A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Every winter I need to find something to keep the blog humming till P/C’s report. I know that past years may have been more interesting to some of you guys (BBOTD, Retro box score of the day, etc…). But I have really gotten a kick out of this Stix-stuff. Sometimes I wonder if he’s really serious or if he’s just posting shit to blow the minds of the non-notherwoodsians.

Anyway, I enjoyed the posts about him at the end of the last thread and found this to compliment it. I wonder if Stix ever just skipped the actual meal and went straight to downing the dipping sauces? And he makes a reference to prison food in this one so I had to post it.

Awright Dawg. Enjoy that dutch treat. If you got a source for actual, gen you wine smoked slab bacon, not the thin-sliced pre-packaged pig-prison stuff, but the real mccoy; try cooking up those special tatercakes in the drippings from that slow-cooked pork. Would help if you too had a wood cookstove and a Griswold #10 self-basting skillet, but i guess we can’t all fit into Eden. This time of year the Northwoods of Minnesota is heaven on earth for those of us with productive gardens. Let me tell you bout my five-grain batter dipped zucchini, peppers, apple, tomato and cheese fritters some time. Worldclass bacon drippings work well there too. Try dipping em in molasses sweetened Thai soy sauce with a sprinkling of your favorite hotsauce stirred in. Yumshus.

This reeks of hot stove rumor nonsense but I’d like to at least dream that the Giants are in on this guy.

• Mark Trumbo is probably now the player with the highest earning capacity who has yet to sign, but his landing spot remains hard to peg. Beyond the Orioles and Rockies, Heyman says, “a couple more opportunities may have cropped up” of late.

Speaking of *hot stoves* let’s see what our license plate pounding Flap buddy has been up to in the kitchen…..

#freestix! RPOTD

One of those occasional meatless mornings for me. Kinda. Few days ago i steam-sauteed down some fresh garden veggies like spinach and bunching onions along with some small peppers (3 mild, 1 japaleno). Meanwhile i stirred up a batter featuring some Indian Head cornmeal from Maryland (no GMO and maybe even organic); plenty of oat-bran; some rye flour; bit of whole wheat flour; one farm egg; Rumford’s (non-alumina based) baking powder and considerably more milk than water.

Veggies ready, they got folded into the batter along with a full can of pre-Fuckyoushima radiation-free, Alaska pink salmon (been hoarding those) stirred it all up and them spooned into my original Griswold #10 skillet dabbled with olive oil atop the wood cookstove.

Served it up with a bit of raunch dressing for a side-dip and a cup of strainer-seeped heavy-duty coffee. Got 4 meals from it over the past 5 days or so with enough batter combo remaining for one more go.

Do any of you still subscribe to Sports Illustrated? I stopped years ago. The thing I loved about them were the awesome covers. They don’t do that anymore. The perfect simplicity was what made it almost like a work of art. Check this one out that I just came across.

There were so many….

Speaking of works of art, I have loosely counted 10 references Stix made over the years to making and ultimately delivering my never received oneflapdown gift. If I were to walk the grounds of his rolling estate, it would be something I’d definitely look for. I bet it’s outside somewhere on a table with a rake or a hoe leaning up against it….

Can you imagine Stix taking a ride on BART?

#freestix? RPOTD

This one is long, and not a lot of gold in it upon first review. But maybe I need to read it again. Anyway, it’s just a nice snapshot into the strange but interesting life he led before getting locked up.

Hey, it’s good to be back on the blog after a whole lotta drama. Monday i drove 40 miles to Bemidji to stay with relatives a couple days while undergoing cataract surgery at a hospital less then a mile from their home Tuesday morning. No pain in the half hour or so surgery. Lots of bright lights and such, much like some kinda acid trip.

Drama began when i had, per instructions as i understood them, left my notebook in my car as being under orders not to drive to the hospital and back and got a ride over by my cousin. Problem developed when i realized her cell # was in the notebook. But knowing where her son worked, i had the hospital page him to get her number. When she picked me up after surgery she immediately informed me that her foster son, suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome, had gone on a rampage, hitting her and that resulting in a police call.

Wednesday morning sort of lazed around, going next door to my cousin’s mother and brother’s place where i was treated to more stories and yet more stories about various family dramas. Then it was off to a grocery to pick up a few items and get down on some deli food before returning to the eye clinic to see the opthalmologist and get the patch removed. Wow! Patch removed and a couple of tests and the right eye is seeing better than it had since probably fifth grade in the year the New York Giants were last World Champions. But there’s always a catch. With the left eye still heavily beset by a cataract condition i’d be needing to wear a patch over one eye or the other, depending on whether needing close-up or distance vision. More appointments to come, including one in a couple weeks to operate on that other orb.

Got home Wednesday afternoon, fed the cats and dog, unloaded groceries and such and logged into the puter to discover that SF had beaten Houston in game one and now were 2 runs behind in game two. Then a friend calls and as we are talking the sky rapidly darkens and thunder rumbles. The wind picks up heavy duty, we ring off and i begin shutting down the computer. Did not quite finish when the lights went out,.

Nothing else to do but up to bed for awhile and towards evening i wake up and head downstairs with all the current out and walk outside to a scene of devastation. Two big spruce trees down across my driveway, so i can’t drive out. Then behind the house my big, old oak had blown down, just missing two different sections of the house. No significant structural damage. Despite being pretty good with a chainsaw i’m a bit handicapped as the doc had ordered me to lift nothing heavier than 20 pounds and not to bend down to the ground. Oh great. Back to bed after a quick snack.

Monday morning after moping around in a very dark house and grubbing together a couple sandwiches, i begin cutting spruce branches with a small swedesaw. Then i hear a car pull up to a downed popple further up the driveway. It’s my friend Ron. His friend Sam had gotten caught driving after a suspension he did not know he had. Ron had driven a couple hundred miles to pick him up along with his car. He’d stayed the night at Ron’s and needed to get home to his place some 55 miles distant. They needed another driver and Ron’s wife is like a day away from major dental surgery and other friends were tied up with one thing or another. So i am elected and agree to drive Sam’s car.

Ron returns the favor, and the some. In the heat and humidity he gets on the chainsaw and first branches the spruces and then cuts the trunks into logs which we roll out of the way. Some of the branches are off the ground significantly that i’m able to pick them up and toss them out of the way, saving him a bit of labor. Then we go after the popple and the driveway is cleared. Back into the house for a couple of Grain Belt Nordeasts. Get up another couple sandwiches after Ron leaves. Do the eyedrops again. Read next to the livingroom window for awhile and then back to bed.

This morning at about 10, a crew from the power company manages to untangle the lines feeding into my transformer. POWER returns. Light. Computer. Refrigerator. Yaaay!

And here, when i got home i thought it would be all peace and quiet after much drama at the relatives. When it rains, it pours.

One of my favorite days of the year: day after Christmas, Santa Anita opener. I might even make it out to GGF today to meet up with that goddamn A’s fan The Boney One…..

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In this excerpt from “Who’s Media is it Anyway?” we see Stix scolding Zumiee for allowing his mind to be controlled. lqtm.

Zumiee: You haven’t been accessing websites independent from the mass media of mind control, mesmerization and general corporate-sponsored garbage…or at least to any degree. Hillary was the main push behind the attacks on Yugoslavia and Serbia; the coup d’ etat in Ukraine along with her Wicked Witch of the East Viccious Nudelman (aka “Cookies Nuland); the current pro-terrorist attempted takedown of Syria and most egregiously, the destruction of Libya and the murder of its leader Muamar Gaddhafi. She famously cackled when he was anally raped with a bayonet: “We saw, we came, he died.”

The Clinton’s are money-grubbing materialists, always with hands out to the biggest polluters and most especially to the titans of the WarDefense industry like Lockheed-Martin with their Trillion dollar plus F-35 which aviation experts across the world laughingly denounce as the “F-35 Turkey”. Such models as have flown have been regularly bested in test combat by third-generation fighters. But the City of London bankster investors (prime shareholders) are delighted with those no-bid, cost-plus contracts.

