miscellaneous recentia
Dec. 27th, 2011 01:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kip_w.
There was a fox in our back yard the other day. I ran for the camera and took pictures, then watched it as it scratched, looked around, sniffed here and there, and did other thrilling fox activities. Then Matty, the neighbor dog, ran up, barking. I thought for a second she might go through the invisible fence again, but it stopped her. It was enough for the fox, which ran off in a direction I couldn't be certain of. Matty then looked satisfied, turned away and kicked a couple back paws worth of dirt in its general direction. Later that day, or maybe the next, Sarah and I were driving somewhere and it ran across the road in front of us. A couple of our neighbors also saw it.
Thursday night, I helped Sarah make a scrapbook of the China trip. She chose about 90 photos from a set of 350 that I'd made, and I used InDesign to lay them out on eight pages. She did one of the pages mostly by herself with me giving instructions. I think she could learn the basics of the layout program pretty quickly. Friends who are interested in the scrapbook, be aware that the PDF is only about 2.5MB.
Now we're up in New Jersey, with Cathy's family. Yesterday Sarah and I went along as Cathy's sister Mary took her dog, Rags, for a walk on a railroad trail somewhere not too far from Budd Lake. At three miles, it's the closest thing to exercise I've done on this trip. As we approached the parking lot, a dozen or so shots were heard somewhere over a hill. Rags was not thrilled. Some folks at the parking lot were unhappy because one of their dogs had bolted from the vehicle and was now running down the road. We allowed that Sarah's theory about the dog being scared by the shots was a good one. We were going in the same direction and drove slowly behind the car that was tracking the dog and looking for a chance to get it back in the car. Some brilliant soul a couple of cars back figured we were all driving too slow and had the notion that he could fix everything by honking his horn.
Today we were out for an errand and managed to swing by White Castle. The one near here is the only one I ever get to visit any more, and I always look forward to it. This time I didn't have a regular slider but had a fish slider, a bacon slider, and a jalapeño cheese slider. So hot, so fresh, so tasty. I'm hoping we can get in one more slider run as we depart for home in the morning. If all they serve in the a.m. is breakfast items, well, that wouldn't be so bad either. (And yes, I am aware that some people may not like White Castle. I am unperturbed by this.)
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There was a fox in our back yard the other day. I ran for the camera and took pictures, then watched it as it scratched, looked around, sniffed here and there, and did other thrilling fox activities. Then Matty, the neighbor dog, ran up, barking. I thought for a second she might go through the invisible fence again, but it stopped her. It was enough for the fox, which ran off in a direction I couldn't be certain of. Matty then looked satisfied, turned away and kicked a couple back paws worth of dirt in its general direction. Later that day, or maybe the next, Sarah and I were driving somewhere and it ran across the road in front of us. A couple of our neighbors also saw it.
Thursday night, I helped Sarah make a scrapbook of the China trip. She chose about 90 photos from a set of 350 that I'd made, and I used InDesign to lay them out on eight pages. She did one of the pages mostly by herself with me giving instructions. I think she could learn the basics of the layout program pretty quickly. Friends who are interested in the scrapbook, be aware that the PDF is only about 2.5MB.
Now we're up in New Jersey, with Cathy's family. Yesterday Sarah and I went along as Cathy's sister Mary took her dog, Rags, for a walk on a railroad trail somewhere not too far from Budd Lake. At three miles, it's the closest thing to exercise I've done on this trip. As we approached the parking lot, a dozen or so shots were heard somewhere over a hill. Rags was not thrilled. Some folks at the parking lot were unhappy because one of their dogs had bolted from the vehicle and was now running down the road. We allowed that Sarah's theory about the dog being scared by the shots was a good one. We were going in the same direction and drove slowly behind the car that was tracking the dog and looking for a chance to get it back in the car. Some brilliant soul a couple of cars back figured we were all driving too slow and had the notion that he could fix everything by honking his horn.
Today we were out for an errand and managed to swing by White Castle. The one near here is the only one I ever get to visit any more, and I always look forward to it. This time I didn't have a regular slider but had a fish slider, a bacon slider, and a jalapeño cheese slider. So hot, so fresh, so tasty. I'm hoping we can get in one more slider run as we depart for home in the morning. If all they serve in the a.m. is breakfast items, well, that wouldn't be so bad either. (And yes, I am aware that some people may not like White Castle. I am unperturbed by this.)
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-27 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-28 02:58 am (UTC)There used to be at least one White Castle in Richmond, but that was years ago. Have no idea what the current situation might be.
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Date: 2011-12-28 04:38 am (UTC)In West Springfield, we had The White Hut, a standalone burger joint that has been there since 1937. They may have opened a second one about the time we left. They would have a booth at the Big E every year where it was actually easier to get a burger than at the original location, which is almost always crowded and loud as people fight their way to the counter to shout their order. They can eat it there, or at one of the very few tables on the sawdust-strewn floor, or do like we always did and take it home. It showed up in Zippy the Pinhead once, when he was apparently making a pilgrimage to every interesting roadside spot he could find.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-14 10:20 pm (UTC)I got curious and Googled White Castle. They seem to be concentrated in the mid-West now. Not in the South beyond Tennessee and not on the Atlantic coast except for a concentration in NYC and some in NJ. Of course, White Castle burgers are available in freezer cases nationwide. I don't know how you feel about that.
The White Hut sounds like the kind of place that could be featued on one of Alton Brown's road food specials--or "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." Its crowded popularity reminds me of when the Dairy Queen on Rt. 134 was an independent franchise and practically the only DQ around. It was always jammed, particularly on Friday nights. All the outside tables would be occupied, and lots of people sat on or in their cars to eat their meals or enjoy sweet treats.
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Date: 2012-01-14 11:47 pm (UTC)Gecko and I had a slider party one time. We each had our own favored choice — White Castle for me, Krystal for him — with a little extra preparation. I had determined that to make frozen ones more like the fresh ones, some warmed ketchup was needed, and possibly some extra reconstituted onion. For the Krystals, it was extra mustard.
A good time was had by both of us. I should have had one of the Krystals, but that didn't seem to occur to me at the time.