Doing a bit of catching up

[Katiecooks]

Good morning - While my son is away on vacation from leaning over my shoulder and critiquing every single key stroke, I thought I'd log on and do a tad of catching up. With that said: Happy Birthday, Kevin - hope it was a good one. Each new day is a blessing!; CF, hope some of the rain that fell on Texas fell on you and cooled things down a little - we've had lots of rainfall and cooler temps recently - nights are great for sleeping, down in the 50's and days are cooler and livable once again. Most of the beach bunnies have fled (thank goodness) and it seems as if the beaches and oceanfronts are ours once more!;
I've a handful of recipes I brought back from vacation with me and will get them sorted out and posted soonest.....especially before Ian gets back home!;
am now planning for an upcoming wedding in November - much excitement; how are all things animal? Rabbits, kittens, etc.? All our cats have now forgiven us for being away from them all summer and are back to being pushy and spoiled! Anyway, hello to all and hope this finds everyone in good form.
And good forum! Incidently, I love the new look of the forum and am slowly wending my way through to understanding it.

Katie

 

[rgacat]

Good to have you back Katie. Now you can rest up from the vacation.

 

[Katiecooks]

Isn't that the truth? One usually needs to end vacations in order to rest up and get back in the "groove", so to speak! Today isn't terribly restful, however - it entails 5 gallons of homemade vegetable/beef soup (I'll post my recipe soon) that drove me nutsy smelling soooooooooooooo good last night, five dozen corn muffins and two huge flats of three-layer citrus salad. Hope the crowd likes it all. Nothing I hate quite so much as cutting up veggies to make anything!

Does everyone remember where they were and what doing ten years ago tomorrow? One of the most shattering days in American history - full of pathose, tragedy, chaos, fear and confusion! I was at my place of work, being generally bone idle that day until right after the inferno commenced and all bloody hell broke loose. At first I simply didn't believe it was anything other than a horrific accident but when I accepted the reality I just felt numb and still quite unbelieving. It was something I shall never, ever forget and my eyes turned toward England that morning, wondering if my homeland would be next for slaughter. What sort of monsters would do such a despicable thing? Then, last night, I stumbled onto an episode of CNBC 60 minutes and it was all about the way BP Oil does (or usually fails to do) business - and was nearly as horrified as I'd been over 9/11! There is no accountability, no conscience, no willingness to take responsibility for the horrors they've inflicted on innocent people through carelessness, unconcern and greed - both with the Horizon explosion and the 2005 horror that occured in Texas City at the BP refinery there. What has happened to morals and human concern? Who are some of us and what makes us tick? In watching this documentary I simply felt sick all over! How could those people risk the lives of hundreds, all in the name of the almighty dollar or pound or whatever currency was their God? This I'll absolutely never understand or accept!!
Was anyone aware that there's another huge oil rig (the Atlantis) out in the Gulf which is even more frightfully unsafe, undocumented and potentially catastropic than the Horizon was? It's unconscionable and terrifying to consider that BP is allowing the thing to pump out some 200,000 barrels per day at the unchecked risk of an explosion which knowledgable people who are involved claim will make the Horizon appear" a bubble in the water" by comparison. Those same folks also contend that disaster is immenent!!

But the day and the week continue and life has to roll on - hope everyone is in stead and doing well. Watch following for that soup recipe.

Katie

 

[ChileFarmer]

Katie,pleased that you are back home (safely) Hope you get things back together soon, yeah, we missed ya. CF

 

[jpshaw]

Welcome back Katie. You said 5 gallons of soup? Who are you cooking for, the 82nd Airborne Division?