Learning the Meaning of Dysfunctional

Posted on 22/11/2012 by Grumpa Joe
Dysfunctional Family

Dysfunctional Family (Photo credit: Chris Pirillo)

Many times I have read a movie description which proclaimed the film to be about a dysfunctional family or couple. I never truly understood the meaning of dysfunctional until a few days ago. Peg and I were planning our thanksgiving meal.  You must understand that Peg and I are widows who married. We have two sets of kids, two sets of grandkids, two sets of traditions, two sets of nationalities. This marriage isn’t like our first ones when we married young and stayed with our partners until “death do us part.” Because we started young we grew up together as a family. We adopted the good from our parents and families. These became traditions for us. It wasn’t long before I adopted the traditions of my young wife and she modified the traditions of my family to fit in. Together we set up a new tradition that was exclusively ours. Peg did the same with her husband.

Here we are in our mid-seventies trying to make everyone happy. Simple things like “what time should we serve?” become a major debate.

“My kids all have to work and can’t come until late.”

“Well, my kids have young children and they can’t stay late.”

Suddenly, the meaning of dysfunctional began to roll through my mind. Is this what they mean? Suddenly, two families merged into one begin behaving outside their norms. Will we ever live long enough to create a new tradition that melds the two families together?

If we do succeed, it will be because Peg and I will concede and drop hosting the holiday meals by delegating the job to our children and grandchildren, who I am positive will make us happy by providing our favorite traditional dishes from all nationalities.

I look forward to this year as the most dysfunctional Thanksgiving ever.

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Twinkie Diplomacy

Posted on 21/11/2012 by Grumpa Joe

I’m too busy preparing for Thanksgiving to add many words. I think the picture tells the story.

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The Tax-Man Cometh

Posted on 16/11/2012 by Grumpa Joe

 

Get ready folks., the Tax-man cometh. You really want to punish the rich, but the effect will be on you. The rich will move out of the DIvided States of America and party with the movie stars on the Riviera while we will suffer high gas prices, outrageous food prices, and a lower-income. The rich do not have enough money to pay off the deficit, but we the sheeple collectively do.

It occurred to me today, DUH, that if I have such an aversion to taxation, I should give my pension away and go on welfare, it is the Progressive way.

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A View From the Kitchen Window

Posted on 10/11/2012 by Grumpa Joe

After the news I got today that my former employer-mentor died I have to do something positive. On Wednesday this week, I presented our garden club with a movie titled Floral Wonders. The film is really a slide show of member’s flower gardens. This morning I decided to break out my segment of the original. I call it “2012 Monet Vision, A View From the Kitchen Window.” I moved a lot of stuff around and added a few more photos from my garden then added  new music.  It took me most of the day with all the interruptions I had. While the movie processed, I went out for my walk as a reward. When I returned the first thing I did was upload the file to YouTube. I wanted to share the film on grumpajoesplace. Unfortunately, YouTube took a long time to process the upload. That is when I switched to my e-mails and the day blew up.

Right now I’m working off a wine buzz after making a fantastic dish of wheat penne pasta with caramelized onions and sautéed broccoli smothered in sour cream and topped with a Tilapia fillet.

This year’s Monet Vision promised to be outstanding after that mild winter, but the über hot June and July did everything it could to roast the plants in place. In fact, I wound up replacing many  annuals with new ones, and my Lady’s Mantle perennials died of thirst. I hope you enjoy this video.

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The video I mentioned in the last line, well, where is it? I wanted to post this story yesterday, but another IED went off and changed my day. It seems that we can ignore any law we want in the DSA (Divided States of America) except copyright laws. Google threatened to ban me from using their site if I persist in using copyrighted music in my videos. I featured music played by my friend Roger from Starperry Studios in Mulberry Florida with his permission. That is not good enough. The copyrights belong to dead people who actually wrote the tunes not the musicians that play it. They actually belong to companies that purchased the copyrights from the dead people’s heirs. I won’t elaborate on all the laws our government is ignoring in this piece but they are many.

I searched the net for royalty free music to download and redid the movie. I don’t like the tunes, but they are okay.  I crashed and burned before I could get it all completed for my self-imposed deadline.

One more time, please enjoy  “2012 Monet Vision, A View From the Kitchen Window.”

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Trust Me I’m An Engineer

Posted on 03/11/2012 by Grumpa Joe

One of my engineer friends sent me this series of photos and I just have to share them. These inventions are ingenious for the most part, but my all time favorite is just plain stupid. Thanks Rich for a genuine belly laugh. These people are real aren’t they? Will someone SNOPES me on these photos?

There isn’t any need for a Weber grill at this house, just pull up a chair and light up the charcoal.

An emergency fix which probably became permanent because of its simplicity and functionality.

Have you lost your exhaust pipe?

Just reach into your clothes closet and steal the coat hanger from your best suit.

Now this invention is a space saver. I’m sure the only place this guy had for installing a washing machine was in his john. All the plumbing was right where he needed it. I’m not to sure about the way he has the washer mounted, but it looks scary at best.

I’ll never want to sit on that toilet while the thing above me is spinning through the rinse cycle.

Morning sausages ready in a jiffy, I bet the wife appreciates the nice shiny look she gets on her blouse when she irons.

Grandma has the best idea yet. This is something I will try the next time I work on a  new recipe. The darn instructions are always covered with flour, eggs, or some other stuff used in cooking.

I bet this guy lives in a one room apartment. A rather unique and inexpensive way too cool your hot computer.

Quick draw McGraw has it all figured out. I wonder if his wife is looking for her slipper.

Hey, this fix beats taking the car to the dealer to get a new handle. I’m sure the dealer would charge several hundred dollars. I love the rubber band he uses to get the handle to return.

Need an egg beater quick. A battery-powered drill and a pair of scissors works fine.

This one cures the problem of taking home all the groceries on a bike.

This guy’s Chinese mother in law was too old to squat any more so he rigged a sit down toilet for her.

I hope this not a union electrician at work.  He lives on borrowed time for sure.

The world’s laziest guy couldn’t walk down a flight of stairs to pick up his laundry. My favorite after the electrician.

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