"From That Point On, It's All About The Goats"

Good "whatever" Wednesday Morning, all bodies.

Sitting the car in the Giddy Up parking lot, listening to Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," and thinking about our get together with Libby McMeekin. Libby likes those blueberry scones and always suggests getting together in order to get a few.

It's always good to get a refresher bio from Libby every now and then. Which we did!

It's fun to hear about the left and right turns she done in her career especially as a nurse in the many varied roles she participated in... like working for years in a hospital trauma center or a quick stent at the now defunct Charity Hospital.

She's come to grip with her past as a thrill seeking adrenaline fiend. Now, that's an interesting tidbit especially since she claims to be an introvert... Fascinating, at least, to me!

In her retirement, she's become a passionate and accomplished painter with a love of all animals and when our regular coffee buddy, Erich Holzenthal, (actually, he's a tea toter!) joined us for a visit and I asked him about his baby goats, Libby's eyes lit up.

From that point on, it's all about the goats, (she did mention her caretaking of three baby possums and then, having to send them back into the wild!)

I'm certain as soon as the sun returns from behind the frosty clouds, Libby will be asking Erich about setting up a photo session... Ha!

 Copyright 2022/ Ben Bensen III

"My Pad Just Disappeared"

 Good "Almost Fried" Friday Morning, all bodies!

A few days ago, I decided to make a homemade gluten free pizza. When all the ingredients were assembled into a fine cheese covered mess, I loaded the pizza on the pan and shoved it into the oven with an oven pad because the oven was already preset at 450º.

When I closed the oven door, I realized the oven pad was nowhere to be found. Thinking I set the pad on fire in the oven, I quickly opened up the door and took the pizza out to find no oven pad inside.

What a relief that was, but happened to the pad? Somehow, it disappeared. Well, that kinda freaked me out. I thought those kitchen gremlins back at it again? After a ten minute search, I decided it was no big deal… Besides, the pizza was ready and I’ll just use another oven pad to extract the grub… Got lots of those!

It was a yummy pizza and wherever the pad disappeared to, it didn’t burn down house.

Later that evening, while unloading the dishwasher, I opened the oven draw which is below the oven to put away some oven utensils and well, what’dya know, there appeared the well worn blue oven pad.

Apparently, it slipped out of my hand and into the gap between the oven door and the pull out drawer. And, I never even noticed it… Scary!

Still, it was a yummy pizza and it didn’t burn down house.

No cups, yet!

Copyright 2022/Ben Bensen III

Hakim, "King Of Spareribs" ... A Veteran's Day Story!

Hakim, King Of Spareribs!

 Good "Veteran's Day" Friday Morning, y'all.

Well, that last Saturday before our trip home, we had a great time in Heidelberg and all of us were looking to end the day at some nice, upscale restaurant. It was our last big hoorah before we prepare to head back to the States. I was all for a nice meal after prancing to and fro and up and down at the Schloss ( Heidelberg Castle). Somewhere down amongst the downtown masses which we saw from high up above, there had to be a wonderful dining experience.

Max, our intrepid security cop, heard about a great local restaurant that everyone raves about. Max got a recommendation from another German policeman, and thought it’d be an interesting experience. In a way, I was all for it because I still didn’t have a rival to the Anaheim Angel brat experience here in Germany and I doubted eating out at an expensive restaurant was gonna help.

I’m not sure the ladies were on board with this one, but…

So, we drive to the other side of town where we pass what looks like a German PJ’s. Max assures us all that it is all good and quite secure… Well, he should know, right?

What I thought was a scene from the St. Thomas Projects in the Irish Channel circa 1980’s was actually dormitories for the United States Army. It is a part of the historic Fort Campbell that was taken over from the Germans who used it to house POW’s in World War II in 1943. Since then, Ft. Campbell has been a cooperative experiment between the new German government and the United States Army.

Anyway, we stop at a place in that general vicinity where Yakim’s world renown for bbq ribs resides. Again, Max, assures us that this is the best place for this kind of grub and the first thing I notice is that a portion of this makeshift restaurant is designed from an old mobile home, aka, what we might call in Los Angeles, a roach coach!

