish Cream recipe that I like. I wanted something simple, with no exotic ingredients that could be found easily at almost any local grocers.  After searching through numerous YouTube recipes, I think I may have found one that suits me.

PawPaw's Irish Cream

Ingredients:

1 can (14 oz) Eagle brand condensed milk

14 oz half-and-half

1 T Hershey's chocolate syrup

1 T good Mexican vanilla extract

1 T good local honey

28 oz Jameson's Irish Whiskey

Prep:

In a bowl, mix it all together.  I started with the Eagle Brand and used that can to measure the half-and-half and the Jameson's.  Makes 58 oz, at 20% ABV.  It's a tiny bit boozier than store-bought (which is 17.5%) but you can adjust that if you'd like.

To Choose A President

 It's interesting the way we choose a President, and have done so or over 200 years.  The rules are plain to see in our Constitution.  A state chooses a set of electors who then elect a president.  We call this the Electoral College.  If the Electoral College cannot decide on a president; if the vote is tied, the responsibility to elect the president then devolves to the House of Representatives.

And here is Nancy Pelosi's quandary and worst nightmare.  Under both Article II, Section I, and the 12th Amendment, when the responsibility to elect a president falls on the House of Representatives, the vote falls not to individual electors, but to the state delegation as a whole.  Each state gets one vote.

If my count is correct, the Republicans hold 26 state delegations.  This, under the current scenario, Should the election be thrown into the House,  Nancy Pelosi may preside over an election that gives Donald Trump a second term.

The irony is delectable.