Ok, lessee what’s been happenin’ since Turkey Day…or as we called it ‘round here Duck Day.

Alabama wrapped up the SEC championship with a thrilling come from behind 4 overtime victory over Auburn in the Iron Bowl…in most years the respective quality of the tow teams and the season records have nothing to do with how close or run away the game is…and this year was no exception. Auburn played inspired defense and had a 0-10 lead over the Tide into the 4th quarter but a field goal and then a clutch 97 yard drive in the last minute and a half or so of the game with a TD pass at 24 seconds remaining sent the game into overtime and after swapping CDs and field goals in the first two extra periods it came down to 2 point conversions. Third overtime both were successful and in the 4th a defender tipped away Auburn’s pass attempt followed by a slick move by one of the Tide’s receivers to get open and tiptoe into the end zone for the winning points.

The next week…it was off to Atlanta for the SEC championship…but we had wrapped up the SEC West the week before so regardless of the Iron Bowl were headed to Atlanta. Everybody expected a defensive battle and it started that way with Georgia having a 0-10 lead early in the second. We then scored on 5 consecutive possessions to put the game away midway through the 3rd quarter and then dominated defensively on the way to a 41-24 victory, a Heisman moment for the ‘Bama QB Bryce Young, and the top seeding in the playoffs…we’ll play Cincinnati on New Years Eve and Georgia and Michigan will play that evening for berths and a potential rematch in the championship.

Young went on to win the Heisman Trophy yesterday…that’s 4 of the past 13 despite having never won one before…and despite a bunch of really good QBs over the years (Starr, Namath, Tua, Mac Jones and others he’s the first QB winner from the school…and it looks like Georgia’s defensive coordinator is headed to Oregon…it remains to be seen whether he’ll coach through the playoffs or get replaced.

Other than that…nuttin’ is really going on. We went down the the Elks a couple times, Connie’s cantored…a lot…and we’re headed off to Sarasota this afternoon for the second Masterworks series concert. And it’s Alex’s birthday…so we’ll give him a call and wish him a happy 7th birthday this evening on the way home after the concert and dinner at our usual Longhorn Steakhouse.

We had our annual termite inspection…no issues…and our quarterly pest control visit…no issues there either but we did get him to spray for the centipedes. We’ve seen a couple of them inside the house but that’s pretty much a way of life down here.

We’re looking forward to the holidays…probably do a spatchcocked chicken on the barbie as they would say down under in Aussieland.

We got our Moderna COVID booster shots and also had a very nice dinner for Connie’s birthday on Dec 2. We did the shots the afternoon of her birthday since we knew whatever side effects we had would not happen until the next day…then headed down to a place named Deep Lagoon…had some excellent oysters and lobstah bisque along with a bottle of vino. The guy next to her at the bar used to be the manager there and it was his birthday…so they brought him out 4…count ‘em 4…desserts…chocolate cake, chocolate mousse pie, cheesecake, and I canna ‘member the last one. He offered us one since he wasn’t going to eat them all…the cheesecake and the canna ‘member one were already spoken for and Connie picked the mousse as it would be light. The chocolate cake looked good…but it was really dark and would obviously be rich and heavy…and it was Connie’s birthday after all so he let her pick…and the mousse was pretty darned good.

Friday we ran a bunch of errands…did the Bingo deposit, picked up a Walmart grocery pickup order, and picked up an Italian sausage sandwich from the place outside Home Depot that we brought home for lunch. The plan was to run down to the pool area at dinner since there was a cheese steak sandwich truck coming in…but that was a bust. We got there about 1715 or so and had at least a dozen to fifteen people in front of us. After waiting over 15 minutes…we had seen exactly 3 sandwiches delivered to hungry customers…obviously they weren’t really prepared for a crowd and no sandwich is worth an hour plus wait in our opinion. So we bailed and had a frozen pizza instead. Then Connie had cantor duty for Saturday afternoon Mass so we had leftover chicken thigh stir-fry for dinner after Mass.