Woke up very thankful today. No matter what you think of our shackled and bedraggled (probably not entirely accurate but 2 of my favorite words) Flapper Stix, it’s gotta suck to wake up in the clink on Christmas. So to honor his commitment to our team and this community and for all the other Flappers far and wide, I’m re-posting a classic Stix Christmas tale. Enjoy. Whatever you do today be thankful and enjoy. And if you can’t do that, just don’t be a dick. Life isn’t perfect for anyone but we all have two things in common: we woke up today, and it wasn’t in prison. So there’s that….

Merry Christmas to all the Flapzoners. Looking out my Northwoods window there is a sea of white flocking on the lilac bushes and the ash and apple trees. Sky is a light grey. A few lazy flakes are taking their good ol time establishing a landing-pattern. It’s nine above zero outdoors. Dogs are out on an Oouffspedition, running free around the countryside. Outdoor cats are coping after breakfast and will get some treats later. Couple of the housecats got put out, one cause he wanted out and the other to chill. Woodstove is keeping the house cozy. Breakfast was cake and icecream with hazlenut coffee. Cuppa tea and a clementine next to the keyboard. Ready for a lazy day, mostly indoors.

Basking in the warm afterglow of the WS win. Last evening, driving home from a birthday party for aunt Mary Christine, her 91st, a Queen tape was playing. As i neared the driveway “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS” was pounding outta the speakers of the ol’ pickup, distinguished by its hacker axe poised in the left front stakehole, with steel grainscoop snowshovel nearby and the 1976 Huskvarna-65 chainsaw perched between a couple small logs and some ballast rocks towards the rear.

Ahh, country living. Late afternoon lunch/supper will, according to current hankering, likely be venison-based spaghetti, with onions and jalapenos from the garden ~ or maybe, if ambition strikes, it will be based on some very nice looking scallops purchased at an old-fashioned butchershop only 25 miles from home. But the laziness may overcome the fascination, as i have zero experience in preparing scallop dishes.

Back to the woodcarving in a few minutes. Flavor, i haven’t forgotten about the ‘One Flap Down’ piece. Creative types are not as reliable as most folks. The right mood has to hit at the correct time. Will know it when it happens. Thanx again, for all the energy you have put into this site, Craig. Really did dig the “Area 51” hook for the countdown to stage one of the next SF championship.

Well, in case you missed it, the Giants gave minor league deals to Mike Morse and Justin Ruggiano. I actually thought both of those dudes had retired. But whatever, come on down I guess.

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#freestix RPOTD

Jeeze. Here i am politely attempting to lurk and here’s this talk about “canes”, walking-sticks and suchlike while i’m sposta be the goddam expert on the subject, probably having carved a good four-five dozen over the course of years. Not really talking canes, though, as they are just for the geezer trade and i’m not there yet. It’s more like staffs, both ornamental and practical as well as various lengths of walking-sticks, wands and whatnots ~ that’s totally aside from the sculptural stuff in Wizard Willow.

You talking stix, gang, you talking to me. Michael, i prolly owe you one by now for all you have contributed to the blog and Craig, soons i get into the mood to take up that cudgel again, that One-Flap Down sculpture is yours. My carving is intuitive, instinctive and spermathemoment, so can’t just say it’s gonna be that one today and i mean to finish it before supper. It doesn’t work that way. So there are twenty-odd unfinished pieces around the house, nearly half of them not being strictly art/sculptural. Meanwhile, in various residencies of storage there are dozens of finished pieces.

So Twin, what is your preferred length, strength and presumed fortitude of a Wizard Willow stick? I AM talking sticks so get your collective craniums outta the gutter. Tripods? There is a finished one on hand but it’s only about 3.5′ long, kinda hefty, though. Staffs? A few long, tall Sallies, ranging up to 7′ or more. Standard walking sticks? Generally in the 5-6′ range. Some have lottsa diamonds. Every one is singular, original, unique and one of a kind. Though found from Paris, to Maine , to various burgs around ManySnowta, my Wizard Willow sticks are collectively, sometimes individually, the best on the planet.

I was all over last year’s pick up of the glorious and all knowing and all wondrous Nunie because he cost us almost nothing and he filled a glaring need. But I am far less interested in paying the king’s ransom that would be needed to pick up Brian Dozier. Dude hit 42 home runs last year and stole 18 bags. That’s gotta cost a lot. And BD ain’t hitting no Ronnie Lott in our yard. I would much rather pick up a guy who hits monster no doubt Chinese satellite banging bombs that a little second baseman who only hits them in hitter’s parks.

But whatever, it would be complete poppycock to think Sabean and Evans put together the necessary booty to secure Dozier. Let the Dodgers have him and watch him underperform.

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#freestix! RPOTD

Oh, oh, called out on the Flap. Currently around 8 below with a deeper windshield factor running. Both stoves going. Kitchen cookstove has finally warmed up the room enough to sit down at the keyboard. Actually, my grandfather tacked on this shed-roof kitchen to the main house built the year before in 1915. So this frigid room with sagging floor, dipping ceiling and shaky north wall will be 100 Y.O. this year. Wanted to get a hundred into Magnus Rodseth’s kitchen. So now we’re here ~ with cold feet and dreaming of a well-insulated replacement.

Been sleeping in the upstairs or late. Warmest spot in the house. Hard to get outta the sack because its covered with pussy. Eat your hearts out, guys.

Kinda feeling a bit sorry beforehand for those Seattle fans showing up in the Sitties tomorrow for the game. They are NOT used to below or near below zero conditions. Minnesotans will dress for it. A week ago one Packers fan was maintaining bare-chested in below freezing conditions at Lambeau. So some drunken purple person may feel honor-bound to top that. A lot will hinge on whether or not there is a wind. Vikes are a bit less injury-ridden than the occasion of their embarrassing thumping by tomorrow’s opponent earlier in the season. Chances are the game will not be such a blow-out. Likely lots of running and little passing.

-22 expected up thisaway tonight. At least the sun is shining this morning. Such is life in the Cathouse.

Would it have killed an SF beat writer to stop stuffing their faces with hot dogs and popcorn (I’m looking at you @hankschulman) long enough to do a story like this? Anyway, I’m imagining Bochy reading this and just absolutely salivating, man. He’s probably got good  ol’ lovable Murph saran wrapping the clubhouse as we speak. This is his type of guy. And honestly, he sounds like he would fit right into this team…..

http://tinyurl.com/zlclm63

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#freestix RPOTD

Maybe prefer them to tidal waves and earthquakes, but deerflies (also known as deltawing demons and simply “goddamns” ~even from religious types when they chaw down); were out in full force this evening as i did a tank of gas with my 22″ Huskvarna mower over sections of the 3 acres or so that get cut around here. Up and down hills and watch out for trees, shrubs, milkweed plants, alfalfa plants and rock-edged gardens. They really like attacking when both hands are occupied.

Though the back of my head and the arms have plenty of welts, i know i killed a dozen or so in the process. This is peak season for the demonic parasitical predators ~ always out for blood. Bites from the ladies of the evening are mere pinpricks by comparison. Had a number of them as well, though they are not so avid as the goddamns when you present a fairly quick moving targets. The deltawinged demons like to keep buzzing around your head and then dive bomb.

Three Giants losses in a row seem like small potatoes compared with not being bold enough to go out and get something more done before dark. Just flipped a fly-corpse off the sleeve of my ca 1980 teeshirt with the slogan “Support Wildlife, drink Wild Turkey. Cost a quarter at a garage sale about 30 years ago and seem to wear it as a workshirt once every summer. Good amortization but not much protection from those flying menaces. Thankfully by the end of the month they will be pretty much gone. Hope.

“Keep the line moving….”

I hate that baseball saying. It’s a smokescreen for a shitty line up. WillieD brought up a good point last night about the correlation between OPS and runs scored and there is absolute legitimacy in that. But you know what boosts your OPS? Home runs. I get it, guys who strike out a lot can kill rallies. But they also win games. And how many rallies did we see die last year after we got men on first and third with no one out? Happened all the time. Is there a law against the Giants hitting a 3 run bomb in that situation?

Almost every home run hitter strikes out a lot. Guys *like* Bonds excluded. You take the good with the bad. The Giants will always be at the top of the league when it comes to doubles and triples due to the park but even with that their OPS stunk last year.

What could possibly be wrong with adding a guy who hits no-doubt home runs? I think we’ve gone so long without a power hitter that we have tricked ourselves into believing home runs don’t matter.

