I’m feeling somewhat so-so today. I’ve got the blah’s for some unknown reason and it’s making me a little crazier than usual. I have a number of small projects to do but my motivation has disappeared. It shouldn’t be this way but it is. Even though the weather is beautiful, the house, garden, and yards look as good as they ever have, I’m still blahhhhhh.
Todays title is mish/mosh and it’s the perfect descriptor of where my head is at. Todays posting will contain almost anything that crosses my mind with no rhyme or reason. To start off this list of so-so crap will be today’s celebration of a stupid flower. For years my better-half and I wanted to find and to grow white iris’s. We have hundreds of blue or purple iris’s but white ones seem difficult to find. Last summer we stumbled on a white iris plant that we purchased, gently planted, watered, and babied hoping against hope to see a bloom this year. Our wish was granted this week when this bloom made it’s first appearance.
I can’t believe I actually became excited by this but such is my life these days. Every little special moment must be celebrated no matter how lame I may have thought things like this were in the past. With that in mind here are a few updated photo’s of the garden and yards now that the weather has warmed and the plants are really taking off.
As you can see I have chives growing every where. The main reason is exactly what you see, gorgeous blooms throughout the garden. Later I’ll harvest them and have dried chives for cooking next winter. It’s just a beautiful plant for those of us who love beautiful flowers and the always delicious taste of onions.
Over the years our herb and vegetable garden has changed dramatically as we experiment with plants that can be easily stored, canned or frozen for our own use. Most of the herbs are culinary with the exception of the catnip, apple mint, spearmint, and peppermint. The catnip is permitted only because it’s removal would really piss off the neighbor’s cat if he couldn’t stop over for a buzz every so often. The mints can be used for tea or potpourri when dried but we don’t use them all that much. They just supply a wonderful aroma as you walk through the garden.
There you have it, another posting of my disturbingly blah day. The better-half and I have an upcoming day trip to Kennebunkport, Maine which should make for a few interesting photographs of the harbor and surrounding area. That should make my next posting a bit more interesting . . . or not.
BLAH ! ! !
I figure by now most of you are tired of hearing about my Texas trip and I understand completely. While I understand I still have one more day from the that trip I need to tell you about. It was my final day in Dallas before my ill fated flight home.
The day started with an omelet cooked superbly by my nephew and was filled to the brim with diced jalapenos. If that doesn’t get your heart started then there’s something very wrong with you. We then took a cruise in my nephew Mustang. It’s a car he’s spent a great deal of time and money getting as perfect as possible. It is one beautiful machine and it rode like a dream and was as fast as lightning.
While cruising around the metroplex we did a little people watching and ran into a mobile Texas furniture store parked in a mall parking lot. We saw a number of these vehicles during my short visit and it fascinated me. It’s definitely not something I’m used to seeing here in Maine.
We eventually arrived at the Texas Land and Cattle restaurant and I was really looking forward to another excellent meal. I wasn’t disappointed.
As you would expect the interior was all Texas all of the time. These two wall decorations and this saddle display were very cool and brought home the western ambiance in a big way.
The meal was a piece of soft and tender smoked sirloin with jalapeño sauce. The asparagus was cooked perfectly and was almost as tender as the sirloin.
We finished the meal and made our way home because I always need my beauty sleep before I go a-flying. I wasn’t really looking forward to my flight even though I’ve flown hundreds of times. I just hate flying and airplanes in general. That’s one of the reasons I liked skydiving so much. I’d rather jump out of a plane than depend on an unknown pilot to get me down safely.
This last photo was taken at Reagan National airport in DC at 3:00 am the next morning, where I was sleeping on the floor of the terminal. It’s the ceiling of the terminal from that perspective. I couldn’t sleep so a snapped a few pictures.
UNITED AIRLINES SUCKS
I’ve been a lover of good Mexican food for years and after meeting my better-half (a good old down home Texas girl) and traveling to Texas on a number of occasions I was hooked. During my recent trip to Dallas I was taken to this Mexican restaurant by my nephew who assured me I would be getting authentic Mexican fish tacos. I was excited for the meal and as we arrived I could hardly wait.
True to his word the fish taco’s were to die for. We ate two huge plates of tacos, chili beans, and rice. They drizzled an outrageous jalapeño cream sauce over the tacos that was so damn good it makes me hungry just thinking about it. Four gigantic peach margaritas later and we were destroyed. We slowly and safely made our way home and sat for hours because we just couldn’t move.
They also supplied us with chips and salsa which was good but the Verde sauce was the best. It was not quite a salsa and not quite a sauce. It also wasn’t quite hot enough for me so I decided upon my return to Maine to create a version of my own.
