Sunday, December 31, 2023
Saturday, December 30, 2023
Friday, December 29, 2023
Wednesday, December 27, 2023
Second Attempt at Pickled Eggs
I've been regrouping after my first attempt at pickled eggs. They were OK, I suppose, but had too much vinegar. Rabbit Man had tried to steer me straight, but I still botched them up.
Boiling the Eggs
About two weeks ago I bought a box of 60 eggs for the purpose of making a lot of pickled eggs. Suppose I ruined some of them? Well, I had a lot more. So today I decided to hard boil 30 of the eggs, thinking that would be enough for half a gallon, probably with some to spare. I had hard boiled eggs in the InstantPot at high pressure for four minutes, then at the "keep warm" setting another four minutes the last time I made them. They were hard boiled eggs perfection, which was a first for me. But, after listening to the "influencers" on Youtube, I saw over and over that five minutes was recommended, so five minutes it was. However, they were not as perfect as the last time at four minutes. This caused me to puzzle over the variety of advice I've heard on hard boiled eggs. I think the location you are at makes a difference in how the eggs turn out. Most people know that altitude makes a big difference. Well, live and learn. At five minutes I think they were slightly overcooked. The riddle of hard boiled eggs has been solved.
THE BRINE
The brine has been the part of the procedure that I struggled with. Just as I was hard boiling the eggs, Rabbit Man called. "I fixed five dozen pickled eggs this morning!" he said. "Oh really?" He asked me where I was with making pickled eggs. "I was just starting to make them when you called." It was a strange coincidence, I thought. He quizzed me about the brine recipe. Did I still have it? I did have it, and read it to him. "OK, that sounds right." "I'm going to put a can of beets and juice in them." He had bought me several cans of beets about a year ago, but I misplaced them. Now I've found them. His recipe didn't contain sugar, which I didn't plan to use. But I decided to put some erythritol in.
I put a can of beets in my half gallon Mason jar. I decided to cut up two jalapeños and put them in in layers of eggs. I gathered my spices and salt. I had decided to boil the brine, and put in two cups of vinegar, two tablespoons of salt, one tablespoon of red pepper flakes, one tablespoon of allspice, one tablespoon of garlic powder, about one fourth cup of erythritol, and one tablespoon of my secret ingredient, pickling spice. This I boiled for five minutes.
Blast Off
I put sixteen eggs in my jar, interspersed with slices of jalapeños, and then poured the brine over the top. Goodness it smelled wonderful. This time I think I've got it right. In about a week they should be ready.
That was today in Paradise.
Yippee!!!
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Monday, December 25, 2023
Sunday, December 24, 2023
My Friend Spot
This is my friend Spot. Spot has his pluses and minuses.
Pluses: Spot likes people and guess what? Someone trained him to sit, lie down, and also to shake hands. He is also good at chasing off stray cats. Spot aims to please, and sometimes he does. He needs some instruction I think. Spot is a very large dog, bigger than a German Shepherd. I'm pretty sure he weighs over 100 lbs. Large size can be useful, especially in a friendly dog.
Minuses: Spot is so elated with the fact that he lives in my yard, and I have given him food, that he jumps on me. Noooooooo! I suppose he needs to see a groomer and take a bath and have his nails clipped. He loves to put his paw up to shake hands, but he is likely to scratch accidentally. I told him not to scratch me. He leaned his head over and nibbled my wrist. I said, "Don't nibble me either!" For all the good it did. He probably needs a rabies vaccination. Oh, and he drools.
So far, I haven't heard much of a bark from him. Sometimes when he sees a stray cat coming into his yard, he bounds over and chases it, which is good. He makes a woofing noise. I don't know that it's enough to alert me that something's up.
Spot showed up here about a week ago. I think he may be a Saint Bernard.
Oh, you may wonder if delivery people and the mail lady have a problem with the huge dog in the yard. No, he's friendly enough that no one has been afraid of him. That's convenient, but I would like for bad guys to be afraid of him. I have my doubts about that. I think if they did some of the things that bad guys have done around here, like beat on the walls outside with a baseball bat at midnight, Spot would decide they are not welcome. It probably wouldn't take much expression of displeasure from Spot to discourage anyone from doing that. Why would someone beat on the walls of my house at night? Probably drunk.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, December 23, 2023
Friday, December 22, 2023
Amerigas Customers Flee
Today my beautiful new 330 gallon propane tank arrived. Two men came over in trucks, one carrying the tank with a winch to put it in place, and the other driving a propane truck. One of them was the husband of the sheriff's deputy I spoke to, in my attempt to unleash the law on Amerigas. She had encouraged me to get service with my new propane supplier. They arrived today with my new tank, and put the Amerigas tank out by the road. Then they put 255 gallons of propane in my tank. I actually purchased this tank rather than rent it.
