First peanuts, now pistachios, what next?

A California company is recalling 2 million pounds of pistachios distributed nationwide after testing found them to be contaminated with salmonella. The Food and Drug Administration is advising consumers to avoid eating all pistachios and foods containing them until it can confirm which pistachios might be affected.
USA Today ran an article yesterday on their on line edition, which warned consumers of products that have been processed since last September.

The FDA said Setton Pistachio, the nation's second-largest pistachio processor, was voluntarily recalling more than 2 million pounds of its roasted nuts shipped since last fall. Some of those nuts were shipped to Norway and Mexico, officials said Tuesday.

"We know that the farm in California shipped its products to 36 wholesalers," said Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety. "But what we don't know yet is what those wholesalers did with them — whether they were repackaged for consumers, or whether they were sold to manufacturers making ice cream or cookies or candies." (USA TODAY)

I wonder exactly how big the pile of 2 million lbs of pistachios would be?

Another food warning of tainted product possibilities.....

Great, just great!


I bought some pistachios at the Costco in Morelia, and even some at Wal Mart in Morelia and in Mazatlan.
Two million pounds is a lot of those tiny savory little habit forming orbs.

It seems or to me at least, that there have been more and more outbreaks of tainted food products in the last couple of years than in many years before.

Is that the case or is it that we just happen to hear about it now?

It is at a point that unless you produce the product yourself or know the source you will not be able to eat anything that is untainted or at least not suspect to some form of contamination.

One of the things mentioned in the article was that the salmonella is not dangerous unless you are an infant , old, or have a compromised immune system.

As a child growing up, I was fortunate to ingest all kinds of stuff that should have built up my immune system. Garden mud pies, unwashed fruit and vegetables from the garden, soda pop from bottles shared by 3 or 4 friends, scrapes and scratches from falling on broken glass, jagged rusty fence hardware , bites from neighborhood dogs and who know how many food items that were past their product dates ( when did product dates come into being?) and food left out in the open in my grandmother's kitchen.

I believe that we were better equipped for the life of hard knocks, unlike today's kids that are overprotected and turn out not tempered to nature and it's normal surroundings.

I think I have had less colds, flu symptoms and such since being exposed to the "fresh" products of Mexico, stuff like unrefrigerated chickens at the mercado to eggs that are held on top of the counter at the store down the road from our house.

Something to be said about natural selection and being exposed to spores, molds, fungus, and life.
Don't get me wrong, I won't go looking for someone to sneeze on me, but I don't want build up an immunity to antibiotics which is now a real issue.

But that's just me.......

You can't pick your neighbors, Mr. Hatfield...

I got a call the other day from a neighbor complaining, well actually it was more like venting about a neighbor.
For him it was his next door neighbor, a fellow of 47 years of age, who is making his life a nightmare.

How sad that a stranger, can impact someone so much to the point of desperation.

This person is going out of his way to make life for both neighbors, one on each side a problem.

The legal profession has a description of what is suppose to be the norm, that of " Quiet enjoyment" which basically states that one person may not infringe on an other's right to occupy their home or land without interference.

The call went on to say that one night his car was keyed, then the next his windshield wiper arm was snapped off the car, a week later some profanities where keyed on the hood of the car, but mostly his driveway is constantly blocked by "his neighbor".

This fellow is a mellow man, a chiropractor by trade, so it's not like he is a steelworker or heavy equipment operator who could return one punch to flatten out the offender.

The police were called several times, and shouting matches ensued.
Had it not been that the offender got pulled back into his home by family, the police said they would have arrested him.

During my lengthy venting reception, it was pointed out that the police had several observations, one was that the person was definitely unstable and possibility dangerous, but the other was that this is a no win situation for all concerned.

The police also said that should they arrest and succeed in sentencing the man, for several months, this will do nothing more than to build up the rage that festers within him now.
So that upon his release he will possible harbor more anger against his neighbors, not knowing what he may be able to do, or how he would act upon them knowing that they were responsible for the complaint to put him there.

