Spotted on Today's Walk

...and, oh yeah, peace be with you.

Catching Up - Part III

Well, the devastation at the duck-less former duck pond is now complete. All the surrounding trees have been taken down. The old wooden post and rail fence is gone. The duck/goose house has been removed without a trace. The pond is now lined with a ring of sharp, jagged rocks which in turn is surrounded by a bright white plastic fence.

Not only are there no ducks (of course) but there are no signs of the red wing blackbirds that used to live nearby - or the cedar waxwings gliding over the water, catching flies. No frogs to be seen or heard either - not even a whisper from the peepers.

I'm not sure what look the people responsible for this travesty were going for but if it was Urban Catch Basin, they've succeeded.

On a brighter note, on Sam's and my latest walk, just last night, we spotted a small turtle, about the size of a mason jar lid, scooting along under the water.  

Maybe there's hope.

But, boy, I sure miss that old wooden fence.

 

Catching Up - Part II

Speaking of the bike path, one of my favorite views is down the path, just before the Bridge of Death, where there's a break in the woods. This view looks south, over the farm fields. 

I've never been able to figure out what the ultimate goal of this farm(er) is. One year, this field is all strawberries. Another, it's corn. Another, it's pumpkins. Another, it's strawberries and pumpkins. Then it goes back to corn. 

But mostly, it's strawberries and/or pumpkins...

About 2 weeks before this most recent walk, it looked like they had another lush crop of strawberries coming in. When we went back, whatever it was, it was all gone.

I'm no farmer (by a long shot) but I thought you picked the crop first - and then you plowed it under.

Anyway, it must all be part of a master plan - a plan that obviously eludes my unfortunately non-agriculturally minded brain.

Any bets on what the crop will be this year? The winning answer receives absolutely nothing except my somewhat worthless admiration.

Catching Up - Part I

Don't take my lack of posting personally. It reflects a boredom only with myself, not you. I find myself saying the same things over and over again, mostly because, for better or worse, I'm doing the same things over and over again. Anyway, that said...

I don't know if you can tell by this picture but there are way too many people on what I have come to consider My Bike Path. Oh, I welcome family members - and if you're reading this, I would welcome you too. But these people? I don't even know these people. 

I'm not sure how they found this spot but I resent them being here. I resent it even more because many of them aren't wearing masks, plus they're the types of people who won't even bother to move over when you walk by. 

They act like they own the place. I hate that.

 

Today's Reminder

Today, Google Photos decided to remind me that Sam and I have been cooking together for quite a long time. 

I'm not sure why this particular memory was flagged. It's not like it's one of those "10 years ago, today..." photos. This photo was taken on November 5th 2005. 

Whatever the reason, I appreciate the reminder.

Spotted on Tonight's Walk

Are we great again yet?

 

It's hard to tell if this is purposely meant to be ironic.

If I were more articulate, I'd write a post about how it continues to amaze me that hardworking people, who struggle daily to get by, allow themselves to be conned over-and-over again by blatantly dishonest politicians and in so doing repeatedly vote against their own interests - all the while scoffing at concepts such as economic and social equity, and instead focus on the evidently more important life-changing outrages of the day, such as the supposed "canceling" of Dr. Seuss or dropping the "Mr." from Mr. Potato Head - or whatever the latest shiny object is. 

P.S. 2020 is over.

Weekend Cooking

I bought a pressure cooker close to two years ago and for the first year or so of owning it, it sat unopened in the box, down in my basement. Part of the reason for not using it was due to fear. Actually, all of the reason for not using it was due to fear.

I was afraid, first and foremost, that it might burn my house down. I had images that when I would turn it on, it would be like a scene from one of those old cartoons where the character lights a long line of gunpowder, watching as sparks fly all the way along the line until it finally ignites the powder keg. This, I expected, would be exactly what my old wiring would do.

My other fear was that assuming the wires didn't catch on fire beforehand, I figured that when the pot eventually reached pressure, it would simply blow up - much like the aforementioned powder keg in the aforementioned cartoon.

Why would I buy a pressure cooker I was afraid of using? Good question. My not-so-good answer: It was such a good deal. I would have been crazy not to buy it. 

So the pressure cooker sat down the basement, still unopened - until some at point well into the pandemic. That's when I finally decided to bite the bullet and haul it upstairs. I figured, a) if I don't try and use it now, I probably never will, and b) we're months into a pandemic with no end in sight. What more do I have to lose?

Well, I'm happy to say that since then, despite having used it almost every weekend for months, so far it has not yet set my wiring on fire - or burned down my house. This is especially good news since the end of this current pandemic is hopefully in sight.

In fact, this weekend, Sam and I used it twice in one day. 

The first time was because we were making something called Chicken Shawarma Rice. This recipe was not only new to us but it was also presented as a so-called "Mediterranean" dish. We decided to make it anyway. 

(Side note: My spelling for "Mediterranean" was so far off, spell check had no idea what word I was trying to zero in on. So I went on the internet and found it right away - along with this interesting fact: As of this moment, the Mediterranean Sea has a 4.6 star rating based on an average of 36,513 Google reviewers. I don't know if this makes it the highest rated sea on the planet or not, but I'm guessing it's right up there.)

Anyway, being a Mediterranean dish with a LONG list of spices, there was a reasonable chance that it may not be our cup of tea. Sam and I decided that we should also make a backup dish we were more familiar with, just in case. We opted for good ol' American Taco Pasta!

In the end, the Shawarma Rice and Chicken came out a little spicy (despite having cut the amounts of cayenne pepper and pepper flakes in half), but it was a hit! At least, that's what Sam said. Though now that I think about it, I seem to be the only one eating the leftovers while "someone else" is sticking with the taco pasta.

Yum.

Almost yum.