A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....12-10-02

FreeTheHostages and Billie | Billie; FreeTheHostages

[Billie]

A Few of FR's Finest.....
......Every Day

FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues; salute and support our military and our leaders;  tell a few jokes;  learn a new word;  write poetry;  pray for those in need;  and congratulate those who are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which we can express ourselves.

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   I can remember lurking when there were only a few regulars who posted, and now there are over 60,000 who have registered for posting privileges. The forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest November 11, 2001

So many people have written me since my original Veteran's Day Tribute, asking how they, or a loved one, could be included in that tribute. Since I can no longer add the photos to the body of the thread, I've been including them in additional posts as I received enough to make another collage.

Still that doesn't seem to be enough. I think there's never been a better nor more appropriate time to keep the faces of our own Veterans and Active Military in front of FReepers--every day! That's why I wanted to do yet another Daily Thread .....ABOUT FReepers .....and FOR FReepers. But not only about our Military FReepers; for all FReepers! Wouldn't it be nice to get to know a few of the other FReepers as well? That's why, in addition to seeing FR's Finest Military Personnel every day, I thought it might be fun to feature a different FReeper (or FReepers) each day. If you would like to be pictured, or know someone who would, please FReepmail me and we'll turn the spotlight - on YOU - for the day!

And do let me know if you'd like your picture added to the groups of Veterans/Active Military below. I will keep this page updated, and continue to add them to the comment section of the original Veteran's Day thread as well.

<

TOP:  g'nad, AgThorn's son Justin, SLB, AgThorn's son Brett.
MIDDLE:  fish70, razorback-bert, CheneyChick,Leroy S Mort, Mark17.
BOTTOM:  Terry's Take, Taxman, DinkyDau.

TOP:  ValerieUSA's son Grant, SK1Thurman, kd5cts, RangerVetNam,
dansangel and .45man's son-in-law Tony
BOTTOM:  rangerX, Old China Hand, Trish, Howlin's dad, Mustang

TOP: ohioWfan's son, MamaBear's father-in-law, MamaBear's dad, ladtx
MIDDLE:  The Mayor's niece, M.Kehoe, Beach_Babe's son-in-law
BOTTOM:  deadhead's dad, HiJinx, Severa's hubby, viligantcitizen's granddad.

TOP:  spectr17, RightOnline, SERE_Doc, Tet68.
MIDDLE:  FutureSnakeEater, RightOnline's wife, CIApilot, Clamper1797
BOTTOM:  usmcobra, onedoug, DiverDave, Joe6-pack

We now have eleven groups of veterans/active military; we will post each group of three or four twice a week, with thumbnail/links of the remaining seven or eight groups on each thread. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the group full-size.

         

GROUP 1A: TOP: Logos, SwedeGirl's hubby, Neil E Wright, FallGuy, 1John, Sneakypete MIDDLE:  T'wit, COB1, LadyX, Dick Bachert, 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub BOTTOM:  YankeeinSC, Delta21, JoeSixPack1

GROUP 2A: TOP:  Bosniajmc, AFVetGal, Archy, A Navy Vet MIDDLE:  4TheFlag, Aeronaut, 68Grunt, Xinga BOTTOM:  Codger, AAABest, Clinton's A Liar, Duke809, dcwusmc

GROUP 3A: TOP:  mc5cents, Norb2569, LBGA's son, VanJenerette MIDDLE:  Jim Robinson, KJenerette, davidosborne, KG9Kid BOTTOM:  gwmoore, Equality7-2521, SAMWolf

GROUP 4A: TOP:  porgygirl, Phil V., MudPuppy, NorCoGOP MIDDLE:  RaceBannon, OneidaM, rdb3, jwTexian BOTTOM:  USMC Vet, TheMayor, Vineyard, rhododogma

      

GROUP 9A: TOP: Q6-God, Scan59, Mama Bear and JKPhoto's son, ofMagog. MIDDLE:  Big'ol_freeper, JustAmy's great uncle, Prodigal Son. BOTTOM:  JustAmy's husband, JustAmy's brother-in-law, JustAmy's brother.

