I can’t believe I ate the whole thing - so say some of the 1970’s Alka Seltzer commercials.

At the behest of a celebrity chef on TV, Damsel and I set about grinding up some beef brisket today and made these huge cheeseburgers. She got about half of hers down, but I trooped on and consumed the entire meal. My burger was topped with lettuce, tomato, avocado, sauteed mushrooms, onion, mustard and mayonnaise. On the side was a rather healthy serving of butternut squash.

Now this was a whopper - that mess they crank out at Booger King can’t hold a candle to the meal we had today.

Construction of a real whopper: grill, melt the Irish cheddar, stack and serve.

Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story 2 fame

Story from NASA:

Buzz Lightyear to Soar with Discovery

Seven astronauts who will fly into orbit aboard space shuttle Discovery will have comfortable seats for the climb into space. An eighth space ranger won’t have a seat at all. In fact, he will be packed tight inside a box and won’t even get to enjoy the ride up.

But it’s nothing veteran spaceman Buzz Lightyear can’t overcome.

The good news is that he’ll have some sports shows to listen to, along with a host of jerseys that have been to the Champs Elysees in Paris for the Tour de France and to the Super Bowl.

More accustomed to soaring among the galaxies on fold-out wings and a backpack rocket, Lightyear will take to space on Discovery’s STS-124 mission stowed inside a locker in Discovery’s crew compartment. The 12-inch-tall action figure is flying as part of a partnership between NASA and Disney Parks to encourage students to pursue studies in science, technology and mathematics, one of NASA’s main educational goals.

This spring, my little potted gardenia bush is producing many more buds than last spring. There are so many and they are very fragrant when they bloom. And pretty too . . .

We got comments on Damsel’s post, ‘My Shiny Girl Gun,’ from Mark and Sig94 regarding the grip on her Para Warthog. They were concerned about how well they could grip the pistol, given its small size. I answered by posting a couple of photos in the comments and thought it would be good to share them here along with the comments so everyone can see.

Mark said,

How is it to shoot? I’ve been thinking of getting one this year and was worried about how short the grip was. It seems about like my Walther PPK/S in length but with a .45 I’m a bit worried.

Sig94 said,

Same concern here. My Beretta Mini-Cougar is a great little piece as long as the standard mag is used with the pinkie rest. The other mag is shorter and my pinkie feels all naked and afraid hanging off the bottom of the grip.

Cap’n Bob said,

Damsel can grip the pistol without the extended magazine since her hands are small. I, on the other hand (no pun intended), find it’s more comfy with the extension. Fortunately, both magazine styles are available. And this little gun kicks too. Without the extension, it wants to jump out of my hands.

She doesn’t get to do this very often, but yesterday, we took ‘Bear’ for a drive to several stops on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. She enjoyed exploring the Neptune Fountain at the Palos Verdes Estates civic center, the Point Vicente Interpretive Center (shown in the picture) and a couple of other stops on the peninsula.

I think she was happy, but it must have tired her out - all that doggie exploration - because she slept most of the morning today.

Damsel took these pictures today when we were driving on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. We started out just going for a holiday drive, but these targets of opportunity presented themselves for Damsel’s camera. From peacocks to pelicans and Stearman to Boeing, we saw it all today. She imaged more than 500 jpegs with her digital. Very difficult picking four pix let alone one . . .

Click any image for a bigger view.

We missed target practice a couple of weeks ago. So, to make up for it, we took some extra ammo and brought seven firearms:

1. Smith & Wesson 442 .38 spl +P
2. Smith & Wesson 908s 9mm
3. Glock 26 9mm
4. Glock 30 .45 ACP
5. Para Warthog .45 ACP
6. Remington 870 20 ga
7. Remington 870 12 ga 6+1

I took this picture of the recycle bin after we broke down the ammo boxes. To be fair, this bunch includes the ammo boxes we used to reload the magazines for the pistols after cleaning them today.      Click to zoomography.

I wonder what the dumpster divers think when peeking in our recycle bins on trash day.

Reggie has been in the zoo for a year now.

We followed the story about Reggie, the suburban alligator, almost from the start:

Alligators in the Sewers - Still!
Alligators in the Sewers - Part IV
Alligators in the Sewers - Part V
Alligators in the Sewers - Part VI
Alligators in the Sewers - Part VII
Alligators in the Sewers - Epilogue?
Alligators in the Sewers - Reggie, Where Ya Been?
Alligators in the Sewers - The Epilogue

Unfortunately, some of the earlier posts (Parts I, II and III) were lost when we converted from our old blog format to WordPress.

The story started when a San Pedro resident introduced the alligator to Machado Lake in a Harbor City Park when he decided that he couldn’t keep his exotic pet any longer. Authorities later traced the animal to the resident and brought appropriate charges.

The alligator, however, managed to elude potential captors for a couple of years and laid low in the park’s lake. The ‘gator became a celebrity in his own right as sightings by park visitors continued to be reported.

A year ago, a team from the Los Angeles Zoo managed to snare the reclusive reptile.

Here’s a report on the health and welfare of our favorite ‘gator from the Daily Breeze:

Continue reading » Alligators in the Sewers - One Year After Capture