10.31.2008

Growing in the halls...

It's not just here that the recession/depression is changing lives.

Growing food is on the curriculum at Leaden Hall private school for girls in southwest England, and students can thank the credit crisis.

``Pupils are growing potatoes, tomatoes, runner beans and courgettes,'' said Diana Watkins, the head teacher of the school of 231 students, including 40 boarders, in the town of Salisbury. Planting took place in the spring, crops are tended by children and staff, and ``every patch of grass is being used,'' Watkins said.

from Bloomberg.com

I'm glad I'm a planner... it makes me feel a bit less stressed over this.

Peace to you all.

10.30.2008

Stop paying your mortgage.

Yeah, Sharon posted this from the Market Ticker, and it totally makes sense.

Although more than that, it burns my butt.

If your next door neighbor lied about their income to get their house, or took out an exotic "Option ARM" mortgage and can't afford their payments, they will get a big fat bailout.

You will, in fact, get his mortgage bill.

Unless you intentionally default, in which case you will still get to pay taxes, but you won't pay your mortgage, and thus, you won't pay twice.


NOTE: Please do not think that Sharon wrote this post. Her excellent blog points to it, but it's written by Karl Denninger of the Market Ticker.

My point is that those of us who made wise, responsible fiscal choices will get hosed by and for those who did not.


GRRRRRRR.

10.28.2008

The best Autumn cookie in the world

NOTE: I forgot that BabyGirl insists she was part of this recipe. I have no recollection of that, but if she says I made them because she needed a cookie recipe, then I'll give in and call these BabyGirl's Cookies. But I prefer MEADOWLARK'S COOKIES! :)

I am going to tell you how to make the absolute bestest Autumn cookie you've ever had. Better than oatmeal. Better than peanut butter. And yes, better than chocolate chip. Oh sure, those cookies have their place. In different seasons, you can't beat them. But for Autumn? Autumn means only one thing: Butterscotch-Craisin pumpkin cookies

I'm just going to give you the teaser version here. If you are not a wuss, and will actually try this recipe, then you can ask for it and I'll send it. Don't want some nefarious types to steal it ;)

Our ingredients. I don't care if they seem strange. The combination is heavenly. Please note: the wine is not ADDED to the cookies. It is for the chef. :)


While you don't see butter and sugar and eggs in the ingredients, trust me they're there. They're mixed with the pumpkin, then all of that is added to the flour in a way-cool vintage mixing bowl. I don't THINK the vintage bowl is mandatory, but I'm not taking chances.

Mixing the cookie dough. Everybody that I know uses their hands. Do you?


Add about THIS many craisins. Maybe more. Maybe less. Why craisins? Because I hate RAISINS. And besides, craisins and tart and sweet (just like me) and I had them in the cupboard.


And some butterscotch chips. I don't care if you don't like butterscotch. Normally, neither do I. Now ADD them.


Crud! I almost forgot an ingredient!!! Now, I'm not saying it's the wine that caused the problem. Because I'm just naturally forgetful. Heck, I cook better when I drink wine! ;)


Chop these. And have another glass while you're at it.


For some reason, I always end up with quite a mess.


On pretty much every surface.


I do mean EVERY. Are you a mess-maker when you cook?


YUM!


OK... I will admit that the combination either sounds a)simply amazing or b)too weird for words. Just trust me on this one. I will note for the record that these are cake-y cookies, which I love. So if you're not into fluffy cake-y stuff, then move along. Nothing to see here. For the rest of you (normal) people, if you truly want to try them, I'll email it to you. But I swear, if you take the recipe I'm going to nag you to try them and report back. So consider yourself warned!

10.27.2008

Autumn...

"Listen! the wind is rising,
and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings,
now for October eves!"
- Humbert Wolfe



From Mike O'C on Flickr


"Come said the wind to the leaves one day,
Come o're the meadows and we will play.
Put on your dresses scarlet and gold,
For summer is gone and the days grow cold."
- A Children's Song of the 1880's


From Tucapel on Flickr


I love fall. And I have nothing to share today because I can't remember where I put my camera. :)

Drop me a line in the comment box and tell me your favorite autumn quote/poem.





10.24.2008

Vegetable Thoughts


My root vegetables didn't have any thoughts, 'cause there's no such thing as "I carrot therefore I care-alot". Not quite the same is it. Go subscribe to Savage Chickens.