They can and do.

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#freestix! RPOTD

Ah, the manifold perils of life on the run in our overworked, overstressed, overhurried contemporary reality. One thing i can recommend about retirement out in the countryside is that while the need to get things done remains (think homesteading with wood-based heating and cooking plus much gardening); there is no great rush to get things done yesterday. Today’s breakfast consisted of local butchershop smoked bacon, cut off a full slap right in the kitchen; a mess of grits; four large Amish farm eggs; a couple slices of stove-toast slathered with chunky peanutbutter and a mug of high-test coffee.

Maybe once did i endure food-poisoning. That was on a farewell to HHH as Veep junket as editor of the South St. Paul Sun back in ’68. As i recall, the item that laid me low overnight and all was a meal at then Senator Mondale’s table in a hoity-toity joint in D.C. Nowadays i’m about as far from that lifestyle as one can get.

So count those days till you can drop the hurry-up, GH. And look forward to taking naps whenever you feel like it on a barely above freezing, drizzly northwoods day like is happening out my window as i type. Or as an old buddy used to put it “don’t sweat the petty stuff. Pet the sweaty stuff.”

I dreamed about a dude who knocks down Chinese satellites with his monster bombs. Instead, I got a dude who observes Chinese satellites with his monster telescope. And make no mistake about it, Rollins is making this team unless he shows up drunk or dead. Bochy creamed his jeans when he heard about this pick up. A grizzled vet who will show up to play every day and who’s best days are long since behind him? That’s smack dab in Bochy’s wheelhouse.

Specs will likely also make the team because he’s got speed and he had a bunch of clutch hits last season. Agent 000? Well, he can now take solace in that 300K the Giants weirdly gave him to play in the minors in 2017.

#freeStix! RPOTD I’m starting to wonder if Stix knew that all his different pork chop recipes were all actually the same recipe. Somewhere in the east bay, Snarkk is doing the slowest of burns right now….

Jeeze, caught the first inning or so while cutting up an onion, a couple types of peppers, a bunch of tomatillos, an apple and worked them into the Griswold #10 atop the wood cookstove. Dashed in some paisano and a bit of curry powder and let it stew for awhile. Then it gets a nice centercut smoked porkchop from a local butcher and it stews again. Next comes some water and a diddle of egg-noodles. Finish the dish with the pussies getting tidbits. Back to the puter and whaaat? Giants score 5 in the third with one very unlikely suspect getting one of the two taters.

I saw a poll at mlbtraderumors.com asking readers to predict where Mark Trumbo might go. There were 6 teams listed and the 7th choice was “mystery team.” I’m on vacation for a couple of weeks so I will take the time to relax and dream about the Giants being one of the teams in that poll (which they weren’t). Ah….that feels good.

He can’t play the outfield you say? Fine. Stick him at first base. Move Belt to LF. I know that has zero chance of happening but it’s my vacation and my dream. So let’s continue….

Can you imagine Trumbo and his 47 homeruns getting blasted out of AT&T Park? He really wouldn’t even cost that much. He’s seeking a paltry 70 million dollar deal. I say, pay that man his money. But Flavor, his HR total would take a big hit at in SF.

I don’t think so. Have you seen how far that dude hits home runs? Some only come down when they run into Chinese satellites.

Oh yes, I want Mark Trumbo to become a Giant, play first base and hit home runs that don’t come down until they run into Chinese satellites. That’s the dream…..

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#freestix! RPOTD. I’ve been posting too many retros about food. Time to get back to the meat and potatoes of Stix posts. lqtm

Worst part of that bunch of “conservatives” among the Extremes is the fact that four of them are suspect members of Opus Dei. Opus Dei, founded by a fanatical Spaniard in the 20’s, was closely linked to Francisco Franco and his Falangist (fascist) overthrow of the Republic of Spain in the Dirty 30’s. Totally secretive and working constantly to recruit up and comers, the Opus Dei (the “Work of God” if you can believe the hubris and arrogance) is an openly elitist outfit that stands for the 1% ~ or more likely the 1/100th of one percenters ~ in other words those who have inherited incredible wealth and have no clue as to how real people live their lives.

Here are the teams that paid lux tax on the 2016 payroll:

• Dodgers, $31.8MM tax bill
• Yankees, $27.4MM
• Red Sox, $4.5MM
• Tigers, $4MM
• Giants, $3.4MM
• Cubs, $2.96MM

I would imagine a game or two of concessions and parking will take care of that tax bill.

#FreeStix RPOTD

Wonder if Timmy’s ‘conditioning’ may not relate to his bust a few months back. People smoke for a lot of reasons. There are many different grades of smokum. Like the Indica is soporific, kinda like opiated quaaludes. Sativa is more of an activator/energizer. Maybe Tim is off his medicine. Maybe a lot of his hyperanxious teammates could use some good, positive, energizing but relaxing medication.

Fkkk the Feds, the Duponts, the Mellons and Big Pharma. At least you Californians have the chance to vote on it this fall by way of Initiative and Referendum. Democracy, baby. As for “bad influence on kidz” ~~ psssss on that nonsense. Ask any 16 year old. He’ll tell you where to get anything you want. It’s the hypocritical, corporate-serving attitudes that gets em thinking all forbidden fruits are good and then they go doing something stupid like taking hard drugs.

Ignore me if i’m “off message” and if you suffer from an acute case of cognitive dissonance. For a fact i know that my writing and the insights behind it happens to be one helluva lot better when i’m buzzed than not ~ which happens not to be now. I’ve been out in the sun hoeing weeds a bit long, my brain’s a bit cooked, the Giants lost last night and i’m in a bit of a pissed off mood.

This whole country needs a good reality check.

Very sad to see Craig Sager pass. I’ll never understand why guys like him die and lurking sickos like Dylann Roof continue to live. Anyway, I’m posting this mostly for me and Loo but this is a great article. It doesn’t get any more 70’s than sleeping in the barn with one of the finest steeds to ever hit the track.

http://tinyurl.com/jl8mt4x

Could be time for Jill Stein to raise another 4 mil for a re-c0unt. Barely 1/4 of the voters got the correct answer (way under .250). Two voters were high as fuuuuuuuuck (.280+). So let’s revisit the Span issue after the votes are counted again.

#FreeStix! RPOTD

• stixwiz said, on August 21, 2011 at 7:17 pm (Edit)

  Sorry, no antelopes in Minnesota. Try Why oh why oh Wyoming. If you were here i’d invite you in for some fresh spaghetti made from scratch outta the garden including tomatoes, basil, peppers, onion, zucchini and oregano. Heading for the kitchen right now to fire up the wood cookstove. Evenings are getting cooler here now so that’s a comfort rather than a bother. Improves the cuisine too.

Everyone knows that San Dawg and I are in lockstep on almost everything. There are exceptions. He doesn’t like the Warriors. Or the Niners. And he and I are split on Denard Span. It’s starting to consume the friendship. Yesterday this was the text exchange between us:

First of all, I am biased against Span because my 4th favorite player of all time is Rickey Henderson. My list goes 1) Thrill 2) Barry 3) place holder and 4) Rickey. I couldn’t have an Oakland A be in my top 3.

My expectation for a lead off man is simple: Make shit happen. I don’t care what your stats are, just make shit happen. That can be as simple as stealing 2nd base. It could be rattling the pitcher once you get to first base. Taking an extra bag or dropping down a sick bunt for a base hit. Rickey did all that including hitting a mind blowing 81(!) home runs to lead off a game. Now THAT, my fellow Flappers, is making shit happen. Rickey also referred to himself in the 3rd person during interviews. If Span can at least start doing that, I might lay off him a bit.

So I noodled it and came up with the following poll:

Ah, felt good to do a poll again. Now get out there and vote.

So the Dodgers just spent close to 200 million dollars re-signing 3 guys they already had on last year’s team? And they didn’t sign 3 “Kershaws”. You could poke holes into each of those 3 guys and if I was a fan I would have wanted more for nearly a quarter billion scratch.

#FreeStix RPOTD

One of those occasional meatless mornings for me. Kinda. Few days ago i steam-sauteed down some fresh garden veggies like spinach and bunching onions along with some small peppers (3 mild, 1 japaleno). Meanwhile i stirred up a batter featuring some Indian Head cornmeal from Maryland (no GMO and maybe even organic); plenty of oat-bran; some rye flour; bit of whole wheat flour; one farm egg; Rumford’s (non-alumina based) baking powder and considerably more milk than water.

