Tag Archives: Featured

2024, Family, Food, Uncategorized

New Diet

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A member of our extended family has developed gluten and lactose intolerance due to an autoimmune disorder. I am helping with diet ideas and foods to help her find some yummy new things to eat. I ordered a bunch of gluten free baking products for her from King Arthur Baking Company, as well as 9 pounds of lentils and quinoa from other sources. . She likes Asian and Indian food, so that helps a lot.

I would have a really hard time giving up wheat and dairy products. I suppose there is a grieving process when something like this happens. I was surprised, though, at how many of the foods we like to eat are actually gluten free. Beans, corn, lentils, rice, quinoa, all gluten free. Ice cream, half and half in my coffee, those would be hard to go without. I love dairy products. It is comforting that butter is relatively lactose free. It is a good thing our relative doesn’t drink beer, which is full of gluten. I am hopeful she will feel better with her new diet.

What foods would be hard for you to give up? Any tips or recipes for someone venturing into a gluten and lactose free life?

2024, Family, Fantasy, Food

Never Underestimate the Power…..

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I don’t remember when I found my donut at Sunstreet Breads… it was before pandemic, I do know that.  All these years it’s my Wednesday default… donut and raspberry cream scone.  Throughout all that time YA has only been moderately interested.  Some weeks she’ll ask for a savory treat (spinach swirl, sweet potato chevre bundle…) and occasionally a fruit turnover of some kind.  Some weeks nothing.

Then last week she asked for a donut.  Doubletake on my part but I got her a donut.  The gal at the bakery was surprised as well when I said two donuts.  When I asked YA how she liked it, her lukewarm response was “it’s OK”. 

So imagine my surprise when yesterday morning she asked “Can you get me two things?”  The blueberry turnover and… wait for it… a donut.  “They’re good” she commented when I looked at her as if hot frogs were on the loose.

Have you ever turned someone to the Dark Side?

2024, animals, books, Mysteries, Words

Chewing on Words

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I’m still working at my Italian every day… some days more than others. Having done some Spanish and French in my youth, I love seeing some of the resemblances. Every now and then though, I get thrown for a loop. Yesterday Duolingo served up “in bocca al lupo” for “good luck”. In bocca al lupo means literally “in the mouth of the wolf”. I have actually heard the phrase “buona fortuna” in the past so finding a reference to a wolf sent me straight to the internet. Apparently In the mouth of the wolf is when something needs to be warded off… like when they say “break a leg” in the theatre. “Buona fortuna” is your basic good luck.

Thinking about this reminded me that a few months ago Duolingo let me know that “bookworm” is “topo di biblioteca” which translates to “mouse of the library”. Fascinating. In looking into that one (yes, I do check up on Duolingo occasionally), here are some others I found:

• English/Serbian/Russian/Thai – bookworm
• Italian/Romanian – library mouse
• Arabic – book moth
• Chinese – book fool
• Greek – book eater
• Danish – reading horse
• French – ink drinker

Of course the reading horse is the most intriguing (PJ, is this correct?) but I think it’s interesting that there are so many varieties. Just a side benefit to learning a new language!

If you were asked to come up with a better phrase for “bookwork”, what would you choose?

2024, animals, Farming Update, Nature, pets

Supplemental Farm Report

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I went down to the farm two weeks ago; Ben needed some baboons to take some excess eggs off his hands.  This is always fine for me as not only do I get some quality time with my books on CD during the drive, I get to see the farm and I come home with fresh farm eggs.  This is a win/win/win in my book.

Ben gave me a tour of the shed – he’s made a lot of progress since I was there last summer.  I love the windows that look like eyes on the side of the building.  I asked if he has a timeline in mind for when he’d like to have it finished and he said we’ve already blown past that date.  Seems like the normal human condition.

It was a beautiful day and the chickens and roosters and guineas were all out.  Sadly none of the ducks survived last summer.  We did a little chicken math while we were enjoying the sunshine.  Based on how many chicks he orders every year, how long the average chicken lives and how many he guesstimates that he loses every year, I’m thinking he should have about 3,000 chickens.  Somebody’s math is off.

Luna is fabulous.  She wasn’t as big as I was expecting – she’s right between Humphrey and Bailey in size, so they have a great look when they are standing together.  We took a ride up the road on the gator.  The dogs all rode in back until we got up to the fork; they all got out and walked a bit.  Then Humphrey and Bailey got back in and Ben gave Luna the signal to go.  And go she did.  The photo above doesn’t really do justice to her run but at one point we were going 27 miles per hour on the gator and she was keeping just ahead of us.  If you look closely you can see that none of her feet are actually touching the ground. Amazing!

Since there wasn’t any snow cover, there was mud.  It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting (I had brought extra shoes and clothes just in case) but you know me.  I encouraged the dogs at every turn so I managed to get pretty muddy.  I did change my shoes but figured since I was going straight home, I didn’t need to change anything else.

Shower or tub when you get really dirty? Or the hose in the backyard?

