Like a Bug on a Windshield

There is so much to do outside this time of year, but with an expected high of 28 degrees tomorrow, nothing is getting done. I'm already behind my own arbitrary schedule. A few ambitious days when it's warmer will catch things up. For now, I'm making a to-do list. First, I'm ordering more seeds. I would like to have a cash crop of some kind this year. At least a small one, sort of a foothold in farming. I've concluded that my best bet this year is to go with peppers. I did fairly well growing peppers this past season and I think I can do even better this coming year. Planting season is almost here--well, not really, but time flies, so it will seem like no time at all. Here at the eve of a new year seems like a good time to work out a plan. Now this to-do list shouldn't be confused with New Year's resolutions. No, this is a way to procrastinate making a list of resolutions. I have twenty-four varieties of hot pepper seeds and five varieties of bell pepp...

Bitcoin is further proof that investors are out of their damn minds. Originally, Bitcoin was supposed to be an anonymous, untraceable way of paying for purchases online, especially on the "Dark-net" or whatever it's called. I guess that's why it is called a "crypto-currency." I never paid much attention or considered using Bitcoin. For me, PayPal is the best way to make online transactions. That's how I pay for most purchases and how I get paid royalties from the United Kingdom. PayPal is really convenient for me, because I can pay using one click, for most things, including garden seeds, magazine subscriptions and random eBay buys. Using and keeping track of crypto-currencies appears to be a little more complicated. For one thing, there is a special removable hard drive, called a digital wallet, or something like that. This drive requires a very long and complicated password, without which, you could end up with a very expensive paperweight. In fa...

Until last night, I had never had ramen. I'm not talking about the ramen they serve in noodle restaurants, with the clear bone broth, green onions, seaweed, soft-boiled egg, bean sprouts and a rasher of braised pork. Not that I've ever had that, either. No, I mean Top Ramen, the little orange package with a brick of dry noodles and a "flavor packet." I have had the noodles cooked with a can of Swanson chicken broth, or occasionally, beef broth, but I've never known the joy of tossing the noodles and flavoring into two cups of water and cooking just below boiling until the noodles are tender. The package directions are a little different, but I've never seen anyone follow the package directions. Back in the Sixties, I discovered I was extremely sensitive to MSG (monosodium glutamate). I don't get an allergic reaction or anything like that: no hives, wheezing or tongue swelling up; I just feel really fatigued for several days and have mild flu-like sympt...

In Successful Husbanding School, in Survival Skills class, they teach us to never give our wives small appliances or anything kitchen-related for birthdays, anniversaries or Christmas. Or they would, if there was a training school for husbands. Which, there should be. This week I broke that rule and I think I got away with it. Monday was Kathy's birthday and I bought her a cookbook. Fortunately, this is a very special cookbook. A Betty Crocker cookbook. Kathy and I both grew up with Betty Crocker cookbooks. In the time when our mothers learned to cook, Betty Crocker was the gold standard of cookbooks. We kids grew up eating meals from Betty Crocker recipes. Most of my bread recipes originally came from a Betty Crocker cookbook. Kathy still has her Betty Crocker cookbook, her first cookbook. It is in three-ring binder format and has unfortunately lost many pages over many years and many moves. I've tried the Betty Crocker cookbook app for my phone, but the recipes are too mo...

I'm not really a fan of Ree Drummond, "The Pioneer Woman." By that, I mean I've never seen her TV show, read her blog or owned her cookbooks. I have read a few of her recipes on Google, but I don't think I've tried any of them. I do, however, admire Ree Drummond. I'm always surprised by how much people hate success. I was a fan of Martha Stewart some years back. Her's was hardly a rags to riches story. She was a fashion model and celebrity who found a way to start a new phase in her life. Her shows were enjoyable and she introduced the masses to things like cucumber infused water. Simple things to make little luxuries accessible to common folk. People seemed to tire of her, but I think it was because she became such a heavily marketed brand. I remember people crowing when she messed up and broke SEC regulations. They loved joking about her while she was in prison. Frankly, I felt bad about the way things had turned out for her. She lost most of her e...

That old curse comes to mind fairly often. May you live in interesting times. The world situation is so surreal that I can't take it seriously, let alone worry about it. I mean including impending super volcanoes, perfect storms, sea levels rising, and contamination of the food and water supply. I'm only even half-assed prepping. Who's got the energy to dig a bunker? Two of our grandsons have come to live with us. One nineteen, one sixteen. Right here at the holidays. We can't begin establishing any kind of routine while we're getting the smoker ready, thawing the turkey, buying all of the groceries and setting up a schedule chart for using the oven over the next two days. The smoker is electric. I got it on a seasonal clearance last year and I'm just now setting it up. In my opinion, an electric smoker is essential for smoking a turkey. I do most of my outdoor cooking over an open fire, but I still use my smoker/grill for anything that needs to slow cook....

This has been a busy week, and by week I mean the past seven days or so. First of all, we've been cleaning out our back bedroom to get ready for two of our grandsons to move in. This task required sorting through hundreds of books, only keeping the few really important, nearly irreplaceable, or ones we haven't read yet and might realistically read one day. For instance, I've been accumulating and reading novels by Phillip K. Dick since I was a teen. Once in a while I pick one up and read it, but that's not the whole story. Since Dick died and Hollywood started making movies and television shows based on his novels, the old copies have become impossible to find and the new reprints cost a minimum of fifteen bucks. Better to hang on to the ones I have. On the other side, I got rid of gardening books I've purchased over the past forty years that don't have any real value as far as useful information. I don't need an encyclopedia of house plants that only ...