Random Notes from a Crank

This past week was one where I became obsessed. On Wednesday I watered my garden as usual to find a whole row of spinach decimated. The spinach I had planted in spring was wiped out. Gone. Some bastard of a rabbit had gotten into my garden and feasted. Later in the week there were nibble marks on some of my lettuce. 

Defensive measures were taken. 

I read online somewhere that rabbits don't like kitty litter, so I poured granular stuff around the perimeter of the garden and then put together a concoction to ward off rabbits that I read about online. That sort of worked, but the next day lettuce was nibbled a bit more. On that Wednesday I also called the place where the whole family goes to get our hair cut to acquire hair clippings. I had been told that rabbits will not cross a barrier where there is human or another's animal's hair. 

On Friday I picked up the hair and arranged it around the perimeter of my garden, which was a strange task. In one grasp of hair, I'd think, "So now it's blond," in another grasp I'd think, "Now we're on to brunette," in another I'd think, "Wow, check out all that grey," and so on. 

The hair clippings seem to be working [Knock on wood.]. If I have any other problems, I'm considering building a moat. Then again, water in a moat just might attract more varmints. 

The one in the family even more obsessed than me is our dog Darby. Rabbits must be under our shed in the backyard because she's been sniffing around it for the same amount of time and "hunting wabbits" on the other side of yard by the neighbor's shed. 

Also, she's been staking out the back fence because the rabbit in the neighbor's yard is using a gap between the two fences a causeway to our other neighbor's yard. Here's Darby on stakeout yesterday.

Music Friday: "Might Find It Cheap," "Love the Way You Walk Away," & "Street Fighting Sun"

A band that I imagine will have a new album out sometime this year or next is Blitzen Trapper. I thought the band's last album was outstanding, so it got into my Top Ten/Twenty Albums of 2011. 

Here's a trio of songs from American Goldwing. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I'm surprised at how many people with small- to medium-size lawns use lawn tractors. What a waste of money when you can buy a basic push mower for so much cheaper. And get exercise. 

When my son was cleaning his room today, he was singing Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." 

Since I've gotten my grill, I've used it every day. 

Here's a maxim to remember: 

• "Strategies without ideals is a menace, but ideals without strategies is a mess." ~Karl Llewellyn

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Bacon-Wrapped, Cheese-Stuffed Jalapenos

This recipe isn't a first run. I did a similar recipe about a week ago, and it was okay. So today I modified it a little bit: used turkey bacon and made sure I used toothpicks. 

Ingredients:
5 jalapenos
3-4 wedges of Laughing Cow creamy Swiss light cheese
Slices of turkey bacon

Process:
Start with the peppers. Chop off the tops of them and use a paring knife to hollow out the membrane and seeds of the peppers. 

Take the spreadable cheese and cram it inside the peppers. Fill them to the brim.

Then it's wrappin' time. I suggest cutting some of the slabs of bacon into halves. Take the half pieces and wrap them atop the pepper so that piece of bacon acts as a cap to where the stem once was on the pepper. Skewer the pepper to hold the bacon there and then wrap one of two pieces of bacon around the rest of the pepper (depending on size of the pepper) and skewer it again. 

Put them on the grill and rotate liberally. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Pimiento Cheese

I've featured pimiento cheese before, but this version isn't such a large recipe. It's a variation of the basic recipe. 

Ingredients:
8 oz. of shredded sharp cheddar
1 4 oz. jar of chopped pimientos, drained
4 oz. of cream cheese
1/4 cup of mayo 
2 green onions, chopped finely
Small dollops of Sriracha to taste
Smidge of smoked paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

Process:
Combine all of these ingredients using an electric mixer. When I did it in my stand mixture, it didn't take more than two minutes.

Here's what it looks like: 

I look forward to slathering this good stuff onto some French bread or putting it atop a burger. 

Music Friday: "Ring of Fire"

Speaking of Johnny Cash, one of my son's favorite songs is "Ring of Fire," another of my favorite songs of his. 

In fact, for a five-year old, he's a pretty good singer. He didn't get that from me. I'm a horrible singer. It must have gotten it from Mrs. Nasty. 

As Cash says, "Love is a burning thing./ And it makes a fiery ring./ Bound by wild desire,/ I fell into a ring of fire." 

Random Notes from a Crank

The craft beer industry has exploded the last twenty years. There's no doubt about that. You could probably go into evan an IGA grocery store and find some manner of craft brew on the shelves. But the beer that began production in 1980 by a homebrewer with dreams is a hard beer to beat still to this day, thirty-three years later. That beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. A damn fine beer. And their Torpedo IPA and Ruthless Rye are outstanding. 