Would he burn their homes down , when there were absent?
Would he burn their homes down , when they were present?

Should he repaint his car, knowing that this loose cannon is walking around next door?

The police had no recommendations,
He wanted to vent, and vent he did. The only recommendations I was able to offer was to wait it out and see if this jerk makes someone else mad somewhere and that person will solve the problem.
But that doesn't help the neighbors right now.............

We have a neighbor that started a fire next door to us last week and created a big mess.
Thank God, our caretaker was able to get the fire department over there to keep it from getting out of control....

Now I will see what damage it has down, when we return........

Gotta love your neighbors? Eh?

El Dentista, typo de Mexico.

Well it hurts and I should do something about it.
It's been awhile and if I want to enjoy being able to chomp on things, like a nice juicy apple from the cooler, then I best maintain the old chompers.

My mother always tired to scare me by telling me that if I didn't brush my teeth, they would fall out when I got older.

So far none have exited the alloted space, except for the wisdom teeth that got yanked out one friday afternoon.

That was the weekend I found out that a couple of Scotch Stingers would allow me to chomp on crusty San Francisco Sourdough French Bread.

Then the alcohol nummbing effect wore of on Monday..........

Anyway, the dental profession in Mexico runs from mediocre to good to excellent to stellar.
What's the difference.....?

Pesos, and the quantity of them.

It has become quite popular for US residents to venture sourth of the border to have major dental work performed.
Yep there are horror stories circulating, but likewise there are horror stories of certified US doctors in every town across America.

My cleaning and check up in a super modern Mazatlan Dental establishment, which had more modern equipment than my old town dentist in the states was fast, somewhat tolerable and the best, ..... pretty cheap.

In the states the poor old dentist has now be industrialized.
Computers now kaching, his practices' bank account automatically while you are still strapped in the chair.
Last time a cleaning and check up cost me around $ 300 dollars.
The total was cranked up while he was tapping his monitor screen and doing a little work, do a little,... tap the screen and the total adds up, kind of like the old gas pumps that sounded a gong every time the gallon registered.

I just happen to stumble on an article that proves my point.
Check it out. Figure that it is about 50 % correct, so it's still interesting.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-border-dentists_avilamar24,0,4743134.story

Oh yeah, my Mazatlan work cost me $488 pesos.

Just a businessman.............yeah, sure!

Well, I see it more and more, so it must be the state of the healthy economy down in Mexico.
What I am talking about is the flashy new car a Lincoln Navigator, or the Cadillac Escalade with 2 thousand dollar spinning hubcaps, loud blasting stereos, and dressed to the teeth driver and passengers.
Sometimes it's a Hummer.......the car not the bird..........

They must own a little bodega in the hood.
Or maybe a laundry?
Or rather they have a new venture that needs a laundry?

You think?

The word is all the same.........a hushed word, uttered while not making eye contract, and it's not Albanil or Plumero, not even Enginero..........

Has something to do with manufacturing I believe.
Or wise real estate investments......

Yeah, that's it!

One of the wacky fellow guests, boasted of going on a special tour in Mazatlan.

Leave it to a Canadian to search out the obvious......

He gave me the link and that explained it all............

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2008800858_mazatlan02.html

Just think of me like old Sargent Schultz.......I seeeeee noooothing.....

Take it easy, relax, ponder awhile.........

Sitting here on the beach in Mazatlan, we hear many visitors that come here to enjoy the Pacific Ocean, well at least I think that is the reason that they come down here, or for some warmer weather, anyway I hear a lot of complaining......

"It takes too long to come down here, or we can't go anywhere because it's too far or too long to drive there."

In the states people whine about it also. Too long, too much traffic, inconvenience because I'll be in a cab for 20 minutes, or stuck in traffic on the way home for a hour or two.