The head lights stare at you if you decide to partake in the local fare out on the patio. I wonder if they’re turned on to illuminate the patrons at dusk?

Donna found that one refrigerator had colder beer than the other one did. It helped.

I don’t remember what Therese had for dinner, and she doesn’t remember either, but Donna and Thatcher and, I guess, the guards had the specialty… Ribs!

Undaunted, I insisted on brats, and well, the bread was excellent!

Thirty minutes after we finished four entrees and six beers, I decided to beat Thatcher at paying the bill, and that’s where the fun started. Hakim, asked if I was an American, which I stated in the affirmative. When he asked me what part of the country, I was reticent to tell him the truth, but I did.

He kept talking about the rich getting richer and the poor was getting poorer and that’s why he does what he does. How that related to being a native of the Big Easy, I’ll never figure out. He never did mention if he visited America or not, but great ribs at an affordable price, I guess, was his mantra. I kept asking him for the bill, but he insisted on stating his stance.

A logo between a "Rock and a Hard" place!

“Hakim, I just wanna pay the bill. Can you give me the total, please?”

“Ya know, people are waiting to place their order and the lines are getting longer,” I announced.

“Aw, let’ em wait!

What seemed like twenty minutes or so, Hakim relented and figured out in his head, by memory, I guess, what the total came to. I decided whatever he thinks it should be is fine with me as well as the long line of patrons still waiting to place their order.

On the way back to Frankfurt, Max tells us that politicians, business men, the Army brass as well as the residents of Ft. Campbell and local university students all flock to graze at Hakim’s. He’s a local hero, I suppose!

I didn’t get a chance to pursue the discussion, but according to Max, Hakim fought along side with the U.S. Army as an informer and as a soldier. So I guess having done so along side of our military makes Hakim a Veteran of one or more wars.

Afghanistan… what a mess that was!

Hoisting my first cup to all our Vets.... Thank you!

Copyright 2022/ Ben Bensen III

"A White Knuckler Visit... Sorta!"

Destruction and construction!

Good "aftermath" Wednesday, all bodies.

Sitting in traffic from Folsom to I-12 for over forty minutes yesterday morning, I called the dentist in Slidell to tell them that I was gonna be late.

I received a text reply telling me to not stress out about because someone cancelled. I figured that was fine. I'd be stressed out soon enough having a cracked molar repaired and a mercury filling extracted from another tooth.

When I sat in the dentist's chair I complained about the mounting traffic problem on the Northshore and making snide comparisons to the traffic in Los Angeles.

Well, I musta started showing my white knuckles with a mouthful of construction and destruction tools which was also covered over by a blue plastic tarp. Now, I felt like a hurricane victim!

I don't remember when I opened my eyes and looked up. There was a time when it was a cool marketing tool to have a monitor hanging over your head so you could enjoy the procedure... Ha!

It was then that I noticed the monitor had slo-mo aerial shots of Southern California (no traffic scenes!). The Griffith Observatory, where before class I'd go running, and the cheap seats view at Dodger Stadium of the San Gabriel Mountains, which are the best seats in the house. The Hollywood sign, the Santa Monica pier, the foggy covered cliffs along the beaches, the snow covered hills at Big Bear... relaxing stuff like that!

How sweet!

When I was finally able to speak without a gurgle, I asked the dental assistant, "Do you have a complete menu of relaxing scenes from around the world?"

"No, she replied, but I did have California!"

Second Giddy Up cup!

Copyright 2022/Ben Bensen III

 

"Who Knew Your Mouse Needs A Pairing?"

Such packaging!

 Happy Thursday Morning, all bodies!

Gonna have a nice sunny and dry weather pattern for this week with no hurricanes in sight. Amen to 'dat, and...

My mouse died a few weeks ago. No Duracell, Eveready, Rayovac, DieHard, double A, triple A, lithium, worked, Nothing left to revive. Can’t pull out the jumper cables ‘cuz there’s nothing left to jump.

