Saturday, March 06, 2010, 06:30
Insider Secrets
I am beginning to think that the squirrels around here know something. That is, that they know something I don't know.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have seen more squirrels crossing the road in front of my truck than I have seen all winter long.
A few days ago, when I came around the hill as I was leaving the house in the morning, one little squirrel was sitting in the middle of the road. He was enjoying the sunshine, I think. I kept expecting him to scamper for the trees as I approached, but he did not. He just sat there in the middle of the road in the sunshine. I actually had to stop the truck to avoid running over him.
All at once, he came out of his reverie and became aware of my vehicle. With a twitch of his tail, he hot-footed it to the nearest tree.
One other day, farther along on my journey, I saw another squirrel crossing the road in front of me. That particular squirrel had the funniest-looking short, ragged tail. I think he must have been a very lucky squirrel, because it seemed to me that something must have had him by the tail and he was lucky enough to escape.
I have seen squirrels crossing in front of me on the main highway into town, too, and some of them with that lackadaisical attitude of the one sunning himself on the road not far from my house.
So what's up with the squirrels moving around so much in the morning? Could it be that they are anticipating spring and are eager to get out and "do something?"
To tell you the truth -- me too.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Wednesday, March 03, 2010, 06:37
Tofu or Sour Cream?
Saturday evening I was cleaning up around the kitchen and decided to turn on the television. The only station(s) we can get is the public television station. That's because the tower is about a mile from our house, out in the middle of nowhere.
I am still mystified about the so-called "need" to switch to digital television. Digital television has pretty much wiped out television for some people who live in rural areas who do not care to have to pay for satellite for ordinary network television. As far as I am concerned, it is bad enough to watch network television and to be bombarded by advertising for everything from pharmaceutical companies, cosmetics, and you-name-it, but then to have to PAY for that privilege is just too much.
At any rate, the only of the three public television channels worth watching was the "Create" channel. The others had some sort of music festival. The public television station has three basic channels coming from one main channel.
By the time I was finished with the kitchen, I was very confused.
The first cooking show featured a health-food cook. She talked about using not real, sweet syrup, but something called brown rice syrup and insisted as well that tofu was a great thing to eat for breakfast and that people should never, ever drink coffee.
I would be willing to bet that I would have to travel a long way from our rural community to find something call brown rice syrup.
I won't even dignify the "no coffee" idea with a response. "No coffee" is simply unthinkable to anyone of Norwegian heritage.
The health-food cook also said that chamomile tea and cucumber slices were JUST THE THING for puffy eyes.
Right. Chamomile tea bags and cucumber slices might be JUST THE THING for puffy eyes for someone who is not allergic to ragweed. Unfortunately, for those of us who are afflicted, ragweed and chamomile and cucumber have a cross reactivity. That is, the molecules are so close that your body, if you are allergic to ragweed, thinks the chamomile tea and the cucumbers are ragweed.
I can guarantee you that if I put chamomile tea bags or cucumber slices on my puffy eyes -- my eyes would be swelled shut before I was finished.
After that particular show there was one called "Cooking with Julia" which featured Julia Child.
I was pretty sure that Julia Child was dead, and after a while, I felt compelled to check the Internet. Sure enough, she had died in August of 2004, a day or two before her 92nd birthday.
But, there she was -- Julia Child on the television screen with another person. What a difference. Julia always advocated cooking with butter and cream and sour cream and spent a good deal of her career fighting against the "fear of food" that was starting to run rampant. If food wasn't rich and tasty as far as Julia was concerned, it wasn't worth cooking.
I agree with Julia Child. I mean, really. The woman lived on cream and butter and sour cream and whole milk her whole life and lived to be 92.
LeAnn R. Ralph