Annnd.. its Snowing in NW Ohio

Again.. we have about 10 inches down and its coming down fast. The world looks like a huge jar of marshmellow fluff exploded all over it. So, the kid has no school, and I have sent her out to do some chores. Here is the bird feeder...




Here she is filling the bird feeder




Don't you love winter?

PETA video banned from 2009 Superbowl... wonder why....

This was just... well... WRONG.

Thanks to PETA for making this available for download and distribution.

Tech Support

I work Tech Support for a fairly large software company as one of my seasonal jobs.

This weeks gem...

"Mam' I need your system information, would you please go to my computer, right click and select properties?

"OK"

"Alright, now select the General tab"

"OK"

"Read me what it says under your system information"

"MicroWAVE XP version......"


No wonder nothing worked.

Crockpot Recipie- Sweet Sprouted Wheat Bread FINAL

OK. I'm setting this one down in stone.

First, preheat your crockpot on high for 30 minutes.


Crock Pot Sprouted Wheat bread

Preheat a crock pot 30 min. Grease a cooking pan of some kind that will fit IN the crock ( I use old pyrex bowls)

2 cups milk, warmed ( not boiling) split into two cup fulls
2 Tablespoons of Yeast
3/4 cup of white flour
3/4 cup of honey

In a bowl, mix 1 cup of milk, yeast, honey and white flour.


In a blender, blend one cup warm milk and the sprouted wheat. This chops the wheat up nicely and makes a fluffier, more glutenous loaf.

Dump the milk and wheat into the bowl with the milk, yeast honey and white flour. Mix.

add

1/4 cup old fashioned toasted oats
1/4 cup flax meal ( if desired)

mix again.

add
3 cups whole wheat flour

mix 3-5 min - Note.. the longer you mix, the lighter the bread, This simulates the kneading action of tradional bread methods - my hand mixer worked fine for this.

Let stand 5 min.

Fill Baking Pan about 2/3 with dough. This is not a dry dough, its very wet. put in crockpot on high for about 3 hours. Remove from crock, remove from pan and cool. Voila.

The remaining dough can be frozen for your next batch.

I use an old pyrex bowl in a mini crock - my loaves look a little odd, but this is a delicious sweet snack or breakfast bread, not a sandwich bread, so to me, the difference is better.

SOME NOTES ON SPROUTING WHEAT

Make sure your wheat is only a few days sprouted - with no more than 1/4 inch root tails - otherwise the bread will be grassy and nasty!

Why you should always check your child's homework...

MORE Male Gym Behavior - or Why I am Wiping Nazi

From a board I frequent...

I'm on the elliptical machine and I have the sudden urge to blow my nose but I don't want to interrupt my work out. So I do my best to discretely blow my nose into my hand so I can then wipe with my towel. I proceed to do so, but when i check there is no booger on my hand but my nasal passage was now clear. I spent a few minutes looking for the damn thing. Finally I give up. So I get home and I go to kiss my wife and she goes "what's that on your shirt???????" Sure enough, there was the booger. 30 mins at the gym with a big ass booger on my shirt

And there are people who wonder why I am an Equipment Wiping Nazi? I mean, how many men have done this, horked out a big ol' lugie and then didn't know where it went? Or how about the terminal ball scratchers, those guys that are forever adjusting their set, touching their sweaty gym shorts where there is crotch sweat. Ew.

Then there is that matter of that particular brand of sweat. Have you ever noticed that many of us, male and female, leave a swipe of butt and crotch sweat on the seat of the equipment? Now, have you ever happened to see whats on a piece of TP when you have been sweating there and you wipe it out? That's right, a little bit of doodoo. So if you are butt sweating on the seat of the equipment, you are leaving a little bit of your poo on the seat. Wipe it down for the love of pete! Don't just watch it dry, shrug and walk away!

So in my gym today, I saw a nice big gallon jug of Purell. I was really glad to see that. I mean, short of issuing us rubber gloves, that's the next best thing.

I think I'm going to design a workout condom, so I can work out in pure safety from butt sweats and boogers. Sheesh.

I always feel like.. Somebody's watching me....

And apparently, we had no privacy...



OK, now call me stupid... but I suspect, given the state of things, that these "secret rooms" were used for things that had little to do with terrorism. Just like they stopped that little old woman in the wheelchair for purse searches at the security points in the airports, while letting that big arabian looking guy with ' allah ackbar" on his tshirt through, without a second glance, I am sure that there is going to be a pooload of garbage trailing from this particular galley on the good ship NSA.