10.22.2008

Rag Quilt

Hey, this wasn't so hard!


And check out this little sweetie... yeah, it's a Featherweight. :) I got it from my Grandma when I was 8 years old. Sucker still works like a dream!


Easy enough to sew all the edges with a half-inch seam allowance.


And while you can't see it, I spent (what seemed like) HOURS snipping the edges at 1/4 inch intervals. Luckily I bought the cool-guy scissors... they made the job much easier. As did several glasses of wine.


Tada! I am domestic after all.

Now I'm making another two... one for a friend for Christmas and another for my mom. They are going to be little "lapsize" quilts. Both of them let their pets sit in their laps, so this should save some of the dog fur problem.

10.20.2008

Am I bored? Are you?

So how far behind the "cool kid" curve can I be?

This went around for quite some time, but I was never so bored at work that I found time to see what I looked like.

So now you can be amazed at the ability of automatic photoshop, just like me.

From the website "Yearbook Yourself". Upload a picture and it lets you see what you looked like in the past.


1950 - 1952 - 1954


1958 - 1960 - 1962


1966 - 1968 - 1974


1978 - 1980


1984 - 1986 - 1990


1994 - 1996 - 2000


And a couple without my glasses.
1966 - 1968

10.18.2008

Guess what I can do

And I had no idea I could do this, since I'd never crocheted more than one time I tried making a simple square. And that was pretty sucky in itself.

But the other night I had nothing to do, Husband was working late and I thought "I'm not so stupid. I can figure this out". So I pulled up a couple of videos on the laptop about how to make the "magic adjustable ring" and started crocheting!

Next thing you know I'm partly done and think "How hard can stripes be?" and lo and behold... I'm putting in stripes!!! A little bit more time and I am nearing the end. How to finish? Hmmmmm???? So I read up on how to make a rolled brim with increases and then decide "HEY! Why don't I just do HALF a rolled brim and then it'll have a neat little cap-brim!" so I simply DID IT. And I didn't even know HOW to do increases until I started this thing.




WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO! It may not be perfect,but dammit I made it with my own two left thumbs! Let's see what YOU made last night! :)

10.17.2008

Thanksgiving and Vegetarians- HELP!

OK, YoungSon is bringing the girlfriend over for Thanksgiving. It'll be the first time we meet her. The tiny problem is that she's a vegetarian - "not that there's anything wrong with that" (thanks Seinfeld). I would really like to make something that she'll enjoy. I had suggested vegetarian stuffing but YoungSon nixed that idea with a "WHAT!!! No sausage!!!! You're kidding me!". So... how would YOU solve the problem?

Criteria:
Turkey and Ham will both be served. (Hey, we haven't seen the kid in months! This is a celebration!)
Stuffing needs to be made in a non-meat and meated variety. (I guess)
Other than that, I'm fairly open.

Suggestions?

NOTE: I have additional information. She does not eat any type of meat. She would prefer not to have any chicken broth etc. She DOES eat dairy and eggs. And YoungSon says she's not picky (thank goodness for that). But I really wanted to do something nice. :)

And I can't even figure breakfast the next morning... I take it anything in bacon grease is a no-go? :)

10.16.2008

PANIC!!

From The Onion, Via Groovy Green

WASHINGTON—In a nationally televised address to the American people Wednesday night, President Bush called upon every man, woman, and child to spiral uncontrollably downward into complete and utter panic.



Speaking from the Oval Office, Bush assured citizens that in these times of great uncertainty, the best and only course of action is to come under the throes of a sudden, overwhelming fear marked by hysterical or irrational behavior.

“My fellow Americans, the time for running aimlessly through streets while shrieking and waving our arms above our heads is now,” Bush said. “I understand that many of you are worried about your economic future and our situation overseas, and you have every right to be. Yet there is only one thing we as a nation can do in times like these: give up all hope and devolve into a lawless, post-apocalyptic, every-man-for-himself society.”

“For those of you who have remained resolute in your belief that things will turn around eventually, I urge you to close your eyes, take shallow rapid breaths, and begin freaking out immediately,” Bush added. “At this point, anyone who isn’t scared to death needs to wake the f*** up—because we’re screwed here.”


OK, you don't HAVE to panic, but read the rest and enjoy a chuckle on me.

What is normal?

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.
-Ellen Goodman, American journalist

I'm living "normal" these days. But trying to change that.
Peace to you, my friends.
And here's something to enjoy for a few moments.