I took photos of the luny job Amerigas did connecting their monitor to the tank. They actually fastened it in place with duck tape directly on the pressurized opening in the tank. Not surprisingly, all my propane soon leaked out. Amerigas tried to convince me that a "third party" contractor installed this ricky ticky thing. I saw Amerigas do it with my own eyes!!
One of the people getting the new propane service set up told me that Amerigas customers have been leaving Amerigas in droves. The purpose of the "monitor" was to prevent other propane sellers from filling the tanks. Today I paid $1.99 a gallon for propane, but Amerigas is charging $4 a gallon, and trying to force everyone to pay them that, just in time for winter.
It was a godsend to have my new propane service set up so quickly. The other company said they would do it in April. We would have frozen by then. The heat is on in a cheery way. And the dryer works again too. I can use the stove again. Yay!
I don't know if Amerigas will be as negatively impacted by their terrible ploy as they should be. I'm really glad to be rid of them in any case.
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Amerigas Loses War
First thing this morning I went to the Sheriff 's Department and spoke to a deputy. I tried to get the sheriff to arrest the Amerigas people. No, this is a civil matter. She steered me to a gas and propane company that she said would help me. The problem is that I had already tried to find another company, but I would need another propane tank. The company I called yesterday said they could do that, but not until April 2024. The deputy said she would call the company she recommended, explain the situation to them and ask them to expedite new service.
As soon as I got home, I called the new company, and they asked me if I wanted to buy a tank outright instead of renting. Yes! I know we've paid for the tank in the yard that was rented from Amerigas at least five times over. They probably make more money from renting tanks than from selling gas and propane. My choice - 250 gallon or 330 gallon. The price difference was $100. I wanted the 330 gallon tank. They told me that due to the situation with my poor mother, they'll bring it over tomorrow. Amerigas will have to come over and get their tank and the monitor they forced onto me. We had adequate propane at the time the monitor was put on, and I suspect that the monitor caused the propane to leak out and empty the tank.
Imagine, my very own 330 gallon propane tank full of propane for Christmas. Yay!
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
War With Amerigas
The days passed, and yesterday when I decided to check the propane gauges I was startled to see that there had been tampering with the propane tank. A rectangular plastic thing had been put into the line from the propane tank. I lifted the lid that covered the gauge. The gauge had been covered with duck tape. With the modifications from tampering with the tank I was not able to read the gauge.
And so it was that this morning there was no heat because we had run out of propane. At first I wasn't totally panicked. I called the propane company that I usually call, since Amerigas isn't in this county. After some explaining of not being able to read the gauge but knowing that I was out of propane, they told me that their company will not fill my tank with the gadget on the line. So therefore I can't buy propane.
I called Amerigas to find out what they had done to the propane tank. Soon I was speaking to someone in India. What did he say? He didn't actually speak English. He tried in vain to communicate, and seemed to understand that I was calling about the thing they had installed in the line of the propane tank. I think he was trying to say that I had only myself to blame. I heard the word "monitor." Also he sounded like he was saying that Amerigas was not the culprit. It was a third party Amerigas had contracted to. Oh really? And did Amerigas give the third party an Amerigas truck?
Calm down. Calm down. I've been without heat in the winter before. How did I manage? Well, I used to have a sheepskin coat and a very warm sweater. I got dressed, put on my coat and a little beanie hat and stayed covered up in bed for two weeks. So did Jim. This was during an ice storm. THIS is why I bought a beaver coat and a sheepskin jacket. So we won't freeze. I do have two space heaters. One I use in my room. The other is now heating the living room where Mom lives, but it isn't enough heat for that. I'll put plastic over the windows. But things should be OK, maybe not cozy and warm. Unless the electric goes out in a storm. That's what I thought was a plus with using propane.
These people came into my yard without my permission and never said a word to anyone about what they were doing or got permission for that. The propane isn't even on my account. My stepfather is still the account holder, even though he passed away a long time ago. The fact that a man that is passed has an account with them doesn't give them the privilege of violating my property that is clearly posted no trespassing.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, December 16, 2023
The Mayo Clinic
This mayo is going to make me famous. I'm going to call it "Duchess Mayo." Why? Riding the coattails of Duke's Mayo I guess.
