E Friday, performing

In following the tradition of Clare we return again to E Friday, where I post photos of my darling granddaughter E, because VG really likes to look at these pics.

Back when they visited E put on a performance for us in our front courtyard. She was a wiz at playing guitar and singing.


Part of the performance involved a slow dance around the courtyard, planting rock seeds (pebbles) in different places as she danced.


And I think some closeup singing was involved too.


All in all, it was a good performance.

Rebuttal against healthcare reform

While writing that post on healthcare I was also thinking of what I was saying. I realize that there are some people in need of aid, but wonder how much a society is obligated to help it’s citizens. If health care is on the list, then shouldn’t food, clothing and housing be also? If you feed someone then there is less likelihood that they will need health care. If they have a place to live they will stay healthier than living on the street. If they have new clothes they will feel better. And in that place, of course they need furniture and beds and a nice wide screen TV to keep their mental health up. OK, a little ridiculous but who is it that says at what point this support stops or starts?

So, what defines a civilization? Is it the protection given; is it the aid given to those that are in need; common goals; what? I understand there is some obligation that everyone must have, but how is the extent of that chosen? I like the concept of universal health care, like Canada and other countries have, there is a good discussion on Wikipedia comparing the US and Canada. Rather than argue both sides myself I asked DA to come up with a rebuttal against healthcare reform. Here is her response:
Before I launch into my reasons against socialized healthcare, let me say I support it for children, immigrants, elders, single/divorced mothers with inadequate income, disabled and those who have gone through natural disasters (fire, flood, hurricane, tornado). Also for those who have no way to get insurance (if my husband loses his life insurance at State Farm, because he has been treated for melanoma no other firm will touch him unless he goes one of those term life policies most likely), and in such situations as now where we have mass lay-offs and no way to get employed with benefits ... This healthcare system already exists, it's call Medicare/Medicaid.

I also think the "pre-existing condition" loopholes that insurance agencies use is BS. It's like saying you're middle-aged or older, back in the dating scene and refuse to date anyone who's got kids or grandkids. As we get older, we have more past, more history, more experience, more baggage, more obligations, more family members, more health history. To be denied treatment due to "pre-existing" conditions is like saying a hairstylist won't dye your hair because you've had grey hair before or been dyed by someone else or cut/trimmed, or denied liposuction because you've been fat before. I've actually had an auto warranty for extended coverage deny my claim because "the part has to BREAK, it can't just WEAR OUT." Well, the car had 90,000 miles on it when I bought it. At that point, things are going to WEAR OUT -- which means BREAK. As we get older more and more things are going to WEAR OUT and BREAK and multiple times. At some point the "pre-existing condition" stipulation is retarded (and yes I meant that in a derogatory manner intentionally -- no offense to anyone with developmentally disabled family members, friends, patients, etc).

On the other set of claws, since the times of ancient Greece, people have figured out it's easier to sit back and let the government give you monthly rations instead of work to earn your keep. We already have government funded housing (metro housing, Section 8), food (WIC/EBT), monthly income (welfare), education (public schools - tho' paid for by taxpayers), mail delivery (stamps don't cover everything), police/fire/ems, retirement/disability (social security), etc. We even have the CSEA making sure the sperm donors pay for the kids women have whether they were being responsible and wanted them or "oops"'ed and the IRS who gives tax credits for each child so there are bigger annual refunds. We're already as close to Socialism as we can possibly get without crossing the line completely.

Sure the insurance companies suck, but they're for profit. Unfortunately we're stuck with the ones our employers give us (which if you think about it on the extreme ... this means you have your insurance chosen for you already -- socialized by your employer ... use who they give you with their restrictions or suffer), but if we continue to give handouts and provide for everyone who doesn't need it and is capable, everyone will sit back and let the government hand everything to us.

There is already proof of this in our education system. Reform the school systems all you want to, make the students take standardized tests to pass. Once they're 16, they can quit school and get their GEDs. Employers, the armed forces and colleges take GEDs alongside diplomas. Why try if you don't have to?? I'll admit it, when I was in high school I seriously considered dropping out just so I wouldn't have to put in the effort. My mom threatened to kill me so I stayed in school. But I've watched relatives on both sides of my family drop out, get their GEDs with little or no repercussions/negative effects.

