M&Ms are from the Devil

I've decided.  I'm pretty sure they have cocaine or nicotine or SOMETHING addictive in them - something that makes me crave 'em.  They have GOT to get out of this house, like immediately....

We have a new neighbor...

This afternoon we went out for a walk and egg collection.  On the way back in, I happened to look up at our bluebird house, which is nailed to a pine tree beside the driveway.  The bottom of the house is sticking out almost an inch, and stuff is sticking out of it, which I thought was weird...so I grabbed a stick, figuring I'd go over and clean the thing out to be ready for spring.

I made my way through the brush to get to the tree, and while standing directly in front of the house, I used the stick to push the side even further out.  There was what looked like a blob of fur sticking out, and at first I thought it was moving.  Then I figured, no, the wind was blowing a piece of fur that the bird had used to make its nest.  I called Ginny over for a look.

Ginny took one look and said it was a squirrel, and it was alive!  What I thought was breathing was the thing panting in fear - I was standing less than two feet from it, poking with a stick!  Then we noticed the squirrel looking at us through the hole in front of the house.  Ginny said, "You'd better get out of there before it attacks you."  I used the stick to push the side of the house back where I found it and got outta there.  Man, that was close!  There's a LOT of rabies in this area....yikes.

If you look closely at this picture (taken w/ my Blackberry from further away), you can see the squirrel looking out from the bottom of the hole. 

Vacation in NYC III

So....after Maxie's, we went back "home".  Did I show you our room?  This is the tiniest room I've ever stayed in, in NYC.  Our guest room here at home is bigger, no kidding.  It was really cute, though.  The bathroom is the size of a hall closet, LOL. 

Our room was on the "Penthouse" floor.  We were really excited going up in the elevator.  Since we had had such a problem getting situated in the hotel to start with, we figured it was another perc.  Hehheh.  It wasn't until the next day that I figured it out - the floor is called the Penthouse floor because nobody likes to have a room on the 13th floor of a building.... LOL.





So, back "home" to the penthouse.  Next day was our last day in NYC, so we got up and out as fast as possible so as to get down to Penn Station to stash our bags.  We decided to walk - it was something like 10 blocks, and wall-to-wall people.  Ended up eating lunch in an Irish pub - again with the Irish.  YUM!  I had smoked salmon on umpteen-grain bread - not that I could actually eat the bread, but whatever...  the salmon part, with prosciutto, was delish!  G had a grilled veg crostini with mozz and feta.  Also yum, except for the squash. (blech)

After lunch, we were off to Philadelphia on the train, where we caught a NJTransit train to Atlantic City.  After that, things got a little weird....  Here are the Christmas decorations at Caesar's.

One might think that being a holiday week and all, one would be able to get dinner at about any hour in a casino.  One would be wrong.  One would also think that with this economy, there would be plenty of $5 and $10 tables to play.  One would be wrong again.  We never did see a $5 table anywhere we went.  We played awhile at a $15 blackjack table, but that was about it for us.  Even the slot machines suck now - not just literally, but figuratively, too.  They're no longer the "one armed bandit" of fable and myth.  They're all electronic now - most don't have the pull handle any more.  I had one quarter in my pocket, so I went looking for a quarter machine.  I found one, but there's no way to put a quarter IN the machine.  They don't take coins any more!  You can tell it's been awhile since we've been to Atlantic City....  Anyway, we finally found sustenance at an Asian place called Kwi (that's a long I sound...), but I forget which casino it was in.  Once we finally got a seat (feng shui apparently dictates that some seats must remain empty no matter how many are standing in line starving...), we were right behind the chefs at their woks, which was quite interesting.   After dinner, we went out on the Boardwalk and up into the pier, which was closed at that point except for a couple of the restaurants.  We were hoping for cheesecake again...but the only place open was (guess what?) the Irish pub!  Yeah!  So, we had dessert (apple crisp) and a few hands of rummy, in a really cool bar with almost no people, no smoking (yeah!!!) and great music.  'Twas excellent, really...