Veggies ready, they got folded into the batter along with a full can of pre-Fuckyoushima radiation-free, Alaska pink salmon (been hoarding those) stirred it all up and them spooned into my original Griswold #10 skillet dabbled with olive oil atop the wood cookstove.

Served it up with a bit of raunch dressing for a side-dip and a cup of strainer-seeped heavy-duty coffee. Got 4 meals from it over the past 5 days or so with enough batter combo remaining for one more go.

Dodgers look like they’re re-signing Turner. They can have him. He’s 32, I didn’t know that. You want to give a dude a 4 year deal at that age when he just had a power explosion out of no where? Well, at least he’ll have the dough to buy up the best masking drugs money can buy.

This is from one of the many Giants beat writers who have blocked me on twitter:

It doesn’t look like the Giants will be re-signing free agents Gregor Blanco, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez, Angel Pagan, Jake Peavy or Sergio Romo, CSNBayArea.com’s Alex Pavlovic writes.

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#FreeStix! RSPOTD (retro stoney post of the day)

True, my diction can get a bit airy at times, but rarely do i garble the syntax. Rarely too, do i consult one of those things due to a firm belief in the evolution of the American language away from the bloody Quean’s English. Gotta consider actual usage by everyday folk in common conversation as having more streetcred than the vaporings and snifflings pronounced and pronouned by pundits, prognosticators and general poobahs. Now, i’m not proffering suchlike syllabilizations to be wrong, per se ~ just not my cuppa lapsang souchong to go with smoked provolone and a thin slice of cucumber on a club cracker.

Big day in the NFL for most teams not associated with SF. I flipped through the rumor mill looking for some Giants news but came up with squat. Wish we had picked up Danny Espinosa, he was cheap and would have provided fantastic utility depth for us. I’ll never understand why Sabean declares the team done in the Winter just because he’s got his positions filled out. What’s wrong with putting together a back up plan here or there? If you don’t, you usually get shingo’ed come post season time.

#FreeStix! RPOTD

It was so nice to go into my hot woodstove kitchen and load up the plate with a couple fresh garden spuds and then top it off with a smothered porkchop awash with tomato, basil, three varieties of pepper, zucchini, some garlic, a spot of paisano and a nice red onion. Took the loaded plate into the dining room and leisurely meandered through the deliciousness of it all with not a worry, fret or jitter in my mind. Eighth inning about to start. Nice relaxed sitdown meal, knowing the Giants finally got that laugher i called for earlier today. Sure nuff. Matt the Horse wins his eleventh. Casilla puts him down in the 9th and Giants fans can bask a bit once more. We’ve won two straight!

If any of you Bay Area old timers missed it, George Shirk died of a heart attack at age 64. Bruce Jenkins gave him a beautiful mention in his column. I remember his byline on Warriors stories in the Chron like it was yesterday:

Sometimes it’s what you DON’T get in the off season that gets you excited about the upcoming baseball season. Even though we weren’t in on him, I feel like we won when we DIDN’T get Adam Eaton. I have no idea why the Nats gave up 3 of their top prospects for that guy. Makes no sense unless they are becoming “prospect phobic” and they’re trying to ease their anxiety by purging all their best players as quickly as possible. And I’m sorry, but 5 years for Dex Fowler just wreaks of back-end ugliness. Already not a very good defender, he’s only going to get slower and worse (like all of us) with each successive year. I’d love to know what the “Shop Talk” is at the Cardinal blog about this pick up….

Ok, I know you are ALL waiting for the next #FreeStix RPOTD and I found several good ones to choose from today (as I always do). But THIS one might be the RPOTY (at least as it relates to our potato peelin’ patriot). Blade, take it away…..

Great post Stix . . . For whatever reason, I always think of you as the non-violent and much, much kinder anarchist Ted Kaczynski. Like him, you live in a secluded place and have become self-sufficient so that you live autonomously. Probably like Ted, you taught yourself survival skills such as tracking, edible plant identification, and how to construct primitive technologies. You’re one of the main reasons I come to this site.

Very sad to see this news. Torres will always be a special Giant.

________________

#FreeStix! RPOTD

When one of my numerous pussfolk snags a mouse, i always inquire “how was the brent mouseburger?” After years of close study i’m nowhere near being able to translate their responses into anything vaguely resembling English, but sometimes their looks say far more than words would anyway. Seems they’re quite fond of em.

From time to time temptation urges me to do something about a catchy book title that nudged its way into my consciousness: “Life in a Cathouse”. Some readers, i fear, would be disappointed with the lack of salacious episodes. Certain cat-fanciers would not approve of my language. Oh well.

Doggone it! Can’t leave out Macoozhoe. He’s chief enforcement officer around the place. He’s responsible for keeping the bam-bam-Bambis outta the gardens and shrubbery. Tough job, as he lost his running-mate, big black Mac, the half Lab, half Rott about three months back. Minnesota deer-hunting season ended yesterday evening, so no more gut-piles for the sandy-brown Oouff. Back to the grrrumbles outta the sack.

Gotta stop by the backside of the local custom-butcher this coming week, where there is free access to his barrels of bones, trimmings and cuttings which get picked up weekly by a rendering plant about 130 miles south. No money changes hands either way so the pickings are free and none too slim. With Winter soon about to settle in up here, weather’s cool enough so that a modest accumulation of the stuff in the back of the Blue Whale (’87 GMC 1-ton van rusting away in piebald rusty retirement) won’t stink up the place too bad and it will keep local law enforcement vs the Bambinese in a happy mood. Ditto the outdoor catclan.

Now that Melancon is locked up and the Giants have have decided to open up the Palo Alto version of “Mac/Park” in left field, I am now able to focus 100% of my time on scouring the archives for Stix posts. In honor of the great Twinfan emerging from his blog slumber, I wanted to re-post this classic that I stumbled upon while I was looking for Stix mashed potato recipe that I wasn’t able to find.

Bob Skinner is still alive, by the way. Born in San Diggity’s hood, he turned 85 last month…

I wrote this yesterday, it seems in line with the tenor of this mornings comments. BTW, Steve and Paul- where may I find your Fountain of Youth, you guys look great…

“We’ve all come about our love for baseball in our own ways. I loved it as a boy and playing it made it even better. Then for many years it was a sometime diversion as my work took 12-16 hours of my day. I had season tickets for over 3 decades but my friends and customers went more than I did. Baseball as the National Pastime is a thing of the past- life is faster now, so much is available with a click and a tweet. I liken baseball to the foods of the Shaker women- the cuisine was in their heads and hearts, not put to paper. It was up to the food historians and writers like Ronald Johnson to find what was in their hearts and preserve it for today. And so it is up to those of us who remember the game of our youth, to pass along to a new generation the joy of baseball when it was the game that little boys dreamt of, when small towns were abuzz as the World Series approached and *everyone* wanted to see the powerful Yanks humbled.
Which brings me to today. I rediscovered the game when I grew older and my health deteriorated. I became a NUT, a FANBOY-and miraculously became a young boy again. I often dream of the game, I remember the players of my youth in Pittsburgh. For years I had remembered what we now call a “walk off”. A player named Johnny Powers hit one of his few home runs into the teeth of a strong wind and raised his arms high into the air as he soaked in the cheers. It wasn’t until many years later that I found out that it wasn’t Powers, it was Bob Skinner. And then I realized that it didn’t matter, what mattered was that it made me recall what the game once was and why I loved it as a boy and now again in my older years. It slows life down, it’s a game that you can savor as you savor a fine wine or a walk in the woods, a doze in a hammock, it’s a game that makes us realize that life is to be enjoyed slowly -as it passes by all too soon.”

__________________

And in the same thread I found this.

#FreeStix! RPOTD

Whatta day. Perfect excuse to take the day off from homesteading duties outdoors as temp dropped to low 30’s after mid 60’s yesterday. It was complete with off and on rain,snow and sleet with a 30 mph NNW wind howling away. Kept the wood cookstove fired up all day. Cooking down some chancy tomatoes at a slow boil. Then steamed up a couple squash. Then stewed a modest pot of pinto beans. Tomatoes still stewing and stove has been fed and fed and fed.

