Morning Folks! Another fantastic sunset, one of the last few I’ll get to enjoy for a while, brought to you courtesy of Leprechonia’s Board of Tourism who’s slogan is:

 “Come for the Beaches, Babes, Cigars, Gambling, Food, Rum, Whiskey and Wine. Stay for our Beauty, Politics Taxes and Weather.” (This offer does not extend to Liberals, Muslims, Black Live Matter Supporters, Occupiers or the Entitlement Minded. Special preference given to Veterans, Police, Fire & EMS Personnel, Redheads, Fitness and Bikini Contest Winners and any Ex Girls Gone Wild Starlets).

A US Marine enters the Catholic Church confessional booth.

He tells the priest, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. Last night, I beat the ever-living cr – p out of a flag burning, cop hating, Obama loving black lives matter protester.”

The priest says,

“My son, I am here to forgive your sins, not to discuss your community service.”

Impish will be back next Wednesday Sept 7th  for me while I prepare our Patriot’s / September 11th Remembrance Issue for Saturday September 10th.

Did You Know?

Airbags deploy between 100 & 220 MPH. If you ride with your feet on the dash, you may send your knees through your eye sockets if the airbag is deployed. (LaGrange Police, August 14)

Impish’s new T-shirt. Maybe he can use part of the upcoming 3 day weekend to catch up with the rest of us some.

Tried this with Ninja Kitty Clan Mistress SC and  her right paw Chai. We got the ‘death stare’ for interrupting their naps right before they went back to synchronized napping practice.

SO I have gotten three Texas weather related questions in the last week.  The first wanting to know if all the clouds from the daily rain we’ve been receive from he last two weeks has cooled us off any and if so how hot it is now.

Yes its cooled us off some, we’re running a high of about 87 now but the humidity is still making it feel in the triple digits. In graphic terms this is hot hot its been recently:

Unfortunately as you can see it seems that one of the last things to melt on those ice cream trucks is that damned PA playing that annoying music incessantly!.

The next question was two fold, the writer had heard the term we used down here to describe heavy rain “frog strangler” and wanted to know if it really rained that hard or if that was just another tall Texas tale. They also asked with the frequent hard rain storms  how we dealt with them when we had something going on outside. Well here is a picture that answers both questions:

If you look carefully you can see just how hard it’s raining in that photo. That’s probably “small frog strangling” rainfall.  Obviously you can also see how we deal with the problem. Oh and as to his foot wear, I know Crocs have become something of a joke, but believe me there is a time of the year down here where they are entirely appropriate foot wear well suited to the weather.

Two nuns were in the back of the convent smoking a cigarette, when one said, “It’s bad enough that we have to sneak out here to smoke, but it really is a problem getting rid of the butts so that Mother Superior doesn’t find them.”

The second nun said, “I’ve found a marvelous invention called a condom which works really well for this problem. You just open the packet up, take out the condom, and put the cigarette butt in, roll it up, and dispose of it all later.” 

The first nun was quite impressed and asked where she could find them. “You get them at a drug store, sister. Just go and ask the pharmacist for them.”

The next day the good sister went to the drug store and walked up to the counter. “Good morning, sister,” the pharmacist said, “what can I do for you today?” “I’d like some condoms please,” said the nun. 

The pharmacist was a little taken aback, but recovered soon enough and asked, “How many boxes would you like? There are 12 to a box.” “I’ll take six boxes. That should last about a week,” said the nun. 

The pharmacist was truly flabbergasted by this time and was almost afraid to ask any more questions. But his professionalism prevailed and he asked in a clear voice. “Sister, what size condoms would you like? We have large, extra large, and the ‘big liar’ size.” 

The sister thought for a minute and finally said: “I’m not certain, I’m looking for something to put on a camel.”

CATCH THAT DOLPHIN!

He stole the launch codes!

Yup still trying out candidates for the Chef position in my Manor on Leprechonia.
Here are a couple end of summer/fall harvest season recipes for you.
Sorry Ginster, no knee bucklers this week.
OH DO SUCK IT UP ALREADY IMPISH!– and no I DO NOT mean my Chef!

Refrigerator Pickles: Cauliflower, Carrots, Cukes, You Name It

Total Time: 40 min
Prep: 35 min
Cook: 5 min
Yield: 2 quarts
Level: Easy

Ingredients

For the brine:

10 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups white vinegar
6 teaspoons kosher salt
Several sprigs of fresh dill
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon pink peppercorns (if you have ’em)

For the vegetables:

6 Kirby cucumbers, quartered lengthwise (small pickle sized ones)
6 young spring carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
1 handful large scallion pieces or green beans
A few pieces of cauliflower to tuck wherever they’ll fit
4 small hot red chilies or 2 jalapenos

I also like to use Celery stalks and red/yellow orange pepper strips.