It became urgent to make mayo yesterday. I started putting in the ingredients until there were six, which is the right number: 1 1/4 C avocado oil, 3/4 C MCT oil, two eggs, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, and the juice of half a lemon. Would it emulsify?
I prayed over it. "Dear Lord please let this mayo emulsify, and I will praise You to the skies all over the internet." So guess what? The mayo emulsified. And I am praising Jesus to the skies. Thank You Jesus, and Merry Christmas.
O. J. Mayo of the Memphis Grizzlies
Friday, December 15, 2023
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Trying Out My Pickled Eggs
I ate a pickled egg in celebration of the fast ending. Hmmm. Now mind you, this is the first time I've made pickled eggs. How were they? Well, they tasted like they were in too much vinegar, which I'm pretty sure they were. Mrs. Billingsley ate one too, because she's a good sport. She said they're too vinegary. And besides that, it tastes like there are no spices.
Back to the drawing board. Let me just say, before I attempted pickled eggs I must have watched a dozen videos on Youtube, and also heard Rabbit Man's instructions. When the dust settled I was confused. But now I've sorted it all out better, so maybe the next ones will be better.
What if...what if I made a new brine for these funny eggs and switched that brine out for one that isn't so vinegary? Are these eggs beyond redemption? Who knows? I guess they're edible as they are. I'm thinking of making them into egg salad, which would probably disguise the vinegary taste. But not today.
Fast Ends Week One
Wait. Four day fast ends. That wasn't four days. I'm not sure. Maybe I miscounted. It was a long time.
Warning. It was a short fast, but there can be problems with refeeding, even after three or four days. Right now I'm struggling a little. After a long fast refeeding can actually be dangerous and should be undertaken slowly. But I didn't undertake refeeding slowly.
How was this four days? In a perfect world, it wasn't four days. In my world one counts the hours. Therefore after four nights one can start calling it over. Was it four nights? I suppose so. It's over, anyway.
So maybe next time perfection will be achieved.
Oh, I'd like to say that there has been a gratifying amount ot relief with the arthritis. So I'm pretty happy.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Fasting Day Three Week One
Today is my third day of fasting. Other than fantasizing about food. the only big difference has been better sleep. For the past two nights I fell asleep almost the second I laid down, and can't remember a thing. Then I slept well and woke up feeling refreshed, but a little later than usual. Well, one other thing, which is an important thing to me, is that I can feel inflammation is way down. I wouldn't say that nothing hurts, but I would say the pain level is down by at least half. And the energy level is actually up. So this is the way to go, at least if you're me. I feel so well, it occurred to me that maybe three or four days a week of fasting is the best plan for me forever. Well, doubtful. Two days a week? That could be. I don't think that would be detrimental. Yeah, I'll fast for four days a week for 26 weeks, then two days a week after that, and then I'll write a book about it. A bestseller. How I got gorgeous.
After three days of fasting, I feel a tingle that feels like it's coming from my bone marrow. I've noticed this before. What is causing that? It's a nice feeling, I would say a little relaxing. I've heard that one begins to increase growth hormone levels during a fast. Maybe that's what it is. In the past, on the fifth day, there is a change in the skin on my face for the better. I would say it looks slightly rosier. I doubt if anyone else could see it. Yes, aging in reverse! But this time the plan is to only fast four days. As far as weight loss, I'm not sure, because I didn't weigh on the first day. I really don't think there will be much weight loss.
So that's life in Paradise today.
PS. Fasting glucose first thing this morning 93.
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
A Spooky Experience
More than 10 years ago, I bought quinine sulfate from the Canadian Pharmacy for muscle cramps. I did have a prescription. Since that time I've gotten regular calls from people claiming to be calling for the Canadian Pharmacy about a refill on my prescription. No, not needed. Please put me on your do not call list. I continued to receive calls, always with US numbers, not Canadian. Today they did something they've never done before, and offered to sell me Valium. They said I bought it before. No I didn't.
Lately I've heard horror stories about people who buy Valium or Percocet from black market sources. The scary thing is around 70% of these drugs are fentanyl made by labs in Mexico to look like the real thing. However, last year over 80,000 died of fentanyl poisoning. The weird thing about this call is that they knew my number and said they were from the Canadian Pharmacy. I didn't have this number when I ordered from the Canadian Pharmacy. Also, if I had decided to buy the Valium, I probably would have believed that a pharmacy sold it to me. It's the first time someone has called to try and sell me narcotics. I suppose the eerie thing is the level that the drug cartels are at here. Now they're cold calling.