Fed myself half an hour ago. My refried beans begin with some lard at the bottom of the pan, followed by a garden onion, three varietals of peppers, ten fresh and juicy tomatillos, a bit of my dried oregano, some cumin, good dashes of turmeric, splash of paisano red, few slices cut finer of crystallized ginger, nice dollop of garlic ~ and ultimately freshly mashed pintos and half a small squash ~ also from the garden.

The blend simmered for about 1.5 hours and then it was time to cut up a couple cherokee purple tomatoes for a topping and toast lightly the first flour tortilla atop the wood range. Ended up eating four burrito sized entities. Fresh cold well-water for a wash. (the brandy followed the victory).

Perfect coda for an indoor day in the old shack, all centered on a 3-2 win. Tuxedo cat “U-Boat” cuddling on the lap just springing off as i write about him. Sometimes pussy is waaay too telepathic. Nice warm feeling overall here in the dank, chilly northwoods evening. Fun to share with the Flap.

It’s funny how adding one guy to the bullpen can change your entire perspective. Melancon locking down the 9th? Ok, so let’s work backwards. You know, that fucking lefty reliever was actually very good in September. I’d like to think he’s not completely incompetent. If he keeps his September-ways rolling it’s not inconceivable to think the 8th inning couldn’t be handled deftly by a combo of That FLR and a healthy Derek Law. Now let’s double back to the long man just to get him out of the way and that’s probably handled by Ty Blach although I admit that’s a stretch to count on him after such a short rate of mlb success….

Now we’re really just looking at the 7th inning and I don’t see why some of the young guys CAN’T step up and cobble together some type of successful 7th inning. Okert and O(!)Shit both have dominant stuff. Kontos, Gearrin and Strickland will be there too.

All in all, not the worst bullpen I’ve ever seen. Right?

_________

Who’s up for a good conspiracy post with a dash of paranoia? Stix, take it away….

#FreeStix! RPOTD

stixwiz said, on November 22, 2013 at 6:58 pm (Edit)

Was in a basement poolhall on a grey morning in Kansas City 50 years ago today when the news came over the radio. Everyone there stood around in a state of shock. Days later i was staying with a friend in Topeka, watching the news live beamed from the courthouse in Dallas and saw the underworld figure Jack Rubenstein Ruby gun down Oswald. The fix was in.

There was almost a waiting list of people with a hard-on vs. JFK. Joint Chiefs were pissed cause he shut down their Operation Northwoods which was about killing innocent Americans so we could make war on Cuba. Both the military brass (and the WarDefense Industry were on his case cussin onaccounta he refused military backup for the CIA’s Bay of Pigs op vs Castro. Two of the ships bringing in the rebels were the Zapata and the Barbara (Zapata Energy Corporation was Daddy WarBush’s oil operation) and maybe you have heard of Barbara of he “beautiful mind” who is alleged to be the natural daughter of Aleister Crowley and all his Satanic majesty’s crawliness. Daddy WarBush was photographed as a CIA case director in Dallas that day.

The nasty old drag quean, J. Edna Hoover, who had the dirt on just about everyone who was anyone as head of the FBI was due for retirement the next year and already knew JFK would give him the axe. He was big buds, though, with LBJ. Israel didn’t like Kennedy because he did not allow them near any access to bomb plans or enriched uranium.

Biggest player, however, was the clan which owns the Federal Reserve System (note the eye above the pyramid on the $1 Fednote). JFK had signed off on Executive Order #10001 which ordered the printing of $2 United States notes backed by the silver holdings of the U.$. Treasury. LBJ, as his first act on the plane from Dallas to D.C., cancelled the E.O. and ordered the recall and destruction of the same form of currency which Abe Lincoln had authorized 100 years earlier, Constitutionally lawful government-backed banknotes.

Friend of mine who had 32 hits as a sniper in Nam as a four-tour Navy Seal got to talking with some of his cohorts a few years back. One of his pals years later checked out that 6th floor window in the Texas School Depository building and noted the odd deflection angle to fire with a bolt-action rifle to the street where the limo was proceeding. The bunch of them agreed that none of them could pull off three accurate shots in the time available with even the best of high-grade sniper rifles and scopes ~ to say nothing of a mail-order $9.95 Italian Mannlicher-Carcano.

So we know the identity of the silenced patsy and we know the identities of several interested parties. Suspects abound. The Warren Report was a smoke and mirrors coverup job. Who dun it? Maybe it was a bit of a group effort. All we know was that the hit on JFK ensured that we would get into the Vietnam War (which Kennedy was about to drop before we got in too deep) and that our country is as close to becoming a police state as Germany was in, say, 1934. JFK was in the way.

Montana. Clark. Rice. Lott. Young. Craig. Those are my Niners. Until further notice, they and those who played with them, are the only ones I will recognize as 49er players…..

*Sources* are indicating Melancon is a done deal. He’s about to be ours. ALL OURS. (went with a period instead of exclamation points for obvious reasons………)

#FreeStix! RPOTD

What does a Giants fan do when the high temp for the day was twelve below zero with the wind blowing at 20 mph? Don’t even ask me to calculate the windshield factor. Took close to an hour to schlep in the wood for both stoves and feeding and watering Macoujoe and the outdoor puss department. Then back to standing close to the stove and turning to a stash of NY Times business sections from October of 2012. Whaaat? you say. Ain’t you sposta be retirded? Why the business section? Big investment decisions? Not quite hardly.

Back pages of section B in the NYT happens to be where they park Tyler Kepner and the rest of their sports reporters and October of 2012? Hope i don’t hafta tell anybody here why i was alternately chuckling, tearing up and laughing out loud. Was too busy outdoors during that wonderful month to even read the coverage at the time. But reading about the achievement of their second Market Street parade in three years was sure a nice way to beat up on a helluva nasty, cold January afternoon.

In February it all begins again. I like our chances.

If the Giants sign Melancon I’m not sure if I could have a more underwhelming reaction. Yes we need a closer. Yes he is a closer. He’s going to be 32 this Spring. 4 years? I think I’d prefer just giving him 2 years, same amount of dough. We know how the Giants roll when it comes to expensive guys who are failing. The most Mariano Rivera ever pulled down in a season was 15 mil.

#FreeStix! RPOTD

Somewhere in the kitchen porch my second glove gathers dust. Wore it pitching for Minneapolis Central High in Spring of 1960. Got the spikes too. Kangaroo hide. Purchased at the old landmark Sears and Roebuck on Lake Street near Chicago Avenue in Mpls when my family lived about 12 blocks from there. Alas, they are no longer a fit as one’s feet do tend to grow larger over the years. My gawrsh! Those two hunks of leather are over 50 years old already. Maybe an antique shop of the recently trending mantiques type? Naah. Probably keep them along with that mass of Giants baseball cards starting with 55’s and concluding with 89’s.

I’d be the first to admit I don’t understand or track the intricacies of baseball contracts. So can someone explain to me why Agent 000 gets $600K in the major leagues and $300K in the minors? I mean, why not just pay him the minimum if he’s in the minors like everyone else. Or is this a common contract stip? What possible leverage could .000 have in contract negotiations???????

Having done a fair amount of research on Stix posts this off season, I’m wondering if this was the last straw for the The Feds. (Kinda)lqtm….

#FreeStix! RPOTD

I sure would trust a flapper government more than i would by Killary, or the Trumpeting Pachyderm for that matter.

This is one of my all time favorite Stix posts. It was probably also one of his final entries here at the Flap. I wonder what he’s doing for exercise in the clink? I keep wondering if anyone is feeding his cats. I’m positive no one is mowing “the estate.”

#FreeStix! RPOTD

Golf? Well i ain’t getting my summer workouts this week and i’m a bit pissed. Mechanic informed me the coil is out on the 22″ Huskvarna mower and it’ll take another two three days. They call it a “push” mower these days cause it is not self-propelled. A friend brought one of those by a few weeks back and using it for a few minutes convinced me that no way would i want one of those clumsy, heavy, complifuted monstrosities on my course.