Ok, I will agree that Mazatlan is missing a underground subway system that would whisk you to environs in minutes and it's missing a 4 lane highway that would get you to Tepic in an hour or so.

But lets look at reality.

Time is relative. At least that's what people say.

It wasn't that long ago that the main and only means of transporting of ones own body was either walking by foot or perching your butt on top of a mule,donkey or horse.

It was a days journey to go 7 or 8 miles.

100 years ago if you wanted to travel between Mazatlan and Ciudad Obregon to the North, it would be 5 or 6 days. At least!

And you didn't do that in one trip.

That means you had to bed down each night, first of all you would have to find a place to stay.

Well traveled roads usually had a cantina or posadas with some beds in the back or upstairs.

You wouldn't jump into a shower to clean of the road dust, that was done by sloshing through a stream on your way that day.

But yet we complain.........

Imagine if you wanted to head to Nogales, which by car is about a 12 hour ride from Mazatlan.

That would be a massive undertaking, you had to figure a months journey and that's if you didn't get attacked by banditios or cartel gang members........

It took George Washington two days to cross from New York into Long Island but how many thousands of people complain and curse when the cab in Manhattan is stuck in traffic for a spell?

Interesting to think of the old days and to comprehend that most of the people living then never traveled more than about 10 to 15 miles from their place of birth in their lifetime.........

I think I 'll jump in the car and go over to Soriana for a 6 pack and stuff for dinner.
Not so quick!
That would have been a trip that would have taken all day, not so long ago.

I think I will stop complaining and think about yesteryear more............

After all, doesn't one come down to Mexico to slow down?

You know what I mean,,, eh?

Eh"
Oh Yeaaa!,
Oh Yeah,
No Kidden Eh?
Ya....
Eh?

Nope not a new language just listening to our temporary neighbors at the motel in Mazatlan. Seems that every year thousands of these fridged people move down to sunny skies in Mazatlan.

Why Mazatlan Eh"

Don't have the slightest idea. Maybe because there is a Canadian Consulate next door to the Playa Mazatlan Hotel.

Maybe because the exchange rate is ok this time?

I would say that at least half of the tourists down here are Canadians.

Except when the Cruise Ships come in then it's the geriatric set, maybe but doubtful, Canadians don't seem to enjoy Cruises.

They either fly down or drive down, like our neighbors from Winnipeg. Nice couple, she's a kick enjoys her suds and was one of the first to try and shout down the loud music aficionado Sunday at 7 am.

Sounds like a real long drive to get a little warm, don't ya think?

Interesting........Eh?

Oh, ......by the way....they love their Suds, but they don't sell Moulson Ale down here!

Life on the beach...

Mazatlan is one of the nicer Mexico beach communities. It is only about 7 hours from Patzcuaro and is one of the better "resort" places Mexico has to offer. A trade off between a really large commercial place and a small rural fishing village Mazatlan is sort of a compromise.

We like it because we found a hotel that allows our dogs to enjoy the vacation also.

Mazatlan has some benefits to it, because

It is not rows of high rise hotels, one after another like Ixtapa.
It is not a quiet, lonely, very trendy and expensive place like Zihuatanejo. (that one I like without the dogs, just the wife!)

It is not overly populated and saturated like Puerto Vallarta.
It is not hot and dusty like Guaymas.
It is not hard to get to, like Costa Careyes or Manzanillo.
I won't even discuss Acapulco......

It is just right. Some touristy spots, a few high rise hotels and condos, and a few or actually a lot of funky old hotels and motels all along the beach areas.

You can get some nice brewskys here, actually a bucket with 4 or 5 beers, with large chunks of ice and a cup of limes already cut for you for about 50 pesos...

Only thing bad is sometime the noise can get pretty disturbing, seems people like to whooup and holler at all times of the day and night here.


There is a new club here that opened awhile ago, called Passions.
It's located about 100 meters across the street from our old two story hotel complex.

It is interesting to see the patrons walking into the club. It caters to gays and transsexuals...........
Wow, to see some of the elaborate outfits some of their patrons parade in.