The problem with such things is that, when a "terrorist" is not clearly defined, we ALL become the terrorists, if we happen to dissagree. I have plenty of friends both conservative and liberal of late who rail, sometimes quite angrily, against the government. Are our communications, webposts, emails, and phone calls stored in some NSA Database? Probably. I have suspected I'm on some kind of list for some time.

There was a time when most of us assumed " Terrorist" meant a sweaty, shifty muslim fundamentlist with blood in his eye and a bomb in his shoe. Perhaps an IRA gun runner, or a soviet supporter of communism.. certainly it was never Bernie Madoff, ( Have you ever wondered about his last name... mad off... made... off...) though it damn well should have been.

So, it will be quite interesting to see what comes of this story. I have a feeling that there will be a lot of unemployed NSA telecommunications workers soon.

Maybe they can get a job with the new adminstrations bullcrap program, .. if they are not white men that is. After all, there are no disenfranchised, unemployed or underemployed white men... nah. None at all.

Ped Egg - IT WORKS

If you check out the pictures on this site...

you will see some nasty feet.



But not as nasty as mine. I have shameful feet. that nasty cracking, flaking, peeling gross out stuff is all over them. I actually wear through socks and snag carpet with them. I also am too cheap and too broke for pedicures.



I don't know how many of us don't learn proper foot care... maybe a lot of us don't have toenails growing on our heels... but it was to the point where I would wear through pantyhose in seconds. Something had to be done.


So I bought a Ped Egg... and while yeah, I'm thinking of getting a second one to to garlic and hard cheeses with, it WORKS. Call me a sucker with a slap chop, but IT WORKS.

I was able to get that nasty hard skin off my heels so the Blue Goo Heel balm can get in there and acutally DO something.

Perhaps, I will have sexy feet again!

So What If You Just Don't Like Him?

I would like to call your attention to this blog posting from the Libertarian Republican

http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/01/hate-obama-youre-obviously-bigot-or.html

In essence, Tom Brokaw now is saying that if you Hate Obama you are a Bigot or a Redneck.

So what if you just distrust him with the same dose of distrust you had for Bush? What if you just cannot stand being brainwashed and told what to think?

Well, if that makes me a Redneck....

So Just WHAT is middle class?

With all of the class envy and racial remarks spawned by todays inauguration speech, I am right now giving thought to who I am in the New American Order.

First of all, I know I am white. According to the Benediction of the Coronation of the One, I need to be prayed for to " do whats right" not for any advancement or fairness to be doled out to me by the spiritual powers above, or by this government. So I already know that because of my skin color I am now considered lacking in a moral compass. Check.

But the the thing that confuses me is the comment about how our ancestors , those of us alive today, either were Rich Opressors, or felt the sting of the lash, or worked in sweatshops.

So you were either the evil overlord ( translation white) or you were the oppressed poor ( translation blacks and other minorities).

My ancestors were neither. They were Mennonites , who had nothing to do with the industrial culture, or they were Quakers, who while some of them were rich, were all actively involved in ending slavery and its oother socially opressive cultures.

So, ancestrally, I don't fit in to the New Day.

Now, how about where I am economically now? According to this chart;





I am middle class. Well then, why do I not have all the things associated with the middle class? I don't have the hairdo, I don't have the nails, I don't have the lexus, I don't have the country club membership. I don't have the big comfortable house. I don't have the savings. i don't have the investments. I don't have the wardrobe. I don't have the jewlrey. I don't have the land. I struggle to pay the bills

Now, I'm not complaining I have what I have. But according to that chart, me and mine are middle class. Are they going to decide that I need to give up more? Because if I have to give up more that I don't have, I reckon the three of us will sleep in a one bedroom apartment, ride a bike to work, and live on rice. Are they going to take my Saturday Beef Stew and give it to someone on foodstamps, by taxing beef out of my budget? Are they going to take my sunday Pizza and force me to buy one for donation to the poor?

Or.. am I the poor? Am I going to be given handouts of milk and honey by the new administration? Will they give me free healthcare? Big tax credits on my income tax? A chicken in my pot and 40 acres and a mule?

Probably not.. after all, I'm one of THEM... a white person.