GROUP 10A: TOP: dakine's wife, MeeknMing's dad, Auntbee's nephew, MilitiaMan7, AlasBabylon. BOTTOM:  Joe Brower, Temple Owl, Temple Owl's wife, dutchess' dad, Aomagrat.

GROUP 11A: TOP: ladtx #2 son; DiverDave's twin Don; petuniasevan and husband poorman; Mustard; ladtx #1 son. BOTTOM: AlamoGirl's brother Floyd; AG's dad; AG's brother Jim (inset); WVNan's husband; ladtx' Aunt Eva.

                     

by FreeTheHostages
Graphics and layout by Billie

Welcome to a Gingerbread House party!   Today we're going to have a contest with a REAL prize!!  If you win, we'll snail-mail you a *real prize* -- your choice of:

Lynne Cheney's "A Patriotic Primer,"
a great book for kids of all ages......

or Carlo3b's

The Clinton Legacy Cookbook

A fun and fanciful look at the world of Great Food and Hilarious Politics, blended by a world renowned Chef Entrepreneur Carlo Morelli! This 375 page recipe, cartoon, and original humor collection, is a real world cookbook and is a true recipe for sidesplittin' and tummybustin' fun and a body of collaborative effort with over 200 contributors and two years in the stirring presentation!

To enter and win, you just have to follow these rules.

1.  No fair complaining about how the judging is impulsive and the judges were probably drunk when they made their decision.  You're not supposed to know that . . . .

2.  The judges will accept bribes.  The judges are Mudboy Slim and FreeTheHostages.  We tend to agree on things and if we don't, we'll just have a big public fight on this thread and resolve the issue violently.  So don't worry about there being an even number of judges.  Mudboy Slim has only half a brain anyway.  If I were you, I'd focus on persuading me, FreeTheHostages!

3.  This being FReeper's Finest, cheerfulness, beauty, and humor count.

4.  For purposes of this contest, "Gingerbread House" is *very* liberally defined.  (Apologies for using the word "liberal" -- I'm a guest host you see, just helping out for the holidays; you can't expect much of me!)  Your entry can be a picture stolen from the web, something you drew yourself on Paintshop Pro, a verbal description of a gingerbread house, blueprints for a gingerbread house, or something just generally gingerbread-housey.

5.  If there are FReeper kids who post cute, patriotic gingerbread house pictures of houses they actually did, you should know that I (FreeTheHostages) will totally get teary-eyed and probably give them extra points just for being Right-wing children!

6.  Knowing a lot about cooking and the history of gingerbread house-making won't impress the judges.  We're not terribly learned, although we did read a bunch (well, maybe not a bunch, but a little) of background info on gingerbread houses to earn our keep as guest hosts!

7.  The judges reserve the right to pick something submitted in total violation of these rules.  Just for fun!  So go ahead and have your daily chit-chat and fun on this thread.  Who knows?  Maybe one of loddy's puppy photos will charm us in the end!!

8.  Post must be made to this thread by midnight PST today and winner will be pinged in an announcement in this thread by December 12th!  Isn't this FUN?!

A Good Recipe for Gingerbread "Lumber" for a Real Gingerbread House...

Never made a gingerbread house?  FreeTheHostages has 6-8 gingerbread parties every December.  She uses the following recipe, passed on to her from her Vermont relatives, and it works pretty well in creating sheets of good construction material from which, when cooked, to cut out your walls and roof.  (Psst... the secret to solid gingerbread for house construction:  work the dough TOO MUCH before rolling it out, and after it comes out of the oven, leave it in the pan a second so that one side gets tough -- not burned, but tough).

If you're going to cut out the walls after it's cooked, why not roll out the dough right onto an edged cookie sheet, and prong it a few times with a fork?  The dough's expansion along the edge of the cookie sheet makes a nice flat bottom for walls.

