Many months ago, my wife picked up a selection of powdered products while out shopping(I believe it was Wal-Mart. One of the cans she purchased was the Provident Pantry Peanut Butter Powder. Out of curiosity, I opened it up, and followed the instructions to mix up some instant peanut butter.
I was unimpressed, and the mostly full can went up into the cabinet, until I was frustrated one day at how tough it was to fold peanut butter into pancake batter to make chocolate chip peanut butter pancakes for the kids. The next time around, I tried adding in some of the peanut butter powder, and just slightly increasing the amount of water that goes in the recipe.
Eureka! I wouldn't dream of going back to doing it the other way.
It's also great mixed into the protein shakes my wife drinks, and we will probably lay in a few more cans just for baking and kitchen use, and I might even order up some of the honey powder for use in baking also.
5.29.2013
5.28.2013
Keeping yourself safe.
One of the things that has always been stressed in the many, MANY hours of casualty response and first aid training I have had to sit in over the course of my career is that you need to evaluate the scene and ensure you are safe to respond, before you just create another victim.
Sadly, it seems one lady in Kennewick might not have gotten that advice.
Kennewick woman who stopped to help motorist dies in collision
So yeah...very sad, and in fact, different than I had heard it on the radio on the way home. Sounds like she had already stopped to help, and was trying to pull a u-turn back out into traffic when she got hit.
It still doesn't change the basic message...aware, aware, aware.
Sadly, it seems one lady in Kennewick might not have gotten that advice.
Kennewick woman who stopped to help motorist dies in collision
So yeah...very sad, and in fact, different than I had heard it on the radio on the way home. Sounds like she had already stopped to help, and was trying to pull a u-turn back out into traffic when she got hit.
It still doesn't change the basic message...aware, aware, aware.
That's a bold statement.
I believe that yesterday, I found what might have been the perfect bowl of chili.
If you are someone who likes beans in their chili, then the chili from Shrub Steppe Smokehouse Brewery is not for you, as it is completely lacking in beans.
Shrub Steppe is a rather new place, opening back at the end of February. What's nice is that unlike White Bluffs Brewing(which makes a tasty beer), they are also a restaurant, so I can bring my wife and kids, not that I have yet.
Anyway...back to the chili.
If you are someone who likes beans in their chili, then the chili from Shrub Steppe Smokehouse Brewery is not for you, as it is completely lacking in beans.
Shrub Steppe is a rather new place, opening back at the end of February. What's nice is that unlike White Bluffs Brewing(which makes a tasty beer), they are also a restaurant, so I can bring my wife and kids, not that I have yet.
Anyway...back to the chili.
Meat, meat, and more meat. I'm not sure if they use leftovers from the previous day(which is what I would do) or if they just make a little extra each day to go in the chili, but the chili serves to function as almost a sample platter for what meats they have that day. This particular chili had plenty of pulled pork, smoked sausage, smoked brisket, and some diced smoked pork loin. I think there were also a few peppers in it, and maybe a bit of tomato, but not much. The chili(as befits a smokehouse in the wimpy Northwest) is not too spicy, but has flavor to spare.
As a quick lunch(combined with a pint of their Very Bad Kitty Lager) is not bad. Price wise, it's not too much more expensive than say, a combo meal would be at Wendy's or Dairy Queen. Lunch at one of those places can just about destroy a $10 bill anymore...might as well spend the extra $1.50 to support the local folks. And have a beer. And a bowl of some great, great chili.
5.27.2013
A day early
So, I guess I played my Memorial Day hand a day too soon, but I did have a nice Sunday visiting with a Veteran, my father. We haven't been able to get together since Thanksgiving, because, well...life.
My dad did 24 years in the Navy...4 reserve, 20 active, and after retiring, did something more heroic than he ever did in the Navy.
Once upon a time, my step-brother got his high school girlfriend pregnant. He did the 'honorable' thing(even though my dad and I both tried to talk him out of it), and long story short, things didn't work out. Since there was a grand-child produced, my dad and step-mom stayed very involved with the ex, even after she got pregnant from another guy, they let that daughter grow up calling them grammy and pop-pop.
Now...here is where I come across very shallow, and I recognize that. As the years went on, the two girls mom revealed major levels of being a dirt bag. My dad and step-mom stepped into this void(my step-brother was not necessarily a dirt bag, he just decided not to be involved). They spent soooo much time with the other two of their grand kids, the amount of time they spent with my two girls suffered.
