How To Pluck A Chicken In 14 Seconds

It used to take us forever back on the farm. We would have to fill a 25 gallon tin tub with boiling water and toss the chickens in there whole. Wait for quite a while and then start pulling wet feathers. We did it on the porch with the screen door open but the flies would get so thick we would have to close the door and the smell of wet feathers would permeate the space. But the real fun was when you opened that chicken up. It's a feckin rainbow inside there boys and girls!

Always know where your food comes from!

Uhmm...

... Drenge.

Bob's Burgers

This post is something of a departure for this blog but it's probably about time. I'll just start off by saying that the first time I watched Bob's Burgers I was so impressed that I thought that it had to be Canadian. But no. It wasn't.

Still I continued to watch it and marvel at how really, really good it was. Behold:

Well shit! Looks like there is nothing to embed! Nothing on Youtube plus Hulu & Fox won't even let those outside the US view the thing, unless you're on a US military base. What a disappointment that is!

So I guess you'll just have to read about it instead. There are a couple of episodes in the article which should satisfy. Just remember. ANUSES!!

Technically I could embed from Adult Swim but no way in hell will I help distribute 30 sec. Microsoft ads. No. Way. In. Hell.

The Coming End Of Jūrmala

This is what Jūrmala beach is supposed to look like:

Not this:

I am so tired of these MMA punters on the beach. It gets worse every year. Earlier it was about 30 of them with their fake guns, rubber knives and wooden clubs. That's why I fled from the Majori/Bulduri stretch of beach. Because between the psycho soccer players who think they own everything down to the water line and the survivalists it was impossible to enjoy the beach, never mind New Wave music festival. So I went to Lielupē which now looks like it's going to get nasty as well. Especially because of the Billionaires Club!

Between the Young Pioneer offshoots sponsored by Russia, the Russian sportsmen and outside moneyed interests looking to draw some more of that Russian money I don't know why I left Moscow!

Oh yes, I forgot. No beach in Moscow.

At least the beach is huge here. Good for a few more years I figure. Then I'll have to leave Latvia for sure.

PS: as a humorous aside I am reminded of a character I knew during my rig pig days in GP, AB Canada who trained heavily in all sorts of esoteric MMA stuff. He particularly liked the Steven Seagal hand weaving BS which would baffle me after my second beer but the local Barney just grabbed him by the back of the neck and held his forehead to the table while he finished his beer, adroitly avoiding the flailing arms. That's pretty much my view of most martial arts.

RIP Ivars Andiņš

Old friend.

What I Learned About Latvia This Summer

I haven't been blogging lately because it's been a really excellent summer by Baltic standards and I much prefer visiting the beach. Although that was disturbed briefly by the horrible music festival New Wave which plugs Jurmala with an astounding variety of pretentious elites who just destroy the tranquility with their horrible manners and bombastic presence. But they are gone for the most part and while sunny with temperatures in the high 20's after this week I suspect the weather will slowly return to it's usual foul self.

Thankfully I have managed to stay isolated this summer preferring not to let the world intrude on my meditations and Latvia is a good place to ignore reality but several items did penetrate my Zen bubble.

Stolychnaya vodka is actually bottled here in Latvia. Yes. Stoli with "Russian Vodka" loudly displayed  on the label in a bold red font is actually Latvian. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised because it is bottled by the same company as the ubiquitous Latvian herbal liquor Rigas Black Balsams. Who knew?

And there is a jet aerobatic team based in Latvia called the Baltic Bees. I learned this during my weekly commute over to the fun website English Russia. I've never seen them but I live in Riga and they are based in Tukums, which brings up another thing I learned! I learned that Jurmala Airport exists! And that it is in Tukums region! I spend a lot of time in Tukums and have never seen the Baltic Bees there either so I assume they must spend a lot of time out of the country performing. I used to live in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan which is home to the Canadian team the Snowbirds so I wouldn't mind comparing the Baltic Bees with the Snowbirds routines.

But as soon as I let myself get near any electronic media the ugly reality of life in Latvia begins to intrude. Like the 45 million Lats owed by the countries citizens in unpaid heating bills. Keep in mind this is a country of about 2 million people. No wonder I meet so many people on the beach!