05.28.06
Posted in addictions, amusements, friends and family at 10:45 am by spryken
Over the Memorial Day weekend, I took Matt and Cory with me to Mom and Dad’s. Dad warned us to bring the fishing gear. He was going to take us to a friend’s pond. We all caught fish, but this is the prize. Matt pulled a 2 1/4 pound Large Mouth Bass out. He was using a small Bream that one of the other kids had caught for bait.
Of course the real story of the day is “The one that got away”. My brother, Gary, had given up. He had been skunked, the only one who had not caught a fish. He had a line in, not really paying attention, when he got a big strike. He was using 14 pound test line, but did not have his drag set well. The fish never gave him a chance. It snapped the line within seconds. The line sounded like a bullet when it snapped.
Talk about disappointed, upset, frustrated……etc.
Oh well, that’s what keeps you coming back.
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05.18.06
Posted in BoyScouts, Cooking, Dutch Oven, amusements at 1:47 pm by spryken
Maybe a better title is “What Can’t You Cook In A Dutch Oven”.
Many who are in Boy Scouts know that you can make a tasty cobbler in a dutch oven. All it takes is 2 cans of pie-filling (your choice), a boxed cake mix (your choice) and a little butter. Dump the pie-filling in, cover with the dry cake mix, place a few pats of butter on top and you are ready for the coals. I’ve had apple with yellow and spice cake. Cherry with devil’s food is good. Raspberry with devil’s food is even better.
You can cook beef stew, chili or soup. I made the Grand Prize winning Seafood Jambalaya from Scouting Magazine’s Campfire Cuisine contest. I have made my own Chicken Chili Verde.
You do not have to stick to “Dutch Oven” recipes. Oh no!! You can cook almost anything!! I adapted my Mom’s Buttermilk Pound Cake recipe and it turned out great. OK, I didn’t adapt the recipe. I adapted the dutch oven. I cut the top off of a soda can and used it to make the dutch oven into a tube pan. Worked like a charm.
This weekend, I am off on another Scout camping trip. I am planning to fix Cheesy Chicken Tetrazzini in the dutch oven. Should be good……..
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05.08.06
Posted in amusements at 9:53 am by spryken
I don’t usually pass along email humor, but I can’t resist this one. It’s been around a while, so you may have seen it before. Enjoy…..
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because……
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it
would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good, and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
brave their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!
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04.26.06
Posted in amusements, friends and family at 3:30 pm by spryken
Slee accuses me of knowing everybody. Or at least someone every where we go. I’m not just talking about around town. It seems every where we go, I see someone I know.
The most recent time was our last weekend away. We pack up the boys and drive to New Bern, NC. I have never been there. Never!!
We visited the original State Capital and the Tyron Palace. We learn a lot about North Carolina history that I didn’t know. And I am a native. It is the last night and we are going out to eat. We get to the restaurant and of course there is a wait. So we are waiting outside, I look up and say “You’re not going to believe this”. Walking up the street to the same restaurant is a co-worker and his wife. I had no idea they were going to New Bern. They just decided to get away.
As we were packing the car to leave, I struck up a conversation with a older man. He had looked familiar. Turns out, he knew my father from High School from back in China Grove/Landis/Kannapolis. That’s 2 in one trip!!
What does all of that have to do with the Title of this post, you may ask. Well, nothing really. But at lunch today, I was in a local fast food restaurant. I had to change tables due to some cramped seating. I spoke to the older couple sitting beside me, explaining why I sat down and immediately got up to move.
They then struck up a conversation. We had a pleasant chat, just like old friends. I found out that he was her boyfriend. Not only that her first boyfriend. They had lost touch for 50 years. And since her husband died, they re-met and have been together for 10 years.
We had a very nice conversation. Being open to such chance meetings brightens my life. I hope I brought as much joy to their lunch, as they did to mine.
Maybe this is why I always know someone every where I go. Or at least seem to know someone. I learned this from my dad, or inherited it, not sure which. I just am open to talk with people I chance to meet.
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04.11.06
Posted in Wine, addictions, amusements at 1:59 pm by spryken
It is with regret that I have to report that winewiki.com is going away. WineWiki was a great idea that just didn’t make it.
It was supposed to be a place for anyone to share a wine review. Wine reviews for the everyday person. Unfortunately, no one would post reviews. I had several people sign up, but they never posted.
So, I will be adding some wine reviews here. I will also move some of my Wine Rambles to this site. I must admit, that the experiment has expanded my horizons. I have learned more about wiki’s, php and blogging.
Stay tuned…..Wine Rambles to follow……
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