Bent that I had to go buy a mouse for my desktop, I drove to Best Buy after verifying that they indeed had “mice” to sell. When I got there, the salesperson escorted me to the shelf that housed only one Magic Mouse for Apple computers. I tried, but I just couldn’t share in his delight of selling me the last one. He was so excited he just couldn’t look me in eye as he tossed the box over to me.

Disgusted with all things digital, I gave a Geek Squader my old mouse. Possibly a big mistake.

When I couldn’t get that bluetooth mouse to work, I returned it to the box and cursed. After using every curse word I could think of, I searched the internet to find a usable, maybe even refurbished, mouse.

I found a website called, “mac of all trades” where I ran into a salesperson named Tim. What a find!

I asked him about a refurbished mouse and complained to him about my predicament. He answered my questions and then, some.

“If you hadn’t given away your original mouse, you could actually pair it to the new Magic Mouse you just bought and now can’t use,”he said.

Who knew your mouse needs a pairing?

“Well, my wife’s a bit miffed because I’m using her wired mouse until I can buy a compatible replacement,” I said.

“Ben, he said, we can pair you new one to the wired one and you’ll be set!”

Tim walked me through the entire procedure and lost a sale in the process. I was amazed… totally. Not only did he understand my concerns, he helped me solve it. His knowledge of other Mac and Microsoft products had me stupefied. I told him he needed a raise and that I’d write CNET, Apple and his current employer, “mac of all trades” to see that he gets one.

It has truly been a long time to meet someone online or on the phone that has the knowledge and is so willing to share it. And, I didn’t have to give my name, rank or serial number to get that assistance, OR, have to be put on hold to listen an ad about how wonderful they are with apologies about how overwhelmed their call lines are.

“We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls”, and…

Can’t say enough about the company, ““mac of all trades” and the professionals they hire and train… BRAVO!

First cup!

Copyright 2022/Ben Bensen III

"View From The Canine Fashion Police!"

 

Good Morning, Thursday, y'all.

Wow, one whole day without any rain. Hopefully, today will be the same. And, no August hurricanes. I'm told that that is a record.

A week or so ago, a woman dressed in a very fashionable, colorful, floral dress walked up the the coffeehouse door. She was rather tall and statuesque and in her Sunday best on a Saturday. Passing Harper and Hendrix, Giddy Up's regular Saturday visitors of owner Dennis and Barbara Ackerson, the two Corgis, stood up from their position under the table and starting barking.

The normally well behaved dogs only get riled up when patrons arrive with their dogs, but this time they started barking at the woman so fashionably dressed.

Owner Dennis couldn't get to the spray bottle of water fast enough to subdue their intensity. It made little difference because Harper and Hendrix seemed to be suspicious of the woman. Maybe, the dogs thought she was seriously overdressed for such a place like this.

The woman stopped and smiled momentarily as she prepared to address the canine fashion police.

"My goodness, she said, I guess they don't approve of my new look!"

There's was no placating the pups as they continued expressing their disgust until the lady entered the coffeehouse. I wonder whenever she leaves, if she'll use the front door exit.

Second cup!

Copyright 2022/ Ben Bensen III

" A Fiftieth Anniversary Golden Gulp!"

A 20 ounce cup!

 Good "soon to get wet" Friday Morning, all bodies.

So funny. Yesterday, I showed up to met a guy at Giddy Up around 2pm. I got there early and a casual friend asked,

"What are you doing here? You're an early visitor here, right?

"Yeh, man (I can never remember his name!) I'm here to meet a potential client," I replied.

I got to the coffeehouse with time to spare, so I figured I'd sketch the new coffee mug that Tee surprised me with on our anniversary day, August 11th.

When the "client" strolled, he waved and said hello. We know each other from my Gus's days where I first met his wife many times before being introduced to him. I thought he was waiting for a coffee or to be served, so I didn't bother him.

A few minutes later, noticing him searching for something or someone, he came over to ask me if I saw anyone looking for him...

"I'm here, John said, to meet a client!"

"Yeh, I said, I know... I'm the client you're looking for!"

"What?"

We both had a good laugh and then, got down to business.

First cup!

Copyright 2022/Ben Bensen III