So why aspire to go to college and have better things for our families when the middle of the road's adequate and someone's going to hand everything to us? Since the dawn of industrialism, people have lived generation after generation in slums and lower income parts of town with no desire for themselves or their children to do better. My father's family's been on the dole for generations, with Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, Welfare and Section 8 housing because all they want to do is run with the Iron Horseman MC club, have kids at age 14 and 16, quit school and party.

Upward Mobility, the desire to move from lower class to middle or upper class is no longer there because their lifestyles of being handed everything and provided for is good enough for them. They let someone else take care of them and I believe that situation is going to escalate if we go to socialized healthcare.

You can say "oh it works in other countries" but those countries have fewer people and more pride in themselves. They still want to work and are concerned with their image and reputation in the face of their peers. Not in the US. That went out the window. Back in the 70s and 80s we talked about overweight people behind closed doors and quietly said "she/he's 'heavy-set'." Now people my size (slender builds) are in the minority and are constantly accused of having eating disorders (I have the metabolism of a hummingbird on heroin, thanks). Men go around with their boxer shorts and Fruit of the Looms hanging out, women with their thongs "whale-tailing" for the world to see with no shame at all. Women with six kids by five different men ... that's not a disgrace anymore, either. In other countries, you don't see any of these shenanigans. They work hard and they appreciate what their country provides for them. Not here, we think we're OWED.

What makes you think we're not all just going to sit back and milk the government for everything we can get if they keep providing handouts because we think we DESERVE them??? You can't be forced to work and no one can force a hospital not to treat you. We're a country based on loopholes, technicalities, and how much we can get away with.

Now for me, I like choices and I think the government would become an HMO style (I always go PPO so I can change doctors if I'm not happy with the one I have even if my rates are higher) that would take away my choices and force me to go to the quacks and butchers who are not providing me with adequate care because they're getting kickbacks or reduced rates or something.

My husband's argument against it is simply because we've yet to see anything government run that's been managed effectively and I agree with him there as well. I ask the questions, will multicultural issues be handled as well or will they force their new brand of healthcare at you and make you go certain times, get certain vaccines, get blood transfusions and transplants if your religion is against it?? Are you sure they won't violate your freedom to not be seen kind of like a diamond warranty for your jewelry ... to keep your warranty you have to go every six months to get your diamond checked.

I've been "off-grid" for years (even tho' I've had coverage at different times) except to be treated for whiplash in 2005 and female trouble in 1999. My health's not perfect but I don't feel the need to go ALL THE TIME. If I went for every little sniffle, and was concerned about getting everything my family members have had, they'd put me in a bubble or label me paranoid.

We don't need completely socialized healthcare, we need common sense. Insurance companies like COBRA need to understand if you get their insurance after you're laid off or quit/get fired ... you don't have the income to pay their outlandish prices as if you were employed and paid less via BC/BS, Anthem, Aetna, whomever your company had. Insurance companies also need to quit the pre-existing condition stipulation BS because sooner or later we've all had something. Luckily we only get chicken pox once huh?

I say lower the price of healthcare (and stop the stupidity) so it is accessible to all who can get it and keep the Medicare/Medicaid for those on the dole or with extenuating circumstances aforementioned. Let us keep our options, keep our freedoms, and prevent more abuses to the government funded systems/handouts we're all growing more and more addicted to.

EMH
When she posted some comments on Facebook she liked this response:

I'll add my 2... . Canada has some trust that the people can self-govern in terms of taking treatments and medications. Perhaps another issue is the human right to refuse treatment--either self-imposed, or by another's choice. That's another issue entirely. Canada has several drugs OTC that are Rx here. Allegra and Robaxin/Ibuprofen come to mind. They also have more preventative and complementary care that the 17% of US doctors who are members of the American Medical Association say are "too radical, too ____" even though complementary care is providing more and more evidenced-based research each year. I guess I have a lot to say as a Health and Wellness Major--even though I have yet to formulate a comprehensive answer to the problem. It will take a lot of people working together to get our system away from a sick and injured care to a health and wellness care.

New layout

I used to use Haloscan comments here, picked them way back when I started writing this stuff (seven years ago now?) A few months ago an email came saying Haloscan was going out of business. I didn't pay much attention to that, but then a few weeks ago my comments dissappeared. Then a company called js-kit evidently took over, and my comments came back, along with a new way to enter them. js-kit also notified me that I would have to pay for their services. Blogger offered free comments, and being the cheap guy I am my choice was obvious.

Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to change the comments and keep the same style (I know Suzy had some problems there), so it was easier to just click on the blogger template options and change, letting their system do all the work. So here we are. I was able to stick in the bubbles (I like those), but lost all the old comments. Sorry, especially since I used those to get back to some people's blogs. I'll try to figure out how to stick back in some of my old stuff. Especially the links - I used those to get to my regulars.

Cooking with Joe: eggs

And now for our next episode of Cooking with Joe: old fashioned Easter eggs.

Both sets of my grandparents immigrated to the US a long time ago. One side came from Poland, the other from Czechoslovakia. None of them ever learned English, and all passed away when I was pretty young. But they did pass on some traditions to their kids, and my mother likewise demonstrated some for us, and I get to move them on down the line to you. Most of the things I remember dealt with food, and my memories probably tie in with the fact that there are few gourmet Polish restaurants. There are a few things she made that were pretty good, like the creamed chicken or nut cakes, but this time of year I think more of the eggs.

We are coming up on Easter, and for some reason that holiday is associated with decorated eggs. All the grocery stores have big displays of candy and baskets and chocolate rabbits, but at one time the big push was for egg decorating kits, with different colored dyes and stickers and paper cutouts. Eggs seem to be a religious symbol for rebirth and new life, celebrating the arrival of Spring and the change from cold grey/white winter into colorful flowers and green growth. My mother used to decorate eggs for Easter, at one time she used to do the fancy decorations called Pysanky


These creations take a long time to make, but I guess back before television and computers people used to do lots of crafty things to fill the time. It’s been a while since I’ve seen anyone hand quilting or knitting clothes. But the process for making these eggs was not complicated, all it took was some wax (bee wax was preferred), a cork, a needle and some dyes. The wax was melted over a candle in a little metal tray; the lid from a bottle was common. A needle was pushed into a cork, making an easy to hold handle. The head of the needle would be dipped into the wax and a pattern drawn on the egg with the liquid wax. As the needle didn’t hold much, and the wax would quickly harden, it took a lot of dipping and drawing to make the pattern. This first pattern went over the white egg. The egg was then placed into a light colored dye (usually yellow), and the area under the wax would stay protected and white. A new pattern would then be put on the egg after it dried, on the yellow areas. The egg would be dyed again with a little darker dye, in this picture probably the red. The area covered by the second pattern would be protected and stay yellow. After the egg dried another pattern was drawn, and another dye used. This pattern would protect the red areas. This process would proceed through however many dyes were available, usually just the yellow, red and a black. Some of the eggs in the above photo also have some green, but I don’t remember that color being used. After all was done a warm cloth would be used to polish the egg, melting the wax off and leaving a shiny protective coat. As the dyes usually had to be dissolved in hot water the eggs were hard boiled by the end of the process. They would last a few days, and end up being cracked and eaten on Easter. I remember a lot of egg sandwhiches.


Ann mentioned the option of emptying the eggs first, so that they could become more permanent. My mother did do that at times - you take a sharp knife and make little holes in each end of the raw egg, and blow really hard in one hole to force the insides out. You can then make scrambled eggs with the output. Rinse out the empty egg shell with a little vinegar and water. The result is a nice shell that will keep for a long time without rotting and smelling. The empty egg shells are a little harder to dye, as they float and must be held under the dye water with a spoon or something as they color up. Thanks for the reminder Ann.

We had our kids do a somewhat easier version of this, using crayons to draw pictures on the eggs and then put them in succeeding Paas egg dyes - the brand was popular back east. The whole process of the needle and melted wax seemed too time consuming for me, for an item that was so transitory. An easier way of decorating eggs that didn’t use wax and multiple applications of dyes was also used. This involved onion skins and only one boiling. That’s what I’ll demonstrate here.

What you’ll need are some eggs, the outside skin from a lot of onions (and garlic if available), some cloth (cheese cloth was traditional, but I used some old cotton t-shirts), thread and some green leaves. We don’t use many onions around here, so I started collecting the colored dry layer of skins from the outside of the onions for several months, putting them in an open plastic bag as the onions were used. You just want the dry outer layer of the onions, what you would normally take off before using them anyway. Just peel off and save the dry layer, don't try to peel off and save too much as the wet layers don't have much color.


