headin' to the heartland

hail to the peeps from mediterranea,

hooba here with another update from that little slice of the gorge that really doesn't need palm trees to qualify as paradise. besides that palm trees are overrated and may be a bit wimpy to survive in our bucolic piece of heaven. hooba prefers the majesty of the firs and hemlocks that inspire the awe that makes one realize that most of them will be here longer than anyone of us. mix in the oak and maple and we have just enough color to appreciate the autumnal changes that prepare us for the winter ahead. hooba wonders why just 4 seasons?

for those of you sitting on the edge of your chair as you read it is finally time to submit the list of ORIGINAL COUNTRY SONG TITLES for hooba's soon to be released cd about the crap that most country artists know little about. all of you will decide which one should win the peeps "favorite" award. hooba has attached the list but the contributors shall remain nameless until the final results are announced much like election night when at the appointed hour one candidate was proclaimed the winner. hooba would encourage you to vote for at least two in case of tiebreakers etc. since young hooba will be out of the loop until next tuesday the voting will continue until the week prior to thanksgiving. like the previous election hooba encourages you to vote early and often. hell why not let one of your dead relatives weigh in. nothing says honest election like a few of the deceased as part of the tally. many thanks to hooba's sister and her gang for holding up the process and in the end not even being part of it when it was all said and done. obviously busy knitting and whatnot instead of participating in another rite of democracy. start your own contest and see what happens when everyone is busy knitting and not part of the festivities. birthday dinner next week might just be spamaroni.

hooba ain't much on tootin' his own horn so he'll let this speak for itself. our friends tom and becky dimarino dropped in saturday evening and it was great to see them both as hooba catered their wedding his first summer here in mediterranea. mind you part of the fare was smoked brisket, grilled salmon and all the accoutrements. those were the days prior to the hillbilly smoker so hooba farmed out the brisket. their love of all things bbq brought them in to try out the pulled pork sandwich which as most of you know is now part of the the menu thanks to john and his skills as a fabricator. evidently saturday's meal was tasty enough for them to return as our first customers sunday for lunch and lo and behold they ordered pulled pork sandwiches once again. that my friends, for those of you keeping score, would be back to back meals with the same result. should tom or becky offer any feedback hooba will pass it on but hooba would suggest that in itself speaks volumes about what the hillbilly smoker produces. he'll let you be the judge. if the rib night results are any indication hooba would encourage that you either show up or reserve your ribs ahead of time to avoid any disappointment on your part. turkey is the next meat for experimenting and if the results this week are able to be duplicated we shall soon have that in the mix as well. just in time for that which we are thankful. hooba will keep you posted.

our friend cheryl park has suggested that there might ought to be a cult like status assigned to the weekly update and for that hooba thanks here for her kind words. comparing hooba to jimmy buffet and the parrotheads could be a stretch but hey how did young, or should hooba say, old jimmy get started? that got hooba to thinkin' about his college days whence he took a class about "sects and cults" in america. mass suicide parties aside the class was a revelation to some degree. cheryl suggested "hoobaknots" as a moniker to identify those of you who appreciate many of the same things that those of us residing here in mediterranea do. hooba encourages that same feedback which is generally unsolicited from most of you each week. if nothing else a goofy t-shirt and a lifetime membership as a frequenter of hooba's might just be all you need to sign up. again weigh in on the topic and should it take on a life of it's own then so be it. hooba prefers crimson and blue for the colors as the JAYHAWKS are still national champs.

young hooba will be off to the wilds of central kansas later this week to have a visit with fast eddie and the rest of the clan to get an update on his cancer diagnosis and treatment. some of you met fast eddie and the gang last summer when they visited for a mini family reunion. rest assured that his fightin spirit will prevail in this latest battle. sis gets birthday dinner and hopefully hooba will get to visit other friends and family during his excursion. might even catch a football and basketball game on accounta it's all about being a diehard jayhawker. that means that next monday your screens will be devoid of the weekly missive so hopefully you'll all receive some spam or other crap to take the place of this well thought and hopefully entertaining diatribe as our friend chris fox suggests. imagine a week without the visit to mediterranea to reinforce that which makes life so beautiful. for those of you who have never been to kansas do not for a minute believe what you hear. the land of hooba's birth has a subtle beauty that you locals may not appreciate but nonetheless the sunsets and the ability to see from horizon to horizon is nothing short of spectacular. let hooba be your tour guide should you ever decide to visit.

another week passes and hooba would like to thank all of you who continue to keep this little dinghy afloat. great to see tony and bonnie, tom and becky of course, joel and adam, our friend matt, charlie, cheryl, and kendra, and the gang of gals from pdx for kristie's 50th birthday. not a bad place to celebrate whatever here at hooba's. thanks to all of you who continue to support and appreciate what we have here. trust hooba when he says that without all of you this wouldn't be husum's hangout. if you want any geegaws or other tourist type junk from kansas let hooba know and he will try to accomodate. evidently last weeks music trivia was a bit difficult so with that in mind we'll try again. name it and win free dinner or maybe a bottle of ketchup. "two doors down there's a bar stool that knows me by name" same deal with dinner for the winner. until young hooba returns from the land of oz he'll bid a farewell and will anticipate that you all will fare well as well. how bout that? pasta la vista baby.

hooba the manipulator

this weeks dinner winner is none other than kate wood who's off to colorado for the winter, we'll be here when she gets back




