History of The Institute Part Two

Hum, two nights off for Beagles.  Not like him,  Hope it is nothing that gets in the way of his enjoying valet parking tonight and handing out that fat Manly Arts tip.

I wonder if Old Dog is aware that I too am a baker of cornbread.  I have served it up at my last two Ten Cat shows, Corn and Cats and Corn.  The Cats and Corn featured cornbread muffins and Kit Kats, cool, huh?  I usually bring a sample of the corn bread muffins to the Ten Cat the Friday before the opening and perhaps Old Dog has sampled them.  But likely not because I think I would have remembered that.

Because Old Dog is not the type to say why thank you, select a tidbit, pop it into his mouth, mutter very nice, and get on with the current topic.  No, he is a gentleman scientist and everything is up for analysis and the baker will be sure to receive a report on the moistness, the texture, the tang, etc.

I had a powerful urge to end that last sentence with and etc.  But it had the feel of bad grammar.  Just etc. didn't feel right either, too abrupt, I like that little and bump before my list enders.  .

I have experimented with jalapeno cheddar, but they weren't hot enough or cheesy either, should have put in more of each, but then you get to the point where you think why not just serve chunks of cheddar with jalapeno slices, and then you might as well put that over chips and have nachos.

My regular cornbread muffins (there seems to be not much difference between cornbread and cornbread muffins except that one is like a cake and the other is a muffin and I think has some sugar added.  I always buy the store brand.  I assume corn is corn and that extra quarter (though it could be more, store brands are on sale a lot) just goes to advertising, though I am hard pressed to remember a Del Monte commercial.

I was trying to imagine Old Dog's sister, and I just could not imagine a female version of Old Dog.  Did it ever occur to you guys that all three Beaglestonians have sisters but no brothers?  What does that mean?


I've always liked writing letters.  I like to write long ones, and most people don't.  I would write my friends long letters and expect a long letter back, but most people, they may have the gift of gab, but not so much of writing.  Of course writing is way superior, but I know I am talking to the choir here.

Beagles is more of a story teller, and I am more of a guy who likes to argue, but he doesn't mind an argument and I like to tell a story too.  Beagles had been writing in various forums, but they kept going out of business.  He can tell that story if and when he gets back from that valet parking with his car.

We exchanged emails, me in the morning, Beagles at night every day for I'm going to guess three years because that puts the birth of The Institute at a nice round even 2010, then Beagles instituted the blog which began November 2, 2013.  You can go back and read it if you have a whole bunch of time to kill.

I think I first met Old Dog at the Ten Cat in 2010,  I had a show of abstracts up in the windows and we stepped out for cigs at the same time.  Well you know how it is, you want to hear what the other guy thinks, so I asked him, but you know what you usually hear is oh it's great and a quick change of subject, but Old Dog said something like that one over there, it has too much brown.  And maybe I said something like, no it doesn't, and he answered something like, yes it does.  And like that last scene in Casablanca it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

After years of Friday night seminars Old Dog began posting in The Institute.


And just now the thunk, or should I say THUNK, of the paper against the door.  It used to be the black Friday paper, but  now I guess they have moved it up to Thanksgiving day paper.  There is nothing like that in North Korea you can be sure.