Ingenuity

While taking advantage of a pretty beautiful spring day to do some backyard cleaning, I found this:

My youngest daughter took a stick, some yarn, and the Cold Steel Urban Pal I keep in the back yard for cutting open random bags...and made a spear. 

After counting the chickens, I called my daughter out to ask exactly what she was thinking...and I became a victim of my own preparedness wishes.

'But dad...do you want the first time I try this to be when I NEED to be able to do it?'

Dang...she had me there.  All I could do at that point was reinforce the expectation that it was not a toy to play with around friends...and if she was able to sneak up and use it on a squirrel, she was going to eat it for dinner.

We Salute You.

A buddy of mine who is a State Trooper shared the link below on facebook, which leads to a news story out of Winnebago County, Illinois. 

Apparently back on January 20th, a bad guy walked into a bank and started shooting into the ceiling.  The bank security officer responded by drawing and putting two rounds into the bad guy. The County Attorney released the bank security video today, along with word that the Security Officer would not be charged, and in fact Brian Harrison is a hero. 

I recommend you click on the link, and watch the video.  My words do not do it justice.  Mr. Harrison went from Condition White, resting on the counter, to putting rounds into the bad guy...in between breathes.

One can only hope to respond that way when the chips are on the table.

Security officer in fatal shooting of attempted robbery suspect will not face charges

And, well done to the local authorities for not pressing charges...that is not a guarantee in Illinois.

A competition?

Earlier this week, my daughters school was having a cupcake bake-off fundraiser, broken down into different categories by grade, and box mix vs. Scratch.  Since it was for a good PTO cause, both my daughter and I decided to enter cupcakes...and if I am going to play, I play to win.

Since I couldn't get to my preferred website for recipes, I had to find a new one, and I settled on this Chocolate Stout Cupcake. The only thing I really did to mix it up was using the Southern Tier Choklat Oranj Stout, instead of something more...mainstream. I thought the orange might add something a little extra to the finished product...and it did. The best part of any cupcake is usually the frosting though, and the vanilla bean cream cheese(actually, Neufchatel Cheese) came out great.

My wife had baked cupcakes with my daughter earlier in the day, but had me to help make the frosting for her cupcakes, and so we just did a simple butter cream frosting for her. She learned the importance of 'pulsing' the mixer when playing with powdered sugar, but not until we had a fine cloud of it spreading around the kitchen.

In the interest of 'victory', looks being as important as taste in competition like this, I finally broke down and ordered a piping bag/decorating kit off of Amazon.  What a game changer.  It is going to take a while to master the technique, but my daughter loved piping frosting on vs. trying to use a spatula.

In the end, I felt kind of bad for my daughter.  She didn't win in her category.   I will admit some of the other cupcakes looked, and tasted a bit better than hers, but to my eye, some kids had a LOT more help their parents. We supervised, and then, I helped fill the piping bag so there wasn't a huge mess...but heck, some of the 4th graders had fondant on theirs!  What 4th grader plays with fondant without major parent help.

I did win the adult category, and got a sweet ribbon to prove it. I'll probably let my daughter put it in her room.

Breaking Cover

Haven't blogged in a while.  More than a while. Like...18 months.  It wasn't one of those 'so bored, and haven't taken over the world yet' absences.  It was actually kind of superstition thing.

You see, my last post was about how I had returned from elk hunting 18 months ago for my daughters birthday...but before coming down from the hills I has seen two legal spike elk...and I think I said something like 'Can't wait to get back up and nail one of them there spikes!' 

Of course, that was a total jinx.  I didn't even see those two spikes again...or any other legal elk.

Having learned a lesson about showing signs of optimism, I decided the prudent/superstitious thing to do(much like turning your hat inside out and backwards to spark a rally) was to not blog again until my hunting was successful. 

Yeah...you can guess how that went since I didn't break my blog silence during the 2016 hunting season either.

Sigh. 

But now, something dire has happened, and I can't remain silent any longer.

More dire than the last election cycle which I sat quiet during!?!?!??  Yup.

Sometime in the last month or two, one of my favorite blogs has changed it's permission for access, and I can't get there anymore.  90% of my favorite recipes come from Brigid's Mausers's and Muffins/Home on the Range site...and now I can't get there!  And of course, I never actually printed any of them out, because...internet. 



So...if anyone can hook a brother up, I would appreciate it.