Nancy's Gingerbread Construction Material

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups unsulfured molasses
1 egg
2/3 cup water
6 cups flour (maybe more)
1 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger,
allspace, and ground cloves
2 tsp baking soda

Sift the flour and spices and baking soda together.  Mix the shortening and the sugar.  Add the egg and water to it.  Then mix with the flour mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes -- until done.

When it's cool, cut it to the size you want for your walls and roof.  Use foil-covered sturdy carboard for your yard.  On the yard, make two of the four walls have a point atop them, a triangle to support the roof.  Use melted chocolate chips to put the walls together, and hold them in place with toothpicks until the seams dry before putting on the roof.

When the house is done, consider decorating with candy using a frosting that hardens as it cools.  Everyone has their favorite, but here's a frosting recipe that hardens quite well:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tarter
5 TBLS of ice-cold water
2 egg whites.

Atop a double boiler with boiling water below, vigorously beat with electric beater on "high" for 7 minutes. Frost and decorate as desired!  ~ FreeTheHostages

With special thanks again to FreeTheHostages, who has written another fun and entertaining thread for our holiday reading, and is also providing the prize for First Place in today's contest. This thread, and Mud's "Life Story" on Friday, were such fun to 'get creative with' in the layouts and graphics - just my cup of tea!

A big thanks also to our judges, MudboySlim and FreeTheHostages, for taking the time from their busy holiday schedules to offer their votes-for-sale to the highest bidder. ~ Billie

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 12-09-02 PaulAtreides

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me an FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

Time's Running Out! ~ Billie

[WVNan]

Payola for Mud and FTH.

[FreeTheHostages]

I love surfers! PBS recently had a documentary, "Condition Black," about surfing in extreme conditions in Hawaii. It was great!

Thanks for the payola!

[tgslTakoma]

OK guys... I've been waiting for this thread. My house does not look a bit like I'm ready for Christmas. The outside lights won't light... the inside of the place looks like the Wreck of the Hesperus, or like two teenagers live here... I can't find my roll of tape so I can at least tape some lights on the upstairs windows... and I have a bit of a cold to top it all off.

I had great plans (I always do) to chop down a tree last weekend... but then AlGore showed up in town, so I had to go out and remind him that it was just regular citizens (organized on his internet) who protested at the Naval Observatory in 2000, and not bused-in RNC protesters.

And this weekend is the DC Chapter Christmas Party at Luigi's, so it looks like there will be no tree this year. Don't worry though, I have a plan. I'll just scavenge some fallen tree limbs, wire them together and string some lights on them and maybe hang a ball or two, and voila! A Charlie Brown tree!

So guys, as you can see I didn't have time to make my own gingerbread house. BUT!!! In just a few short minutes on the 'net I was able to steal several fairly impressive jpgs of other folks' hard work. So these will be my contribution to the thread.

[Flyer]

Please don't take this as an attempt at influence (wink, wink), but your recap "essay" is a great piece of work in itself. And, it's gingerbread-housey.

[FreeTheHostages]

(1) I'm gonna wait until tomorrow to digest everything in the 400 and beyond series, but I'd be hard pressed to see how your second photograph isn't very very much in the running.

(2) This pleading about doing actually activist work while we are silly will *definitely* get you places. We still even feel guilty having this much fun. The stuff that Ladtx posts is more important.

(3) I have to babysit my niece Saturday. But I'd love it if you and yours would come to my place -- it's right near Luigi's, after all! -- and make a gingerbread house Saturday afternoon with me. A good chance to just slow down and have fun. And there won't be any cleaning or cooking up to do. Do consider the invite seriously and I hope this ice storm doesn't cause too many problems for us tomorrow.

[Aquamarine]

I have laughed so hard that I think I'm going to be sick!
FTH you are hilarious! You could be a stand up comedian. I'm getting off line now before I hurt myself. LOL!

[FreeTheHostages]

"Please don't take this as an attempt at influence"

LOL -- yeah, it's fun to relive it. What a thread it was, huh?