Can’t find pickling sized cucumbers? Do what I do- take the big ones, cut them in 1/2 the cut in spear sized pieces (usually 4 or 6 per half). I remove the seed part because some times the seeds are quite large and this way it allows me to pack the jars with more veggies. The English or hot house varieties work well and with those seed removal is unnecessary.

I don’t normally have Coriander Seed on hand so I use the stems for a bunch of Cilantro. Plant Coriander seeds you get Cilantro.

Want it really spicy? Use 2 or 3 of those small dried Thai Chilies per jar but don’t say I didn’t warn you! Can’t find/don’t have Red Chilies (which are just ripe jalapenos in reality) or jalapenos? Use a couple pinches of crushed red pepper flakes per jar.

Try this with jars stuffed dead full of Cole Slaw mix ( I used the stuff in the bag) tossed with a thinly sliced red onion. Great topping for hotdogs. You need to really pack the jars tightly with the slaw mix because its going to shrink down considerably over time as it pickles in the brine.

Directions

In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups water to a boil, reduce the heat so the water simmers and add the garlic. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and salt, raise the heat and bring to a boil, stirring until the salt dissolves. Remove from the heat.

In 2 clear 1-quart jars, place a few sprigs of dill. Divide the seeds and peppercorns between the jars. Using tongs, remove the garlic from the brine and place 5 cloves in each jar. Then pack the jars full of cucumbers, carrots, scallions or green beans, cauliflower and chilies. You want them to be tightly stuffed.

Bring the brine back to a boil, pour it over the vegetables to cover completely, let cool, then cover and refrigerate. The pickles will taste good in just a few hours, better after a couple of days. And they’ll keep for about 3 months.

Old glass mayo jars or spaghetti sauce jars with the canning jar seal type tops (gold caps and square bottles) make great jars for this. I can get 4 across the back of my crisper drawer without significant storage loss To the drawer or fridge. This also has the added benefit of keeping them out of sight for a couple weeks so they can get really good.

Don’t over look the garlic when eating this. Pickled garlic is great and not strong at all.

Ratatouille Soup

Total Time: 40 min
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Level: Easy

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 to 3 teaspoons herbes de Provence (aka ‘Fine Herbs’)
Kosher salt
1 small eggplant, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 28 -ounce can peeled crushed tomatoes,
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
Medium handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
8 thick slices baguette
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyere, Provolone or Swiss cheese
Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the eggplant, zucchini and bell pepper and cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices, the broth and half of the basil. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Preheat the broiler. Brush the bread with olive oil; sprinkle with the remaining  teaspoon herbes de Provence and salt to taste. Broil until lightly toasted. Top with the cheese, then broil until melted.

Puree about half of the soup in a blender, then return to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the cheese toasts and the remaining basil.

Per serving: Calories 442; Fat 21 g (Saturated 7 g); Cholesterol 42 mg; Sodium 1,073 mg; Carbohydrate 44 g; Fiber 6 g; Protein 18 g

First a word about herbes de Provence:

Herbes de Provence (French pronunciation: ​[ɛʁb.də.pʁɔ.vɑ̃s]) is a mixture of dried herbs typical of the Provence region of southeast France. Formerly simply a descriptive term, commercial blends started to be sold under this name in the 1970s. These mixtures typically contain savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and other herbs. In the North American market, lavender leaves are also typically included.

You need not pay $20 for a small bottle, I get 4 ounces in a hanging bag for about $4 at a place called World Market.

The herbs themselves tend to be quite coarse when you receive them, so use a spice grinder or run them in a blender on the highest setting for about 1 to 2 minutes to make them much finer. This will prevent any unpleasantness when eating and also reduce the amount per recipe you require by roughly half (finer herbs = more surface area) thereby making the amount you get go farther.

The mix has many uses and goes well with chicken, pork in omelets in particular in addition to vegetables (works exceptionally well with summer squash). A crowd favorite is my Rotisserie Boneless Pork Loin which gets painted with a mixture or 3 type of mustard mixed with onion and garlic powder then rolled in herbes de Provence before going in the rotisserie.

This recipe is extremely versatile in addition. It makes a get late summer soup as is and can be change in augmented easily. Unexpected guests as you’re sitting down to dinner? Toss a package of Gnocchi into the soup for about 4 to 5 minutes and serve the cheesed bread on the side.

Swap the herbes de Provence for Italian seasoning, add a can of drained rinsed Chickpeas, Cannellini or Red Kidney beans with a couple handfuls of Ditali or Elbow Pasta and you have a fresh minestrone soup.

