early rhodies, gas prices

Well as you can a mere weekly update is NOT keeping up with the nose bleed rise in gas prices....and of course until we go solar, things will keep on keeping on. The local stretch of railroad track has been closed/abandoned by it's owners, they fear a tunnel collapse between Roseburg and Coos Bay. Here's a thought. How about a commuter train between Coquille and Coos Bay...Hmmmm? Special rates for shopping days. Or, we need to think (or at least ask ourselves if this trip is necessary) about car pooling for those grocery runs to Freddy's,eh?



These are some early Rhodie's blooming just outside the hospital's north exit door, very pretty, just kissed by rain drops which probably don't show up all that well on the digital pix. I am aiming for a shot of the massed Rhodies that bloom all across the front of the hospital, very beautiful. Too bad they have no fragrance at all what a shame.

More running around

This is a better picture of Kum Yon's where we had lunch yesterday. They have a lovely colorful garden just beside the front door and the lunch was good, too. Tim had his usual Tofu, Broccoli, Black mushroom and Rice with Sesame sauce and I had prawns and stir fried noodles...delish. This was after we picked up the lawnmower.

Then we shopped at Freddy's briefly picked up some clothing and headed for home. Below is a picture of the gas prices in Coquille, gas is ten to fifteen cents higher in Coos Bay. I'm sure glad my blood pressure doesn't dance around this much.

Dreaming again

This is a picture of the AC store in Barrow, Alaska. It is very nice inside, deli, groceries, furniture etc.

I woke up from a sort of traveling dream and we all know that means I am dreaming about the general progress of my life.

My dream began as I was sitting in a coffee shop sipping a cup of coffee and reading a book. Someone walked up and asked to join me. It was someone I knew from Barrow. So we chatted a bit. Soon a couple of ladies wandered over who also looked familiar, they were from Emmett (I think) I introduced everyone. They were all going to Barrow to see the new shopping mall. Really? Well I will just tag along. Okay. Next scene shows me following shoppers on a short cut. Short cut indeed,we didn't even get on a plane. So around a corner and into a building and on the inside it was huge! There was a great huge grocery area that was jam packed with people. To the left was a large hallway that lead to the rest of the mall. I wandered around a bit and asked for directions to the ladies room. I found that eventually and the bathroom was the strangest thing. There were plenty of stalls but they were only about shoulder high. Hmmmm. Then I woke up and found the real bathroom.

traveling dream

I woke up this morning....about three minutes before the alarm went off...and I had dreampt that I was driving to Emmett. The road I traveled was familiar only in that it exists in my dreamland, the last bit was through a canyon and there was a brand new just recently black topped on ramp to the main road into Emmett. The white lines had not been painted on yet. I drove up the on ramp to complete my drive into Emmett. The road was at least four laneS and traffic was heavy and those of you who know the road into Emmett know there is no four lane highway. So this is a future dream perhaps. I shall consult the dream interpretation site and post another commment. I predict the dream site interpretation will be BORING.

Another Friday in the neighborhood

As you can see the price of gas has risen to $3.53 and 9/10 cents per gallon.
That means if you put in not quite 8 gallons,you will pay not quite 28 dollars.

The lawn mower won't start so Tim loaded it in the back of the car and we took it to the warranty shop in Coos Bay, maybe needs carburetor adjustment for sea level use. Okey dokey then, pick up next Friday? You betcha!

Noticed across the store from the warranty shop a placed called "Cash and Carry". Hmm, looked like a downscale CostCo. Saw lots of people taking out loaded pallets of food to their car. So we walked over and checked it out. It looks more like a restaurant supply place. Great place to pick up the odd spatula and gallon cans of what ever you want. We will save up and go back sometimes, we are still sort of planning the two year supply of groceries in the basement, don't know how long the depression is going to last.

rolling IN the dough

Today I took my little "Dividend check" to the bank. It was for about $37. It was from BUECI (Barrow Utilities and Electrical Cooperative Inc) Um I think, They also provided gas heating and water. When I first moved to Barrow in 1990, I paid a deposit for my electric bill, part of the deposit, 25 dollars, was to pay for membership in BUECI with the proviso that at some point the company might declare a dividend and make payment. I get tickled every time I receive one of these checks..they are so cute.

House for Sale and the price of gas

Yeppers gas hit $3.50 at the Exxon station today, however, we decided to drive to Coos Bay to shop at Freddys's. Chevron is VERY proud of THEIR gas at $3.59 and they have decided to go 13 cents and 15 cents on the next grades. We did stop there to get the car washed. Looked like a couple homeless dudes wielding the pre-wash scrub brushes and the sign did say they accept tips......

So we shopped at Freddy's stocking up on canned goods and some storage containers for the rice and beans. I am thinking two years worth of food in the basement is a good idea, might come in handy during the depression, eh?

And we also went out to breakfast. We went to the Red Lion as they were advertising their weekend breakfast. I ordered a very fancy stuffed French toast and fruit. Stuffed with cream cheese and the fruit consisted of blueberries, blackberries, strawberries. Opinion? Soggy. Tim grumpily ordered Joes Breakfast when it looked like there WAS no veggie omelet. He gave me his sausages and crispy bacon, thanks, I was hungry. He tasted some of my soggy French toast. He also rated the bathroom at the Red Lion as follows; out of a possible score for ten, one off for it not being home, one off for cold water, one off for no paper towels and one off for difficulty in locating the bathroom. Waitress did give directions, "At the exit sign, make two lefts". Cost for breakfast 25 bucks, 4 dollar tip. Next time back to the Pancake House or Fraziers right here in town.