2024, Food, home, Mysteries

To Meat or Not to Meat

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I’ve been a vegetarian for 51 years.  At that time there was a company in California called Loma Linda who made a handful of meat analogs; here in the Midwest you could find them in the occasional health food store.  I only tried one of their products once.  Too much money and the taste didn’t appeal too much.  It looks like they are still in business but I haven’t seen their products around here for a few decades. 

Meat alternatives have never been a big draw for me.  We do some vegetarian sausages regularly and occasionally a veggie hot dog or veggie bacon, but that’s about it.  I’m not interested in fake tuna or fake corn dogs or fake chicken filets. There are TONS more vegetarian/fake meats out there these days but I don’t pay too much attention. 

Last week Trader Joe’s featured “Vegan Pepperoni” in their monthly flyer and it caught my eye so I stopped by when I was out and about and picked up a package.  Also got some herbed pizza dough while I was there (pizza dough is in the refrigerated section right beneath the pepperoni – coincidence?

I made the pizza the next day – tomato sauce, pepperonis, green olives, black olives, provolone, shaved parmesan/romano, mozzarella.  It was quite yummy.

There is a half package of the vegan pepperonis left – I will probably make another pizza in the next couple of days.  I’m pretty sure that the pepperonis won’t ben a regular purchase for us.  While they were OK, they certainly didn’t make the pizza stand out.  There are so many good things that can go on a pizza; pepperonis just aren’t necessary in my book.  I’m not sorry I got them, just not looking forward to getting them again.

Have you tried anything new recently?

2024, Business, Farming Update, Seasons

LIFE!!!

72 Comments

The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

This weather! AC one day, heat the next. We had the windows open Monday and the wellhouse heater on Wednesday night.

Sigh. Lately… Every single thing is just a pain. I’m on the struggle bus. Software upgrades before I can proceed, mandatory password changes that take a while to implement, slow drivers, red lights, carwash lines… all very first world problems, but man, it’s exhausting. 

Monday my friend Jason and I spent the afternoon on the roof of the Rep Theater hanging over the edge, mounting a metal strip into which, a line of ‘LED’ lights will go. It’s the usual flat, tar roof, and we got a little dirty. And I have a tender spot by my underarm on both arms…

It’s gonna be really cool when done and working. I’ll have pictures when we get to that point.

I have done several stupid things this week. Fixing all the dumb things I’ve done keeps me occupied.

We have this new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC) at the Rep Theater. It all got turned on last Thursday. Then Tuesday I was doing stuff and out in the lobby I stopped to look at something. I was carrying a piece of gel; A red piece of plastic that goes in front of the lights to give them a color. I had removed a ‘return air’ vent cover on the wall, because we were repainting the wall. I laid the piece of gel in the hole of the vent and walked into another room to check something in there. And of course, that’s when the furnace started back up. And the piece of gel was gone. “Great”, I thought, “you’ve had this for 3 days and already sucked a piece of gel into it.” But I figured, it’s plastic, what could it really hurt? I checked the big air exchange unit, and it wasn’t in there. Oh well.

That night I realized I should check the filter at the bottom of the furnace. Yep, there it is, inside there… but that slot is only an inch wide. I poked at it with a stick until I managed to shove it further up inside the duct. Twenty minutes later, after removing two shields off the furnace, I could get my arm in there and retrieve the gel. Whew.

As part of this whole HVAC project, we removed all the suspended ceiling tiles upstairs. Which exposed all the old telephone lines, old thermostat lines, and the plethora of internet wires the former tenants had used.

Most of which can be removed now. I have tracked down the actual internet line we ARE using for the phones and computers, so I know which one that is. While working on lighting for Hamlet, I cut a couple old phone lines I knew we’re not using so I could get them out of the way.

And then the general manager asked me why the fire alarm panel was beeping. Sigh. Crap. “Communication Error Line 2”. Took me a while to realize even though the phone system is using an internet provider, I still need a regular phone line between the modem and the fire alarm panel. Sigh. Of course I cut three lines; two of them had 4 wires in each of them and one was the size of your pinky finger and had 48 wires in it. Guess which one goes to the fire panel?

Yep, the big one. Phones are low voltage and they are wired using ‘pairs’ of wires. This was all coming back to me as I worked on it. The blue wire with white spots, and the white wire with blue spots are generally the first pair. Then it’s the Green and white pair, then orange and white pair third. Another trip to Menards for phone wire connectors and 40 minutes on a ladder with a flashlight in my mouth and I had that working again.

Did I mention the wind grabbed the side door and broke the door closer linkage? A mile up the road is a door place. Lukas is my buddy in there. I’m a regular. They had the part. Didn’t take too long to replace that, but it was just another thing.

I remember Dale and JimEd talking one morning and JimEd said he needed a sign: “WARNING! TWENTY FOOT CIRLCE OF EXASPERATION!” That’s me lately. Placating myself with chocolate covered peanuts isn’t the best solution, but it’s a yummy one.

Give us a telephone memory. First phone? Favorite phone? Childhood phone number?

2024, Family, home, Music, Mysteries

Endorphins

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Yesterday afternoon, after doing a boatload of errands, I came home feeling… joyous.  I’m not exactly sure why – it’s not my normal go-to reaction to doing errands.  The only think I could think was that yesterday, I finally handled two issues that have been on my back-burner for months.  Neither of the issues is the biggest deal, so it’s been easy to put them off.