I mentioned it today at the beauty shop. My stylist has been telling me about fentanyl deaths of acquaintances. She said that there are a lot of murders locally related to it that are made to look like suicides.
I mentioned to my brother that the fentanyl problem has exploded in the last five years. Over 110,000 people died of overdoses last year. He said, "Well, the opioid problem isn't limited to the United States. It's all over the world." 80% of the opioids are sold in the US. So I don't think he's correct about that. A lot of people have taken what they were told was Valium or Percocet and died within a few minutes of fentanyl poisoning, since the pill is often 100% fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin. A dose the size of two grains of salt can be fatal. It is more likely than not that there will be a fatal dose of fentanyl in a Valium or a Percocet in drugs bought from illegal sources. I just can't wrap my head around this. I think people should be warned.
More Fun Times
I once read a study about mice, which some call a "murine" study. But if you do call it that you may lose your reader. It was a fascinating study. Healthy mice, about 16 weeks old, were given a chemical that damaged their pancreases. At that point, their fasting glucose levels were 400. If people have fasting glucose levels of 400 they will most likely be recommended for a pancreas transplant. The mice weren't eligible for transplants, but at this point their life expectancy was less than 16 weeks. The mice were placed on a four day a week fast for 26 weeks. At the end of 26 weeks, the mice had completely regrown their pancreases and had normal fasting blood glucose levels again. This was amazing to me, so I decided to try it.
My problem wasn't high fasting blood glucose, but rheumatoid arthritis. I had kept this at bay by avoiding foods that seemed to provoke it, until one day there was a relapse anyway. In less than a month I had lost my right knee and injured a few other joints. My doctor recommended a thirty day fast, and I did fast for 21 days, when I went into remission. Well, this was no ordinary doctor. I did have a total knee replacement with nearly perfect results, but still had other damage. Maybe fasting four days a week for 26 weeks would regrow these injured areas.
This fast lasted for 12+ weeks, when I ended it because of electrolyte imbalance problems, and insomnia. But, even then there was massive improvement in the joint injuries and I was walking out into fields and places that I hadn't been able to go to. Also, my fasting glucose had begun going up to 120 on a fast. What? Why? I did find out later that the liver will sometimes go into overdrive when blood glucose levels are going lower than it likes, and soon return to normal when the hard times are over.
I had thought that I would regroup and try this fast again later, but didn't do it.
Now I am thinking of trying the four day a week fast again. I did consider a longer fast, because this worked so well a few years ago. But I just don't want to fast that long, so the four day a week idea was revisited. What if I did this for 26 weeks? Would I see an end to rheumatoid arthritis? Maybe. Can I make it that long? Probably not. We'll see.
Another strange thing about the first fast is that I really didn't lose any weight. Go figure. So that's what's happening in Paradise today. I suppose it would be a good idea to add prayer to the fast. Once the disciples had tried to throw a demon out of a child with seizures, but were unsuccessful. Jesus was able to cast out the demon, and then the disciples asked him why they hadn't been able to. He said, "This kind goeth not out but by fasting and prayer." I didn't do that the first time. I think I'll try it this time. Hey, I know. I'll start keeping a journal about it. This should be interesting. To me anyway.
Saturday, December 9, 2023
Thursday, December 7, 2023
I Burned the Boxes
I let the box situation get out of hand, I guess. Janet had offered sometime before Thanksgiving to help me burn the boxes. We had settled on a day about three weeks ago because there was supposed to be rain. But a lot of times rain is accompanied by strong winds around here. So the wind cancels the benefit of burning boxes when it rains. It was kinder than kind of Janet to offer, but still, I was relieved that it never happened.
However, the time had come that I really had to burn boxes. Rabbit Man had tried to help by giving me a gadget to cut up the boxes instead of burning them. He was very put out that I was afraid of the gadget. Why? Well, it had a sharp, scary blade that whirled at high speed. No way. I knew I would cut off one hand and put out an eye and plus injure others. But Rabbit Man doesn't understand that I know me. He operates on knowing Rabbit Man. So the Rabbit Man solution had been sniffed at, and I had only myself to blame.