After a few years of that, I actually had the gaul to complain. I while I know it made me a bit shallow, I felt I had to go to bat for my girls. The end result of several rounds of conversation was that I expressed my opinion that if things were that bad for the girls, my dad and step-mom needed to step in and seek custody of the girls, otherwise, treat all the grand kids equally. IF they weren't that bad yet, then I recommended they 'go limp' until things got bad enough they could move in with CPS and take the kids.
Yeah...that went over well. After that, I kept my opinion to myself.
Given a few more years though, my dad was able to keep enough records of time the girls spent with them, and how often their mom moved and slept on couch's here and there, and lost jobs, and just living life poorly, that they did go to court for custody of the girls.
And won.
So...now, in his mid-60's, my dad, having raised two boys, is learning to raise two girls, one a teen-ager, the other approaching that point.
It's not easy. It's a lot of time and effort at a point in life where you shouldn't be having to put in the time and effort that way.
As a result of that, he has only made the 4 hour drive to see us once in the almost three years since we moved to Richland. Mostly we go to their place, or meet at 'neutral' sites. Because I can't keep my mouth shut, I tried guilt tripping him earlier in the week, pointing out my wife's mom was coming to visit us at the end of June, and that would be her 4th trip in three years...from Connecticut.
Yeah...that still didn't go over the best.
But...it did result in us setting a meeting yesterday, and we got both familys together in Ellensburg for a tasty brunch, and a few hours playing at some of the local parks. My girls got to get hugs from Pop-pop, which is nice.
The two girls(my sisters?) are doing good...not perfect, but 1800% better than they would have with their mom. Now, I get jealous, because I see them getting away with stuff I NEVER would have been able to get away with around my dad when I was 13.
Someday, I'll grow up.
My dad did 24 years in the Navy...4 reserve, 20 active, and after retiring, did something more heroic than he ever did in the Navy.
Once upon a time, my step-brother got his high school girlfriend pregnant. He did the 'honorable' thing(even though my dad and I both tried to talk him out of it), and long story short, things didn't work out. Since there was a grand-child produced, my dad and step-mom stayed very involved with the ex, even after she got pregnant from another guy, they let that daughter grow up calling them grammy and pop-pop.
Now...here is where I come across very shallow, and I recognize that. As the years went on, the two girls mom revealed major levels of being a dirt bag. My dad and step-mom stepped into this void(my step-brother was not necessarily a dirt bag, he just decided not to be involved). They spent soooo much time with the other two of their grand kids, the amount of time they spent with my two girls suffered.
After a few years of that, I actually had the gaul to complain. I while I know it made me a bit shallow, I felt I had to go to bat for my girls. The end result of several rounds of conversation was that I expressed my opinion that if things were that bad for the girls, my dad and step-mom needed to step in and seek custody of the girls, otherwise, treat all the grand kids equally. IF they weren't that bad yet, then I recommended they 'go limp' until things got bad enough they could move in with CPS and take the kids.
Yeah...that went over well. After that, I kept my opinion to myself.
Given a few more years though, my dad was able to keep enough records of time the girls spent with them, and how often their mom moved and slept on couch's here and there, and lost jobs, and just living life poorly, that they did go to court for custody of the girls.
And won.
So...now, in his mid-60's, my dad, having raised two boys, is learning to raise two girls, one a teen-ager, the other approaching that point.
It's not easy. It's a lot of time and effort at a point in life where you shouldn't be having to put in the time and effort that way.
As a result of that, he has only made the 4 hour drive to see us once in the almost three years since we moved to Richland. Mostly we go to their place, or meet at 'neutral' sites. Because I can't keep my mouth shut, I tried guilt tripping him earlier in the week, pointing out my wife's mom was coming to visit us at the end of June, and that would be her 4th trip in three years...from Connecticut.
Yeah...that still didn't go over the best.
But...it did result in us setting a meeting yesterday, and we got both familys together in Ellensburg for a tasty brunch, and a few hours playing at some of the local parks. My girls got to get hugs from Pop-pop, which is nice.
The two girls(my sisters?) are doing good...not perfect, but 1800% better than they would have with their mom. Now, I get jealous, because I see them getting away with stuff I NEVER would have been able to get away with around my dad when I was 13.
Someday, I'll grow up.
5.26.2013
Kill him. Now.
Deputies: Man, 25, arrested when girlfriend finds him taking baby girl out of freezer
The dude told the deputies he put her in the freezer to get her to stop crying.
That is an admittance of guilt.