Though the estate is a bit over 8 acres i only mow three or so and its up and down hills, dodging trees, shrubs and various stone-lined raised-bed gardens, ponds and whatever. Fantastic workout, but one needs easy mobility with your machine. One of those contraptions where you ride around on your ass like some doddering doofus? Fuggidaboudit! Very little of what the Germans call “sitzfleish” on my corpus. I do not sit well or very long at a time.

But fast approaching 72, i need that mowing workout on a steady basis through the summer and it’s galling me because with tropical rainforest conditions during July we just experienced the heaviest growth ever of the grass population ~ and when it gets over 6″ inches tall ~ particularly that nasty, heavy redclover down on the polderlands ~ the whole affair turns into brutal trench warfare.

Some H.S. football player could get himself into great shape investing about 4 hours daily on what will be facing me when i get the mower back. He’d go through the opposing line like shit through a goose.

Sounds like the Pirates are just looking for prospects for ‘Cutch and that takes us out of the running. I would still try to pawn off Belt to them along with our best pitching prospect. But there is only one year left on his deal so maybe it wouldn’t take this much to get him. Of course, I would trade Belt for probably a little less than he is worth. But that’s just me.

#FreeStix! RPOTD!

70’s MLB: In 71 i turned 27 and was as far away as i’d ever get from giving a rap about baseball. It was the late peak of the “turn on, tune in and drop out” era and they were all part of my experience. Would not have missed 64-73 for nothin. There was magic in the air, but not for the Giants.

Candlestick Park and Horace Stoneham caught up with the Giants through the 70’s and though that 71 team had some sparkle it was pretty much downhill from there on, what with Mays going to the Mutts, Stretch to the Pads, i seem to recall and Bobby B. later to the Yanks. Much of this disintegration had to do with the fact that ol’ Horace had been sold a lemon out there on the foggy, windy point and the revenues simply frittered away and so, ultimately did the team. So for me, the Seventies was the decade where i got out of touch with the game.

Believe it was ’82 or so when i started tuning in again and remembering Joe Morgan’s smash to sink the LaBumbos’ pennant hopes. Never having owned a boobtoob, my only on-time connexions with the game were by way of opposition radio clear-channel a.m. radio stations out of St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Chicago. Crackle and static, with the dial turned up to max output.

For me it all changed after 2002 when i first got connected with the net. After a STEEP learning curve i was able to access daily info on the Giants and in another five or six years, the blogs hooked me. Daily contact with fellow Giants fanatics. Had i died and gone to Heaven, or what? Cainer and Timmy came along. Even the national sports media started noticing action by the Bay. Then 2010 and the Golden Gate opened. Wow!

Xoot’s updates on Stix are more interesting than anything I can find about the Giants and their attempt to improve the roster….

Here’s a #freestix! RPOTD for you music fans. While he sings the blues, you get to enjoy this epic post. There’s also a pretty rad typo in this, see if you can spot it.

Dylan was born in Duluth, probably within yards of Highway 61. It has long struck me that the “God said to Abraham, kill me a son” line was referent to his own Bris. Zimmerman in ’65 was the kinda guy who would have questioned even that foundational aspect of Jewish culture. Also on the Highway 61 album appears what i consider to be the greatest single English language poem of the 20th Century, “Desolation Row”. It may have been a bit easier for me to understand than for most folks as i spent that summer of ’65 hanging out in the Village and thus was able to catch many of the nuances which slip past most listeners without that cultural baggage. At a later date the late, great Lou Rawls captured something of the same essence of the NYC scene of that era which, in some senses, was a precursor to SF’s Summer of Love in his “Walk on the Wild Side”.

For like 3 seconds I actually considered the Giants signing the recently non-tendered Chris Carter. I slapped myself back into focus but I DID consider it.

#FreeStix! RPOTD

If i wanted to go skiing it would be simply a matter of walking out the back door and strapping them on. That is one advantage of living here on the edge of the tundra. Disadvantages too. This morning at nine it was two below ~ here, not in Tupelo. Though i did see recently where a Mississippi town set an all-time low recently. Yesterday, so did Weaverville, Cali, wherever the eff that is ~ probably in the Sierras or somewhere near. Been one crazy winter.

The Niners have now lost 10 in a row and it blows my mind that the radioheads are finding positives in yet another loss. There is no way to fix this. Draft picks? Hahahaha!!!!!! TB will just draft more shit to stain the great legacy of the 49ers. I mean, “The One and 10ers.”

#FreeStix! RPOTD (change it to “Looking forward to being on the lamb…” and the post gets funnier)

Still kinda chilly for baseball in the desert. Teams there are lucky though. We’re expecting 18 below zero tonight up here in the northwoods as March blew in with a bitter NW wind. Looking forward to the lamb at the end of the month, as well as Lincecum’s first victory of the season down in LaLaLand.

This makes a lot more sense to me:

Contrary to Drellich’s report, the Giants have not talked about reacquiring Sandoval, according to Chris Haft of MLB.com. General manager Bobby Evans expects Nunez to serve as the team’s primary third baseman next year and is focusing his efforts on finding a closer, writes Haft. Club executives aren’t allowed to discuss acquiring players who are under contract elsewhere, but Evans did address the Sandoval situation, telling Haft, “I’m not aware of any consideration of a reunion, but we’ll never forget all that he meant to the Giants organization.”

Now maybe Evans is engaging in damage control, not wanting “internal discussions” to hit the papers. Or maybe they discussed it internally the same way they discussed what sandwiches they should get for their Monday afternoon meeting. Who knows? I would take Pablo back for depth and if Boston picked up most of the rest of his deal. But it seems everyone is forgetting the bridges he burned on the way out of here. I doubt Bochy and everyone else forgot about that.

_____________

Had to go with this post for #freestix! RPOTD. Instead of torches and pitchforks you could substitute “fake gun fingers and rakes”….. lqtm.

STRIKE ONE on the new commissioner. If he backs the Dink Hitter rule for the NL that will be strike four and time for torches and pitchforks.

This was a pretty funny tweet I ran across this morning:

Gonna take a break from the musings of our license plate makin’ maestro and talk about something I’ve always wondered about: where do you guys go? I’m not talking about leaving the house, walking the earth, that kind of stuff. Where do you go when you leave town? I’ve been around the world but as I’ve aged I find myself sticking closely to the west coast. This slice of the earth is my favorite and I will never tire of visiting my west coast cities and towns.  I’m hoping one day I get to travel somewhere with San Dawg and Harvey. Here they are yesterday. Diggity, let’s toss our sticks in the back and head north to Bandon. That would be a fun 2 week trip……

This is what I’m getting from mlbtraderumors.com these days:

The Giants haven’t had serious talks with relievers Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo or Santiago Casilla, CSNBayArea.com’s Alex Pavlovic reports.

In a related breaking story, the Giants also haven’t had serious talks with relievers Big Flavor, Snarkk, Zumiee or Blade’s new bride…..

___________________

#FreeStix! RPOTD

djloo: Betcha yer not old enough to remember Arnie Johnson of the R. Royals. He was from my hometown. One of his nephews owns a huge chunk of Bosch and Lomb as an inheritance from Arnie who married into the family.

Whattya gimmie for an NFL Sunday? I have been grinding through this season. Part of it is that the Niners are nearly unwatchable. The rest of it is the putrid product across the board. And the penalties. I can’t deal with some of these penalties. The celebration flags are the worst thing in all of sport. If it weren’t for DFS I doubt I’d even watch. NFL would be like a step above hockey to me…..

___________

Decided to pull a Stix post from the Summer. Enough of all that cold, freezing shit.

#FreeStix! RPOTD

Were the Giants actually bored with winning all the time? Seeking to develop more drama? Bochy has, indeed, fallen into his old personal trap of playing the veterans at the expense of younger players who may represent the future for this team and have been winning their chops lately.

Flapper analysts are almost in perfect accord of doubting on regularly playing both Blanco and Span and wondering why at least one of the Parker/Williamson prospects are not seeing daily starting assignments. Something’s gotta give. If we can see this can’t management and upper management also reason out the obvious? They are paid to do that.

Said it before over a period now extending out for several years: Seriously hoping that somebody in the front office has the sense to assign one of their up and coming staffers to regularly monitor fan blogs for depth insights into what the base is thinking about the team and the way it’s run. Big Flavor’s blog is laden with up to the minute insights from the perspective of the most committed Giants fans on planet earth. If the front office does not avail themselves of this free sounding board they are, in the inimitable usage of Twinfan, “stoopid”.