Well, I could hire Tuna's husband. This thought was enough to propel me into action. I think I can. I think I can. I started taking boxes out to the special little burning place. It took me an hour and a half to transport the boxes. Cheesh. Why had I let it get so out of hand? Well, I procrastinated and then after Thanksgiving I sprained my ankle. So things happened. Finally my ankle healed, and the coast was clear.
I burned the boxes in stages. About three stages. I put around 50 boxes into a pile and set them on fire. Then another 50. Finally the stragglers. That took around 45 minutes. So the whole project took about three hours. I feel like a good person for doing a big chore. Now I'll celebrate. How? Jalapeño poppers, I guess. Yay!
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Monday, December 4, 2023
Today In Paradise
Today I decided to hard boil two dozen eggs. I have been trying to use the InstantPot for this, but there were some difficulties. I have a wire basket for the InstantPot, and put a cup on water in the pot. Then I thought I set the timer to four minutes. I thought I would leave the eggs in another four minutes after they finished the pressure cycle. It's a good thing I came back in eight minutes, because I had set the timer for four hours. So those eggs were done. Then I started a second dozen.
One of the eggs was cracked, and I peeled it. It didn't look right, so I tossed it out. I peeled a second one. Perfect. And the timer was correctly set now.
So that great adventure went OK. Now I guess I'll make pickled eggs, which I've never done before. So, we'll see.
I used a half gallon Mason jar, and filled it halfway with vinegar, then put in the spices that I had mixed up in a bowl a few days ago. What spices? That's what I'm wondering. I thought at first it was 4 tablespoons salt, two tablespoons allspice, and two tablespoons garlic. But wait. That was the amount for a full gallon. This brine looked weird. No no no. I never saw pickled egg brine like that before. So I poured half of it out, and then refilled the jar halfway with vinegar. I put in ten shelled hard boiled eggs. This can't be right. Then I double checked my recipe. Oh, one half quart of vinegar, not a full quart. Cheesh. I thought I might pour it all out and start over. Well, maybe tomorrow. I don't know what I did, and I'm afraid I'll have a second fiasco if I keep going. So ten pathetic pickled eggs. If they turn out OK, I won't even know how I did it.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Orange Man Missing
Orange Man was last seen yesterday around twilight. He was in the living room, and I had made chicken patties and sliced tomatoes for dinner. Orange Man attempted to eat my chicken patty. Since he is too large now to toss outside, having put on quite a bit of weight, I lured him outside with one of my chicken patties. As usual, he fell for this ploy, and I ran back inside with my chicken patty and slammed the door. He gave me a look of betrayal as I darted off.
Last night was below freezing, so naturally I could hardly sleep worrying about Orange Man. This morning he was not sitting in the window trying to get me to let him in. This was super disturbing. I supposed he would show up, but so far, nothing!
What could have happened? Is he lying out in the woods injured? Is he upset with me? He's been known to get his feelings hurt if I start being mean, like shaking a stick at him. Has he been lying out in the road and gotten run over by a car? There was a strange gray tabby tomcat sitting in the window yesterday. I didn't see him, but I heard about him. Did he attack Precious?
I better call the sheriff.
UPDATE
At 7:30 pm I saw Orange Man sitting at the window. He's OK!!!
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Monday, November 27, 2023
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Saturday, November 25, 2023
Friday, November 24, 2023
Drinking the Kool Ade
Mrs. Billingsley ate a few things that even I didn't eat. One of them was a chicken pot pie by Marie Calender. This contained 55 g of carbs and a lot of other bad ideas. She also had two slices of pie. The next day (Wednesday) Mrs. Billingsley was back to her two year old state. Just then Tuna called. Not to say Tuna isn't cause for concern. She called for a moment to let me know that she has lupus. Tuna is doing what I would say gives the lupus victims a bad name. Basically it's all about Tuna. But her timing was just the second that all fairyland was breaking loose over here. It was two hours before the chaos calmed down. Finally I threatened Mrs. Billingsley with packing her off to a nursing home. And put Tuna on call block.
Why all the mischief? Thinking it over, I realized it was largely my own fault. I knew about the Jekyll and Hyde phenomenon when Mrs. Billinsley eats carbs, yet I fed her carbs. And the predictable happened.
But can people be blamed for being confused about diet? I continued down my ill conceived path and ate all sorts of things I usually avoid, mostly because of the carb intolerance problem. It is hard to deal with the way that no one takes this seriously or believes what can happen to me if I drink the kool ade. Well, nor do they care. It seems like the Thanksgiving holiday is just a way of enticing people like me into the danger zone.