This is not a case where 'The Death Penalty costs more than a life time term in prison'.
This is a case where he put a 6-week old child in the freezer long enough to drop her core temperature to 84 degrees...heck, 84 degrees when she made it to the hospital.
Every breath this man takes, our society gets dirtier and dirtier.
Maybe I've just had a bad day...but I don't think so.
The dude told the deputies he put her in the freezer to get her to stop crying.
That is an admittance of guilt.
This is not a case where 'The Death Penalty costs more than a life time term in prison'.
This is a case where he put a 6-week old child in the freezer long enough to drop her core temperature to 84 degrees...heck, 84 degrees when she made it to the hospital.
Every breath this man takes, our society gets dirtier and dirtier.
Maybe I've just had a bad day...but I don't think so.
Wisdom from Linus
Actually, the wisdom is from John McCrae, a Canadian Army Surgeon, written following the death of one of his friend, and former student at the 2nd Battle of Ypres, in May of 1915.
There is some debate among folks who haven't read the whole poem about whether 'In Flanders Field' is an anti-war poem. All you have to do is read the third stanza to realize that is not even close to the truth. The fact that Linus doesn't recite the end of the poem, and instead repeats the opening might have led to this belief.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Quite the opposite of anti-war. If not pro-war, it at least was boldly in support of The Cause, rallying troops to continue the fight, and put an end to the Kaiser. Lieutenant Colonel McCrae himself was often dismissive of his position as a surgeon, going as far to tell one of his superiors 'Allinson, all the goddamn doctors in the world will not win this bloody war: what we need is more and more fighting men'.
And a fighter he was...McCrae had previously served a stint in the artillery during the 2nd Boer War.
Mr. McCrae was not killed in combat, but he did die during the war, of pneumonia, during January of 1918. The fact that he did not die in combat does not make him any less a hero, or figure to be honored. He volunteered, and he was more than willing.
5.25.2013
Greasy Fast
In Rocky 2, there are a few scenes where Micky, in his attempt to turn Rocky into a 'greasy fast 200 pound Italian tank', has Rocky chasing a chicken in an alley to work on his foot quickness. At the time, I really didn't understand that scene...but now, as a chicken owner, it's a hitting a little close to home.
Since moving them outside a few weeks ago, the chicks(almost chickens) seem pretty happy. They like the chicken tractor, and after a few nights of sleeping on the ground, they figured out it was warmer and dryer up in the coop. This past week, they have even started using the roosting bar as they sleep. It's all very cute.
Now that we have them used to the outdoors, we have given them a few doses of the outside, opening the door to the tractor to give them free run of the back yard. There were some initial moments of fear when they spread their wings and practiced some flying, but, even now they were limited to about 18-inches off the ground, for maybe 4 or 5 feet. We make sure an adult is outside with them at all times, as much to protect my garden from them, as to protect them from anything else.
We are working on getting them to head back into the tractor on their own, using the sound of a jar full of cracked corn to get the correct Pavlovian response. It's not always successful though, and because they are chickens, and not always very smart, at least one of them usually has a hard time finding the door, and needs to be 'helped'.
This is when I have sympathy for Rocky. Even with somewhere between 1 and 3 girls helping me out, getting a chicken to go where you want it, or trying to actually pick it up, is not easy. They are pretty quick, with just enough of a hop to make guessing which direction they are going difficult.
Since moving them outside a few weeks ago, the chicks(almost chickens) seem pretty happy. They like the chicken tractor, and after a few nights of sleeping on the ground, they figured out it was warmer and dryer up in the coop. This past week, they have even started using the roosting bar as they sleep. It's all very cute.
Now that we have them used to the outdoors, we have given them a few doses of the outside, opening the door to the tractor to give them free run of the back yard. There were some initial moments of fear when they spread their wings and practiced some flying, but, even now they were limited to about 18-inches off the ground, for maybe 4 or 5 feet. We make sure an adult is outside with them at all times, as much to protect my garden from them, as to protect them from anything else.
We are working on getting them to head back into the tractor on their own, using the sound of a jar full of cracked corn to get the correct Pavlovian response. It's not always successful though, and because they are chickens, and not always very smart, at least one of them usually has a hard time finding the door, and needs to be 'helped'.
This is when I have sympathy for Rocky. Even with somewhere between 1 and 3 girls helping me out, getting a chicken to go where you want it, or trying to actually pick it up, is not easy. They are pretty quick, with just enough of a hop to make guessing which direction they are going difficult.
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