Time to change my name to Hiawatha Tushfeather. I Am now one of the opressed! Give me my entitlement damn it, so I can build a casino and fleece all the other opressed! God Bless America!!!!

And for a big, elaborte change...

Its Snowing In NW Ohio!

Happy MLK Day. In honor of this day, I have had my first international visitor, from India. Greetings, brother customer service drone! May your customers be pleasant and may your questions be simple, and may all your contracts be european, so i can keep working here in the the us of O! ( United States of Obama.. after all, he's going to rewrite our declaration ofindependence! )

And may I also tip my hat to... THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAY TO WIN IT!

UPDATED Sprouted Wheat Bread!

OK.. a couple of comments on how to make the sprouted wheat bread.

First. When you sprout the wheat, make sure it doesnt get TOO sprouted. If it is, that will ruin the bread, it will taste like cooked grass, yech.

Second. GREASE THE PAN. Crystal uses Pam, I use lard shortening, both work.

Third.. I think that honey is far superior to molasses as a sweetener. Your opinion may differ.

Fourth... mix 1 cup of the milk with the sprouted wheat in a blender or food processer and pulverize it. This will make your dough much more gluteny like real bread, and makes a really nice tasting loaf.

We were going to take a picture of it.. but it got eaten too fast!

A New WHAT?????

WASHINGTON (AP) — Invoking hope and history, President-elect Barack Obama rolled into the capital city Saturday night after pledging to help bring the nation "a new Declaration of Independence" and promising to rise to the stern challenges of the times. He kicked off a four-day inaugural celebration with a daylong rail trip, retracing the path Abraham Lincoln took in 1861.

Obama began his day in Philadelphia, where he said the young nation had faced its "first true test" as a fragile democracy. He ended it in Washington, where his own tests await after his inauguration on Tuesday.

The president-in-waiting drew on a grand heritage of American giants as he appealed "not to our easy instincts but to our better angels," an echo of Lincoln's first inaugural address. He took note of the enormous challenges that lie ahead and promised to act with "fierce urgency," a phrase often used by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Riding a vintage railcar on his whistle-stop trip to Washington, Obama carried with him the hopes of a nation weary of war, frightened of economic chaos and searching for better days. Vice President-elect Joe Biden joined the journey en route, from his home in Delaware, and spoke for many when he said he was excited and ready for Tuesday.

Then, sobered by the challenges of governing, Biden added: "I think it's Wednesday we need to be ready."

Obama was smiling and confident throughout the day and across the miles, reaching at each stop for history's lessons. In Philadelphia, he noted the risks taken by the men who declared America independent from Britain. In Wilmington, he applauded the state that first ratified the Constitution. And in Baltimore, he hailed the troops at Fort McHenry who beat back the British navy and inspired the poem that became "The Star-Spangled Banner."


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...9krhgD95PBOSG0




And THIS is why I cannot STAND Barack Obama. I don't care that he has little experience. I don't care what color he is or that he knew this person or that person or that his wife wore a god awful dress on nomination night.

We DO NOT NEED a new declaration of Independence. We need to honor the one we have! And we DONT. I am sick to death of BOTH SIDES running their mouths about how great it is that the man on BOTH SIDES is setting us up to be slaves. You heard me BOTH SIDE. Republicrats and Demokins. They ALL SUCK. If I hear hear Rush Limbaugh spouting " free market" one more time I'm going to puke. A TRUELY Free market would mean that I, lower middle class houseperson, could decide to open a restaurant tommorow and do so without liscense, permit, or insurance. If someone ate at my place, they would do so at their own risk. If someone got sick and died, well I guess that would be the end of my business! THAT is a free market!

GOD I hate politicians!

Lil' Birdie

Now, this is a smart bird. He decided to try to sleep right where the food is. My daughter took the picture with her christmas digi cam, its not the highest res, but it did the job. By the time I got my better camera ready, the lil' guy had been swooped by Charlie the Cardinal, and was gone. Charlie and his wife, Gwen, think they own the feeder. Now Bertha Blue Jay does come around a bit, ( Her baby was the one I took the pic of on my wastub last may) but her and Charlie don't get along. If the Cruella DeVilles come in the spring though, that will be a real battle. I'll get a pic of Charlie and Gwen today, hopefully.

See, this is one of the benefits of working out of your house. Your workmates in the next cubicle really ARE for the birds.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Sorry I haven't written dear readers, but its been a busy few days. We had a low of -15 and a low of -11 for two nights, and it wreaked havoc with our autos. Between that and the Saturday Shopping, I've been up to my neck in it.