The number one problem with carbs is that they provoke neurological issues. For example, the ketogenic diet was originally developed to treat epilepsy in children. It was found that a high fat, low carb diet many times brought a remission to seizures. Well, let's not do that! We don't believe in the ketogenic diet! We believe in pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals are scientific. We are scientific!
I stumbled upon the ketogenic diet on my own, by experimenting with my own diet and what worked for me. But the thing that doesn't really make sense is that it isn't the only diet that worked. For a long time I was on a diet that a doctor in Dallas had prescribed for me. It was a bit involved. First of all, I ate "mono meals." I ate only one food per meal, three meals a day. I only ate the same food once every four days. I only ate from the same food family, like legumes, every other day. And to top it off, I only had the choice of 15 foods to choose from, since I was allergic to the rest. Well, this worked beautifully and my health was great. Also I was hungry all the time. I was pretty skinny too.
Then I got cocky. Many terrible days later I worked out a new plan with the ketogenic diet.
Still, the throwing caution to the wind resulted in me noticing something that I've noticed before. It's not just the carbs. It's not that simple. Another diet that worked well for me is called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. In this diet, one avoids disaccharides and polysaccharides but can eat limited amounts of monosaccharides. The same clinic in Dallas had pointed this out to me and steered me to a book about it, called The Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It's a wonderful diet because it expands the dietary choices.
The crazy thing is, pie is bad, ice cream is bad, grapes are good. Yet grapes have carbs. ?? Well, that's just how it is. Some carbs are poisonous, like the ones in pie. Others can be OK. Still others seem to vacillate. Potatoes are like that. I ate a piece of pie. Checking my blood glucose, I was shocked to see it was 176 an hour later. And I couldn't sleep that night. The next day was Thanksgiving. We had three courses. One, sliced tomatoes. That's pretty safe. Two, sweet potato. That's usually doable. Three, Stove Top stuffing and roasted chicken. Not so good. All this occurred about one pm. The timing is key because the damage is less before 3 pm.
I didn't bother with checking my glucose until around 6 pm. 92. ?? Nice. I had wanted baked potato, so I ate one around 7 pm. At 8 pm blood glucose 105. ?? Nice. Still, it's weird. Many many carbs, no glucose spike. And I slept well.
So, I'm in a metabolic maze. Back to keto.
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Pickled Eggs
In a gallon jar:
one quart vinegar
4 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon hot pepper flakes
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Put 24 to 30 eggs in jar. Add enough water to cover eggs.
Refrigerate about a week.
Monday, November 20, 2023
Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is Thursday. What haven't I done? I haven't been to Walmart in two weeks. Uh oh.
About a month ago I bought Stove Top Stuffing and chicken gravy because I knew the store would be out of stock when I decided to shop for Thanksgiving. So one base is covered.
What will I make for Thanksgiving? Not turkey. Maybe roasted chicken.
What I usually like to do is eat the kind of food I usually don't eat. Potato chips with onion dip. Pizza. Coconut cream pie. Stuffing with gravy. Biscuits? I buy bread online, but insanely enough they say it won't be here for a week. ??? This was puzzling, since I ordered it a week ago. Oh yeah. Thanksgiving. I still need to treat Mom. I asked her what she wanted. She didn't know. I suppose it needs to be asked, "Do you want cherry pie, lemon meringue pie, pecan pie....?" By the time I've presented all the options I could have an order placed already. She will say she wants cranberry sauce. However, she will not eat cranberry sauce. She will play with it.
I should go shopping today, just in case there is anything left at Walmart that I want. In this weather? All fairyland is breaking loose outside.
Have I learned my lesson? Don't wait for the day before Thanksgiving to go grocery shopping. I can do this. I can do this.
Storm's A Comin'
There's a big storm today coming from the west, as usual. This one sounds ferocious, loud and booming. The sky is dark. Scary. I doubt I can survive this time.
Saturday, November 18, 2023
The World's Toughest Pork
I've never attempted to eat meat as tough as the recent pork that was bestowed upon Mrs. Billingsley for her birthday.
I don't know what cut of pork it was. She had told me she would like to have pork chops for dinner on her special day. OK. I conveyed this thought second hand to others. This definitely wasn't pork chops.
I don't know how meat could get this tough. I noticed that she didn't eat any of her meal as I was picking up after dinner. She had just gone hungry. I asked her why. She said she couldn't chew it. Well, I had eaten a piece and somehow gotten through it, but I didn't want any more.
