21 May 21
Crushed for time here this morning at zero-dark-30. There is a bird singly madly and I must call (aka ‘reach out’) Walt to find which it is. He will know as he and Maggie are each avid birders. Or Emma will know.
Let’s have a contest and see who answers todays Big Q first.
I'll be a sawbuck on Emma.
Bird (song) identification for $500 Alex.
BAD FORM. ALEX PASSED AWAY.
No matter. NEWSFLASH. We’re all going SOMETIME.
In the words of my Mom’s best friend Mary H, ‘Live it up’ in the meantime.
Or if you are leaning chinese which everyone seems to be doing these days and NOT KNOWING it, James Wu would say ‘Rive Rarge.’
A couple of overdue updates the adoring population has been clambering for …
I finally finished Grant’s memoirs and moved on. Still impressed with it tho.
CURRENT READ IS … POR FAVOR
Certainly. Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore. A novel, alternative history and certainly a different type of read. At page 62 I have gotten the pace and flow as well as how and when to put it down so it can be picked up and reading resumed.
Ward is an interesting writer. He is a contemporary (1903-1978) and categorized as a science fiction writer but the on-line encyclopedia has a little more but not much. I have already decided to get another of his works called Caduceus Wild which is about a society formed, ruled and run by physicians.
Think about THAT for a moment BEFORE moving on.
From the Pineapple Plantation and Research Institute of McKinney this news and update.
The current crop of new plants was reduced from six (6) to two (2) IFFEN we’re lucky. Four (4) cashed out early and we have every legal right to blame the virus epidemic and if THAT isn’t satisfactory the cold snap would surely have caused the mortality rate to sky-rocket. Not a big deal tho and there are still many plants and experiments in progress including F1 and the Twins G3.
However the most exciting news is the THIRD (3) fruit is growing and continues to mature. Some of the foliage had dried out and was trimmed off yesterday strictly for aesthetics. Moving it indoors turned out to be a good move as well. I remember last time the fruit was so sweet when it ripened.
I spent some time painting yesterday in an unremarkable session. Oh sure I spread some paint around but didn’t finish anything and progress could barely be measured. Kind of frustrating but there should be more time later today so hoping for more NOT necessarily better results later.
Late into the night I made strawberry jam and conserve and had my first ‘failure to seal.’ I am going to have to ring up my Mom and tell her the bad news. First one EVER. There goes my perfect record and ‘no hitter’.
WHAT HAPPENED OGO?
Damn good question and I THINK I know the answer.
I THINK I used a bad lid. There was a lid on a small jar that looked new and unused which I NEVER, NEVER do but this time DID DO and I gambled, lost and won.
ARE YOU PUTTING SOMETHING IN THAT COFFEE?
Good thought but next time just let it go as I as mentioned I am crunched for time. Short answer is ‘NO’.
I am actually not unhappy this one did NOT seal because I want to try the first batch of this gluten-free low sugar strawberry conserve. I had and still have reservations on the fruit.
SPLAIN POR FAVOR.
Last interruption.
I gave up on the local ‘u-pick-em’ patch and got these from the local roadside stand. I think it’s called a ‘truck farm’.
Anyway the quality was all over the place and horribly inconsistent. Some were barely ripe in spots, some over-ripe and bruised and bottom line many needed to be trimmed so sampling and opening the non-seal will be e good test to see how the fruit stacked up.
In the perfect world I would pick a bunch more from the local patch in Sidney, Heller’s or Keller’s I have forgotten but it matters not. They have NOT moved.
That’s enough.
‘It’s getting near dawn …’ (Bruce Clapton)
Next time … a report on the strawberry-lime-coconut-rum conserve 2021.
Look for Reports from the 2021 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial in the annual volunteer gig in Fort Worth. I'll be holding the fortress here and send Guillermo Sanchez as the mask restricitions are dodgy formyour truly.
Anyway, he always fun in Fort Worth.
Look for lots of near-misses AND shenanigans as Sanchez rocks, rolls, stumbles and falls to get the real story inside the ropes OR can fabricate aka ‘spin up’ to complete the story and make a dollar.
Seldom a dull moment ...