Turn this into something entire different by leaving out the beans and pasta from above adding in the Italian seasoning, some fresh mini ravioli pasta or tortellini from the refrigerated case and some Italian sausage which you removed the casing from and friend breaking it up well. Serve the cheesy bread on the side using Mozzarella, Fontana or Provolone cheese and again using the Italian Seasoning in place of the herbs on the bread.

Grilled Chicken, Pork or Sausage work well in or along side either version as well.

Why We Don’t Let Impish Do ANY Hiring Here At DL/LL Digital Media Enterprises

Here is an “Resume/CV/ Application” Impish got his hands on while I was gone:

Deer Sur,

Iwaunt to apply for the secritary job I seen in the Paper. I can type realkwik wit one finggar and do Sum Acounting 2. 

Ithink I am good on the fone and I am a pepole
Person. Pepolereally seam to respond goodly to me. 

I’mlookin for a jobb as a secritary but it Kant be 2 Complikaited 

Myspelling is not 2 good but find that I awfin get a Job Bcuz of mypersinalety … 

Mysalerery is open so we can discus wat you want To pay me and wat you think thatI am wurth, I can start imeditely.  

Thankyou in advanse 4 yore Anser. 

HopifulyI M Yore best aplicant so phar. 

Sinseerly, 

PeggyMay McBiggins 

PS :I half includeded a pickture of me B low.

And Impish’s (predictable) response:

Dear Peggy May:

Start on Monday, we have spell check.

Lasciviously,

I. Dragon

Seenager (Senior Teenager)

(Special thanks to Impish Dragon and Mrs. Dragon a.k.a. the Banshee for posing in their human forms for this photo. No Mrs. Dragon, your birthday suit doesn’t make your butt look big at all, but why does Impish appear to be wearing a (your?) G-string?)

Not to set poor Impish off again but I forgot two key employees last week and 2 views of infrastructure. Hopefully he’ll fare better this time.

Desiree is in charge of Livery and Public Transportation . She’ll take you places and show you things you never thought you could get to or ever live to see.

This is Branwin, in addition to being the Leprechonia’s resident Tennis and Beach Volleyball Pro, she’s also our Sports and Physical Recreation Director.

It’s kind of hard to devote the space required to a golf course on an island much less find that much flat topography for it. However since our studies have shown it will be a large draw we’ve done our best to blend one into the topography and take full advantage of incorporating the natural setting. This water hazard being a prime example.

You saw last week where I meet with my council regularly here is a view of inside looking out with all the glass doors retracted back. We use this in case of the occasional rain storm.

OK I’d better lay off. I don’t want to provoke Impish into any rash actions when I return next Wednesday. As it is I already expect him to be attempting to rush the rift like the Patriot’s Offensive team in an attempt to make it here before I can stop him.

Comedian Colin Quinn Nails It On PC Culture

And that 1/2 the country saying “Now you’re starting to understand.” Are led by Hillary and Obama. They’re the Laughable Lemming Liberals of Lunacy.

—–A filthy rich Lethal Leprechaun decided that he wanted to throw a party and invited
all of his buddies and neighbors to Leprechonia. He also invited Impish Dragon, his whiney Blue Dragon pal.  He held the party around the pool in the backyard
of his mansion. Impish was having a good time drinking, dancing, eating shrimp, oysters
and BBQ and flirting with all the women.

At the height of the party, Lethal said, ‘I have a 20 foot man-eating saltwater crocodile in my pool , one of the largest ever measures and I’ll give a million dollars to anyone who has the nerve to jump in.’ The words were barely out of his mouth when there was a loud splash.

Everyone turned around and saw Impish in the pool!  Impish was fighting the croc and
kicking its ass!  Impish was jabbing it in the eyes with his thumbs, throwing
punches, head butts and choke holds, biting the croc on the tail and flipping
it through the air like some kind of Judo Instructor. The water was
churning and splashing everywhere. Both Impish and the croc were roaring
and raising hell.  At last, Impish strangled the croc and let it float to the top
like a dime store goldfish. Impish then slowly climbed out of the pool.

Everybody was just staring at him in disbelief. Finally Lethal says, ‘Well, Impish,
I  reckon I owe you a million dollars.’

‘No, that’s okay. I don’t want it,’  said Impish.  The rich man said, ‘Man, I have to give you something.  You won the bet.  How about half a million bucks then?’

No thanks, I don’t want it,’ answered Impish.

Lethal said, ‘Come on, I insist on giving you something. That was amazing. How about
a new Porsche and a Rolex and some stock options?’ Again Impish said no.