So, its 18 and snowing in NW Ohio. I have sealed off the front door, by stuffing it with scarves, for the duration. So now I go get the mail by way of the back door, leaving a trail of slightly skewed croc prints in either direction. Yes, i still wear crocs. I think I am the only person who does, since my daughter rarely dons hers, I wear them. They are pink. I did take the funky little flowers out of them so I wouldn't look too ridiculous at the grocery.

So, a crock pot of beef stew is on and I am savoring a cup of hot coffee. Nothing finer.

I'll write more today as I wake up. cheers!

Its -10 in NW Ohio

For the first time in my 45 years, I am living in a region with double digit, negative temperatures. Outside my door at this moment is a wide open span of world that, should one care to, could freeze an egg on the sidewalk in ten minutes.

My little frame house, snug and warm, seems like the entire world right now. Outside is a vast, dangerous white sea of cold, inside snug and warm my daughter is engrossed in a vampire novel, a candle burns on my mantle ( nevermind the fireplace plays DVDs and has cable) and a rich noodle soup is in the crockpot, waiting for the master of this little domain to return home to warm him and nourish his overworked soul.

It occurs to me that this is the center of American life. The little pink houses for you and me ( ok mine's yellow) the little boxes on the hillside, the ramshackle nearly condemed farmsteads where a woodstove heats the main floor, and the palatial McMansions and their deceptive false brick exteriors. Home.

Home doesn't have to be owned. It doesn't have to be a house. It doesn't have to be really anything except a space and a group of people that are family. Family is fluid... we go from 1 person apartments to 2 marrieds to babies and then maybe our kids friends become a fixture. We can be a group of 4 friends or college mates, we can be a few old women who'd rather have a house than seperate apartments. But we are people intereconnected by blood or love, by friendship or by profession.

No matter who is in office... as long as we have our few rooms where we can stay warm and fed, where we can come back to them and be with someone we care for, even if someone is a cat, the world is not too bad a place.

Good Morning! Its snowing in NW Ohio!

So on today's menu is crock pot meatballs. 50 of the little darlings are simmering in saucy goodness, for our eating pleasure later tonight.

I think we will be pretty hungry too. With 6 inches of snow in the forecast, and 10 degrees, I think there will be a lot of hungry campers around here.

So last night, I had a hoot. I watched Dirty Jobs, and Mike Rowe had a combustible toilet that had to be dismantled and cleaned. I have had the (dis) pleasure of seeing one of those in action, as well as dismantled and yes, I have even cleaned one. Its a disgusting, smelly job. I lived with a fantasticaly crazy old hippie who had one in an area where he was not permitted to have a flush toilet by environmental regulations and zoning for a short time.

The thing about combustible toilets is that wonderful smell of burning poo as it goes up in flames. Now, this one that I had the pleasure of knowing was vented via stovepipe, that did help. however, that smell permeated the entire cabin, and a loathsome smell it was. You really haven't lived till you have seen a flaming turd.

so anwyay, I stayed up too late, slept too late, and now I'm on that vampire bat schedule again. Sigh.

And did I say it was snowing?

Crock Pots Rock, and other midweek mind drip

I think I am in love with Hamilton. He is a a steely, sleek creature, with a tightly sealed gasket and a gentle heat that warms you up so gradually you don't even know that you are in him, a part of him, till you are roasting. He smells wonderful, and is very dependable - you just tell him what you want him to do for how long and he does it. What more could a girl want? ( Oh they SHOULD pay me for this, this was good hehe)

Of course Hamilton's last name is Beach, and he's a crock pot. A big 6 quart programmable hunk of appliance that has been feeding my family since pseudo hubby brought him home Saturday. First we had a huge beef stew, then a roast chicken. Today, I am making soup from the chicken's remains. I have found lasagna recipes for him that I can't wait to try.

In other news. its cold and snowing in NW ohio, surprise. On one of my boards, there is a big discussion going on about men in pantyhose. Now, I can understand wanting something under your dress pants for long underwear in this climate that doesn't bulk up, male or female. However, while I like pantyhose for dress occaisions, under pants they do make me perspire ( OK, sweat like a pig... I'm a menopausal woman, what do you want) and that is not comfortable.