The AC part of the trip was a mess, but we ended up sitting in a lounge area behind the sports betting bar in Bally's.  Now, someone please tell me, WHY THE HELL would anyone take a child in a casino?  Why?  Nobody goes to a casino to have fun with the fam.  The casino is ADULT entertainment (although WITH clothing...).  So we're sitting in this lounge, and a baby starts screaming.  He's on the floor directly across a glass wall from us, crawling around unsupervised - and this is like, 1:00 a.m., right?  The kid was still crawling around out there after 2:30 a.m.!!!  Ridiculous.  Not only was this kid up about oh, 8 hours past a decent bedtime, he wasn't being supervised.  Not only THAT, but even in Jersey, they still allow some smoking in the casinos (although thankfully, that's been drastically cut since we were there last), and guess what?  Kiddo lungs are not cut out for smoke inhalation....  oy. 

Ok, cutting the story short, boring parts removed.  We got back on the train to Philly, then back on the Amtrak Carolinian to Greensboro.  When we arrived in GSO, we were met by 5 uniformed and 3 plainclothes coppers.  Why?  Who knows for sure, although my personal speculation is, there was at least one and probably more prisoners of some stripe up the front of the train.  When we were in DC, a uniformed officer came through our car on his way forward, and we didn't see him get OFF the train...  No idea for sure, though.  They were standing at the bottom of the escalator shooing folks on through.  We got outta there tout de suite, just in case...  I mean, New Year's Eve, blue moon, terrorists...ya can't be too careful.

So now we're home, with the Wagster and Mo, and I'm off to bed.  Been up something like 42 hours now....

Vacation in NYC II

Next we went downtown. Went to Wall St. and the WTC site. We were really disappointed in that. For one thing, it was all wrapped up in tarps so you can't look in, and if you do manage to get a peek, a worker comes to run you off. Second, it's been 9 years already; why is it still a hole in the ground? The concept drawings for the memorial sit look great; I hope they'll get on the stick already!!! Here are a couple pix of the site and memorial(s).



The above Left is a night shot, through the fence.



















Next, went to South St. Seaport. If u go there, eat at Cabana; you won't be sorry.

We got tickets to RACE, a new play with James Spader, who did not disappoint. :)  Before that, we had a really excellent dinner of apps at DERVISH Turkish restaurant. Yogurt soup- WHO KNEW??? Yum.  We did not have reservations, had about an hour, maybe a little less, before curtain, and they seated us immediately.  (No picture available - it was too dark.)

After the play, we went to Rockefeller Center to check out the skating. Again, too late for food, but we did manage to raid the M&M store...

Y'all, really -- $12.99/lb and any color you could possibly want.

DAY 3: Colder'n the oft- mentioned witch's body part encased in brass lingerie. At least twice as cold. I WISH I were kidding. The high was about 21F, wind chill in single digits, no lie. And that was the high. Unbelievably cold. So cold, my eyes watered every time we went outside. DAMN cold. (Did I mention it was a little chilly!?!)

Anyway, we got a late start, so we had lunch @ a Turkish place off Columbus Circle. I had a fairly good plate, with little lamb/beef meatballs and rice. My better half, unfortunately, had THE Godawfulest nasty dis-friggin-gusting thing either of us has ever seen on a plate!  O M G it was gross.  It was, basically, a stuffed baked potato. It had black olives, pickle chunks, corn, red cabbage, and what was billed as "beef sausage" but was more akin to an Oscar Meyer wiener. All that, while a very odd combination, would have been (marginally) edible. However - and this was the dealbreaker - on top of all, they had taken a squirt bottle of ketchup and one of mayo, and drowned the whole thing in red and white squiggles. Trust me, y'all do NOT wanna try this @ home. G tried to lift off the squiggles, and then gave up and just dug down underneath all the crapola to get at the potato. Wouldn't let me send it back, either. We do have a pic of this monstrosity; will post l8r.

Next, we went to the Museum of Art and Design. They have two really great shows on now; one is cut paper art, some of which is amazing- and the other is the Madeline Albright pin collection. That woman must need a jewelry secretary, I swear. Gorgeous stuff!!! Caught a bus up to the Natural History Museum, but the place was SO unbelievably crowded, there were 2 lines out the door. So we tried the Met, but it was the same. We went in through the education annex to the gift shop to look around, and also checked out the Greek and Italian statues and other artifacts. Never knew those amphorae were so big!!!

Caught the bus back downtown during rush hour - what a mess that was. Takes some brass to drive a bus in NYC, especially during rush hour. The bus was CRAMMED to the gills. We got off and found Ted's Montana Grill, where we had bison for dinner. After dinner we went to Maxie's for dessert - cheesecake. MMMmmmmmmmm. It was faboo!!

Ok, my thumbs are aching, so I have to finish l8r.