Fall Nip and a Good Cocktail
With cooler evenings nipping at us, we gathered on the porch to try Schuyler's latest cocktail offering, a Caribbean Petite Fleur, made with good white rum and Cointreau. Today, there was a nice cool breeze blowing, making all outdoor chores a lot more pleasant than they were last month. We definitely did not need to run the outdoor ceiling fans. Fall seems everywhere to be announcing its arrival.

Torture and Rice The Rottweiller
Bob, Liz's husband, was pretty upset tonight about some ridiculous statements made about a month ago by Bush's Rottweiller, the female one. Let me explain, around here we don't refer to her as "Condi" since that makes her sound almost human and doesn't reflect the ruthless, junkyard dog persona behind the nickname. After all, she is the mother of the plan to bring torture back into use in today's military. You know who the fathers of that plan are. She did not take a disapproving back seat when Gonzales, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Myers, etc. were issuing pro-torture tactics. Just a note about farm and ranch life: you call it like you see it, and like it is; doesn't do any good up here to be coy. A stallion is a stallion, and a mare's a mare; a cow's a cow and a bull's a bull, and a dog's a dog and a bitch is a bitch. That's life in the country.

The Insurgency is Kaput
Well, what has Bob so upset is an article that came out at the beginning of August in which the ever-truthful, non-obfuscating, honest-to-a-fault Rice assured the Nation that the end of the insurgency was definitely, honestly, around the corner. Bob told us that she swore, this in a week in which 30 U.S. troops had just been killed, and in week by which 1,820 troops had been killed that the insurgency was just about dead. Well, maybe we should believe her. Maybe we should trust the government of Tricky Dick Halliburton and Macbush?

Good News for Iraqis
Since Rice's report came out of the incalculable gains the U.S. has made in Iraq and how the insurgency is moribund, and because of the Administration's crowing about the tremendous advances they and Halliburton have effected throughout the country, we assume they have electricity 24/7; abundant, sanitary water; clean streets with well-functioning garbage disposable facilities; abundant clean, safe and well-run hospitals, the Bush's and the Cheney's have decided to send their women to volunteer as Pink Ladies and Candy Stripers! Laura and the Buschguzzling twins, Jenna and Barbara Bush, and the three Cheney women have volunteered to put in as many hours of volunteer service as might be necessary in hospitals all over Iraq.

Back to Reality
Well, wouldn't it be beautiful if that would actually happen? That the two families most to blame for this offivorous invasion would put some of their own in harm's way? (Although, according to Bush's Rottweiller, Condosleazza Rice) there's hardly any danger now.)

Truth is, Rice is not American enough to level with us. She assured the country that Iraq has 175,000 well-trained troops, and Senator Joseph Biden corrected that number, saying Iraq barely had 3,000 trained troops. So, for that un-American lie, several members of the Administration need to be impeached and then beached at Guantánamo, don't you think? Surely, if Bush is not imprisoned abroad for crimes against humanity, or assassinated by Al Qaeda (along with his "ladies," remember, Al Qaeda is patient and never forgets), he could feel as much at home there as he could at Crawford, no? It's obvious that after he leaves office no security detail is going to be able to keep that family safe, so they'd all better just enroll in Guantánamo U. We could even ship him some cedar to chop.

Should the Bush and Cheney women deploy to volunteer as Pink Ladies and Candy Stripers, they'll likely be there for a while. The Sullied White House says things are just going swimmingly, thank you, but Senator Jack Reed, of the Senate Armed Services Committee reminded the nation that the Soviets were mired in Afghanistan for 10 years. And, the Wacko from Crawford got us mired not only in Afghanistan, but also in Iraq. So, does that mean we'll be mired in his nasty "war" of choice for 20 years?

Not a War, an Invasion
Bob hates the word war because he says that implies that a foreign nation harms you, and you retaliate by declaring war on the aggressor nation. Here, that didn't happen. Wacko just wanted to invade Iraq. Too bad, Bob said, he didn't lead his invasion, in one of his unarmored Humvees, and with the same useless vests his troops fight in. He really should have led the charge, after all, as he likes to trumpet 24/7, he's "the commander in chief."

Sublime Ambrosia
With the kids seated at their dining table, we proceeded to the large dining room, where already we had some amuse-bouches on our plates, ready to whet our appetites. These were tiny new potatoes, scooped out with a melon baller and filled with Mexican Crema Fresca and garnished with caviar and snipped chives. Art instinctively knew that this would go well with a Blanc de Blancs, which he and Terry brought from their wine cellar. They next served a welcome squash flower soup, sprinkled with "tabac de cuisine," (powder of dried porcinis) paired, remarkably well, with a sparkling Raventos I Blanc Cava Brut L'Hereu from Spain (and a good value.) Max (Merlin the Cook?) brought out Salt-and-Pepper Prawns that he paired with a wine that we have underused in the past, a delicious Avelada 2004 Vinho Verde Loureiro from Portugal. Next, Terry, Art and Max served flawless, simple, roasted free-range chicken that they paired with a 2004 California Sauvignon Blanc. The cooked-to-perfection vegetables they served were also very simply prepared. So, in a way we enjoyed a complex dinner, and at the same time, a very simple dinner perfect for an old farmhouse. Charlotte served us a small crab salad that she and Max thought would be well paired with a 2002 Pinot Grigio, a Monteflor delle Venezie Velio. After this delightful meal, we returned to the great room to share desserts with the kids.

Winding Down
The kids were still at the table, so we joined them at a really good moment. Tonight we had two desserts to enjoy with a very nice 2003 Moscato d'Asti, some Crème Caramel, and a simple Tarte Tatin. School, which started about two months ago, means that some had to go home to finish their homework. We won't expect any of them to help us as much with dinner preparations, serving and clean-up as we did all summer. Those who can manage both school demands and still help us a bit for extra pocket money are welcome to do it, but school comes first.