Anyway, last Saturday night, not Friday, but Saturday the musics lasted all night, morning until 6 AM.

I know, I got up every hour or so and it was still thumping, the same thump, over and over, kind of like a bad headache.

At 6:30 one of the patrons, or someone who enjoyed the noise, pulled their Ford Lobo pickup truck to in front of the place, opened up both doors, and proceeded to play at maximum volume before distortion, Ranchero Music.......

Cue, the hotel residents looking out into the street, the people from the condos next door trying to shout to shut up over the music, nada.

That lasted for about one hour.

The police drove by several times, slowed up and enjoyed the music.....at 7 Am on a Sunday morning.......

Talk about loving and living in Mexico.............

That's one of the things that I hate about Mexico.

Try it on for size

Well I see some fellow bloggers have gone incognito.
The Shadow knows who they are though.
I think I will try this mask on for size.
You can win a prize if you know who the man in my profile picture is.
One guess, it's not me.
I don't look that handsome.
One hint.
He was born in Vicam, a small village in Sonora, on the road between Ciudad Obregon and Hermosillo. In the early 1900's .

Will my mask work?
Time will tell!
Now I can do things only my imagination will know!

It's all a matter of perspective.....

There are several types of people, some look at life as the water glass half empty and the other look at it as half full.
Perspective is important to communicate your ideas and emotions, and I am tired of being asked about the issues of Mexico and the crime.
That's all we hear about is the dead bodies......the drug cartels, and now the US State department is warning US travellers about travel into Mexico.

First I would say that they should warn their citizens about travel into Los Angeles, Oakland, Dallas, New York City and Miami.
Check out the graph on the left and see how Oakland compares to average US city Seattle.
So, why not ask about worrying about going to Oakland?
More media hype, and there is something the media likes to do is bash Mexico. After all it says the problems in the US are contributed by Mexico, Mexico says the drug problems are contributed by the US.
So here we are, caught in a media war between two media organizations both waging war on each others prosperity.

It my eyes, the more people quit listening to the media people the better off one would be. The TV talking heads have been spewing nonsense for decades and have conditioned the viewers who are glued to the set to believe anything they preach.
I quit listening and believing the US media long ago. I get a lot of my news from the BBC. It's interesting to find out what the Brits have to say about the US and Mexico.

Then you can pick up the local newspaper like LA Voz and read another completely different story.

And I use to be in the news biz...... That was in the 60's when things were different or at least they seemed to be.....

New roots old trees

It's funny how and who winds up in Mexico. When I was a kid, I remember watching old black and white Westerns where the bad guys would be chased by the guys in white hats, with the crux of the issue was that they would wind up "South of the Border".

Then for years, I never had any desire to visit Mexico, growing up in The City, we had our Mexican neighborhoods and all I remember is the Ranchero Music and a couple of restaurants that smelled funny.

My parents never exposed us to Mexican food, in fact it wasn't until when I was about 25 that I ever had a taco or a plate that had refried beans.

Spicy, way too spicy was all I heard from everyone......

My first real taste was on my first trip to Mexico. I was attending a convention in Denver, and had to fly to meet my group in Mazatlan. Had some mandatory Mexican food and it didn't taste like the stuff I had before........

March, it was snowing in Denver, sunny and hot in Mazatlan. Guess what clothes I had?

We stayed at the Playa Mazatlan which stands there today. Now it is dwarfed by several tall high rises and a lot more touristy trinket shops.

Back them the road ended several meters after the hotel. Now it goes to the strip that boasts many and multiple properties all filled sometimes with tourists.

Now fast forward 30 years or so and I have new roots. For some reason I feel at home in the south land, and not in the north land.

A friend of mine just built a home in San Miguel.
A beautiful 3 story house with a great roof bar, views of the cathedral and surrounding hill tops.
He feels the same way about his home. We both were in the "phone business" and both feel that our roots have been transplanted. He has not moved down yet, and has a problem each time he has to leave San Miguel.