As nothing continues to happen in our baseball world, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Blade and his new bride. I believe they got married today. It’s shocking how many changes have occurred in his life over the last couple of months. They both look very happy to me…..

____________

#FreeStix! RPOTD

I read “Bighouse” where it says “Cathouse”.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holly Daze to all the Flappers and many thanks to Flavor for keeping this blogsite going and happening. Life in the Cathouse on Echo Ridge is pretty warm and cozy with two wood stoves going and temps outdoors actually up in the 20’s a bit. About 4″ of snow on the ground and colder weather soon to ooze in from westwards. Now it’s wash up a bit, don the outdoor boots n’ stuff and gather in some more firewood and cookstove wood. Daily chores help keep things from getting too stale. Not possible to become a total couchpotato ~ even in the most tempting time of year for such slacktivities.

As we bide our time waiting for Sabean and Evans to do something to improve the team, I continue to scour the archives for Stix posts. I started wondering what if Stix actually had no internet and in order to post here he had to write a letter to his buddy in NY (the guy who sends him cross word puzzles) and THAT guy actually is the one who uploads Stix posts. Could it be?

___________________

#FreeStix! RPOTD

Blade: Good post. Great sentiment. Nice, the Heinlein quote.

This bunch keeps amazing me with their generalized erudition, common civility and generally upbeat attitude. Three reasons for my continued Flapperization.

I’m surprised @KateUpton took time away from fucking @JustinVerlander long enough to tweet about being the only one *allowed* to fuck him. But from their hiatus, a new thread topic is born…..

Is there a problem with the CY voting process? Maybe making the voters list off 5 pitchers is the problem. I mean, guys like Tanaka and Happ had decent years but should they be getting votes?

The other question is the number of writers who get to vote. Maybe 30 isn’t enough. Maybe they shouldn’t be writers. Or add managers?

I don’t have the answer and I’m really not that interested in the topic. Now I’m starting to wonder if she was tweeting during and THROUGH all the fucking?

So maybe they never stopped fucking?

Mind = Blown…..

#kateupton #justinverlander

_________________

And of course it is now time for some solid gold from our potato-peelin’ pal.

#FreeStix! RPOTD

Merry Christmas to all the Flapzoners. Looking out my Northwoods window there is a sea of white flocking on the lilac bushes and the ash and apple trees. Sky is a light grey. A few lazy flakes are taking their good ol time establishing a landing-pattern. It’s nine above zero outdoors. Dogs are out on an Oouffspedition, running free around the countryside. Outdoor cats are coping after breakfast and will get some treats later. Couple of the housecats got put out, one cause he wanted out and the other to chill. Woodstove is keeping the house cozy. Breakfast was cake and icecream with hazlenut coffee. Cuppa tea and a clementine next the keyboard. Ready for a lazy day, mostly indoors.

Basking in the warm afterglow of the WS win. Last evening, driving home from a birthday party for aunt Mary Christine, her 91st, a Queen tape was playing. As i neared the driveway “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS” was pounding outta the speakers of the ol’ pickup, distinguished by its hacker axe poised in the left front stakehole, with steel grainscoop snowshovel nearby and the 1976 Huskvarna-65 chainsaw perched between a couple small logs and some ballast rocks towards the rear.

Ahh, country living. Late afternoon lunch/supper will, according to current hankering, likely be venison-based spaghetti, with onions and jalapenos from the garden ~ or maybe, if ambition strikes, it will be based on some very nice looking scallops purchased at an old-fashioned butchershop only 25 miles from home. But the laziness may overcome the fascination, as i have zero experience in preparing scallop dishes.

Back to the woodcarving in a few minutes. Flavor, i haven’t forgotten about the ‘One Flap Down’ piece. Creative types are not as reliable as most folks. The right mood has to hit at the correct time. Will know it when it happens. Thanx again, for all the energy you have put into this site, Craig. Really did dig the “Area 51” hook for the countdown to stage one of the next SF championship.

Watching Dubs game, for some reason Steph is staying in after hurting his foot/ankle. Thought it was time for a new thread. December 2010 was a fun time to post at the Flap.

#FreeStix RPOTD!

Party down everyone. Party scene is a bit limited in my neighborhood tonight with 7″ down and blowing all over the place with a 25mph wind and temps hovering just above zero. Didn’t have plans anyway, though, so i’m sitting here, full of spaghetti, staying warm with the radiance of wood heat and basking on.

Vegas and the other oddsmakers do not seem to favor the World Champs to repeat. That’s nothing. Last year most of em figured the Giants to finish 3rd in the NL West. Maybe they’re getting into the habit of throwing their money away? Last January, i predicted the team would win 94 and play in the NLCS. Bit off in the win category and a tad conservative in the other one. It’s a bit over 3 hours to January, here, but looking at a better team going into ’11 than ’10 and weakness in the rest of the Division, i say the Giants win 100 this coming season.

Yasiel Puke elected to keep his guarantee over the next two seasons rather than opt into arbitration—confirmation from him that he agrees with me: he sucks.

Does this do anything for ya?

2 topics that will rocket a Stix post to the RPOTD: 1) any reference to his backyard and 2) any work he did back in the 60’s…..

If Chin Music is a go, will Acorn Ale be next? Jeeze how times change. When i was a tyro ad-writer in downtown Minneapolis in the Spring and Summer of ’68 I tried to talk my agency into doing the leg-work to create an entire merchandising system for a domestically-produced DARK beer. Yes, Maxine, such suds did not exist in the U.$. brewski scene at that time. Creative director was somewhat ok with the idea, but the sales side considered it a no-go. So i ended up as an ink-slinger editing a suburban newspaper a couple months later.

Creative ideas are rarely if ever appreciated by conventional minds. Thinking outta the box tends to get one boxed in.

Nothing much to report except we are favored to get Melancon which is about the least surprising development of the post season so far. If it were my money, I say fuck the left fielder and just start stacking the bullpen. Melancon AND Jansen. Why not?

Stix really had it rolling in December 2013….

#freestix! RPOTD

Greetings from the frozen North where the current temp is twenty-six degrees BELOW zero ~ almost professional level cold with only four more to drop. Both stoves going here so my league is one of the hottest around. Wood cookstove sporting a stovetop ‘bread’ or loaf containing several types of grain flours and grinds as well as onion, apple, peppers, spinach and one can from my slowly dwindling stash of pre Fuck You Shima (3-11-11) canned Alaskan pink salmon. Also a decent glop of minced garlic, salt and a dash of balsamico. Base is a blend of butter and olive oil. Cooking it slowly. Needing to flip it every now and then cus the mass is over 3″ deep. Will eat it with a raunch dressing dip.

Earlier today necessitated the rescue of a 6 month old outdoor kitten who had evidently thought a pan of warm water i’d set out for them last night was the place to warm up a bit. Her tail-section and back legs were frozen in when i wondered out there. Thawing-out process was gradual, with judicious use of stove-top and hot water. After the release i left her in a shallow pan of warm water. Not too afraid of that cause she was holding her head up strongly. After about half an hour i took her outta the now cooled water and wrapped her in a thermal longjohn bottom. She passed out for a couple hours. Incredibly, she is walking around just fine and is both eating and drinking. Curiously she tends to wanna sit right by the stove.

Life in a Cathouse is adventure enough. The outside pussy can sometimes throw you a lefthanded scewball. Amazing creatures, wot?

Connected with Dirt in Reno yesterday. Got to catch up for about an hour. Very cool dude.

Thought is was time for a new thread and this Stix RPOTD is solid gold from start to finish. Enjoy:

Damn! Whacked out weather most everywhere this season. Here in the wild, frozen Northwoods of Manysnowta i’m currently looking out at clear skies and the landscape is basking in +35 degrees of ABOVE zero temps. My head even started working a bit again. But hold your hats gang…

Low tomorrow night is projected for 29 degrees BELOW zero. That 36-40 hour switcheroo is more bipolar than a room full of yo-yos. Even in nice winters we almost never get thawing days between Christmas and New Years. 64 degree temperature variations in that short a time span. Think about it. Oh, we get steady-state stuff for a few days at the turn of the year. High Sunday will be around 9 below and all nights through New Year’s Eve will go past twenty below. Eases up some with the New Year for a few days with mostly above zero days and nights at low double-digits minus.

