It’s not raining right now. It’s an amazing thing. While we were safe enough, there were floods and rock slides and trees falling all over. It was a mess, to say the least. We had horizontal rain and hail thanks to high winds. Tito was NOT amused and spent a lot of time hiding as a result. He’s happier now.
Our thanks to Cheezburger.com for this one.
The evil of Farther Christmas has been unleashed upon the world once more. Can a small group of reindeer herders catch him in time to sell it to the Americans?
“Rare exports: a Christmas tale” – (2010, Finland, 84 minutes – rated R)
Like all industries, Christmas is made up of many businesses, the more unsavory and dangerous ones, the more “interesting” the folklore.
While NORAD pretends to track Santa’s sleigh every year, the real hunting takes place on the frozen ground of Northern Finland, Lapland to be exact. There, rough men practice skills honed over generations, working in groups of three: the tracker, the marker and the sniper. Their quarry is the Wild Father Christmas, an elusive and savage predator pouncing on reindeer and naughty children alike. The following video is NSFW:
In “Rare exports: a Christmas tale“, Mount Kurvatunturi, the site where Father Christmas was entombed is being “excavated” with explosives by an American company, Unwittingly, they unleash the ancient evil. It is now up to local reindeer herders and father and son Rauno and Pietari Kontio (Jorma and Onni Tommila) to capture the beast and sell it to the Americans.
based on the 2003 short “Rare Exports, Inc.” posted above, “Rare Exports: a Christmas tale” is another highly enjoyable example of dry, dead-pan Nordic humor, in the vein of “Trollhunter” or “the sound of noise“. Monty Python lives… And…
… Father Christmas is out there, ravenous, nasty and lethal. Until the tame final product, result of hard work and hours of beatings, is fit for shipment around the world. “Rare exports: a Christmas tale” is where it begins…
“Rare Exports: a Christmas tale” gets five jellybeans. They should show this in schools.
We’re not doing anything exciting for Christmas. We picked up a leg of lamb and some fancy taters. With luck, Miss Jenny won’t be able to steal one and bring it to bed like the last time. We might go off to the park or the beach for a good walk though. 🙂
I would like to apologize for not posting lately. I’ve been doing some major maintenance on the blog (behind the scenes). I should have it all tidied up soon.
It has been raining and raining here. I don’t mind. As you can see here, it makes our hills a very pretty shade of green.
Here are the beasties.
Here are our two “angel” kitties.
And now for the recipe. I love pumpkin bread, but most times I find it dry and mealy. This recipe is NOT dry. It’s moist and wonderful. My mom and dad have made it for years.
Mom and Dad’s Pumpkin Bread
5 cups pumpkin (1 large and 1 small can)
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup nuts
5 cups flour
Mix all the ingredients well. Makes 2 large bread loaves, or up to ten smaller loaves. Bake at 350 for 1 hr. and 5 minutes. May take longer. Bread is done when a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
We always greased the pans and sprinkled them with sugar (rather than flour). We also sprinkled a bit of sugar on top as it made the top crunchy.
Obviously, this is NOT diet food. 🙂
This is why we do NOT have a Christmas tree in the apartment.
It’s cold, rainy and a good day to stay indoors. Tito and Jenny have spent most of the day snoozing.
Here’s the reason we don’t have a Christmas tree. This video is brought to you by rathergood.com
Tuesday, we found ourselves between storms and there were big puffy clouds over San Francisco, so off we went. Bernal Hill aka Bernalwood was our destination.
We decided to go out and play again on Friday afternoon. The Marin Headlands are full of coastal batteries. Most were placed as a result of WWII, but some, like Battery Mendell were built before WWI. Old and dilapidated, they are both an eyesore and a thing of beauty. No longer owned by the military, they are now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA).
Continue reading “Coastal Batteries: Mendell, you are there”
No, I am NOT a Trekkie. The proper term is Trekker, thank you. That said, the playtime of Tito and Miss Jenny bears a close resemblance to Klingon foreplay. Pon farr? Not so much. Be aware, Tito is neutered and Miss Jenny is spayed. We are responsible kitty people. I figure that whoever wrote about the Klingons and their sex life had to have had a fascination with cats, big and small.
After the playtime and violence that occurs, this is the result.
Miss Jenny, as an orphan did not have a jinaq. Tito didn’t mind.
Ok, here’s a bit of humorous Christmas music. It may not be safe for work, so beware. This is brought to you by rathergoodstuff at Youtube.
As many know, San Francisco and the Bay Area have been subjected to a series of storms. The North Bay appears to have gotten the worst of it. In spite of all that, mother nature has seen fit to give us some beautiful views in between those storms. The dogs were certainly enjoying it.
Continue reading “Between the storms with some happy dogs”
Today is World AIDS Day. Today is a day for people around the world to come together in the fight against AIDS. In that spirit, Tito and Miss Jenny are wearing their red ribbons and encourage their fellow felines the world over to join them in the fight. If you are able, please consider a donation to help the fight.
You can read about World Aids Day here.
Clicking on the photo below will take you to our post about the National AIDA Memorial Grove here in San Francisco. It’s a very beautiful place, but we hope for a day when no more names will need to be added to the list of those lost to this horrible disease.
On Tuesday the 27th, we went for a walk along the Coastal Trail near the Golden Gate Bridge. We knew there was a storm coming, so we wanted to get some time outdoors before it hit. It turned out to be a wonderful little jaunt that was full of surprises.
I wanted to break up the trip into two posts, but it just wasn’t going to work. We had some very nice surprises along the way.
Continue reading “The Coastal Trail: Before the Storm”
