Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sunday, March 24th, a Full day

D.W. and I got up early (for a weekend) in order to get to the WAC gun show before the "after church" crowd. We have heard that the membership lines have been back to and out the door, and the floor crowded. Getting in early today there was no line to avoid. Some vendors were not represented this month because their store stocks are depleted enough to not want to do table sales.

Ammo prices were high, surprise. I heard one man ask a vendor if he was having any difficulty getting ammo stock. The vendor gave him a "well duh" look and then explained that yes, he definitely was, along with everyone else.

The KelTec KSG (shotgun) was seen for $2100.00. We saw it on their web site when it was still in development with an estimated SRP of $800. Somebody is looking to make a profit.

One vendor had a sign saying that he now accepts Paypal. The only one there as far as I know.

Lots of knives for sale, no beany babies in evidence.

 I was told that AR-15 parts are becoming available again and the prices falling. So I'll wait a bit longer to get mine built.

I talked to some familiar vendors that haven't seen me for a while. I saw a few "interesting" things; and bought a couple of others (thank you,  Sweetheart!). My amber dealer didn't have anything which called to me this time. I found some green turquoise that is quite nice. It's bling, even though it does not sparkle.

I bought a number of DVD's to send in "care packages" to Afghanistan. When the vendor heard where the DVDs were headed he gave me a set of 3/a season  as 1 and told me to pick a couple more for free. Veterans like it when we support the troops.

I bought a T-shirt from Banterwear. It's the "Guns and Coffee" in support of Starbucks' for their support of 2nd amendment. It is raspberry color, finally not pink or black. They were trying the color out new this weekend.It works for me.

From the gun show we went to buy moss killer for the garage roof. While we were at the store we decided to buy a couple of grocery items. Why is it that once you are in the grocery store there are always more things that come to mind that are needed, but which are not on the list?

We had about 3 hours at home before we had to leave for our dinner reservation.

Novilhos Brazilian Steakhouse is located at the edge of Factoria Square,in Bellevue.

They have a set of double entry doors. This  is the inner pair.

 To the left of the doors is an alcove which I will assume to give nice ambience when in operation.

In the alcove is a number of large pillar candles. Lit and in the darkness between the doors it would be striking.

We were there in early evening and it was still too light. The candles were unlit.








Novilhos is a meat and potatos lovers kind of place.  They  have a salad bar in the center of the restaurant which has 60 items on it; salads and side dishes. It is the first course.

When you have eaten your salad they clear your plate and give you your dinner plate, and a two sided token which indicates if you are ready for meat. Green side up means you want to see the next selection, red side up indicates that you are fine for the time being. There are 3 side dishes to the entree. They are mashed potatoes, fried polenta with grated parmesan, and fried bananas with cinnamon and sugar. The servers rotate through the restaurant with 17 different meat selections; chicken, beef, pork and lamb. They give you a slice or chunk off their serving skewers if you want that selection.





We asked one server what he could tell us about their selection of Malbec wines. One he knew not very much about as few people ordered it, it was triple the price of most of the others. One he described as very dry. Two others were "meh". That left two choices: one that he said that he really liked and drank "all the time at home". the other he described as getting rave reviews from diners and somewhat more expensive.

We went with his at home selection. It was quite good! Not too much for the chicken but perfectly able to cope with beef or pork.

 I tried 7 or 8 of the meats. I didn't track D.W.'s but he said he had his fill.
D.W. finished with homemade flan, I had the lemon cake. And coffee for both of course.
[Dinner was kind of pricey. I think if we go back it will be for lunch.]

We got home to the cats yelling that it was past THEIR dinner time and where had we been forever.
Time to dress down, relax and digest.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Spring (?)

This is the time of year when we all expect the sun to come out of hiding, for flowers to bloom, and for the weather to warm up.

Ah, expectations. We seem to have jumped a bit too far this time.

Spring began officially at 4:02 AM on March 20th. It came in with SNOW, and 60 mph winds. Well, actually, Everett got the snow, and Camano Island got the highest winds and wind/tree damage. At home I only got hail and rain and winds clocked at 41 mph. And temps in the low 30's which meant scraping ice.

March 21st - Our wedding anniversary - driving home from work in the sleet.
D.W. gave me a beautiful floral bouquet.
I gave D.W. a garden gnome. Before you start shouting or cursing, you should know that it is a Thorsson & Associates combat garden gnome. Reclining position, red hat, blue shirt, green trous, and black rifle.
 The 50 cal machine gun was not available when I ordered; I almost got the flame thrower, but this guy was cute.

 

We are going to go to dinner at Novilhos Brazilian Steakhouse  on Sunday. We couldn't go on our anniversary because the salt mines insisted he be at work way too early the next morning. We will both have next Monday off.

March 22nd - 15 minutes of scraping ice; soon after getting in to work it started snowing. It didn't last too long and it didn't stick, here. North of town there were school delays and closures because of snow accumulation.

If March is planning on going out "like a lamb", it had better temper its temper soon.