For me I know it is the simpler life, devoid of the minutia that has consumed every inch of survival up north.

Give me a topic and I can give you an example.

Thankfully Mexico is about 25 to 50 years behind on a lot of stuff.

Gives me time to ponder for awhile.

A nice new road to Zirahuen

The other day we had breakfast in Santa Clara, I always seem to order the same dish, the Huevos El Camino. They are some delicious scrambled eggs swimming in a nice mild red chile salsa. The coffee at the El Camino Real restaurant is superb, especially when you ask for an extra shot, to be added.
Satiated, I decided to show our visiting guest a little more of Santa Clara.
While exiting the pueblo, I noticed a new sign on the main street, one that commanded large trucks to use the bypass.
Pretty good idea since a lot of the streets are not wide enough for a tractor rid to maneuver, let alone allow the traffic that is already sluggish to have to endure the prolonged waits. We took the bypass and wound up on the outskirts of town....

Since we already were on the tour mode, I figured why not show our guest a little of the road to the lake. I knew that after about 2 kilometers, I would give up and turn around since the cobble stones end and dirt road entails.

2 kilometers, and still no dirt road.

5 kilometers and still no dirt road.

Could it be that the the complete road is now paved?

Unbelievable, progress has come to little Zirahuen.
I was later told that the road was open to a lot of opposition late last year. So now the residents both have a less vehicle mashing thoroughfare with more turistas into town. They were basically against the tourists.....at least the residents, not the businessmen.

Arriving into town I wanted to show the neat little restaurant and and hotels that dot the banks. One was the the Zirahuen Forest Resort. ( 443,326,3301)
We decided to stop there, walk around on the long pier and have some refreshments while enjoying the view. The place has nice cabanas and sports a nice large restaurant and salon de fiesta.
Along the pier are lots of small individual restaurants offering fresh fish along with various local dishes. You can also hire a motor boat for about 400 pesos per hour. They will take one or 16 people for the price and view the homes and mansions that dot the banks around the lake.

With the new road and some nice places this is going to allow people to visit a lot easier.
One of my fellow bloggers had also sent me information on a new restaurant that was featured in LaVoz, one that had a first class chef and used first class ingredients.

We didn't look for it, but something tells me that we are going to be coming out here for short getaways and social Fridays.

The new upscale place is called Miralago. This will give me a quest to conquer on my next trip.

Years ago, we had looked at property here and almost purchase except for then it took about 1 hour to get here from Patzcuaro. Now with the autopista it's down to about 15 minutes and 30 minutes on the old road . I can predict this will be a nice place to settle down with a weekend home or getaway.
Except for the escalating prices on property now.

A nice getaway

Years ago I was always on the looking for a nice getaway.

A Getaway was for me someplace were one could go, for a quiet night or weekend with a secret partner.
Now that I don't need a secret partner anymore I seem to find lots of nice "getaways".

I think I will surprise my wife and whisk her away to this "getaway" at least if it is only for one night, a change of style will or should do a nice sojourn make.

El Hotel Mansión del Molino, is one such place. Locate in Tocambaro which is about a half hour drive from Patzcuaro, it has everything one needs to survive the night and next morning.
A restaurant, a bar, a nice bed, clean floors and a stellar view.

We found this place while searching for some place to eat. What we found was a nice location for a "getaway".

