The rains came, and I stayed inside - but the snowflake is still in the news.

 

 

I already miss summer and the warmer weather that comes with it.  The dress I wore on this zoom call has been retired for the season, as well as the baseball team that usually plays in the ballpark behind me.  My winter wardrobe has come out of the storage containers they were once in, and my closet is now filled with cold weather garments.

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Today, we had drenching rains in the NYC region.  Given that I had nothing much to do, I stayed inside where it was warm and comfortable - a perfect day for another Jammie Day!  However, two people I know had to go out in this rain and took the risk of getting drenched (one did) on the way to/from their destinations.  I can only imagine how rain water may have flooded some NYC subway stations. It's nice to know that I don't have to make that commute any more.

Even though I had nothing much to do, I took care of hanging up some clothes, and putting yesterday's laundry into my dresser. I figure that when RQS arrives tomorrow, I'll have a hamper filled with sheets and other items needing to be laundered.  But, I'll be able to see RQS again and take another drive North to see what is left on the trees after today's rain storm.

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Tomorrow, I'll enjoy having a chance to go out and have my nails done.  As much as I enjoy the feminine side of life, current political developments may get in the way of things.  The snowflake has reduced the standards for people recruited into ICE, and we're hearing about more problems caused by people whose only loyalty is to the snowflake.  Innocent US Citizens are regularly scooped up in ICE raids, and I feel that the ICE recruitment is akin to Germany's staffing up of the SA and SS.  The big question is: which agency will become the snowflake's next terrorist organization, and model the SS for cruelty?  Once I see that happen, it will be time for me to go stealth and prepare to leave the country.  If this happens, I will leave a farewell message - assuming I have the chance to do so.

 

Bringing some of my 2nd wardrobe to RQS's place.

 

As most of my readers know, my girlfriend/partner, RQS, is comfortable with me being in Marian mode when we're outside together. She's traveled with me in Marian mode, and will likely do it again when the Orange Snowflake is out of power. In the near future, I'll be bringing some of my feminine wardrobe to RQS's place (she's OK with this), as the weather will be perfect for both of us to be spending time in dresses on warn NYC summer days.  

Why is this important?

Most of us gender variant people (transgenders, bi-genders, cross-dressers, etc.) who don't fit into the traditional gender binary do not have spouses/partners who are comfortable with our non-traditional presentations. I am one of those lucky ones that do, something I wouldn't have dreamed of 6 years ago when I was dating XGFJ.  

I will take things slowly, bringing only a small subset of my wardrobe to RQS's place - 4 or 5 sets of undies, socks, dresses, and the makeup I'll need to go out with her.  (I'll also bring some shoes and other accoutrements.) I'll take care not to overwhelm her with my feminine things, as well as keeping the space they take up to be a minimum.  (She has very little storage space in her apartment.)  But this will be a milestone for us, as both sides of me will be present in her place.  We are blending households - but in two apartments we are keeping for the foreseeable future.

Hopefully, I will have more good news to write about over time, as I'd rather write about things like this than write about how MAGA is trying to persecute us.  Either way, I'll write about it.

 

Slow cooking some ribs - a short post

 

Ribs!  Yum!

The other day, I saw a rack of vacuum packed ribs selling for a reasonable price.  So, I figured that I might have some fun with the slow cooker and have some "fall off the bone" good stuff for dinner tonight.  Since RQS was coming up, I didn't want to waste much time preparing the ribs and dealing with my oven.  (The less I use my oven when the weather is warm, the more comfortable my apartment will be.)  So, I took my crock pot off the shelf, cleaned it up, and started to prepare the ribs.

Slow cooker ribs are reasonably easy to prepare.  I do them in a simple way:

1. Take a full rack of ribs and cut them up into portions of 3-4 ribs each.
2. Pour a full bottle of BBQ sauce (whatever type I like and have in hand) and pour it in the pot.
3. Place the ribs in the pot, making sure all are covered by the sauce.
4. Turn the crock pot on high, and let it cook the ribs for 5 hours.
   Note: One may want to adjust the ribs occasionally to keep them all submerged.
   

If I want to further caramelize the ribs, I may place the ribs on a ridged stove-top grill and cook them a little more on the stove.  But I usually don't bother doing this, as I like the results fresh out of the pot.

Is there a better way to celebrate the unofficial start of summer with Ribs?   If there is, I'll enjoy it later on.... 

I hate hot weather....

 

For me, the only good thing I can think about summer these days is the time I can spend cooking steaks on the grill.  Unfortunately, my co-op now prohibits gas and charcoal grills on our decks.  So I am stuck getting BBQ at restaurants instead of doing it myself....

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Why do I start off writing about grilling and BBQ you may ask?

To me BBQ symbolizes the best that summer has to offer.  And when RQS arrived for the weekend, I figured that we'd go to Holy Smoke BBQ in Mahopac.  It's been a long while since I've been there, and I can only wonder what would have happened if I stumbled into FCP there.  But not to worry - she was off doing her things while I was doing mine.

RQS enjoyed the food at this BBQ much more than the last BBQ joint we ate at - neither of us suffered from the over salted aftertaste we often taste when food is cooked with too much salt.  This doesn't mean that the food wasn't salty.  My pastrami sandwich has way too much salt for one meal, and I decided to save half of it for another day.

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I keep being amazed by how comfortable RQS has gotten with me when presenting as Marian.  Neither of us give it much thought anymore that I will meet her at the train station in female presentation, and I'm very happy about that.  I'm still the person paying for dinner.  But to others at the restaurants, we are two women having a nice Friday evening out.  If they only knew....

I hate heatwaves, but love dresses during heatwaves

As I write this, we're entering this summer's second heat wave.  I'm not a fan of hot weather, and I'm grateful that the air conditioner in my car "sorta works" after a few minutes on the road. (Yes, it's something I want to check out with my local mechanic, but I need to spend money on other things right now.)  But I'm not going to feel bad about how the temperature affects me in this weather, as there are many people who have to work outside in this weather, with no way to stay comfortable while working.

I don't care how much electricity I have to use in this weather.  But I'm lucky to be able to afford the electricity I need to make my apartment comfortable during the summer.  When I eventually have to move from here, I will need to choose an affordable place which will be less expensive to keep cool during the summer.  As you might guess, there is no way that I'll move South as I get older.

Yet, there are a few good things about summer.  Being TG, I have the option of wearing a dress when presenting as a female.  No one looks at me strangely if I choose something comfortable to wear in this weather, and I take advantage of the options available to me.  It's too bad that men do not have this option in our culture.  But discussion of that issue will be reserved for another time when I have more time to write about it....