My better-half and I made a visit to a local South of the Border restaurant after my return to fulfill my ongoing taco obsession. It only made me want to create that Verde sauce even more. I thought about it on the way home that night and the next morning I was off to do some early food shopping.
I found the tomatillos, jalapeños, and pickled green chilies to which I added a few spices, some onions, a little jalapeno vinegar and cooked it all until soft. I threw it into a blender and liquefied it for five minutes and OMG. My eyes began watering as soon as I took the lid off of the blender.
Later that day the better-half made a pan of enchiladas over which I sprinkled a cautious amount of the hottest thing I’ve ever created. It was mean, nasty, smoking hot, and freaking delicious.
I was able to can almost a dozen jars of this sauce and it will definitely be used sparingly and as often as possible. I’m already planning the next batch so I can turn down the heat a little to make it palatable for all those so-called lovers of hot food who I’m pretty sure wouldn’t be able to handle this sauce.
“The Finished Product”
We’re having a rainy, gray, and gloomy day today with little or no chance of sunshine. It’s an inside day where I can catch up on a myriad of small tasks that I tend to ignore so I can go out and enjoy the nice weather. Honestly it doesn’t take much for me to blow off these tasks but unfortunately the list keeps getting longer and longer until I’m forced to do something.
I’ve been in the process of redesigning my man-cave which requires a few large tasks and many smaller ones. Sometime ago I ordered two wooden wine boxes. They arrived two weeks ago and were immediately stored away and pretty much forgotten. Today is their day.
Yesterday I made a short trip to one of my favorite retailers, Michael’s. My aim is to line both boxes with felt and to create brackets to hold many of my glass wine making tools. They include a small collection of hydrometers, a large thermometer, vinometer, and a wine thief. The hydrometer is used for measuring the sugar content of the wine during fermentation. The thermometer is a long one that is used to measure temperatures of the "must" in the earliest stages of fermentation. The vinometer is a small glass device that uses small samples of wine to determine alcohol content and proof. Lastly the wine thief is just a glass tube used to extract samples of wine in the final stages of fermentation to test the flavor and finish. I added a spray adhesive to my purchases along with four sheets of royal blue felt and two pieces of balsa wood. I was ready to get to work.
“The Finished Product”
In years past I’d been forced to replace these delicate devices due primarily to my clumsiness during moving from place to place or during general use. Hopefully this small project will keep future damages and costs to a minimum. I returned home and began pulling out old file folders from my archives looking for a collection of old and unique wine labels I’d collected many years ago. A perfect decorative addition to these boxes.
A few hours later I had one box completed to my satisfaction and the second coming along nicely. I should have the second one completed tomorrow and then I can move on to the next task on my list. The bigger tasks of building a new siphoning table and shelving units can wait until the better-half has vacated the premises and is on her way to the left coast.
I’ve spent the last few days complaining about United Airlines and the terrible time they gave me while traveling. So today maybe I should calm down and thank my nephew for being such a good host. I’d hate to make people think that my entire Memorial Day weekend had been totally ruined because of an unfortunate incident when it really wasn’t.
I managed to drag my camera around with us during my visit and took a few hundred photos. I thought I’d share some of them with you today, These first few are of the highlight of the trip as far as crazy delicious food was concerned. The name of the place is The Hard Eight and this was the line at the entrance when we arrived. You could smell that barbecue for miles around.
As we waited in line the smell of cooking meat was overwhelming and as we approached the grill station it got even worse. This is their outrageous version of a menu hanging on the wall.
And then you walk to the grill and see this.
You can almost smell it just by looking at these pictures. You choose your meat, it’s placed on a tray covered with wax paper, it’s weighed and priced and then your off to the dining room to choose your side dishes.
We enjoyed the band playing C&W music as we ate and OMG was it incredible. We ate until we couldn’t move and then just sat there to enjoy the atmosphere for a few minutes. The prices were reasonable and I’d recommend this establishment to anyone going anywhere near Dallas. It’s barbecue heaven.
This was just day one of the trip and I have many more photo’s that will follow in the next week or so. I also feel somewhat obligated to introduce all of you to my new best friend and Texas bedmate. She made me feel right at home and actually snored and kicked less than my better-half does in Maine. Her name is Pepper.
Thanks for a great time Mike.
Well I’ve calmed down somewhat after my fiasco of traveling home from Texas. It’s time to get back to normal and return to my quiet life without airlines, crowds of people, and over priced everything.