This is a picture of the "Grapes Of Wrath" house. I have called it that for several years now. I have been heard to mutter, "Gee I would LOVE to buy that house....so I could BURN it!". The house is for sale, $40,000.00 cheap price just for the lot and the privilege of burning the trashy thing.

I been cookin' again

I 'jacked this recipe straight from First Nations blog which has a link on Gales' blog. The yield, as you can see, was TWO large casseroles of meatballs. Recipe is below with a few modifications and explanation.



I decided to make home made noodles. I dragged out my gigantic bread board dumped a cup or so of flour on the board, made a little well in the flour, cracked in two eggs and mixed it up and used my favorite wooden rolling pin to roll it out thin enough to roll into slices. I popped the noodles into a large pot of boiling salted water and cooked them for about five minutes.




After letting the meatballs cook for 20 minutes I stirred in the drained cooked noodles. The flavor was tasty, I'm thinking I could have added a pinch more dill as all the flavors melded together well. One casserole went in the freezer for later.

MEATBALL RECIPE (I don't know why they were called Masonic Meatballs but no fuzzy hats were involved).

1/2 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/2 cup plain white flour for dusting meatballs. Save left over for gravy.

2 lbs ground pork (or 2 pkg Italian Sausage)
2 lbs ground beef.
1/2 cup dry white bread crumbs (I used the packaged Italian mix bread crumbs).
1 egg
1/3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp Allspice
3 tablespoons minced shallot
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Mix this together very very well and let chill covered overnight in the fridge (Jeez a Two day recipe!?)

Next day form into ping pong sized balls. (I used a small ice cream scoop)
Dust meatballs with flour/cornstarch mixture,roll between hands while shaking off excess and then bake on a lightly oiled sheet pan for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F.
Once they come out of the oven, let sit for 20 minutes then dump into a baking dish large enough to hold them one layer deep.

Gravy recipes:

4 cups beef stock
1/2 cup of lager beer (jeez, take one sip of beer, dump ENTIRE beer into mixture!)
1 cup milk into the left over cornstarch/flour mixture to make a slurry with the milk.
1/3 cup plain yogurt (ahem 1/3 cup is about half of the small yogurt cups, dump the whole thing in!)
1/2 cup white bread crumbs, toasted brown VERY IMPORTANT. (Um not so important use some more of those Italian seasoned breadcrumbs, works just fine)
1/4 cup minced shallot or what every was left over from chopping the first batch of shallot.
1/2 cup fresh minced parsley (Optional as I used it ALL in the meatballs)
(optional a few shakes of ranch dressing sprinkles) ( didn't use this)
(optional salt up using powdered chicken bouillon instead of plain salt) I used Kosher salt about 1 tsp.
1//3 tsp white pepper (Don't be silly I used black pepper)
1/3 tsp nutmeg (gah very short sprinkle because nutmeg always tastes like soap)

Dump gravy ingredients all in a pot on cold stove, bring it up to "high" while you stir. If you taste the gravy at this point it will have a really strange sour backbite, during cooking this all goes away and mellows out very nicely. Dump gravy over meatballs coating each one.

DO NOT COVER

Place the meatballs and gravy in the oven at 275 Degrees F for THREE HOURS.

This gives you plenty of time to wash up all pots and pans you have just used.

If you pooh pooh this and try 375 oven for 30 minutes it will not taste the same. Do not even think about trying it in a crock pot. Check occasionally to turn meatballs in gravy to keep them from drying out.

Journalism of a sort

Price of gas has jumped 3 cents. I managed to get less than half a tank full for around 18 bucks. Ah no more jumping in the car just 'cause I'm feeling restless and wanna DRIVE. So inward journeys these days.

I went ahead and ordered "Sunrise Lands" M.S. Stirling. Book four of the change.
It is 2022 and a stranger comes from back east to Dun Juniper. I liked the first couple of chapters fairly well. However I did sneak a peek at the last page. The bad guys seem to be in charge and are chanting,"Cut! Cut! Cut!" So I shall put the book aside until the NEXT damn book comes out. Write faster, please. Oh and of course I will loan them as a set.

Today was PLUMBER'S day at work

I heard a little gurgle from the bathroom at work. Pretty soon, I heard the housekeeper look in to say the toilet was stopped up. The toilets had backed all up and down the patient wing and came perilously close to soaking the new carpet in the hallway. Gurgle gurgle.

Pretty soon the Econorooter guy showed up. The trap is right outside the door next to "my" office. First they couldn't get the trap open and inundated it with WD40 which smelled exactly like charcoal lighter fluid. Actually I think they resorted to using charcoal lighter fluid when the DW40 didn't work. So the Econorooter guy fired up his big old generator and blasted air down a hundred feet of sewer. That went on for about an hour, very loud. I kept closing the door, they kept opening the doors to check water level in the toilets.

Then the econorooter used the snake thingy and that went on for another hour. Finally I heard the rooter guy call the maintenance guy to say that he could hear toilets flushing. Ah flushed with success!!

There is nothing more terrifying than realizing that the nearest toilet is a five minute walk or a 3 minute scurry at the other end of the building. Outta my way!!!