Is this all from geo-engineering (HAARP/chemtrails et al) working overtime, or is Mama Nature herself getting peeved and petulant? Only your hairdresser knows for sure and he/she ain’t tellin. My woodpiles suffer and so do the outdoor cats. Macouzho loves it, though. His fur thickened out this Fall into a magnificent pile and he’s always right there when i venture outdoors. Good day for that today. Maybe get back on board here this evening. Meanwhile there are shrubs to prune and more snow to heap against the walls of the old shack. Free insulation, dontcha know.

I’m out for a few days. Just checked and 580 already had protesters crawling around on it a few hours ago. Still praying those idiots stay off 880. If they shut it down, I have to drive to Millbrae and take BART to the airport. LOL. I’ve never taken BART, that would be interesting…..

Any time Stix references something in his backyard I am fucking posting it. lqtm.

#FreeStix! RPOTD

Amazing, those flips in this game. Yesterday afternoon i was in the south garden pulling out weeds and hilling the potatoes with fresh compost ~ battling all the way with the ladies of the night who were out in full force as it was a coolish, cloudy day up here in the Northwoods. Down on the knees a lot of the time and i mean to tell you Minnesota mosquitos, though not known as carrying any pathogens, are some of the nastiest ankle-biters around~ especially when one is wearing sandals. Finally got through the potatoes and it was time for a break. Knew the game was on but with those two previous mismatches between the Giants and Padres, i was in no great hurry.

Tuned into the Yahoo feed and wow! Giants up four zip. Then glanced at the lines and gasped. Seven innings and San Diego had TWO zeros posted. After another bases loaded, one out and no runs scored there came the usual reversion. Opposing team AB and switch over to the in-box to deal with what’s going on in the world and all those good causes who absolutely need my signing in on some petition or another. Dealt with some of that and then very cautiously nosed into the game feed again. Giants batting in the bottom of the 8th and same line for San Diego. Whew! Good through 8.

Curious as hell but no way was i gonna upset Jobu and break our little compact. Giants went down in the bottom of the 8th and it was now crunch time. Back to the e-mail inbox. Went through some more business but mind was not really on it. Finally got up the gumption to return to the Yahoo feed. Final score SF 4-SD 0. YaHOO indeed. Timmy!

Saw that Ian (Who?) Gardeck was added to the 40 man. Checked the 40 man to see who else I didn’t know. I saw Daniel Carbonell still on it. The lesson at the time, and it’s still a sound one, is to not try to sign a Cuban player on the cheap. Maybe 10 years ago, but scouting is too strong now. You aren’t going to find a diamond in the rough for a couple mil.

Ray (Who?) Black is on the 40 man. Checked his stats. They are a wild ride. 31 innings last year at Richmond. 32 walks. 53 K’s. lol. He’s on the 60 day DL.

Disappointed in the protests last night. Those dunderheads are literally protesting against free democratic elections. I have to fly out of Oakland tomorrow morning. If 880 is fucked up because of some stupid ass protest I am going to be pissed.

Still not even beginning to get over the incomprehensible developments from last night but I thought I’d pop a new thread up anyway. Radio guys are pushing hard for the Giants to sign Chapman. I personally don’t think Sabes would ever pull the trigger on him (lqtm) because of the area we live and the sensitivity most people here have for domestic violence issues. But who knows, I could be wrong. Did Chapman ever serve any time or lose any money or anything? If he paid some sort of debt I could get on board. But you have to think he’s going somewhere else for much more money than we offer….

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#FreeStix! RPOTD! I’m starting to run out of steam on these so brace yourself for the most recent one you read to be the last one you read….

Icelander genome is roughly half Norwegian and half Irish. Pawlie, you should run into some stunning redheads as well as the blondes. Place was founded by a bunch of Vikings whose king Harald of Norway lost out to Irish chieftan Brian Boru at the battle of Clontarf. They hoisted up their colleens, boarded their Langskips and headed off from the island they had named Ireland to the island of Iceland or “Island” in the native tongue.

I really wanted to find a good Stix post about politics or voting (or conspiracy or corruption) but a quick scan of Nov 2012 didn’t yield much. Gold Glove awards announced today. I have a hard time mustering up much enthusiasm for individual awards but I’m assuming Crawford gets one, maybe Buster finally nudges out Molina at catcher.

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#FreeStix! RPOTD

stixwiz said, on October 28, 2012 at 9:28 pm (Edit)

Several minutes ago an incredibly fast moving object was briefly tracked by radar scopes bearing WSW from Sweep City. Knowledgeable observers have surmised that it is indeed Broomhilda tracking from the scene where her boys and their Halloween Machine responded perfectly to her smallball blessings. She appears to be making a beeline for a well-known bay on the West Coast of the continent.

Broomhilda will appear in full-drag as one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, but with one alteration to the habit. Instead of Black and White, her colors will be readily identifiable as Black and Orange, a more seasonal look and fully calculated for one Helluva party she is expected to hold an undisclosed location in the near vicinity of China Basin.

Keep your eyes to the skies, gang. Following Broomhilda’s flight a slower-moving flying craft will track a similar flight-pattern and the occupants are expected to make various public appearances to “Hallelujahs and Hosannas”. As is her wont, Broomhilda will be present, though that presence will only be known to the cognizant.

Is there any buzz about the Giants and Cespedes out west?
Back here, I’d say the media vibe is he ain’t comin’ back…

Not only is there no buzz about this but I can’t recall there being a less buzzy start to an off season. There is NOTHING getting talked about, Giants related, in the Bay Area media. I’m not actually sure what the media even does out here. The Niners are so bad the radio talk show guys seem to be actively avoiding discussing them. The Raiders get a little buzz but for a team that just took over the AFC lead, you’d think there would be more. The Dubs get most of the airtime on KNBR these days.

I will be shocked if we get Cespedes. Can’t see us being anything more than a bargaining chip for him to get a little more money somewhere else…..

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#FreeStix! RPOTD. Not a very old one or a very long one but this is a “Stix” post from beginning to end:

Z: Got my little 97 GrandAm through some half melted snow on my long driveway with the help of some wood ashes for added traction and drove to Brrrrmidji (40 miles one way) to catch a shower and do some grocery shopping. At one of the stores i checked out all the baseball mags and noted that Sporting News piece projecting SF at 97 wins in an Even year. Mucho Kewl.

Also the only other mag which did projections and predictions noted that the Giants would win the NLW. May be a bit hard to slip beneath the radar after all that, but the respect is long overdue and much welcomed.

The only good thing that came from last night is that some of those pompous Cavs fans can finally eat shit.

What a moment presented by Rajai Davis. I still can’t believe he did that.

Now please, no more tv shots of Cubs fans. Ever again.

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Stix used to get high as fuuuuuck coming up with wild trade ideas. In this one he slowly meanders his way to a haul for Carlos Quentin.

Chisox may be in teardown mode once again as Jerry Reinsdorf seems to be getting the financial jitters. Major trade just went down with Toronto. Wonder if Sabean isn’t burning up the phone lines to Chi-town to ascertain what kinda package would be needed to land Carlos Quentin. It appears he is available. Before Zito’s two latest melts, a straight swap of Sanchez for Quentin may have made sense. Now i could see Wheeler going in such a trade. Might take a B prospect or two boot money. Rowand would do okay on the southside. Maybe something like Rowand, Verdugo, Gillaspie would get the job done.

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And with that, another baseball season is in the books. I am fine watching this one go. Too many “what ifs” for me to be missing baseball right now. Hot stove season is upon us. This was always a great time for Stix. I’m gonna miss his posts about freezing pussy and all the rest of it. I’m out of town till next Mon so this thread will probably stand strong till then.

No better time for the Cubs to extend their record of suckitude. Maddon is riding Chapman harder than Stix riding hoes in the whorehouse after he finally gets released. Ok, I reached for that one…..

Anyone watching this game tonight? What sweet irony it would be if Cleveland blew a 3-1 lead….

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#FreeStix! RPOTD

That image of Huddy’s “balls dancing in the dirt” could be sold to some porn maker, featuring a Miss Pigpen rolling around in the mud and Huddy jumping into the action.