I climbed back on my trusty treadmill yesterday and I’ve got to say it was a real wake-up call. I went a full week without much exercise and starting up again was a killer. I just have to keep pushing myself to reach that final weight loss goal I’ve targeted. I really thought that after the Texas trip I’d have to work double hard to regain motivation to lose whatever extra weight I’d gained on the trip. The biggest surprise I had was when I weighed in showing a two pound loss bringing my total weight loss since last November to 38 pounds. Hooray for me. I’m now only ten pounds from my goal. With any luck I’ll be there by August and then I can really celebrate. Ten months of oranges, radishes, cashews, and protein will make any celebration an improvement in my diet.
It’s back to gardening, yard work, and preparing for the better-half’s trip to Los Angeles in a few weeks. The Spring seems to be flying along very quickly but Summers coming. I just wish the winter months came and went as quickly as these months seem to. As I lay on the floor of Reagan National airport the other night trying to catch three winks I could only fantasize about getting back to gardening without the fear of traveling nightmares. This young lady has a couple of gorgeous flowers that make her garden a sheer delight.
I’m planning on a major overhaul of my man-cave while she’s gone and I’m beginning today to collect the materials I need. The cave is getting a little crowded so I need to rearrange things a bit. My winemaking area will be expanded to include a new multi-level siphoning table as well as new shelving units for my assortment of accessories. I need more storage to accommodate the ever increasing number of wine bottles. I need that wine because it helps me relax me so I can continue my gardening fantasies.
This is my gardening helper. She’s in charge of all of my gardening tools and their maintenance. She’s a lovely young lady who is exceptionally talented.
Once my man-cave project is completed I can get down to cooking a little. I had dinner in a Mexican restaurant while in Dallas and we feasted on the best fish taco’s I’ve ever had. Along with the tacos we thoroughly enjoyed the chips and salsa and a Verde salsa that was unbelievable. It was citrusy and smoking hot and wonderful. It’s time for me to create my own version of that salsa. I’ve made a lot of salsa over the years and it should be fun to give this a try. I honestly think that this trip and the continuing Tex-Mex influences of my Texas born better-half are turning me into a wannabe Mexican. I know, it’s hard to believe and I’m as surprised as anyone.
The remainder of this summer should be fun and a great time to relax before Canning season starts in September. One last gardening fantasy before I go. Oh man do I love gardening . . . . .
I love passing along information that will possibly help some of you travelers out there in making your vacation or long weekend trips worth doing. I’ve just spent the Memorial Day weekend in Dallas and it was one of the best holidays ever. There always seems to be a few bothersome issues when traveling which tend to gripe my ass and that’s the topic for today’s discussion.
I really only have one travelers tip for you based on my recent travels. Never fly the freaking friendly skies of United because believe me they’re not that damn friendly. United Airlines sucks and I intend to spell out the entire nightmare they put me and a few hundred of my fellow travelers through on Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday night, Wednesday’s wee hours of the morning and into Wednesday afternoon.
My trip began perfectly with a flight to O’Hare in Chicago last Friday, on time and no problems to complain about. I was filled with holiday cheer and was having good thoughts about the entire world and everyone in it. That lasted approximately two and a half hours until the United Airlines curse began. I was due to land at Dallas/Fort-Worth at 11:15 pm and my ride was waiting patiently for me. Honest, he really had nothing better to do than to waste his time waiting for United to get their act together. Finally after some typical airline BS I arrived in Dallas late. Being the forgiving soul that I am I cursed quietly under my breath and just let it go. I really do hate to be forced into any situation being controlled by any airlines but since it’s one of those times when they have you by the cojones , you’re screwed.
My holiday weekend was terrific with barbecues, tacos, and smoked steak headlining the menus. Unfortunately the fun had to end and as we drove to the airport for my return home I began to have premonitions of the coming disaster. As we flew out of Dallas a storm front arrived and eventually extended all the way to Dulles in Washington making for a really bumpy ride. We landed just ahead of the front and I had only thirty minutes to make my connection for the second leg of my journey to Maine because we arrived a little late.
United in their indisputable logic required me to run like O.J. Simpson across the terminal, jump into a shuttle bus to reach another terminal where I arrived out of breath and barely made the flight. All of us cattle herded ourselves into a small version of the Boeing 707 that held approximately a hundred idiots like me. Starting out the steward had difficulty making his safety announcements because his microphone appeared to have a loose wire of some sort. It was screeching from the feedback so loud no-one could understand him. Then the pilot announced a fan equipment failure and a half hour delay. That delay caused us to miss our take off window before the storms hit and we then had to sit through a wall of thunderstorms trapping us on the tarmac. Two hot and sweaty hours later the pilot tells us the flight has been cancelled because of other maintenance issues.