First you cut up the skins into little confetti pieces. It’s easiest to leave the skins in the bag and just keep snipping them with scissors for a while until there are no big pieces left. This is fun for kids (using blunt scissors).


You then put a layer of skins on a piece of cloth (about six inches or so square). Wet an egg and stick some leaves on; fancy patterned leaves work best like ferns or small celery leaves. The places where these leaves are stuck on will stay white, kind of how the wax kept areas white from the dyes. Then put the egg on top of the pile of onion skins and put more on top, surrounding the egg. Pull up the corners of the cloth so that you have a nice tight package and use the string to tie the top up. (sorry, didn’t take a photo of the little tied packages.)


Put these in a pot, fill with water, and put the pot on the stove to gently boil. I boiled mine for about fifteen minutes; you just want to make sure you end up with hard boiled eggs at the end, however long you usually do it for. You can also put some extra eggs into the pot to boil along with the packages; these will come out an even brown color. After fifteen minutes take the little packages out of the pot and put them in some cold water for a few minutes, until they are cool enough to handle. Then just snip the string to open the packages, wash off the onion skins and you’ll have some speckled eggs.


The boiling water will pull some brown colors out of the onion skins, and the different colored onion skin pieces will impart different shades onto the egg shell. If you stuck on some leaves those areas will stay white, and you will end up with some patterned hard boiled eggs. Yes, I know, not pretty pink and yellow and red and blue, but it is a project you can do with the kids that doesn’t take much money and you will end up with the makings of some egg salad sandwiches after all.

Three for spring

Thanks to Clare:
1. The smell of the sweet acacia blooming right outside our kitchen, after a few years here in Vegas that scent now signals spring.

2. Pink blossoms on the peach tree: no grand and glorious pink cloud this year, just a few scattered around with the out coming green leaves.

3. Looking at the weather forecast in the paper, and seeing the high temps going up by three degrees every day, from our cold yesterday up to 78f predicted for Monday. Warm! Yea! (our rosemary bushes are nice blue, filled with bees)

4. Planting the tomatoes and peppers, so that they will set and we’ll pick before it gets to 110f (43C+) (OK, 4)

No insurance? tough

Still watching the birds out in our yard, there seem to be more this year than in the past. I put seed in the feeder a few times a week and as a result our yard is filled with the chirps of the little finches. The robins are still around - seems to be two groups of four birds that hang about, and visit the fountain a few times a day. Don’t remember seeing any robins in previous years and we are wondering if they are wintering here from some colder place or will stay around for the warm summer. We have been commenting on the lack of pigeons scrabbling around under the feeder. Usually a half dozen pigeons show up to grab the falling seeds, but none have been around for a while.

Today the probable reason was revealed. We had just let Buster out to wander around (the birds have learned to ignore him, no threat there) and I filled up the bird feeder. A small group of finches had just zipped down, a half dozen on feeder perches attacking the seeds directly and about a dozen more underneath. I was at the sink and B, looking out the window called me over and asked if the big bird on the wire right outside was the sapsucker (a flicker I’ve been told) that frequents the yard. It wasn’t, but it was either a small hawk or falcon, sitting up there watching Buster down below. I didn’t think Buster was in any danger, even though the bird was bigger than him. Then I noticed that the yard was quiet and all the finches had disappeared from the feeder. The big bird flew off, and it took quite a while for the little birds to come back. We hadn’t seen a raptor like this around our neighborhood before, but either the pigeons noticed and flew away, or didn’t notice and became someone’s lunch. Yea!! (sorry, I don’t like pigeons)

On to a little story on politics, which I have been trying to avoid here by posting interesting pictures and videos and funny stories. It’s a story of some friends here in town. One of my wife’s cousins is married to a teacher. Well, retired teacher. He was part of the Clark County school district for a great many years, working his way up to assistant principal before retiring. Part of his benefits package is medical insurance coverage, which worked pretty well for them. But last year they went to take care of his mother in central Arizona. They found out that the medical insurance was only valid for Nevada doctors and medical providers, and thus they basically were not covered in Arizona. They had to drive a few hundred miles back to Vegas to see doctors, and if an emergency had happened they would not have been covered by the insurance. They are now back in Vegas, and she commented on a change to their coverage that she was just notified of: since they are now both in their mid 60’s they are eligible for Medicare, and the school insurance told them that they have to be covered under Medicare, and it listed as their primary insurance, with the school retirees insurance as supplemental coverage. I know that the state is trying to save money, but after thirty plus years with the school system this seemed a little too tight fisted. They now had to pay for Medicare (I know, not much, but still money out of pocket on a retired person’s lower income) but at least they would have Medicare coverage if they were stuck in Arizona again. The bad part, besides paying out more, is that because of low reimbursement rates a lot of doctors will not take Medicare patients, and they are subject to all of the Medicare pre approval restrictions.