Our, lunch was served in one of their dining rooms that overlook their gardens which overlook the town.
Usually when we visit this town we have eaten at the Restaruant El Mirador, up the highway.
Highway is a overly nice description of the "Camino" The place is known for it's view of the valley. It also has a tower which you can climb to take that special picture. We wound up not there since it was closed that day.
We use to go to El Tahaban, for years until about 4 or 5 when for some reason they closed up. It was really a good restaurant , with tin roof that allowed you to shout during downpours.
That was my sum total of "restaurant" experience in Tacambaro.
Back to El Hotel Mansión del Molino,
Our lunch started off with a couple of beers served in frozen mugs which elevated the taste of plain old Coronas. My wife decided upon a hamburgesa, which we were notified was not available that day. She opted for the pechuga instead, My default is the Melanasa and our guest had a tapequenia. All were done perfect and offered satisfying tastes.
For some reason every time we have come to Tacamarao and any of it's restautants one appetizer is always presented. Sopes......Sopes are little masa rounds that sort of resemble a tortilla that didn't get squished. It is about a 1/4 of an inch high and topped with refried beans and crumbled cheese. Molino's sopes where great, although not as good as the defunct El Tahaban, but certainly tasty.
We checked out the rooms and found them to be freshly remodeled with modern bathrooms, super clean floors and nice views either of town or their garden areas. They have 10 rooms and 2 suites. Prices run around 5o0 pesos dollars with the suites being 600.
The dining room is situated next to the museumed Molino, which offered history as well as charm to the building.
Parking is a little dicey since we came in a regular sized pickup truck, we spent about 5 minutes practicing our 3 point turns in order to exit on to tiny narrow arteries.
All in all, we will be returning to this place maybe during the rainy season, to catch a view and a meal along with a possible surprise.

Poor Man's San Miguel

We have a routine when someone comes from afar to visit.

Down to the plaza., the big, the little and the tiny. In Patzcuaro that would be Plaza Grande which is where the some of the city offices are, the great ice cream vendors couple of coffee shops and a few restaurant.

The Small plaza is next to the entrance to the central mercado, which seems like the older part of town, judging from the older buildings and the tiny plaza San Francisco which is the plaza where the Indian merchants sell their flowers and wares every Friday.

Most towns have plazas, which tend to be the central focus some include the central band stand or gazebo, so do not.

All the plazas have vendors. Some good, some not.

A couple of days ago, we took our friend to all the plazas the mercado, the Basilica, and he himself asked to borrow the pickup and check things out on his own.

He found stuff that I hadn't. He showed me!

So, yesterday we showed him Tacambaro!
For those of you not aware of Tacambaro, it's a quaint little town, on the side of the hill in the land of Terra Caliente.
Even though it's only about 40 miles from Patzcuaro, the elevation is in the hot zone, places where the avocado tree can be seen for miles and where great fruit trees that dole out nothing on our land in Patzcuaro, fill boxes upon boxes of rich delicious fruit in this Hot Zone.

We were fortunate to find a parking spot under a nice shady tree on the main plaza there. Maybe we would find a place to grab a bite to eat.

The church was massive and beautiful, the plaza was nice and clean and the taxi's lined up in great procession waiting for a random peso to be tossed.

No food to be found unless you wanted a corn cob on a stick.......kinda hard to enjoy that with a cup of java.

Then someone told my wife that the place to go was the Hotel Molina. You could take a taxi there and back.

Nawww, too much trouble.
So we headed back to Patzcuaro.
But on the way guess what we ran across.
The sign was a Red Coca Cola sign that featured The Hotel Molina.

Lots of history there. Seems the first mill in the area, people from as far a Patzcuaro brought their toils to be ground up.
The mill was brought over from Vera Cruz with burro power. That was several hundred years ago.
Tacambaro has tiny little streets percherd on the side of the hill, kind of like a poor mans San Miguel.

Both are hot, both have tiny almost un maneuverable streets unless you happen to be riding a burro and both have Plazas.

The town dates back to the mid 1500's.

I'm sure you can buy a house a lot cheaper than in San Miguel. And you won't have thousands of Gringos...........

Not that I don't like Gringos.

I just don't want them living in my neighborhood..........

Just Kidding.

More on Tacambaro later.

Yesterday it was in the high 80's and today it was a tad cooler, dropping down to the mid 80's!
Eat your hearts out NorteAmericanos.