We were directed back to the terminal into the supposedly capable hands of the oxymoronic "Customer Service" crew. They herded us into a line of almost two hundred other people and offered only three Customer Service agents to handle all of our problems. As we waited endlessly in that line they announced we should call 1-800-UNITED1 for additional ticketing help.
To make a long story short the morons had me on hold for one hour before I got to talk to a human being who then told me there were no flights to Portland until Thursday with very few seats available on them. He then passed me along to another so called expert who put me on hold again. My phone ran out of power at that point and I was forced to stand around for another hour in that line to get help from their three overwrought agents. I felt bad for them but unfortunately this nightmare was about me. Also during that time my luggage, a small carryon that I had been forced to bag check in Dallas, had been sent into the black hole that is the United baggage claim system and disappeared.
Their first recommendation when I reached an agent was that I upgrade to a first-class ticket for an additional $226.00 and they could get me on a flight to Boston within the hour. Then I could rent a car and drive the rest of the way to Maine at my expense of course. I won’t repeat exactly what I said because it was extremely rude and crude. Lets just say that agent immediately understood I wasn’t interested.
I’d like to take a moment here to thank the lovely and friendly blonde lady from Yarmouth, Maine whose name I never got. She was sweet and calm and kept me from erupting into a full blown maniacal rant while we stood in that line. As I promised her, I have nothing but nice things to say about her. I told her about this blog and she was worried I might say something derogatory.
I strong armed that United agents into finding me a flight on another carrier, US Airways, but I had to shuttle across Washington DC to Reagan National Airport ($30.00 for a fifteen minute ride) and arrived there at midnight. I should also tell you that United refused any compensation to any of the travelers even though most were forced to get motel rooms that averaged $150.00 a night (I wasn’t one of them to be sure). They claimed the cancellations were totally due to the weather and never mentioned any of the maintenance issues we’d been told about by our pilot. Maintenance issues require them to compensate travelers so I wasn’t all that surprised when they didn’t hesitate to screw us all. A bunch of lying, uncaring, arrogant assholes to categorize them as nicely as possible.
I have to tell you that I had a lovely night sleeping on the floor of the terminal at Reagan National airport with eighty of my now closest friends who also refused to be coerced into paying out of pocket for motel rooms. I finally flew home to Portland today with US Airways and arrived at three o’clock this afternoon. Along with all of the other BS, I lost my Kindle Reader as I was scurrying around trying to get home. I hadn’t had a decent meal for thirty hours and I had the pungent aroma of a disgusting farm animal or so I was told by my better-half when she picked me up.
Thanks for nothing United Airlines. May you and your entire operation rot in hell. You’ll never see me again.
Well the Texas trip is finally here and I’ll be flying off to Dallas tomorrow. I don’t intend to do any blogging until sometime next week, probably Wednesday at the latest. I’ll be taking a break from working out, blogging and everything else as well. That’s what a vacation is supposed to be and I’m going to make the most of it.
This week I finally planted the last few plants in the garden. I have others breaking ground as we speak and so far everything is doing fine except for the asparagus. All of those I gently planted are doing absolutely nothing. I purchased a bag of asparagus roots and knew at the time it was a big gamble. I have yet to buy either flower bulbs or veggie roots packaged that way that have actually grown. I’ve finally learned my lesson, never again. Next year I’ll try to find asparagus seeds and start my own plants. Hopefully I’ll have more success.
“Zucchini”
As you can see the garden has made significant progress in the last week. The plants are loving the warmer nights and are jumping out of the ground. As you can see I have more chives than I know what to do. When I return I can look forward to a day spent filling the dehydrator with chives for our use through next Winter.
“Cherry Tomato’s”
Starting tomorrow I can kick back and relax for a few days and enjoy my trip. It will be nice to enjoy the warm and sometimes hot weather in Dallas. It should help me shake off the effects of this last Maine Winter. My summer will officially start when I return home next week fully rested and relaxed.
“Left Side”
“Right Side”
I hope you all enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and that the weather cooperates. Show the flag, cook a few burgers and dogs, and toast all of our former and current Vets. Without their service we wouldn’t have much to celebrate.
No journal entry today because I need a bit of a break. I thought doing something a little different, interesting and off-beat might be just the ticket. I think I’m mentally already on vacation because I’ve started procrastinating many of my normal tasks and putting them off until I return from my Texas trip. I’ll begin preparing for that trip today.
My better-half is also preparing me for the trip by giving me her list of things I’m supposed to bring back for her. Since she was born in Texas and thinks she’s a real Texan, I’m being instructed to bring back a load of stuff. I just smile and nod my head so she’ll walk away happy but come on. Her list keeps getting longer and longer but I’ve managed to pare it down a little. She requires between 5-10 interesting Texas post cards. She’s something of a collector and loves sending random cards to her Mother who lives in Delaware.