And as to "attempt to influence," I'm pretty much of the view that everyone who's already been judged at this point is in a position where, now that they know which way at least my whimsy is blowing, I shouldn't consider any of their posts in the 400 series. So I won't consider them for purposes of the contest in any way. So we can just chat.

At which point I readily agree, the recap essay is gingerbread-housey. I so agree. And you know why? 'Cause y'all are gingerbread-housey. You guys MADE this contest by being sweet and kind and nice and homey and patriotic and giving and all the things that a good American gingerbread house might be. This group of people was the perfect place for a contest such as this.

Tgsl, hope it made you smile. :) I know some times FR can be a little brutal -- LOL, you have *no idea* how brutal I was being just today on another thread to some Microsoft shill -- but Freeper's Finest is so nice it's positively sweet as sugar cane.

[Flyer]

After a few weeks of not being able to spend any time here this was a good day to be able to hang around.

p.s. Gilligan says he is really sorry about the mess.

[WVNan]

This is the way I imagine the inside of Granny's Candy House looks. A place that feeds the body and soul with smells of ginger, peppermint and the glow of light and warmth. A place called "home"

<---Click for home

[Flyer]

As I said to Aquamarine, this is one of the few days in recent times I could hang around all day. I could have been more productive around the house but sometimes we must let go and have fun. Thanks for helping to make it just that - fun!

[WVNan]

Yeah, I've been missing the fun around here lately. Simply too much on my plate. I hate that I'm so busy at Christmas I can't enjoy it. Christmas and Easter are absolutely the worst times of the year in terms of stress in my job.

[daisyscarlett]

Why Pippin thank you very much for that warm Christmas greeting...

[Flyer]

so busy at Christmas I can't enjoy it.

After years of caring for boarding dogs at Christmas, Thanksgiving, all summer and not getting to enjoy any of it. . . now I return lost luggage. And my busy times are Christmas, Thanksgiving, all summer. LOL!

[WVNan]

Hi daisy. I'm about to wrap it up for tonight. Just one wish.

[daisyscarlett]

Good night Nan. Love your entres in the contest and Best of Luck!!!

Merry Christmas! DaisyScarlett

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

[FreeTheHostages]

To: Mudboy and Billie
Cc: Finalists so far

Well, they have 3 hours to go, but so far I think we have 12 finalists. Mudboy Slim, I've note in the late 300 series why I've picked these finalists. For your convenience, to summarize, they are, in no particular order except that I do want you to know that the top five have caught my particular attention:

Flyer's schtick throughout -- Posts 17, 46, 51, 56, 82, 206, 217, 231, 374, 398

GailA -- Post 252

Aquamarine -- Post 35, as well as good sport playing foil to Flyer's schtick throughout with Pippin

Diver Dave -- Post 216

Tgsltakoma -- the second photo in Post 403

Sweetliberty -- Post 99

xJones -- Post 44

DaisyScarlett -- Post 136

Balata -- Post 339

Kayak -- Post 180

WVNan -- Post 397

Lodwick -- Post 221

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

[FreeTheHostages]

ROFL. Ok, there's no good way to say this. When GailA posted this in her post 251, I wrote in a judge's comment on post 392: "Another entry by GailA. Kinda dimly lit -- makes it sort of depressing. Also, that blue color on the house is not a color I'm used to seeing on gingerbread houses. I don't like it as much as the church. The Christmas wreaths on the hosues are really cute -- hard to tell from the photo what kind of candy they are. I must also confess that I'm aware of the inventory of houses from gingerbreadlane.com, and that the Eiffel tower entry beat you to this website. Ok, lol, I'll stop. This house actually I don't like for whatever reason."

ROFL -- it's the only house posted on the site that I actually did *not* like and I get it twice!! LOL -- I give you points TaRa for your name -- I like your name. But um that's pretty much a no-go for finalist status. 3 more hours -- enter again if you wish. Won't be held against you.