What I would like to find, for either sex, is cotton/lyrca tights with feet that are absorbant. I have taken to wearing those 5 dollar wal mart cutsie kidd tights under my pants instead of synthetic materials or bulky waffle weave long johns but without feet, they ride up the calf. I want ones with feet. They need to be 90% COTTON and 10% spandex for everyday comfort. I wonder where I can get them.

well happy tuesday.....

I guess they read my blog.. haha

Now... what I wonder is does this only cover the state/county roads or are they doing to do our lil back roads in town here, as of yet, they have not.


Road Salt Added in Auglaize County

With serious winter weather on the way, it should be reassuring to residents in Auglaize County that the engineer’s office has acquired more salt.

By Frank Barber

Friday, January 9, 2009

With serious winter weather on the way, it should be reassuring to residents in Auglaize County that the engineer’s office has acquired more salt.

Engineer Doug Reinhart says an additional 400 tons has been obtained from ODOT to go with salt that filled the shed from last March.

What’s on hand now should cover any weather event for the rest of the season:

Crews will treat roads intersections and bridges as always, but drivers still have to do their part by using caution.

What the Heck?

Some possible explanations....


Its a giant chicken foot - he ( I think) belongs to a cult of chicken worshipers.

Someone crowned it king.

Its wearing brass knuckles and a brillo pad for a hit job.

Mange.

And now, A Serious Moment - Upstairs Downstairs and the Fall of America.

Bear with me. I do have these spells of thought now and then.

I am an aficionado of those old British historical docudramas, like " Poldark" "Upstairs Downstairs" and the like. I've been watching 'Upstairs Downstairs' since the pulling of the white curtain across fair Wapakoneta Ohio, and I can't help but see similarities to the behavior of the characters and country at the time of The Bellamys and their servants, and the US now.

there are differences.. the British had at least a veneer of their powerful families being based on blood, not money, but scratch the surface, it was all about money. The Bellamys fell in social standing as their money became dissapated by the actions of their unruly children, James and Elizabeth, who, with a string of bad mating and marriages, alcholism, gambling and general debauchery, brought the family to the end of their stay at the fabled Eaton Place. They are a metaphor for what brought Britian down.

I can't help but see the similarities between the times they lived in and the times we are in now.
My generation and the one directly before me are a bunch of James's and Elizabeths. We challenged the existing order, we partied and sexed, we spent like wildfire and we are supposedly now teetering on the brink of disaster.

Well, some of us did.

And are we?

Yes, I am one of those nuts who is socking away some food for a rainy day. Is it because I think we are headed for a third world status? I had to laugh, when World War 1 was announced on Upstairs Downstairs, Mrs Bridges, the housekeeper, socked away a ton of food for the household. Now, she is a kind of apolitical cockney, sort of a conservative but childlike enough to believe if the Kaiser sent his Zepplins to bomb England, she could climb up to the roof and pop one with a hatpin. Her valliance made me think of the people who honestly believe they could take potshots at an invading force of UN soldiers and have an effect, live, should it come to that.

Then you have Mr Hudson's reaction. When the war first broke out, he subscrbed to a muckraking magazine that spread horror stories about the atrocities of the "Huns", and the household was hard put to tell which were truths and which were sensationalism.

What strikes me the most though is how the upsetting of the status quo, a loosening of man made constraints, has the effect of letting the cream rise to the top on its own volition, whether they are "Upstairs" or "Downstairs". I believe this is a natural consequence of Chaos. There is something to be said for the allowance of survival for the fittest, and destruction of a social order makes room for that. The Bellamy Cousin, Georginia, for example, rises above her rich, pampered girlhood to become a very capable nurse, something she would never have been allowed to do in peacetime.

So who are we now, are we James? Or Georgina? ( Never mind the two had a fatal attraction, that doesn't prove my point so we will ignore it haha)

And in the Gotta Try It Department... ...

Irish Cream and Hot Chocolate. FTW!!!!!!!!

The Composition of Heavan

see?

Islam : A Religion of Peace

Yeah.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,477748,00.html

They Stole Armstrongs Portrait

Bastards !


Thief takes off with astronaut portraits in Ohio

Last Update: 1/08 9:40 am

Print Story | Email Story

WAPAKONETA, Ohio (AP) - The post office in astronaut Neil Armstrong's Ohio hometown has a problem with space: there are empty ones where portraits of the lunar pioneer were stolen.

Employees arriving for work on Monday noticed the matted prints were gone from the post office in Wapakoneta about 50 miles north of Dayton.