Their daughter is also caught up with some problems. She has a degree in hospitality, and has been working for several larger hotels and casinos for the past fifteen years. A number of years ago the casino industry started to take the path that a lot of grocery chains have taken, which is giving a large number of employees only 38 or 39 hours a week of work. This means that these employees do not meet the 40 hour requirement to receive insurance coverage, accumulated vacation, holiday pay or other benefits that a 'full time' 40 hour a week employee receives, thus saving the employer a lot of overhead expenses. As a result she has not been to a doctor for regular checkups for quite some time. She was recently diagnosed with some type of large growth in her abdomen, which is up over six inches (15cm) in diameter. Not having health insurance she is having problems finding a doctor that can tell her exactly what is wrong; she cannot get some expensive test to check things out; and no hospital will permit potentially expensive surgery or an extended stay without insurance (not even a pay in advance plan, as the hospitals don't really know what it would take). There are laws that require emergency rooms to treat patients with medical problems, but since this has occurred over time it is not considered an 'emergency' so she cannot get treatment. She owns a condo, but with the economy and declining prices her mortgage is about equal to the potential sales price of the place. She pays all her bills, has worked steadily all her life, and has not called on welfare or any government program for anything.

So here we have some people that have been good citizens, working steadily and meeting their obligations. One couple went to care for a sick parent in another state, and was not covered by their health insurance plan, the other not able to get health insurance and now in need of medical care that she cannot get. Somehow the concept of your employer supplying medical coverage, if you even are employed, has disappeared for a large segment of the population. The school system has shifted insurance costs for retirees over to the federal taxpayer (well, paying taxes for schools made us cover them to begin with) if they are old enough to be eligible for Medicare. Some employers save overhead costs by reducing the number of full time employees. Next time you shop for groceries ask your checker if she (or he) is full time - I always talk to the ones here and usually find that only the store manager and two or three supervisors are considered full time. From news stories we all know that Walmart, the biggest retailer in the US, does the same thing; only classifying a few people per store as full time employees leaving the majority of employees ineligible for benefits.

I hear the arguments about the health care plan being pushed in congress right now, and wonder where people come up with their numbers and examples. I know 'universal' coverage would be expensive, and it is not even being considered. There is something in the current bill about requiring coverage, and putting a new tax on those without insurance. Would that mean that all of those minimum wage Walmart not-full-time employees would now have to pay out more for nothing? What about the retirees traveling out of state that aren't covered, such as our relatives? What about the 12% official unemployed here in Las Vegas (not talking about anyone particular here; considering that since my layoff in June I haven’t been able to find work) or those unemployed too long to be part of the official statistics with no employer to supposedly provide coverage? There is nothing in the bill to prevent a casino (or big retailer) with ten thousand workers from only classifying a few hundred as 'full-time' eligible for benefits, leaving the rest with no options. Perhaps it is time to consider having a real government run health care system.

One of the complaints about countries with health care systems is supposed long waiting times to get care. I know our cousin’s daughter would much rather be on a three month waiting list for surgery than waiting for whatever it is to kill her. Our son-in-law is from Canada; his parents would love to move down here and be close to their son and granddaughter, but will not mainly because of their health coverage at home. Our friend in Sweden is a cardiologist, part of the government health system there, and he does research funded as part of his job that no other country does, writing articles and speaking all over the world about his findings. I hear people saying the US system does not need to change, yet as a nation we spend more per capita on health care than any other country and still are rated down in the thirties as best medically, so don’t tell me we have the best system.