Every couple of days on real nice days, it gets boring sitting around in the sun, reading, listening to music and just plain chilling out.
So we get in the old pickup and head out for an excursion for a hour or two.

The road between Tzurumutaro and Tzintzuntsan is normally a 7 or 8 minute ride, except for during the Day of the Dead when it can take a half and hour or more.

Unless you take the scenic route which is great if you don't have to dash home.

The road takes you around the mountain where you get great views of all the islands, lake front ranchos, weekend homes and two small villages.

Today as we were traversing the south side of the mountain we passed a little restaurant perched up on the side of the road overlooking the lake.

As I asked my wife if she had an appetite the sames as mine she this time acknowledged my question. Backing up on the road for about 300 meters, we found ourselves sitting in front of a well placed loudspeaker playing regional Ranchero music.

Ranchero music is a acquired level of tolerance. As the owner came to us to ask what we would like and to rattle of the choices, I put my routine when dealing with blaring Ranchero music.

I reduce my normal speaking volume to about 30%.
This usually will bring to action the twiddling of the volume control a few clicks to the left, both allowing her to finally hear my now normal speaking volume and simultaneously reducing the pain threshold of the ompah music.

After our order was placed the music changed to a nice old fashion ballad and which made the rest of our meal extremely enjoyable.

This was a nice surprise for us.

Where else can you get stellar views and a great quesadilla and a beer for 17 pesos?

Here of course!

The chicken quesadilla was memorable and almost succumbing to asking for a second one, I decided against it since the beer had push my empty caloric count for my lunch limit. The quesadilla was absolutely delicious, moist pieces of chicken, coated with a nice green tomatillo salsa injecting the right amount of heat which didn't linger for hours, moistened with shredded fresh lettuce and some cilantro.
Wow, a keeper place to return to should I find myself taking the long way to Tzintzuntszan.

The return home saw much activity with people out and about, enjoying the typical Sunday.

There are multiple restaurants in Patzcuaro some decent and some not. One of the places that has been popular is a place called Cha Cha Cha. This place is down from the Basillica and was a decent place frequented by tourists.

It had always been pretty middle of the road. We had a guest visiting us and figured it would be a "safe" place to bring them to.

Well, things have changed, as all things in Mexico especially restaurants. From what was once "middle of the road" has dropped to" on the side of the ditch".

From passable service and average food it has been downgraded to very disappointing. From not getting our guest's order correct, to not adding the bill correctly it was a precursor of what I see in my crystal ball, that this place may be shuttered later this year.

The only reason it may not, is that the owner of the restaurant may be the owner of the building and therefore not have to have more than a duo of patrons on a evening..........

You would think that restaurant owners would remember what made their places appealing to their previous patrons............At least in the beginning.
But not so.

The restaurant business is one of the hardest to run and succeed in. Between employees and pilferage to no show help, it's extremely problematic at best. Restaurant have but one time to make a favorable impression on their clients. Should one do a lest than good job on the first visit, it is highly doubtful that a return chance is done. If the owner see that they place is packed they tend to try and skate by, thus making the fatal mistake.....

So here we have a roadside stand that outshines a formal style restaurant for the day at least!

Old, Old, not me!

Time is relative and it is interesting to gauge the passing of time to events and things that one sees. It has been 12 years since we purchased the property here and 10 years since the house was finished, but that seems longer.

For some reason the older you get the years tend to pass by quicker. One can only imaging the perception for a person who is 90 lets say........

When you were a mere child of 7 or 8 it seemed forever for Christmas to roll around, But the summer whizzed by faster when you started going to school for some reason.

Last night the AMC Channel was showing Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles.

Almost every time I see that it is on, in spite of me having it recorded and having a DVD of it, I find myself selecting the channel.

Maybe I won't watch the whole movie but it still is as funny watching it for the umpteenth time as the first.

That movie came out 35 years ago.

Yes, that's Thirty Five years ago!

And it seems like maybe 15 years or so........