10.15.2008

Go NOW. Just GO!

If you haven't been to Eyes of Wonder, you really need to visit. I look at her photos, her children, her life... and at first, I would think "I missed out... I should have done it that way" but she'll say something that reminds me: I'm me. Just the way I am.

I hope that each one of you will be entirely free to be yourselves. Just as you are, Right where you are. Without apology or feeling like you have to live up to anyone else's expectations--group or individual--and know that that's your special, priceless, gift to those around you. A gift that no one else can give.

It'll give you a bit of refreshment. Refreshment that I can certainly use on days like this.

10.13.2008

YoungSon the fire starter

YoungSon, hard at work. Normally he puts them OUT, but this week he's been STARTING them. :)








Weekend update

I'm still tired!!! This weekend was so much fun because I accomplished so much, but in the end, it was exhausting. I tore up the frozen remnants of the garden, rearranged dishes, sticking in the new dishes I bought for DIRT CHEAP at the thrift store. It was time for a change.

Canned six quarts of potatoes... which I had to peel BY MYSELF!!! I think this is why they used to have a lot of children so one could make the kids do the dirty work ;)
I only canned them because potatoes don't seem to hold well in the basement and I had 15 lbs of them.


Canned 7 quarts of split pea soup. And it was tasty! And surprisingly easy.


6 quarts plus 8 pints of veggie beef soup. (nearly 10 damn pounds of potatoes in that recipe... what am I doing peeling potatoes all weekend?)


Tried the amazing Grandmother Bread from Chickens in the Road. It was easy-peasy and delicious, albeit a little sweet for my taste. Definitely making it again. And the only reason it looks 'squatty' is that I used too big of a pan.


Please notice that there was not one single pictures of a Mike's Hard Cranberry in this entire weekend. It's nearly winter... I'm switching to the hard stuff.
It's Tom and Jerry time!

10.10.2008

Snow



See that white stuff on the ground? Yup. Snow. (I know I should be grumbling, but I love winter!!!)

Also, today's quote from Richard Feynman (scientist, teacher, raconteur, and musician).
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.

10.08.2008

I'll assume everyone I know in the blogging world...

already knows about this site. But just wanted to be certain.

It ROCKS. Especially the "Farm Library"

JOURNEY TO FOREVER

Oh, and here too. Check out the section "APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES"... some amazing stuff there. (solar lantern, making charcoal, sisal dyeing, etc)

OK, I'm not a survivalist...

But I really enjoyed this pieces about how this guy's Grandparents survived the depression.

Good stuff, like:
Grandpa was a deal maker. Trading, bartering, asking for a better deal--if there was a good deal to be had, he was all over it.


Stuff we should all do well to remember.

Well, I liked it anyway. And I didn't take any pictures of the pineapple and bananas I dried yesterday. Nor the green beans I got started in the dehydrator (and as leather britches - thanks ~P) this morning. Nor the beef stock that's sitting in the fridge as we speak so I can skim the fat tonight and hopefully can beef stock tomorrow.

So read someone else's words and pretend like I'm that clever. Thanks.

10.03.2008

Sunshine Jam



Sunshine Jam
Makes about three 8-ounce jars (or 6 4 ounce jars, in this case)

4 cups finely chopped, peeled, cored, fresh pineapple
2 1/2 c white sugar
1 small lemon (unpeeled), seeded and thinly sliced (Scrub the dickens outta this first, and organic would be best as the peel holds so many chemicals otherwise)
1 cup water

1. Prepare canner, jars & lids.
2. In large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine pineapple, sugar, lemon and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar. Boil, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. (LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE - this took me probably a good 45 minutes) Remove from heat and test gel. If gel stage has been reached, skim off foam. (Note to self: I went to 218 degrees because of my altitude. Last time I did the gel test and the jam is just too sticky for spreading. This time I just went to temperature and so far it seems almost-spreadable, even from the refrigerator)
3. Ladle hot jams into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot jam. Wipe rim. Center lid.
Process 10 minutes (add minutes based upon your altitude). Let cool5 minutes in water, then remove, cool and store.

Mr. Pineapple

Finely chopped.




The original recipe didn't say to finely chop the lemon, but I realized in tasting it that slices weren't going to work very well.


This is after I snipped all those lemon pieces into little bits with my kitchen scissors.


The finished product!


