Ode to a Pet Rock

With the passing of the "inventor" of the pet rock, it's time to consider it's impact on society.

I remember it well in the early 1970's.  I was one of those kids who really wanted a pet rock - just like everyone else.

Then it was explained to me that it was just a rock.  It didn't do tricks.  It could not be taken out for walks.  That's when I learned what a "fad" was.  And a "scam."  Suddenly, consumerism was suspect!  The very idea that people would try to sell something useless....I was appalled.

But now I'm just used to it.

Now I see that rocks would never make for good pets.  And I have (too many) real pets anyway.  Make room for Rocky!

Did you have a pet rock?  Tell us about it.

What to Wear When You Don't Want to be Hugged

Ouch.

Need for Mead

Last Spring, a friend took me to a local meadery.  At first, I thought she said, "Meatery" and was wondering if I would like being in a place with that much meat around.  But once I figured it out, it was quite wonderful.

Complex and amazing flavors, courtesy of our good friends, the honey bee nation.

After attending a seminar on how to make mead, which left me completely confused with its combination of science, cooking, and the ever-befuddling tools, much debate among friends led to the eventual first attempt this past weekend.

The problem, as far as I can discern, is that there are so many variances in recipes for the "basic" recipe of mead, as well as the differences of opinions of technique.  Since I'd just been through this with making a turkey, which also has a vast array of techniques and recipes, I was really too tired to wade through them.

But that didn't stop us.  We went for it anyway.

Here are the non-honey ingredients - interesting things like "yeast nutrients" and something else I can't remember or read from the blurry picture.

And here it is transferred into its home to (hopefully) begin to bubble and ferment:

Yes, another blurry picture, but this has nothing to do with actually consuming mead (not ours, the professionals'), which was done by two of the three of us to keep us motivated and hopeful.

It's currently in Pat's pantry (not code) where we hope no explosions occur.  Of course, we tend to always hope no explosions occur of any type at Pat's, but this is just one more possibility.

Here's hoping for good mead with no bitterness.  There's enough of that in the world.

This Ain't No Bus Stop

It's been awhile since I published anything (at all), but specifically, under the category of Things I See Along the Road.  That's right, an innocent walk with the dog(s) reveals all manner of trash, like the dumped roof shingles that have been piled up for over a month.  However, that's not really noteworthy.

But this was:

Perhaps some kind soul has seen me walking the dogs and thought I may need a soft place to rest.  Tilly did give it a thorough inspection, and didn't react to any hidden drugs.  Of course, she doesn't really have any training in that area. 

There was another piece of this sectional just about 50 feet away, and it was upside down.  So the question remains, was one tossed and one placed carefully upright?  Did they both fall randomly from a truck?

This could be a caption contest.