This week Jussie Smollet was convicted of masterminding the hoax hate crime up in Chicago back in 2020…like anybody really believed that there were a couple of MAGA folk running around downtown Chicago at 2AM. His case quickly became a ‘cause’ after it happened and everybody from the President on down decried the hate crime against him…again without bothering to get any of the facts. The original case was wrongfully dismissed by the local DA but after her whitewash of the entire lying incident a special prosecutor was quickly appointed that resulted in new charges. Clearly the jury believed the prosecution’s case or else they would not have convicted him…but naturally the left is screaming about the wrongful conviction by the ‘biased justice system’. Sheesh…just like in the other two politically charged cases recently…I wish people would actually get the facts before coming to their own biased conclusion and then putting it in the media like Moses coming down from the mountain.

Then there was the McDonald’s CEO. In April, a 7 year old girl was killed in a drive by shooting in one of their parking lots in Chicago…and in this case the father was fully aware that the other gang was after him to kill him…then a few weeks later a young black man was killed at 0230 in the morning running from police with a weapon in his hand…video showed that he tossed the gun a second or so before being shot. The CEO of McDonalds tweeted that both shootings were tragic but that in both cases the parents failed the child…the father of the girl for taking her out in the car while being hunted by another gang and the parents of the second for letting him run around at 0230 in the morning with a weapon. Interestingly…his tweet did not blame the usual suspects of racism and rogue cops…but pointed the finger at the parents. 

Nonetheless…activist groups decried his tweet as

“ignorant, racist and unacceptable.”

and

“You relied on lazy, outdated and racist stereotypes in order to uphold the status quo and avoid accountability for those in power,” the groups wrote. “As the leader of one of the world’s largest private employers and most iconic brands, you have a responsibility to do so much better.”

at which point the CEO immediately apologized and met with 100 pastors and community leaders in the city to bow and beg forgiveness for his sins. Even the WSJ said that he was “stating a plain truth that is surely shared by a an overwhelming majority of rational adults.”

What the heck has happened to personal responsibility in America?

And in
another video by the legal eagle…it turns out that the judge in the Rittenhouse case might not have been so racially and defense biased as the media and left have repeatedly claimed…once again a rational analysis of the actual laws, facts, and judicial norms might lead an unbiased person to think that just maybe the judge did his job and wasn’t in the tank for the defense.

And just so you wont’ think we only skewer the left…we’re equal opportunity pointers out of behavior by idiots of either party…the President hosted a virtual Democracy Summit this week…and while this is a dumb concept in general that’’s not really the point. As part of his introductory speech…he said that all men and women were created equal and had a right to lift, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…and while this isn’t exactly the wording of the Declaration of Independence it seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable adaptation. Back then…women didn’t have too many rights but we’re more enlightened today…so I really don’t see any problem with it.. However…Fox News host
Tammy Bruce thinks it’s an issue. Frankly…we don’t watch Fox except for their sports events…and I’ve never even heard of this woman…but she’s apparently a self described out of the closet lesbian feminist…so rather than accept this as a progressive step towards inclusion…she immediately went on a tirade about “sleepy Joe” and how his words were “not what the founders wrote” and “the sacred words of our founders weren’t inclusive enough for sleepy Joe, so he corrected them.”

In this case…I have to agree with those on the left who said that’s she’s just an idiot.

We did get a few more wildlife shots for ya…

White Ibis

Another Great Blue Heron…why do wading birds stand on one leg so much I wonder

And a couple of shots of an Osprey who was fishing in our pond…unfortunately Neil wasn’t able to get either of the splashes but did get him right after takeoff from the second unsuccessful attempt.

And the little ‘gator was back up on the bank on our side of the pond again.

And since it’s Alex’s birthday…here’s a shot of him on his actual birthday. He’s bigger now of course…and recently got glasses but that was expected as his parents and grandparents all have them.

Interesting things found on the net.

In honor of Keith Richards (front man for The Rolling Stones) upcoming birthday this week.

This is an Organ Pipe Cactus…notice the person down at the base…figuring it’s an average sized man this makes the cactus 50ish feet tall. It was identified as a Saguaro Cactus by the guy (Massimo) that posted it on twitter but he was quickly corrected.

There’s this concept called Pi-ish which is when you make up sentences that actually make sense using words that have a number of letters in them conforming to the digits of pi.

This is apparently not a real road name out in Colorado…but the name of a private road/drive…but it’s still a great name for a road.

And finally…

Cyas.