Yeah, apparently I skipped a few stages, but one simply cannot take pictures of one's self very easily, now can one?

Goats and Beets..A Short Story..

But not by me. By someone who is a canner extraordinaire and lives an amazing life. Go visit and read, especially if you have grandparents who lived in the "old country".

The story gives me a lump in my throat.


ADDEED: OK, this shows you what a moron I am. In no way at all, did I consider this a "ghost" story (even though there were obviously 'ghosts'). I considered it a "hard life and we should stop our complaining and remember how much worse it could be" story. Isn't that strange.

10.02.2008

Today's COSTCO run...

Let's see...
Case Corn - 9.59
Case Green beans - 9.59
10 lbs sugar - 4.99 x2
Gallon Olive Oil - 24.99
Spam (lower sodium. Shut up, I love spam) 11.99 (4 or so cans?)
Bleach 5.59 x2 (4 gals total)
Bread - 4.29 (2 each)
Fresh green beans for dehydrating 4.99
Ibuprofen (2 500ea bottlse) 8.99
Pineapple, 2 - 3.29 x2 YES... I KNOW it's not local, but have you ever had my amazing pineapple-lemon jam? Let me tell you that in the winter... it's a shot of summer.
Pure maple syrup 32 oz - 16.99 (CRIPES)
Jif Crunchy, 2 - 8.79
5-7 cans of pacific Salmon 0 total of 9.99 (forgot how it was packaged)
Spaghetti, 2 large (extremely large) packs - 8.99
Yeast, giant cake - 3.59
Brown Sugar - no idea,just a big package. 2.79. (And I actually added this only so it would look like I was a crazy cookie baker, not some whacko preparing for an apocalypse. No, seriously, that's why I added it.)
1 gallon Canola oil - 9.99
heavy sack of potatoes ?20# - 7.99
2 cases evaporated milk @ 10.99 per case. (I don't actually use this, but it seemed like a good thing to have)
25# flour (plain, nothing fancy) - 7.95 x2
Honey - 1/2 gallon? 9.39 x2
50 lbs rice - 19.97 (well, I thought about getting sushi fixings so I looked like the crazy sushi maker, but realized that was ridiculous)
Jif Creamy PNut Butter (2 per) - 8.79
Cream of mushroom soup, case - Always comes in handy for something
Something called organic paste. 5.99 Not sure what....

Oh. Tomato paste. I wondered if I was buying glue.

So, that was it. $286.87 added: and I paid cash. Not credit
Added to what I already had, at least I feel better. But I'm still so far behind. Where's my tomato sauce? Where's my canned soup? How will I make it through winter without these goodies? Cripes, I need to can this weekend. :)

Peace to you, my friends.

An old verse about homemaking.

I realized that I hadn't seen this anywhere else and wanted to make sure ya'll got a chance to enjoy it. And yes, it's the same thing from the other day but I decided that THIS TIME I'd put it where it was actually readable!

I only want a little home,
A little place to call my own.
A patch of grass, a flower bed;
A garden I myself have sown.

I want to light the kitchen fire
And put clean papers on the shelf;
To keep the windows shining bright
And know I've done it all myself.

And then I'm sure I'll be content,
For though one search in every clime
Earth holds no other sign of peace
Like chimney smoke at supper time.
--Unknown

PICK UP THE PHONE!

Call your Rep right now and urge him/her to vote NO on this unholy bailout.

I had never done it before and it was this easy:

Ring Ring
"Representative SoandSo's Office. How may I direct your call"
"I want the Representative to vote NO on this bailout. I am a constituent and I vote."
"Thank you. May I have your zip code." (the other office asked for my name and city)

It was THAT easy.
Please please please please call right now. If you need a number and don't or can't look it up, let me know and I'll get it for you.

Here's what Glenn Beck has to say:

Dear America:
Happy 300th Birthday!

It's 2076 and we've just invented the time-fax machine. (Actually, "we" didn't invent the time-fax machine, the State did -- they pretty much control everything now.)

I'm faxing this back to you in 2008 because that seems to be the year we had the best chance to reverse our course and get back to the vision laid out by our founding fathers -- a vision that didn't include the government being in the insurance business.

I don't have a lot of time (the State only gives us one 30-minute break per day) so let me give you some advice: Stop worrying so much about who runs the country and start worrying about who runs your towns, your states, and your Congress.

