Picture Sunday

Hello, end of weekenders, and what a short weekend it was. But it's over, and welcome to another edition of Picture Sunday.

Now, before we get to that, I have an announcement to make. Tonight begins what I'm calling Podcastathon Week in Betland. Read now, and read every night this week, for I'm making a solemn pledge to blog every night to remind you.

On Saturday, August 11th, Stennie and I will be doing a podcastathon. We've both participated in the Blogathon in the past, and had planned to do that a couple of weeks ago, with the exception of podcasting instead of blogging. However, schedules couldn't be worked out, and I don't know if the Blogathon folks even allowed non-bloggers to participate.

But it doesn't matter. We are taking it upon ourselves to do a 24-hour podcastathon. From 9am Saturday morning till 9am Sunday morning, we'll be doing a short podcast every half-hour on the half-hour. Yes, folks, if you hate to count, that's 48 podcasts in 24 hours. And we need your help and support.

We're raising money for the American Cancer Society, because we both hate cancer and think it's about time we kicked its ass. It's a cause very close to both of us. And should be to you, too - I know very few people in this world whose lives haven't been touched by the disease.

Here's what you can do to help us, yourself, and your friends and loved ones.

1. Go here, to www.hucklebug.com.
2. Read all about it.
3. It will direct you here, to the American Cancer Society online donation site. It's very user-friendly, and will even let you make a donation in memory of someone, or in someone's honor, and it will send a card for you, too!
4. If you don't feel happy with online stuff, go here. It takes you to a page with the American Cancer Society's address for mail-in contributions. Write a check, stamp an envelope, and let the good times roll.
5. Then - and this is very important - Go right back here, this is the hucklebug.com site. Click where it says "comments," and let us know how much you contributed. You don't have to sign up, sign in, leave your name, or anything else. If you want to be anonymous you can, but you can advertise your generosity to us in all capital letters if you like. We need you to do this so we can keep track of how much we're raising for the American Cancer Society.

OR!

If you want to make a pledge and follow up on it after you know we completed the podcastathon, just go here, to the hucklebug.com site, and say, anonymously or not, "I pledge so much." Then when you know we were successful, contribute online or by mail.

I've always known my friends to be very generous and cool people, and I hope you'll all help us in a fun way to raise some money for a good cause.

And of course, please feel welcome to join us at any time on Saturday through to Sunday to listen to some podcasts. If you've not been there before, it would be a good time to start. A warning: there is salty language in the air, but we're nice people, we rarely bite, and sometimes we even make people chuckle.

Thanks.

Well, I had one of the more bizarre experiences of my Hackensaw Boysing days on Saturday. Mr M and I traveled to the tiny town of Elkton, VA, to see them ply their trade.

They were playing at something called Field Day. I'd gone online to see if I could find any information about the show, and found a website with a nice picture of a park, and thought, "OK, this'll be a nice night out."

When we arrived in Elkton and finally found the venue, it was - well, it was - well.... Imagine the Hackensaw Boys playing at your local county fair. It was in this huge expanse of field, much of it hay-covered. There was a carnival. There was a horse show going on.

We walked around until we found some Hackensaws, and found out they were starting at 7:30, they'd play, some "awards" would be given out, another band would play, there would be (and no, I'm not making this up) a flatfoot contest, and then they'd play again and wrap things up. We got our lounge chairs, and set them up on the front row, ready for the hoedown.

Oh, and by the way - when we arrived in Elkton at 7pm? 96 degrees.

Anyway, the Boys started, and they were rocking the very unHackensaw-like crowd. Just playing their hearts out to a bunch of people sitting in lounge chairs with their arms crossed. Then about 2/3 of the way through their first set, about 50 hippie kids came from out of nowhere, I mean, they must have been on the late bus or something, and sat down front in front of the stage. A couple of girls got up to dance.

















After the set ended, Awards Time rolled around. Trophies were given for - the oldest man in the audience, the oldest woman in the audience, the fullest beard, and hog calling. This is true. I can prove to you this is true, because I have a picture of Ferd holding the hog calling trophy.




















As happy as if he'd actually won the hog calling contest.

Then the second band, a bluegrass band who were very competent but incredibly boring (Mr M, did they ever move? I didn't see it) played forever, and there was a - remember, I'm not making this up - greased pole contest. And the Hackensaws took the stage again.

This time the hippies were happier, and it was no longer 96 degrees, and I started dancing and they started dancing, and ... there was a lot of dancing, because it was time for the flatfoot competition. For which the Hackensaw Boys provided the tunes.

And for what started like something out of the Twilight Zone, I ended up having an absolute blast. Sure, it was a place where you had to leave your cool at the door, but I figure I don't have that much cool, anyway.

Salvage and I met under the Smoking Tree. Well, it didn't smoke, but we did.
























And that was it.

So, how about a recipe du jour?

Yeah, how about one. I almost didn't have a recipe for you all, I've just been a lazy sod today. But I finally ambled into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and found - well, not much. But I did have about a half a bag of carrots, so I present to you, from the "Healthy Desserts" file in cardland, Carrot Pudding.





















This dish smells wonderful. It's just rice pudding, only with carrots instead of rice. I have a feeling carrot pudding actually exists somewhere, and then I guess the joke's on me.

Boy, that sucked. I'll write you all a note.

Happy week.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* I'm not kidding. Hog calling, flatfooting, and a greased pole contest.