I started reading Lodro Rinzler's The Buddha Walks into a Bar... recently and got informed about the Four Dignities of Shambhala. As Rinzler explains them, they "are four mythical and nonmythical animals that represent different aspects of our training in wisdom and compassion. Of the real ones, they are the tiger and the snow lion. One of the mythical ones is, as you could probably guess, the dragon, but the other one is the garuda, which apparently is a creature that is part bird and part man. I don't remember reading about the garuda before, but maybe that's because I've read more in the other schools of Buddhism. 

  
So there you have it: Beer and Buddhism.

Random Notes from a Crank

Yesterday, I prepared some cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped jalapenos. I went out to start the grill and discovered, eventually, that my grill is dead. I've had it for a long time, and I've needed a new one for a while. The second burner was all corroded and rusty and barely pumping out any heat. For the past few months or so, I've been grilling with one and a half burners. 

I got the grill, if I remember correctly, as a gift for one of my first fathers' days, back when we lived in South City (St. Louis). As much as that fact holds sentimental value, I'm really like my new grill: four burners, a fully functioning side burner, and an electric start mechanism.

It was fairly easy to put together. Except I missed one part of the directions. After I had it all put together, for some reason I couldn't get the electric starter to work. Curse words were used. Then Mrs. Nasty noticed a AAA battery on the ground, smiled mockingly at me, and leafed through the directions to discover that I hadn't put in the battery for the electric starter. Typical move by this here hombre. 

I like maps and atlases, which I've prattled on about before. I also like learning about dialects. This map, the "Full Scale Dialect Map," combines my interests in both. My dialect region, where I grew up, is the Western North. Mrs. Nasty hails from southwest tip of the Inland North dialect region because she's originally from Cedar Rapids. My kids are growing up in the Central Midland region. 

I've been catching up on my magazine and academic journal reading lately. "Letting Biodiversity Get Under Our Skin" by Rob Dunn was featured in Utne, but here's the link to the article in Conservation if you're interested. Dunn provides information about the "possible link between biodiversity and human health."

Random Notes from a Crank

As I recounted in a February post, we renovated our half-bathroom. Recently we renovated our full bathroom on the main floor of the house. 

Below is home improvement porn.

This is the view from the doorway.

This is the view from near the tub/shower. Three of the walls are yellow, and the accent wall is a hue of blue called "bayside." 

This is the close-up view of the flooring, Allure "Limed Oak." 

I've noticed a difference in the water bill since we put in the new toilet in our half-bath. Now that we have the same kind of toilet in the main bath, I'm looking forward to an even cheaper bill. The tanks of those old toilets are so large that you could have stored a couple of beers in them. [I stole that image from an old Simpsons episode where Homer kept extra beer in the toilet tanks.]

The box the new vanity and sink came in was a huge box, which my five-year old son quickly decided to use in his room. Strangely enough, he wanted to sleep in the box a couple of nights, and we let him. Here's a picture of him asleep in his box, his cardboard cave.

Speaking of my son, as we drove through rainy St. Louis on Friday night, if there was ever any doubt about his loyalties in major league baseball, there is none now. It's clear he's a Cubs fan like his father. As we drove by the new Busch Stadium, he enjoyed booing the stadium because the Cardinals play there. Not exactly good sportsmanship, but I found it humorous. It was a highlight of the drive there for my daughter's dance competition out in Chesterfield. 

This past week I've had a Johnny Cash CD in my car, and my daughter has become obsessed with the song "A Boy Named Sue." In one day when I was carting her around to school and practice, we probably listened to it about ten times. Often over and over and over. I know how she feels because that was one of my favorite songs growing up, and it was one my dad introduced me to. 

As I was listening to Here We Rest yesterday, I had a realization. I don't know if anyone else has made this comment before, but my favorite song on that album, "Stopping By," is the yang to the yin of Cash's "A Boy Named Sue." 

I discovered a snack at the grocery store today: dill pickle flavored sunflower seeds. 

I have a hankering for buttermilk. 

Here's my on-deck reading shelf. 

Music Friday: "Ain't Going to the Bar Tonight," "Hurricane," & Cape Fear River"

I've featured American Aquarium before on a Music Friday, but today I'm providing a trio of the band's performances because this week I discovered they're going to be playing with Jason Isbell at Off Broadway on June 19. Even though it'll be a Wednesday night, I hope to go to that show. 

The first song is "Ain't Going to the Bar Tonight" from Dances for the Lonely (2009). The second tune is "Hurricane" from Small Town Hymns (2010). The final video is "Cape Fear River" from Burn. Flicker. Die. (2012). 

Stay Positive: Kickball

I imagine them now. There are ghost runners hanging out on bases all throughout the land. 

Not until a few days ago I hadn't used the term "ghost runner" since I was a kid. Now I'm using it all the time. 

Besides some typical April rainy weather, it's been quite nice lately, and the kids and I -- well, my son and I mainly -- have been playing kickball in our front yard. 

It's a sweet game. All you need are bases and a ball. It's a mash-up of dodge ball and baseball. Once the ball has been kicked, the runner is fair game unless he or she is on a base.