I know you're all distracted by the presidential election, but for all the money and time poured into it, the truth is that you're choosing between two roads that will lead you to the same destination. Sure, one may be the Autobahn and the other a two-lane highway, but you'll end up at the same place either way.

Decades of Republicans and Democrats alike have all chipped in to lead you to where you are today. Believing that one person, from either party, can change that by themselves is a big mistake.
Don't Miss

Presidents are like captains of a large ship: They can map out a course and shout out orders, but without the trust and hard work of the people who actually move the rudders, their commands mean nothing.

In retrospect, the lack of trust and confidence you now have in your leaders was really the root cause of everything that's happened since. While our founding fathers designed a brilliant system of checks and balances, separation of powers and democratic elections, trust was the one thing they couldn't mandate in the Constitution.

Unfortunately, it's also the foundation upon which everything else is built and once it began to erode, our whole house inevitably began to crumble.

Looking back now, it's pretty obvious that our trust in government declined at about the same rate as our partisanship increased. People became so concerned about getting their party into power at any cost that the truth didn't even seem to matter anymore.

That's probably one of the reasons why George Washington hated the idea of political parties so much. Here's what he said about them in his 1796 farewell speech:

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty."

I know that George had a habit for using big words, so allow me to translate into 2008 English: Political parties that put their own success over that of the country's will be the death of America.

If you don't believe him yet, just wait a few more years...you're about to see firsthand how right he was. After all, if power corrupts, then the kind of absolute power gained by political parties (and feared by Washington) corrupts absolutely.

The best advice I can give you is to stop thinking in terms of left and right and start thinking in terms of right and wrong. Demand the best leaders possible, and then demand the best out of them.

Believe me, when you see what's coming your way, you'll realize how little the donkey and the elephant really ever mattered. Oh and while we're on politics, one quick thing that I'm sure you're curious about: Yes, Robert Byrd is still in the Senate. He's 159, but doesn't look a day over 91.

Now, let's talk about the economy. Let me see if I have this right: Money and power made people greedy, so you decided to hand over a bunch of money and power to greedy politicians instead. Smart! After using that money to nationalize a bunch of banks, mortgage companies and insurance companies, they moved on to bigger things.

The airlines came first -- we just couldn't live without them. Then it was the automakers (Detroit would've died), health care (they said they could manage it better), and eventually, the oil companies (I'm not sure where all of those "windfall profits" have gone).

The idea behind it all (an idea that was eventually turned into law with the passage of the Securities Exchange Act of 2011) was to "socialize losses" by spreading them out among all taxpayers. The pain, our leaders argued, would be minimal that way.

They were right. At least until the bills came due. See, we didn't actually have any of the money we were promising everyone; we were borrowing it.

It didn't take long before so many of our tax dollars were going toward interest payments that we couldn't fund even the most basic of government programs without massive tax increases on everyone. People now work most of the year just to pay Uncle Sam (or, as we now call him, "Comrade Sam").

I hear the State censors coming, so let me leave you with a few other quick things:

• Good call on not worrying about protecting our borders. That works out really well for you in 2019.

• You might want to spend a little less time worrying about carbon and a little more time worrying about Iran. We're now in a new mini-Ice Age but, believe me, Iran isn't using their nukes to warm any homes. (PS The International Atomic Energy Agency just revealed to you that Iran appears to be refitting their long-range missiles to carry nuclear payloads. Did you think they were joking or were you just too busy with lipsticks and pigs to notice?)

• The currency of the future is energy. Those who have it are thriving and those who don't -- well, let's just leave it at that. Drill for all the oil you can, but you also better start seriously looking for some other options.

In closing, remember this golden rule and you should be fine: Your Constitution will never fail you, but your leaders will. Be wary of anyone who tries to convince you that it's the other way around.

Best wishes (you're going to need them),

Worker 2744A

PS It's not all socialist doom and gloom here in the future. We just thawed Ted Williams' cryogenically frozen body and he hit 87 home runs for the North Team!

10.01.2008

What's a Roundhouse Wiper?


Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

I don't know either, but it doesn't look as bad when it isn't in black and white. :)

Wendy talks about "being clean" and I must admit I always thought life looked so dirty in those Depression-era photos. I recently discovered that in color, it's a whole different story.

Here's a few more links. And sorry Wendy for getting sidetracked at your house. Hope you'll forgive me.

A look back

NY Times Slideshow

Library of Congress Flickr Group

Oh... here it is!