Postmaster Jennifer Shoup says someone apparently ran off with the portraits from the unlocked lobby sometime on Friday.

Shoup says Neil Armstrong is what Wapakoneta is all about, so the theft is upsetting. She says investigators are examining surveillance video.

The prints of the person who became the first to walk on the moon in 1969 were hung in the post office within the last year after they were discovered in storage.

---

Information from: The Lima News, http://www.limanews.com

Give Up Your Salt, Allen County!

Heard of WIMA Radio...

"Allen County Officials want residents to know they have PLENTY of salt and are ready for what Mother Nature Hits us with"


Fellow Wapakians, I say we go take it! Grab that salt!

Overheard in Wal Mart

Overheard in the Wapakoneta Wal Mart.

Older Woman ( griping about ice on the roads)

Older Gentleman " What you see is what you get!" The salt is too high! Merv wouldn't buy it when it was $71 a ton, now its $210 a ton and the town can't afford it!

Older Woman ( griping about lack of salt )

Older Man "That Merv, he sure is a character".



I guess I won't be doing a lot of driving this week.

Meat - the True Aphrodisiac

I think I know what is the worlds greatest aphrodisiac, at least to the middle aged male.

The scent of meat.

I came across this factoid today, while, you guessed it, at the gym. We have had a crock pot of beef stew going now for two days, and the house is as permeated with the smell of beef as a candle shop is with cinnamon. Hence, my clothing and myself are as well.

I was quite embarrassed when I realized, as I broke a sweat on the leg press, that I reeked of onions and beef. I silently prayed no one would notice.

Now, I have written aobout male behavior in the gym - that is pretty much men under 50, the " dig me" antics. This is the older men, the men with white hair, paunches, and some wrinkles on their faces. These men seldom chat with a woman in the gym or even look at one, they are usually fixated on their headset radios or the news channels on the tube.

However, today, they pulled their eyes, or should I say noses, off the tube.. onto me.

My first clue came when I passed close to a wild bearded gent of about 60. This guy never talks to anyone, but as he inhaled his eyes widened and he actualy said "oh scuse me mam" Shocked I replied " thats OK" not sure what i was to excuse.

Tthe next clue came as I was on the arm circuit. Now, I sweat more there, my upper body is for crap, and the machines are closer together. An obvious farmer, ( you can tell because he works out in his work pants, flannel shirt, workboots and a hat with "AGRO" on it ) took an audible sniff. You know, like a dog. Sniff Sniff. My face must have been beet red. However, when I got off the machine, he jumped off his ( the one I needed next), wiped it with a flourish and said " here you go, miss"

At this point, I was beginning to understand why Burger King is selling eu de flame broil.

The final straw came in a somewhat log jammed doorway ( We are expecting a snowstorm here tonight, so a lot of the farmers who would come in to work out tonight or tommorow were showing up this morning) When I, in full post workout soak, came into physical contact with several of these salt of the earth men at once. They all greeted me kindly ( which they NEVER do) and one actually said "Who's cookin in here, something smells GOOD!"

So my advice to the unspoken for lady of a certain age who wants to catch a man.. rub yourself with a pot roast before going man-hunting.

Sprouted Wheat.

So, having some Mormon friends from the Glenn Beck Board, I have always wondered what in the world Mormons would do with all the raw wheat grains they are supposed to store for their church - mandated food storage. Now, if you have a wheat grinder, great, but if you don't, or if you need to use that stuff up before it goes bad ( I mean, even stored wheat doesn't last forever) I wondered what in the world you could do with it.


I have found the answer. Sprouted Whole Wheat

Now, even if you were in a dire situation with no cooking fuel available, you could probably live for some time on sprouted wheat. It's chewable, its sweet and its got a good protein/carb ratio.

Its easy to sprout : in a ventilated container ( I used a christmas cookie bucket from Walmart with holes punched in the lid) measure out a cup of wheat. Cover with warm ( not hot) water, let stand overnight-24 hours. rinse every 12 hours till the wheat has little root sprouts about 1/4 long.


If you want to enjoy the health benefits of sprouted wheat today in a bread, this is what I've been doing. Its cost effective (when compared to buying sprouted whole grain breads in the health food store) and pretty tasty.