I look forward to playing this game much more this summer. Game on, clowns. 

Stay Positive: Saturn's Rings

When I was in elementary school and we studied the solar system, my favorite planet was always Saturn. I almost got seduced by Jupiter [pinky to the mouth Dr. Evil-style if you know your Greek/Roman mythology], but it's always been Saturn. 

Saturn forever, baby. 

Going by my daughter's "Space Unit Study Guide" that I found here on the kitchen table, Saturn is described in this way: "second largest gas planet; large rings of ice; has at least 52 moons." 

Not only are they large rings of ice, but they also kick ass. 

As related on a recent ENN article, "Meteors Crashing into the Rings of Saturn," the rings are the planet's protection, its bodyguard of sorts. 

Or as the first sentence, an intentional fragment, of the article relates, it's "Rocks crashing into rocks." 

That would be an awesome sight to behold: meteors getting snuffed out by Saturn's rings, rock-on-rock violence. 

The Plight of the Connected

As many of my readers might know or might have noticed, I work in higher education. I'm around 18-2osome-year-olds every day. Well, not every day now since this week is finals, but you get the drift: I have contact with the "next generation" of America on a cyclical basis. 

And I'm tired of seeing them so fucking connected. 

Last week I was walking down the hall in the academic building I work in. It was right before the 8:00 a.m. class, and I walked right by a classroom with college students waiting for their instructor to open up it for class.

There were probably at least a dozen students waiting there. Every single one of them was looking at their damn smart phones -- texting, surfing, checking out statuses, whatever. 

It's not that I hate smart phones. I don't. Mrs. Nasty has an iPhone, and she uses it all the time to help us out -- looking up stuff, getting directions, etc. 

However, the plight of the connected is that they're constantly tied to and looking at their phones at the expense of other endeavors. 

Take the example I used above -- and it's a real-life one, not a hypothetical. It's close to 8 a.m. in the morning, and they're looking at their phones. Even at that time of the morning, I have better suggestions for college students' time as they wait in the hallway: daydreaming, "resting their eyes," chatting with a classmate, reviewing notes, flirting with someone, rereading material because there might be a quiz, checking out someone's ass, et al.

But no, they're tied to their phones, like the devices are electronic newborns/kids that always have to be checked on, cradled, and helicoptered. 

Meanwhile back in the other tactile world, less face-to-face conversation is happening. 

I, like some others, agree with the solution Sherry Turkle relates at the end of "The Flight from Conversation": "look up, look at one another, and let’s start the conversation."

Her argument and what she relates in her book reminds me of Robert Putnam's points in Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. 

Yes, technology can help community-building initiatives and spur civic engagement. I think that's hard to deny, and I know people could trot out copious examples of how online systems and smart phones have aided and abetted good (and bad) things happening for a community and for individuals. 

However, I am troubled by people being so tied to their phones that they don't notice what's around them, whether it's people, birds, trees, their own reflections, and other aspects of the "environment."

Look up and notice what's happening around you. 

Or just think about something -- reflect and ponder -- instead of being hyper-connected to your phones. Practice mindfulness. 

Wake up from your technological blinders. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Mustard Greens

I was in my local supermarket the other day, and I thought about how I like collard greens and turnip greens. But then I thought about how I don't make mustard greens much because I only had them once because they had a funky taste to them for some reason. 

I thought I'd do mustard greens myself. 

So I did. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of mustard greens from your local supermarket or farmer's market, cut into medium-size pieces, large stems removed

half of a slab of bacon, cut into smaller pieces

Smidge of red pepper flakes

Smidge of Penzey's Cajun seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

4 cups of water

Process:

I fried up the bacon in a Dutch oven till they were little golden brown nuggets of porcine goodness and then transferred/drained them on a plate with a paper towel. After getting rid of the excess bacon grease, I dropped a good bit of the mustard greens into the Dutch oven on medium-low heat to let it mop up the crustiness on the bottom of the pan. 

After the greens had cooked a bit ~ maybe five minutes ~ I put in the rest of the greens and added four cups of water into the pot. Then I added the drained bacon nuggets, red pepper flakes, cajun seasoning, salt, and cracked black pepper. Partially cover on low heat for about an hour and a half, and you have tasty mustard greens with smoky, spicy potlikker. 

Music Friday: "Everywhere I Go," "No One to Call," "Only a Clown," & "I Was Cruel"

An album I bought recently that has sucked me into its beautiful vortex is Caitlin Rose's The Stand-In. 

I've featured Ms. Rose before. That was her debut album if I remember correctly, but this recent one hits me in all the right places. 

There's something about the timbre of her voice. 

Whether you want to call her work country, alt-country, alternative, or rock with a twang, The Stand-In is something indeed. 

Today I feature four songs from her fine album. Enjoy