Finding out who's been naughty and nice
There's a great column in the Daily Mail today on the budget digest. The columnist likens the budget digest process to Santa Claus rewarding the good little towns and counties, and leaving the naughty ones lumps of coal.

Tropical Depression
The WV weather has been hot and humid, which is not unusual for summer, but it's slightly unusual this summer. As the humidity increases, my mood sours. To cheer myself up, I'm planning to rent a floor sander and sand the hell out of my bedroom floor. There's nothing like a home improvement project (and power tools) to lift one's spirits. Of course, I have to admit this project is in response to a previous, failed home improvement project.

In other miscellaneous house news, Lucille has found a new place to take her daytime naps (see photo below). These are not to be confused with her nighttime naps, which are taken in the other bedroom.

Sigh - here we go again
Yet another WV t-shirt is on sale from Abercrombie & Fitch, this one stating that they're no lifeguard on duty at the gene pool in WV (or something to that effect).

So, maybe there ARE cannibals in WV??!
The Brooklyn Hillbilly sent me this story (go here and click on 8/23/04 - "They Ground Her Up") in the Hur Herald, which he reads more regularly than I do (my online reading is very limited these days). Oh please, oh please, do not let this become an AP story. BTW, the part about the hog reminds me of Pinkney Benedict's short story "Booze" in the book "Town Smokes," for you students of WV literature.

Oh, cool! I'll take the North Bend Rail Trail for $200!
Now available: a Monopoly game based on WV state parks

Pro-life, even when it comes to mosquitoes*
A Tyler Countian charged by the local health department with providing mosquito breeding grounds contends, "among other defenses," that the breeding of the insects and "other natural vermin" is an act of God.


*Note: This is not a permalink, so it will likely not be functioning after a day or two from now.

Going for gold
If you're trying to get into the Olympic spirit today, the official opening of the 2004 summer games in Greece, here's column about the state's Olympians, especially a 1928 gymnast from Parkersburg.

Pickups still king in WV, but SUVs gaining
Here's some more fascinating WV data from the Census Bureau. The headline from this will likely be the 83% increase in SUVs from 1997 to 2002, but I find this more interesting:

"West Virginia has approximately one pickup for every 5 people and about one SUV for every 11 people. It also has approximately one pickup for every 4 licensed drivers and about one SUV for every 8 licensed drivers."

One of the other state profiles I looked at - Nebraska - reported exactly the same numbers: one pickup for every 5 people, etc. The number of SUVs in that state had not increased as much, however. Here's the page listing the reports currently available for various states (most states have not been released).

I don't know why I find this type of thing so very interesting. BTW, I have neither a pickup nor an SUV.

More on hot dogs (see also here and here)
Behold, the official hillbilly hot dog website! Thanks to Martha in KY for sending me this. I must confess I had not Googled "hillbilly hot dogs," so I never would have found this.

A quickie photo from the homeland, taken with the cheapo digital camera.

Consumer Warnings Gone Terribly Wrong
I bought a new hairdryer over the weekend. Just your standard $10 Conair hand-held model. Nothing fancy. For some odd reason, I decided to glance through the instructions before tossing them in the trash. Among the 15 warnings was this bizarre statement under "WARNING - To reduce the risk of burns, electrocution, fire, or injury to persons:"

7. Never use while sleeping.

That's what it says. I'm not making it up. Right there - #7 - don't use while sleeping! Darn! What a bummer, because I so often style my hair while I'm sleeping.

More on hot dogs (original post is here)
According to an email I received yesterday from a WV ex-pat living in DC, the delicacy of hot dog sauce is also unknown to residents of the District. Hmmm, does this mean the eastern panhandle is sauce-less? Has the sauce not traveled over the mountains?? The DC correspondent added that someone he knows who hails from Lousiana also did not know about hot dog sauce.

Soooooo, I'm posting the following as a public service. I've never actually made the recipe. A relative gave it to me several years ago.

This recipe includes onions. I recall onions being a popular add-on when I used to buy hot dogs as a kid -- ordering a hot dog with sauce and onions was a common thing. It was also a way the Brooklyn Hillbilly and I (and many others) described the body odor of someone we once knew - "He smells like a hot dog with sauce and onions," we would say, and everybody knew exactly what that meant because we all KNEW that odor. Oh, it's sad indeed that so much of America grew up without that.

Hot Dog Sauce (please note the absence of beans - it is not chili!)
1 lb. ground beef
3 cups hot water
1/2 cup chopped onions
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup water
3/4 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. sugar

Mix meat in hot water thoroughly before cooking. Cook 15-20 minutes; add onions. Cook until well done. (Add more water if needed) Add remaining ingredients to meat mixture. Cook slowly.

I just had to post some more about hot dogs so I can keep those oh-so-cool hot dog ads at the top of my blog.

Hillbilly heat & humidity
The last couple of days have been extremely sticky and uncomfortable in my area of the Mountain State. Just how hot, you ask? Here's a photo on Michelle's site that'll give you the idea.

Nation's 'most literate' cities announced
No, no WV cities listed among the "most literate," but we should take pride in the rankings of Akron, Columbus and Charlotte, all home to so many WV ex-pats (and of course the Brooklyn Hillbilly's new home, NYC, makes the top 100 also).