Some have suggested that I try putting it in the blender. Hmmm. Would the blender fix shoe leather? The level of tough really is the toughest I've ever encountered. I don't know how you would make this happen if that's what you were trying to do.
Puzzling over this, I would guess that you would start off with a cut of pork that was almost total muscle. There was no fat whatsoever. Then I suppose you would overcook it. Whatever cut this was, it wouldn't haven been hard to do. I'm guessing it was economical.
There was a hefty amount of this poor creature left over, around six quarts anyway. Tonight we tried like hell to eat it. First I pressured cooked it on high for two hours. It was no use. And I have good teeth. Mrs. Billingsley saw me eat about a cup of the pork rock, and commented on the level of grim determination that took. So that's it for this pork. I'm going to have to dispose of the rest. There's just no hope of trying to eat it. Well, maybe the stray kitties can deal with it.
It's 8:00 pm now. I have the feeling I should make something for Mrs. Billingsley for dinner. I guess she'll have to go hungry again because I'm not up to making a second dinner. She asked me to make her some toast, but we're out of bread. I'm hungry too.
Friday, November 17, 2023
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Orange Man's Special Language
Orange Man knows which side the bread is buttered on.
Mrs. Billingsley is disappointed that Orange Man thinks I'm his person. She would like to be Orange Man's person too. "You don't speak cat," I told her. "Can you say, 'Kit and Kaboodle' " ?
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Deer in My Yard
As I pulled into the driveway, I saw two deer dart away. They ran into some bushes and watched me from there, but then it was clear to them that I was far too dangerous and they ran into the woods.
Monday, November 13, 2023
Jalapeño Poppers for Dinner
I went to Walmart and saw packages of already made jalapeño poppers and decided to try them.
We'll see. Maybe I'll go on a jalapeño poppers fast.
Sunday, November 12, 2023
No More Parties At My House
There was a party at my house today. I was the host.
No one sees the preparations behind the scenes. I just can't do it again. The problem is, my mother needs a lot of attention. There's nothing left of the day to spend hosting a party.
I was a little surprised at the craziness that was left for me to tend to. I wish I had caught it when it happened. Rabbit Man was kind enough to bring a large box of books for Mama. And put them directly in the path to get to her bed. He may be able to sling around such things, but can my mother or I move boxes of books? But it did have to be moved. Also around thirty pounds of magazines he had saved up for her.
I had tried to wash the dishes before the fiasco, I mean fiesta, but ran out of time. I took a few dishes to the kitchen and was surprised to see that the rest of the dishes had been piled up on top of the dishes in the sink. The sink was already full to the brink.
Mama had eaten none of her dinner, because she wasn't able to chew it. She had requested pork chops, and I had mentioned that I was thinking of buying pork loin. I guess we had pork loin. It was beautifully cooked and delicious. Unfortunately it required more chewing than Mother is up to. I was just too exhausted to deal with the leftovers.
So it's just too chaotic already around here to put anything else on top of me to do.
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Braum's Braum's Braum's
OK, dairy is out. Probably not any fault of Braum's.
Time for breakfast. I was running low on the Walmart bacon, so I decided to try the Braum's. That's when I noticed the Braum's bacon I just bought expires in 10 days. Hmm. I opened it and cooked some, but it really was another disappointment. I noticed it contained more water than the Walmart bacon, and shriveled up to very small pieces. I had made extra Walmart bacon earlier, so I decided to eat that. I tried a piece of the Braum's bacon, but like the Braum's hot dogs, it was saltier than I like. Why so much salt?
You've messed up Braum's. Maybe others can tolerate the nice food from Braum's, but the main thing for me was trying out the dairy. Dairy is out. But anyone else I might shop for can also tolerate Walmart. Besides that, the bacon, hot dogs, and tomatoes were not as good as Walmart. I wouldn't have said the Walmart bar was very high.
I'm not too sad about striking out at Braum's. It's a longer drive than I want to make. And I'm sure that many would find Braum's to be just what they wanted. And A2 dairy still impresses me, and might help some. I just don't seem to be among the people that A2 is enough to make dairy possible. It might have been nice if it worked though.
I was also interested in the fact that Braum's Dairy feeds their cows 100% vegetarian, and mostly grass fed. Still, that won't help me. I used to like their steaks, but I've stopped eating beef for other reasons.
Well, it was worth a try.
The A2 Honeymoon is Over
I would say I'm disappointed with the results of the A2 experiment. However, I actually don't even like milk or even cream. I am OK going back to my coconut milk/almond milk treat in coffee.