Hooba's Of Husum

shut up and vote

standard time greetings to all,

hooba here at the beginning of the dark ages. the extra hour of sleep for one night would gladly be traded for daylight past 5 o'clock here in mediterranea for the next few months or so. here's hoping you all made it through halloween, all saints day, and dias de las muertos unscathed. being catholic hooba's question is that if some saints have their own day why wouldn't we call this one "the rest of the saints day"? might be time to give the pope a jingle for some clarification or in his case pontification. weigh in should you have the answer or know the pope's phone number. hooba really wants to drive the pope mobile so if any of you can make that happen hooba buys dinner.

now for the meat of this missive. after almost two years of declarations, primaries, campaigns, conventions, more campaigning, mudslinging, scrutiny, debates, red state/blue state, and the usual political nonsense, the election is finally upon us and not a moment too soon. hooba would like nothing better than to see this process streamlined into a 3-6 month courtship of the american voters. do we really need another 18 months of what amounts to spring training for politics. let's cut to the chase kids and join the 21st century along with almost every other country in the free world. all these ads clogging the airwaves are reducing this process to whoever has the most money and is willing to spend it tying up valuable tv time that eliminates our favorite commercials. in the good ol days prior to all this we saw viagra being pitched along with hair color, swiffers, cold remedies and all the other crap we really need to function as a democratic society. just think normalcy returns wednesday unless you're counting on the winner to fix the economy, end the war, provide universal health care, or to give us hope that the future really is better. that said hooba would encourage everyone to just shut up and vote or quit your bitching on tuesday. hooba would suggest that like many of you who are small business owners do we really think it's going to be any different anytime soon? hooba will continue his loyalties to the JAYHAWKS and remind you all that "national champs" is still part of the equation until daylight savings time returns. oh by the way we kicked k-states ass on the gridiron yesterday because of what they do to cows.

many of you have indulged hooba with tales of your trips to vegas and various local casinos and occasionally embellished your winnings by zeros or decimal points. hooba is not a big advocate of gambling unless of course it's with someone else's money or you know a sure bet when you see one. halloween night hooba was having a discourse with a customer, who shall remain nameless, about a certain crackpot who presents himself as a spokesperson for the downtrodden and oppressed. seems that indiana jones was convinced that this person was an elected member of the congress/senate. hooba begged to differ and was willing to leave it at that until something was mentioned about a wager of some kind. as most of you know hooba will tell you when he's right and frequently more than you want to hear it. in this case hooba KNEW he was right and was ready for a friendly wager to prove a point. a gentlemen's bet wasn't in order in this instance and for the first time ever hooba decided to "bet the farm" which in this case would be the mortgage on the crib just down the road. ballpark wager @ 180-200k. hooba ain't exactly got that kind of scratch laying around but since he knew he was right it really didn't matter. the bet was made with witnesses who shall also remain nameless. this same computer on which i type at this moment provided the answer and lo and behold young hooba was correct. under ordinary circumstances hooba would be willing to renegotiate post affirmation but the mere fact that the house payment had been eliminated in a few short minutes of gambling he was prepared to take a personal check for a deposit and the rest in cash on monday. oh but wait, it seems a technicality of no small significance had been overlooked. there was no handshake involved so that nullified the bet. imagine hooba's chagrin when he realized that his house was still owned by the bank. let that be a lesson to you would be gamblers. hooba ain't much on handshakes but he will continue to kiss babies.

we'll bid our friend kate wood adieu for the winter next sunday night with a little get together here at the restaurant. many of you ask about kate and what she's up to so that would be a fine opportunity to drop by and wish her well as she heads off to colorado for the winter. we'll have libations and maybe some alabama round, pocket burgers, and nutty buddies for your dining pleasure and then again we might be cranky and tell you to eat pretzels and like it. let's make her want to come back because what would the neighborhood be without her smiling face? i'll remind you all that RIB NIGHT will continue on saturday's until further notice as it seems we may have another product from the hillbilly smoker that is quite tasty. the reviews have been favorable and should they not be we'll encourage you to go elsewhere, like there's anywhere else serving real smoked bbq. THIS WILL BE THE LAST WEEK TO ENTER YOUR ORIGINAL SONG TITLES for hooba's country cd contest. hooba shouldn't give you lollygaggers more time but it seems his sister and her knitting crew would like to get in on the action. hooba has gleaned 10 songs from those entered to this point and will add a few more of the best for you all to vote on next week. don't say you weren't warned.

many of you send thanks every week for the update and hooba thanks you all for the kind words. now and then someone dares to ask to be removed so hooba will say that removed is forever. thanks to all of you who dropped by these past few days including--marty and becky from the dalles just to have lunch at a cool place, kevin and jan who continue to support this venture, mary beth and stephen for their first trip to our little slice of mediterranea, marchal, doris, karen and the clan for enjoying the ribs etc., sue and gary again for the thank you note, our friend dave grove who's off to mexico for the winter, and bev and bernie because they get it even if bernie thinks we're closing early. thanks to all of you for your continued support and positive feedback. we ain't going anywhere unless hooba wins the lottery. this weeks music trivia is--there was two of everything and one of me and when the rains came tumblin' down i held my breath and stood my ground--you know the drill. no googling that's cheating. until next week hooba says vote early and often. see ya around like a donut.


hooba chad's hanging cousin


this weeks dinner winner is lloyd fink cause he's a good golfer