HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

 A VERY BIG HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE!!  It's your day to get waited on and pampered, so be sure and get your recliner ready.  Of course you will probably also have to do all the barbecuing and take out the garbage, but here's hoping it's a wonderful day anyway!

Before we get into the preparations I'm making for the Elks Father's Day at our RV park, I'll finish up yesterday's blog with this.  THIS was dinner after the Flag Ceremony.  Truly, I asked to skip the peas, since being an Elks Kitchen Rat, I knew where they came from ... a can.  

However ... this shrimp scampi is the best I've had in my entire life.  How did I not know about this?  To make it even better, one of my favorite GUYS is the "fish" Chef.  He cooks this individually, in a mixture of butter, garlic, lemon juice and capers.  Sprinkle on a little parmesan and WOW ... it was amazing.  I ate half the potato and half the shrimp ... having the rest for breakfast.  Now I'm on the hunt for shrimp.

And Mr. Cooper was on the hunt for SMELLS.  We were out even before the sun came up.

The sky was weird, but no rain fell.  It was perfect walking weather until he smelled something on the breeze.  That was it for walking.  I never saw anything, but he got very scared, so we literally RAN all the way back home.  The good news is that even though he doesn't see well, he knows right where HOME is.

This little guy brightened our morning on the way back.  It's growing right up out of the pavement, having been watered by every dog in the neighborhood.  You've got to give him credit!  Maybe I should transplant him to my yard.

Once back home, I made the garden rounds.  Here's my very first Early Girl tomato, that appears to be the exact same size it has been for three weeks.  My stash of cherry tomatoes grew once again, since I can't seem to eat them as fast as they are growing.  

I was just cutting off the next zucchini when I got a phone call.  Thinking it was spam, I hit the go-away button.  But WAIT ... there was a message saying (in very broken English) that the barwies I ordered were ready.  Call.

So I called back, to be serenaded by a two minute song straight from Thailand.  You know, the ones with the high-pitched voice singing words you've never heard before in your life?  I listened to the entire thing.  There was no message, unless it was in the song, which I couldn't understand anyway.  I was sure it was the nice lady with my BERRIES, so off I went.

Sure enough, here are twelve containers of boysenberries ... extremely difficult to find around here, and not cheap at $50, about the same price as blackberries.  There won't be any jam making today, but maybe tomorrow if I have time.

With nothing else going on, I decided to try THIS new recipe.  It's pineapple upside down cake muffins ... kinda sorta.  It would be a little more realistic if I had a maraschino cherry in the middle of each one, but they are not my favorite so I left them out.

It's easy ... melted butter in the pan, brown sugar (note to self, add MUCH more brown sugar than the recipe calls for) and white cake mix.  Oh my goodness ... they are SO good!!  No, this is not on my diet, but I've decided every Saturday, I get to splurge on something.  This will get me through FOUR months!

Unfortunately, it also got me two very nice burns on my arm.  I'm sure this is the last of Friday the 13th.  It's hard getting those big pans out of my much smaller oven, even though I had two big oven mitts.

Now limping around in DAMAGE CONTROL mode with ice cubes and burn cream, I sat down to watch the Army Parade.  It made me so proud that they honored our Veterans and the 250th Anniversary of the Army.  These guys that protect us every single day of the year, do NOT get enough credit.  

In the last few hours of the day, I began prep for today's event at the RV Park.  We are hailing back to the old days of celebrating Fathers in style.  It's going to be a big picnic for everyone and it's all free.  Guys even get FREE beer.  It's a big barbecue, hamburgers and hotdogs, with sides brought by the ladies, and tons of games for the kids.  This is FAMILY DAY.  

I'm making potato salad for 50 this morning, so I need to get cooking.  

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE GUYS!!!