Crock Pot Sprouted Wheat bread

Preheat a crock pot 30 min. Grease a cooking pan of some kind that will fit IN the crock ( I use old pyrex bowls)

2 cups milk, warmed ( not boiling)
2 TBLS of Yeast
3/4 cup of white flour
3/4 cup of honey, molasses or both ( or 3/4 brown sugar)

Mix these together .

add

1/4 cup old fashioned toasted oats
1/4 cup flax meal ( if desired)

1 cup ( measured before sprouting) sprouted wheat

mix

add
3 cups whole wheat flour

mix 3-5 min

Let stand 5 min.

Fill Baking Pan about 2/3 with dough. This is not a dry dough, its very wet. put in crockpot on high for about 3 hours. Remove from crock, remove from pan and cool. Voila.

The remaining dough can be frozen for your next batch.

Its really good with homemade fruit preserves on it.

Its Snowing in NW Ohio

Good blustery morning, we have entered the stage of winter now where we get about an inch of snow a day, I call it spit snow. If I see the sun once a week from now till April, it will be a miracle. Makes you long for a vacation in a sunny place like say Israel.. oh wait, never mind ... or maybe the Mayan Riviera... hmm... Wonder if they will be having an end of the world party there on Dec 13, 2012.

Speaking of the end of the world, I'm one of those strange people who thinks that something is " up " and that we are in for big changes. I don't know if it will come at the hands of our current and soon to be former leader ( and I use that term very loosely) and his banking buddies, or if it will come at the hands of the supposedly socialist Barak Obama. I don't know if its the Biblical Apocalypse, the Mayan forecast, the neopagan presumed Gaian "earth changes" ( where she shakes us parasitical humans off like a dog shakes off fleas) or good old fashioned economic collapse.

Probably the latter. I don't have too much faith in hoodoo voodoo, whatever label of faith you put on it. That doesn't mean I don't have faith. I just don't believe in too many grand schemes perpetrated by spiritual beings.

Now, by humans? Suuuurrrrre! Humans are capable of any freaking thing you can think of. The Goatse guy should sure prove that - and if you don't know about him, look it up, I will not sully my pristine pages with THAT.... but yes, humans are capable of anything.

So.. I sit, sipping coffee, waiting for phone calls from people with lots of money who have performed their stupid human trick of the day. My job is to unravel it, while they blame me and my company for all their woes. This causes a lot of stress, so I keep a bird feeder outside my window. Perhaps I'll take some pics of the regulars to share with you.

Until next time..

Male Gym Behavior

So. These days, I am all about loosing girth. I have put on many ugly pounds of flab as a customer service agent, as “comfort food” is also not conducive to looking like Demi Moore. In pursuit of this, I signed up for FitLinxx at my local Y. I really love it, because its an instance where computers make it so I don’t HAVE to think, rather than think ten times more than I would have had to if I’d just have written down what I was doing on a piece of paper.. but I digress…..

So, I go to the gym. What I had forgotten about was Male Gym Behavior.

I used to, back in my svelte, hot and fit days, go to a “guys gym” where women were a decided minority. I loved it, because I could do 130 on a lat pulldown machine, I looked hot, and it was naughty fun to watch the biceps ripple. What I had forgotten about was the completely embarrassing behavior of some men in the gym.

First, you have the normal grunts. These are disconcerting enough, because they sound like the guy is taking a somewhat difficult dump. Then you have the preeners. These are guys who should be wearing a t-shirt that says “check me out”… one of this type is an attendant on the weekends at our gym. He stands around looking good more than he does filling the bottles of disinfectant.

Now, that’s another behavior type… the guy who won’t disinfect. This pig sweats greasy swill all over those nice new 10 grand machines and then swaggers away. The only one who pisses me off more is the one who disinfects BEFORE he uses the machine but not after. Oh, you don’t want my germs, even though I disinfect, but your’s don’t stink? Yeah, I have your number,. Mr Asshole. Next time I get ringworm from The Guy Who Won’t Disinfect touching something I forgot to disinfect, I’ll be sure to fall on you .

The worst though, is the Intentional Grunter. This is the guy who makes his 150lb leg press sound like he’s driving it home to Pam Anderson instead of Tommy. This man can be extremely embarrassing to workout around, as his eyes are always darting to see if you are responding to his primal calls for attention. He is only exceeded by one type in sheer get me out of here factor… and that type is Mr. Proud to Have a Boner. I don’t think we need to explain him.

Until next time….

This is the strangest thing I have seen this week.