The main reason that I addressed both these issues is because this meme has popped up a couple of time the last two weeks:

It’s funny because it’s true of a lot of us, especially me.  But seeing it multiple times felt like an omen that needed addressing.

Anyway, when I got home in my great mood, I asked Alexa to play “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies.  I’m not putting the song up here because if you have any liking for it at all, you remember it.  And if you don’t like it, I don’t want to torture you.  But it’s a happy tune and it’s great to dance to in the kitchen while you’re putting away groceries.  Alexa then went on to play a lot more bubblegum rock – more good boogie music.  Gave the dog and cat some extra afternoon treats.  Texted YA that I love her. 

It makes me wish I had more things I’ve been putting off; wondering if I can recreate this mood at will by playing a silly song by a made-up cartoon group?

Do you ever dance in the kitchen?  Sing in the car?  Or the shower?

2024, Family, Travel

Where Are Your People From

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Husband has decided that it is very important that the next time we travel overseas, we should go to Emden, in northwest Germany to see where my father’s people come from, and then go to Debden, UK to see the village where my dad was stationed during the Second World War. He also wants to go to Edinburgh and other parts of the Scottish lowlands to see where his mother’s people come from. He has no dates chosen for when we will do this, just some time after we move back to Minnesota when I retire.

When we visited my maternal grandfather’s village south of Bremen several years ago I felt a real connection because I still have family who live there. My father’s people left Ostfriesland in the 1850’s, and any connections there are long lost. Still, I think it will be pretty interesting, although it is my understanding that the people who live in Ostfriesland are frequently the butt of jokes in Germany and are stereotyped as backward and somewhat hapless. It will be fun to see for myself. All I know about the place is that it is low, flat, there is water everywhere, and the inhabitants drink more tea per capita than in any other country.

Where do your people come from? Where would you like to travel next, time, money, and health permitting?

2024, Family, home, Uncategorized, work

Spring Cleaning

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This weekend Husband and I are going to have a shred fest, disposing of lots of unneeded documents that we sorted through and discarded last Saturday. For some reason probably having to do with all the renovation in the basement, our housekeeping has really gone south over the past 18 months.

What with Covid and our busy schedules we have had very few guests over to the house in the past couple of years. Last Sunday that changed when Husband gave a cello lesson to one of our church choir members. The aspiring cellist brought his wife along, also a choir member, and we had to do a lot of house cleaning before they came. The dust was awful, and there were countless dog nose prints on the bay window that needed to be cleaned. We even cleaned out closets and brought lots of stuff to the thrift store. We also gave the basement a good cleaning now that the renovations are completely done. We were exhausted by the time we were finished.

We really don’t have a schedule for cleaning. We just do what needs to be done when we see it. I think that when we are both fully retired it will be easier to be more intentional housekeepers. Cleaning closets is pretty low on the list, but it sure feels good when I open the closets and see the organization and fewer things. I have the same approach to cleaning and organizing my desk at work. I have a far too grand, u-shaped desk at work that allows me to have stacks of papers that get bigger and bigger and still leave me room to do my work. You can see how ridiculously big this desk is.

I also have some odd figures that I have acquired over the years that hold pride of place in one corner of the desk. You can see them in the header photo. When the paper piles start encroaching on Moishe and Sigmund, then I know it is time to file things and straighten things up.

What did or does your desk look like at work? What is your decorative style?

2024, Baboon Achievers, The Baboon Congress

Budget Surplus

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For the first time ever, we ended up with a budget surplus on the Trail!  THANK YOU.  

It’s not enough that I will be sending everybody a check for two dollars and sorry but I don’t want to set the money aside and remember to deal with it next year.  No Verily Bank of Minnesota.

So I decided to donate the money.  Took a couple of days to think about it and decided to send it to Project for Awesome 2024.  P4A is the brainchild of John and Hank Green, aka The Vlog Brothers.  It started as a YouTube kind of stunt – people were encouraged to make and upload videos for charity over a 48-hour period to see if they could overwhelm the algorithm and pop to the top. 

It works like this.  P4A runs for 48 hours (noon on Friday to Noon on Sunday) once a year.  Various YouTube creators take turns “entertaining” on a livestream to collect the money.  Hundreds of folks upload videos that advocate for their favorite charities and these videos run throughout the 48 hours and are voted on.  Fifty percent of the money is split between Save the Children and Partners in Health (both favorite organizations of the Green brothers).  The other fifty percent is split between the 30 videos that garner the most votes.  This is serious money – it’s the 17th year for P4A and this year they raised $3.5 million dollars.  All the perks are donated by the various creators and the parent company of P4A (The Foundation to Decrease World Suck) covers the shipping so there are hardly any administrative costs.

I’ve been following John and Hank since 2007 and have donated personally many of those years as well, so I feel comfortable that the project represents the kinds of things that we espouse on the Trail.  I thought about throwing it open for suggestions but then we’d have to have a run-off election because it wasn’t enough money to be able to give some to all of our choices!

If I HAD asked for suggestions, what charity would you choose as a favorite?