Picture Sunday

Hello, end of weekenders, make that end of long weekenders, and welcome to another edition of Picture Sunday.

It was a glorious long weekend here at the Poderosa. I did a little early celebrating Thursday by going to the grocery and trimming weeds around the Pod. A batch of cupcakes and preparing for the 4th on Friday.

When I was off to see the Hackensaw Boys!

Now, could there be any better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than seeing the Hackensaws? I submit to you that there cannot. They were in the tiny but teeming town of Floyd, VA. We (Mr M and I and the 2 kids in his charge this summer) got there just as the doors had opened.

We went in, I got a beer, and we spotted Ferd outside on the porch. We went to say hey, and did, where we learned a very interesting fact via Mr M. Out of the blue, Mr M said, "Ferd - what do you do for fun?" We learned that he likes to cook, all day long. So there. Spits, or Ward, was strolling around the porch playing guitar. It was very pleasant.

But soon enough it was time to go inside and get things started. And may I just say the boys were in fine form and played one of the best sets of songs I've ever seen them play. They did stuff they don't always do, still kept all the stalwarts in, and a fine time was had by all.

Twice. Because the boys decided to play one set from 8 till about 9:30, then we all disbanded and went outside to watch the fireworks. Then we came back inside where they played till about 11. They did encores out in the crowd, and then, when we thought it was all over, somehow they all ended up back onstage and did two or three more. They played their hearts out.

Pictures? Of course, are you kidding?

First of all, let's give a little shout-out to Mahlon Hackensaw. He doesn't get a lot of pictures here for some reason, and I don't know why that is. The boys are doing a couple of new songs in their set, one of them is his, and it's great.

























At one point, Ferd decided to switch his normal fedora for a special July 4th hat.




















Lovely. And speaking of lovely, how about a shot of Baby J warming up during the fireworks break?

























Sean, or Plang Tang, did the same thing. A man and his banjo.

























And a couple of action shots.














































































It was a great night, and it ended with me getting a giggle out of Baby J and Salvage when I couldn't pass up a photo op. Before they came out into the crowd, the Boys decided to play an accoustic song right on the edge of the stage. I noticed some laughing, in the crowd, and realized it was because those two onstage were having a giggle at Sherman, who'd decided to perch on Baby J's foot. (And no, the beer is not Sherman's.)

























And then home. Where!....

I spent the entire day Saturday debating whether to go see the Hackensaws again. Saturday night they were playing a venue I went to last year, a place called Wildwater Expeditions. It's outside on a lawn at a whitewater rafting place on the New River.

I'd have to go by myself, and it was supposed to rain that night, and then there was the expense, and as both Mr M and my buddy Stennie can tell you, I debated with everyone whether or not to go.

I finally decided at the last minute to head out that way. The very last minute. And I'm glad I did. It was another night of Hackensawing, of fun and music and dancing, and it was a great weekend.

Today was doing all those things I didn't take time to do over the weekend. (Can anyone say laundry?) Generally a podding around the house day.

And now folks, I have a major announcement to make. And I don't know how much it will mean to you, but I'm telling you, I think it's going to change my life.

I know I've alluded here in the old blog about how the recipe du jour, though I do love it, is a pain in the ass. And this is why. Every time there is a recipe in the blog, it gets there by these methods.

- I think up the recipe.
- I make the recipe.
- I take the recipe's picture.
- I upload the photo.
- I go to Paint Shop Pro, where I resize, re-pixel, lighten, and sharpen the picture to get it ready for printing.
- I save the picture.
- I go to Word, where I open a new document, type the heading of the recipe card, and insert the picture.
- I print the document on photo paper, hoping the picture is light enough and sharp enough.
- I trim the document and so it looks like a recipe card.
- I scan the card and save it back into my computer.
- I put it into Picture Sunday.

I've been doing this for about 2 ½ years now, and for about 2 ½ years, I've been thinking there has to be a better way. But I couldn't figure out what it would be. In fact, I couldn't figure out how to even start figuring out what that better way would be.

Well, today - I did. I went to Paint Shop Pro and just worked around with trial and error and messing things up starting over until I found a way to do the whole recipe du jour without printing or scanning.

Can you imagine? No more buying expensive photo paper! No more running ink cartridges dry! No more worrying about tweaking a picture, hoping it will be halfway decent when printed! No more dealing with scanners, and Word! Work time cut at least in half!

It's a great day.

And it's a great recipe, too. And it comes courtesy of Mr M.

You know, this weekend above all, you understand how sometimes on a hot summer day nothing can beat a good ice cream cone. So from the man who brought you pictures of the Shermanhead peach, Shermanhead pickle, Shermanhead carrot, and Shermanhead squash, would you please say hello to the, from the "Great Summer Treats" file in cardland, Shermanhead Ice Cream Cone.

























Thank you, Mr M.

And happy week. (Ye-gods, Monday after a long weekend.)

Betland's Olympic Update:
* There is not a movie at the Comfy Chair Cinema tonight. However, there may well be one tomorrow or Tuesday. Please stay tuned, I'll let you know if it happens.