Confused, the Leprechaun asked,  ‘Well, Impish, then what do you want?’

Impish said, ‘I want the name of the Sumbitch who pushed me in the pool!

I starting posting about this last week and so far the story has continued to evolve on almost a daily basis as the pharmaceutical industries naked avarice and greed gets dragged into the sunlight. I’m just going to thumb nail the highlights of each development here and you can follow the links if you want to read more of any particular article.

Highlighting bold or colored font and underlining are strictly mine.

Mylan offers discounts on EpiPen amid wave of criticism

Mylan NV said on Thursday it would reduce the out-of-pocket costs of its emergency EpiPen allergy injection for some patients amid a wave of criticism from lawmakers and the public over the product’s rapidly escalating price.

The list price of the drug will remain the same, but the company said it would increase the maximum copay assistance program to $300 from $100 for patients who pay for the 2-pak in cash or who are covered by a commercial health insurer.

The price of EpiPen has skyrocketed to $600 from $100 since it was acquired by Mylan in 2007.

Mylan also said it is doubling the eligibility for its patient assistance program, which will eliminate out-of-pocket costs for uninsured and under-insured patients and families.

Government paid programs are not eligible for the copay assistance program.

Ronny Gal, an analyst with Bernstein, said when all is said and done he estimates a total price reduction for EpiPen of 32 percent. The price rose 27 percent in the second quarter of 2016 versus the same quarter a year ago.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mylan-nl-pricing-idUSKCN11017J?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29

Mylan boosts EpiPen patient programs; no budge on price

Mylan is bulking up programs that help patients pay for its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment after weathering heated criticism about an average cost that has climbed more than 600 percent over the past decade.

But the drugmaker didn’t budge on its price hikes Thursday, which have drawn ire both in Congress and from families that have had to shell out increasingly large sums for the potentially life-saving treatment.

That means the insurers and employers that pay the bulk of the EpiPen cost for many patients will continue to do so, contributing to higher health insurance costs.

“That’s just going to come out in the premiums,” said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at the Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. “Everybody suffers, except the Mylan investors.”

Mylan joins a growing list of drugmakers, Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. among them, that have been called out after mammoth price hikes for the drugs they sell, with little or no innovation.

Turing’s former CEO Martin Shkreli became the poster child of pharmaceutical-industry greed last fall for hiking the price of a life-saving drug, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent.

He has applauded Mylan’s actions.

http://www.registercitizen.com/business/20160825/mylan-boosts-epipen-patient-programs-no-budge-on-price

Mylan launching cheaper, generic version of EpiPen

Mylan will start selling a cheaper version of its EpiPen after absorbing waves of criticism over a list price for the emergency allergy treatment that has grown to $608 for a two-pack, making it unaffordable for many patients.

The drugmaker says it will launch in several weeks a generic EpiPen version that is identical to the branded option but will have a list price of $300 for a two-pack.

It will be available in both 0.15-milligram and 0.30-milligram strengths, like the current version on the market.

Mylan CEO Heather Bresch defended the price hikes last week, saying the company only received $274 of the total price for a twin-package while insurers, pharmacies and other parties divvy up the rest. [An updated version of the old gas station price defense ‘I still make the same amount of money per gallon I did back in 1968. I don’t see any of the price hike the refineries and the middle men get it all.’? – L.L. ]

Mylan specializes in selling generic drugs, which are lower-priced equivalents to branded medications. Launching a generic version of the EpiPen can help the drugmaker protect its market share from competition. [ Which is all they really care about, well that and how much its going to cost them via their Pharmaceutical Lobbyists to make the hearings go away- L.L ]

Mylan’s announcement Monday comes a few days after the compounding pharmacy Imprimis Pharmaceuticals said it might be able to sell a version of the allergy treatment in a few months and would likely charge around $100 for two injectors.

There is currently little competition for EpiPen, with the only rival product being Adrenaclick, which carries a list price of $461. But that could change.

At least two companies are trying to get U.S. approval to sell a rival brand or generic version of EpiPen. None is likely to hit the U.S. market until well into next year.

Numerous members of Congress and other politicians have called for congressional hearings on Mylan’s pricing, an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and action by the Food and Drug Administration to increase competition by speeding up approvals of any rival products.

http://www.registercitizen.com/business/20160829/mylan-launching-cheaper-generic-version-of-epipen

Now if all y’all will excuse me, my newly appointed Director of Casino Management needs a few minutes of my time to properly introduce herself and show me her ideas for a good time (in the casinos!).

Sigh! Some vacation! Seems like my work is never done. Well back to the couch ah um salt mines.