When I was very young, I was required to drink a glass of milk every night with dinner. Being allergic to milk, this didn't add to dinner enjoyment. The glass of milk seemed to loom before me. But neither I nor anyone else understood what the problem was. Mrs. Billingsley, being an amateur psychiatrist, told me once that hatred of milk was caused by hatred of one's mother. This was not just being stubborn about milk. This was evil at its height. I really did feel guilty about my dislike of milk, but it didn't improve my relationship, either with milk or with my sainted mother.
As I got older, I tried cheese. Well, that was a little better. One morning as a teenager I complained of being tired. Mrs. Billingsley had the solution. Coffee with cream and sugar, milk really, was put in front of me. "Drink this." Well, okay.
There are some dishes that contain dairy that it would be nice to have, but this was my last attempt at including them. No more of these dreadful reactions for me.
Let me just say, there are vegan substitutes that I like just as well.
Friday, November 10, 2023
Thursday, November 9, 2023
I Found Dairy That Works
Many moons have passed since I've eaten dairy of any kind. Why? I don't know why. I know that eating dairy sent me through the roof. Drinking cream in coffee would be foolish. So why? Lactose? I'm sure lactose isn't a plus for most people over eight. But taking many lactose tablets didn't fix the problem. Those tablets are expensive too. Now what? First black coffee. Then eventually coffee with a coconut cream/almond milk/chocolate flavoring. I became leery of dairy in any form.
My general health improved without dairy, like weight loss, and lower blood pressure. I told the nurse when I saw the doctor about quitting dairy. "But what about calcium deficiency?" she cried. "Are you taking a supplement?" I thought this was ludicrous, but since I do take supplements, I reassured her that yes, I am taking a supplement. Well, sometimes I take supplements.
Along the way I started to pay attention to the Mad Cow outbreak, and became suspicious of dairy for that reason. And beef also went by the wayside.
Then I began to think that organic dairy might be a solution. Where could that be found? Eventually, my research focused on Braum's Dairy, which happens to be semi local. Reading about their efforts I learned that their cows are grass fed, and completely vegetarian during the winter. That seemed to be a safeguard against Mad Mooey in my mind. But not only that. The Braum's herd is the largest A2 herd in the country. What's A2? A1 and A2 are forms of casein in milk. The A1 is the predominant form on the market. However, some people don't tolerate A1 casein, and using A2 milk solves the problem. Well, that would be nice. All the Braum's dairy products, ice cream, milk, half and half, cheese, cottage cheese, and whipping cream are A2. Every cow in their herd has been genetically tested to be a producer of A2 milk. And besides that, the fat free and reduced fat milk has been concentrated, with one third of the water removed from the milk. This is another aspect of Braum's Dairy that is unique to them. Braum's also does not give the cows antibiotics or growth hormone. In the near future, Braum's plans to also remove lactose from reduced fat milk.
All this sounded like a good idea, and maybe I would try Braum's Dairy. So I did go to Braum's, and bought milk, cream, half an half, ice cream and cheese. Today I put cream in my coffee. I had no problem with it. This actually surprised me. I ate some ice cream. Also no trouble. I've been tested for milk allergy and told to stay far away from dairy, and that I was allergic to casein also. But I suppose that was A1 casein.
Something that really astonishes me is that, besides A2 casein apparently solving the dairy problem, somehow I found out about it. I seemed to have just stumbled upon it.
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
A Trip to Braum's
Today I went to Braum's. I left at 12:10 pm and arrived at 1:00 pm. Fifty minutes. So not a short trip. Maybe medium sized. I shopped for twenty minutes, and bought half and half, fat free milk, reduced fat milk, and especially three sugar free ice creams. Also some Braum's cheddar cheese, two packages of hot dogs, and two packages of bacon. Oh, and some tomatoes.
The verdict. I drank some milk. So far, so good. I ate about 1/4 cup of ice cream without any trouble. And the taste was yummy. I ate four hot dogs. Well, not my favorite. I prefer Oscar Meyers. I gave Mrs. Billingsley a sliced tomato with mayo. This was from Walmart. I tasted the Braum's tomato. So, tomato isn't their forte either. It tasted like cardboard.
Bottom line. The trip, including shopping, took two hours. Not too bad. The dairy was worth the trip I'd say. The rest is OK, but not quite as good as Walmart.
Having an excellent dairy is not a small thing. Braum's has accomplished this.
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