Today’s post comes from Jacque.
This is Jacque’s junk drawer.
What is in your junk drawer?
All posts by reneeinnd
Getting the Lard Out
I have become wary of telling Husband what I want, or if I like something, because he takes it on himself to make certain I get it. Sometimes I just make an offhand comment about liking something, with no expectation of getting it, and Husband takes it to heart and feels responsible for it. I think it has something to do with his being an older brother of a younger sister and feeling responsible for her happiness. My father was the same way with me. One can only be considered spoiled under these circumstances if one comes to expect such treatment. I don’t expect it, so I am not spoiled!
Last week I took the last jar of home-rendered lard out of the freezer as I needed it for pie crusts. I told Husband that we would need to render more lard some time. I didn’t mean that I wanted to do it right away, but that was how Husband interpreted it, and he set to work finding some pork fat for me to render. I came home for lunch to find a disgruntled man who had been unsuccessful in finding any pork fat from our usual sources. He even phoned butcher shops in Fargo, Brookings, and Canby, MN. I assured him that it wasn’t a crisis, and that it was fine if we didn’t find any. There are lots of good pie crust recipes that don’t call for lard. Husband was still fretful. I just hoped he would forget about it and stop ruminating.
Yesterday while I was in my meetings, Husband chanced on a farmers market on Nicollet Avenue, and found a source for leaf lard and pork fat from a guy who raises hogs in New Richmond, WI. He and Husband talked lard and, after several phone calls back to the farm to check on supplies, he and Husband arranged for us to pick up 10 pounds of leaf lard and other pork fat from him at the Minneapolis Farmers Market on Saturday morning. Lard crisis averted. It remains to be seen what Husband will ruminate about next.
What have you gone to extremes to find or accomplish? What is your favorite pie crust? What do you ruminate about?
Remembrance of Things Past
Today’s post comes from Ben:
I came home and said hello to the dogs. Went out another door and said “Hi” to the dogs again, and then, as one does with dogs, said “Hi Hi Hi”
And then, from the depths of my mind, out of nowhere, sang “Ayi Yi Yi Yi, I am the Frito Bandito”.
Wow.
I said to myself “Where did that come from??”
Forgotten anything lately?
Remembered anything lately?
Surprise!
Husband and I are now safely ensconced at the downtown Minneapolis Marriot. We arrived at the hotel at about 5:00 PM on Tuesday. I was so surprised that the traffic going into downtown was negligible. The traffic going the other way was horrible. We were grateful.
Last week I was very surprised to learn that the grandmother of one of my fellow Lutheran Church choir members worked for a decade or more as both the Headless Girl and the Three Legged Woman in the circus. It isn’t often that young woman from Harvey, ND makes the big time like that. You also don’t hear of many Lutherans in the circus. At one time there were 9 headless girls touring the US in circuses. It was all done with mirrors. Look up Olga the Headless Girl. You will be surprised and amazed.
What has surprised you lately? Do you have any friends with surprises?
On Your Toes
Today in 1581, the first ballet was performed in Paris. It had been commissioned by Catherine De Medici and was called “Ballet Comique de la Reine”. I love ballet, and so do our children. Both studied dance for many years.
The only ballets that I have seen in live performance were by the Winnipeg Ballet, which is a very fine company. We saw them perform Giselle and The Firebird. We sometimes saw dancers from the company wandering the halls of our psychology department as they went to appointments to manage their eating disorders with one of our professors, an unfortunate side effect for some dancers.
What is your favorite ballet? Tell about your experiences with dance.
Infestation
We had some basement drywall and carpet ruined from a leak from an egress window when our downspouts were plugged this summer. The dry wall guy finished up the repairs last week.
We removed the water damaged carpet in the basement bedroom. As we put the furniture back in the bedroom, I thought that I would put on the bare cement a wool area rug that we had stored in the furnace room. It was a nice thick one we got from Pottery Barn 15 years ago, in pinks and greens, our daughter’s favorite colors at the time. We used it in her bedroom.
The furnace room is warm and dry. We keep the door to it closed. As I reached for the carpet, which was rolled up and standing in a corner, I noticed something that looked like grains of rice protruding from the back of the carpet. As I lifted the rolled carpet, I saw many hundreds of grains of rice on the floor underneath where the carpet had been, about an inch or so thick, in a pile of pink and green sawdust. I am thankful none of it was moving, as it turned out to be carpet moth larvae and the remnants of the carpets they had eaten. Husband took the rug outside and tossed it in the back of his pick up. I hurriedly vacuumed up all the “rice” and sawdust, and checked everything in the basement for further evidence of the infestation. I am happy to report I found nothing. You can see some of the larva and the green part of the rug they chewed.
Further research informed me that wool rugs rolled up and kept in the dark are prime targets for carpet moths. So are parts of wool rugs that are laid out on the floor but underneath tables and other furniture. The moths themselves are quite small, with maybe 1/4-1/2 inch wing span. I am thankful that all my sweaters are upstairs in cedar lined drawers. Ish!!
Ever had insect damage? What do you have in your house that you haven’t checked on for a while?
Right or Wrong
Today marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing on an island near the Bahamas and believing he was in Asia. My, was he wrong. No one in my father’s family was ever wrong, so they thought. They believed they were really French. They just couldn’t reconcile themselves to be Dutch. In reality, they are Frisian, but how do you explain what that means? I never expected Ronald Reagan to be elected president. My, was I wrong.
When have you been really, really, right? When have you been really, really, wrong?
Irony
Tuesday the temperature here was 75. Yesterday we had a winter storm blowing in. I was getting ready for work yesterday and I noticed a large welt on my calf. It was a mosquito bite! I searched and saw it flying around in the dining room. The little devil got me while I was wandering around the house with my coffee cup. It probably stowed away in the spinach I harvested on Tuesday night. How ironic! A mosquito bite on the day of a snow storm.
What are the recent or not so recent ironies in your life? Got any good mosquito stories?
Better Living Through Electricity
I notice that today marks the anniversary of the introduction of the electric blanket in 1946. It sold for $39.50. I suppose that was quite a bit of money for that time. My parents talked about the wonders of rural electrification in the 30’s and 40’s, and how that was such a help for them and their families. I remember that my mother bought an electric blanket in the 1960’s, and what a weird thing it was, with this plastic polyester fabric that had these hard tube-like things inserted in it, and a thermostat that hung out of the edge of it. I suppose it made sense if the gas you paid to fire your furnace cost more than the electricity that came our of your outlets.
We rely heavily on our weird Swedish mixer for kneading our bread, our Breville food processor for chopping everything imaginable, and our Chinese grinder for coffee and spices. I suppose that electric blankets were ousted by down comforters for economy and convenience. We use our down comforter all year.
We are expecting a major winter storm in the next day or two, and I have made sure the remote starter for our gas stove in the basement is operational in case we lose power and I need to heat the house.
What electric appliances do you rely on? How do you keep warm?
Comic Duos
Today is significant in history for the 1927 release of The Second Hundred Years, the first Laurel and Hardy film in which they appeared as a team, as well as the 1942 debuts on radio of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and a weekly show by Abbott and Costello. It is also the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire. I suppose Mrs. O’Leary and her cow are a duo, but they are not terribly comic.
Talk about your favorite duo, comic or not.
Trail Baboon 