She also wants me to somehow carry or ship home a few dozen tamales. She’s obsessed with Mexican food, especially the traditional style tamale. I think it was something special from her early childhood or so she says but I honestly don’t see that request being honored. Next on the list is a pair of cowboy boots or a western hat for the grandson. This one I might make happen if I can get away with spending a reasonable amount of money. The way he’s growing anything I buy will be too small within a month or two so I made no concrete promises on this request either.
Next on her list is her wish for two T-Shirts with some sort of Texas theme. I quote her as best I can, "nothing pornographic, dirty, or stupid". With that list of don’t’s the chances of pleasing her are now slim and none. As with all of her requests, I’ll figure something out once I get there. If I could find a small petrified chunk of horse droppings I’d buy that for her in a second because it would pretty closely reflect my feelings on this entire matter. Maybe I’ll just buy a really dirty T-Shirt for the grandson that he can wear when she comes to visit. Any eighteen month old can get away with wearing something like that and it would absolutely make her crazy as well. That’s called a Win-Win in any language.
Enough of that, now let me throw a short collection of useless things your way. These are things you never really never wanted to know or even cared about.
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The line “Three quarks for Muster Mark!” in James Joyce’s Ulysses provided the name for the subatomic particles now known as “quarks”, named by physicist Murray Gell-Mann.
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“Transurphobia” is the fear of haircuts.
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Dylan Thomas once unkindly pointed out that, except for one misplaced letter, T.S. Eliot’s name spelled backwards is “toilets”.
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The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.
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The single dot over the lower-case letter “i” is called a “tittle”.
And finally for all you nerds out there:
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The letters of the word SHAZAM, which was shouted to conjure up comic-book hero Captain Marvel, stood for Solomon’s wisdom, Hercules’s strength, Atlas’s stamina, Zeus’s power, Achilles’s courage, and Mercury’s speed.
How’s that for a really useless tidbit?
My goal today is to give all of you a tip. After you get to a certain age never, I repeat never, make dandelion wine. I know that sounds stupid but let me explain. Over the years I’ve made dandelion wine a few times and it always tastes so incredibly good you might wonder why I’ve only made it a few times. The main reason is the amount of work that goes into making it. It’s a labor intensive project that becomes more difficult as you age.
Yesterday I was out in the garden just walking around and happy to see that everything I’ve planted has broken ground and looking healthy. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts the garden is well underway and my batch of red wine is bubbling happily along. I knew I wanted to make a second batch of wine but really hadn’t decided what it would be. As I was thinking and walking the mail lady pulled into my drive way with a package for me. It was a small order of winemaking materials I recently ordered to replace what had been used on the red wine. It must have been a sign from the wine drinking gods.
As I opened the box to check the order I glanced out the window and noticed that my yard was covered with freshly blooming dandelions. I decided at that moment to make a batch of dandelion wine out of those blossoms found in my yard. I should have had my head examined but foolishly prepared for the project anyway.
I dragged a plastic bag, a pair of latex gloves, and an already sore back into the yard and got to it. Over the next hour I harvested a few thousand dandelion flowers and filled the bag to the top. I started out just bending over to get the blossoms but the sorer my back became the more I thought about calling it a day. It wasn’t long before I was forced to my hands and knees to complete the collection process. One of my latex gloves had torn and that hand was now a bright yellow that took some serious scrubbing to remove. I now had the hands of a thirty-year smoker.
I finished up and returned to the house to try and work out the kinks in my back and neck. Unfortunately the worst was yet to come. I wanted to make at least three gallon of this wine which requires five full cups of petals per gallon. The next step was to sit on the deck for another two hours with with a fresh set of gloves and a huge glass of icy cold Sangria. I sat there and slowly and meticulously began removing the petals from the stems. With my hands painfully cramping I finally reached my goal of fifteen cups of dandelion petals.
“Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab”
To make a long story short, I returned to my man-cave, gathered the remainder of the required ingredients and finally had the batch prepared. I placed the blossoms into two gallons of filtered water and boiled them for twenty minutes making a beautiful golden yellow liquid. I added the other ingredients as well plus seven pounds of granulated sugar and allowed the mixture to cool. That took a few hours and it wasn’t until after dark that I was able to finally able to add the yeast.
If I’m lucking and barring any unforeseen catastrophes, I should get at least 15-17 bottles of a gorgeous golden wine in approximately three and a half months. Was it worth the effort? I’ll let you know as soon as I can use my hands again and I can bend over without screaming.
This had better be the best damn wine ever made.
everyuselessthing.com 