I don't have any answers, just more questions, and am pretty dissatisfied with the results of our government. Big insurance companies sure can afford to make large political donations which supposedly have no influence on our representatives (sure, yea, right), yet the average person gets a form letter from their congressman (if any response at all). I see all these letters to the editor and web postings complaining about potential costs yet no one else has a good suggestion either. Telling people to get a job and buy insurance? Our relatives have jobs and insurance which doesn’t work out of state. Or jobs and no ability to get insurance. Or no job and no insurance and no money to buy any. Somehow telling someone to buy insurance on their own is not valid if the cost of that insurance is so high they cannot afford rent or house payments (if available at all). Or how about the insurance company saying that you’ve reached the maximum lifetime limits of payout, and that surgery that your kid just had - yes - we only cover a little up to the limit, so the extra $250,000 is yours; sell your house to pay for it. The next life saving surgery? Yes, not us, it’s on you. Don’t have the money? Sell everything, cash in the retirement savings and go on welfare to get the government to pay . . . oh, wait, your husband has a job, sorry, he makes too much and already has health insurance for the kid . . . over limits? Sorry, rules say he’s covered. Between jobs and run over by a hit and run driver crossing the parking lot? Sorry, sell your house to pay for that one.

Our local hospitals are going broke from providing care to people without insurance. Several nationwide have closed emergency rooms to avoid those expenses, leaving everyone with reduced availability of care. I looked at the insurance statements from when we went to the doctor; a $120 charge for something reduced down to a $12 payment? I don’t see how our doctor can stay in business with reimbursements like that. And if I don’t have insurance that would be a $120 bill to me, or somebody that can’t afford insurance - how can you afford to be sick with costs like that? Congress is supposedly reducing the Medicare payments for service, which already is so low that many doctors refuse to take Medicare patients.

Whatever it is we are doing has stopped working, and something needs to be done. I know it would cost money, but as a nation we are already shelling out big bucks to provide coverage to the percentage that can get it. Yes, government can’t provide everything to everybody, since they don’t make money just take ours and redistribute it (with overhead). You go tell our cousin she is going to die slowly and painfully. Or that due to cutbacks your job has been eliminated, so your kid's next operation will leave you in such debt that you will never pay it all, if you can find a hospital to even let you in. I don’t know. Sorry, just here to complain again.

Lemon pie

Since I did videos on Friday and missed E Friday it looks like things will just be random around here. I tried for regular things on regular days, but seem to stray rather consistently now. So, on to something new: a cooking post.

Down in San Diego B and I were Master Gardeners. This is a nationwide program implemented by the universities in each state where people are trained in gardening and then volunteer time to help others. We went through several months of school to learn all about how to garden in southern California, problems, pests, plants, fertilizer, watering, and lots of other things. At the time B had over three hundred roses in our back yard and I was playing around with setting up watering systems for commercial avocado groves. We became friends with many of the other Master Gardeners around the San Diego area, and found all of the amazing things that could grow there. People became experts in things they were interested in: one guy did guava trees, he had about two dozen varieties in his back yard; one woman did cherimoyas, she had several types (and they were really good!); another did bananas; B did roses and flowers, I did watering systems, and taught classes in drip irrigation. When we moved here to Vegas one of the first things we did was to find the Master Gardener group, and seek advice on what would grow around here. The recommendation was to plant things that normally grow in the desert and skip everything else. That ended up being pretty good advice, as the soil here is pretty poor, and the temperature range will either cook colder plants or freeze ones from warmer climates, and with only two or three inches of rain a year you will spend a lot of money watering other stuff.

One of the people we met was Leslie Doyle, who is known around town as the Tomato Lady, because of her love of growing tomatoes. She teaches classes in growing and has a yard just full of plants. One of the fruit trees that she has in her yard is a Meyer Lemon, and one Christmas she was giving away bags of ripe lemons. Meyer lemons are very juicy and a bit sweeter than ones in the store, the skin is thinner and they don’t ship as well or keep for very long off the tree, so you don’t usually find them in stores. But they grow well in Vegas and we’ll probably put a tree in ourselves.

When Leslie gave me a bag I proceeded to look for recipes in which to use them. I made lemon cake and assorted puddings, but what I really wanted to do was make pies. We used to hit Marie Calendar restaurants a lot, their specialty is pies, and when they first opened the only thing they served were pies. MC has since expanded into a full menu, but I always like their pies. I liked the lemon meringue, but I’m not much of a meringue guy and usually at that just to get at the lemony goodness underneath. So I searched the web for lemon pies. I usually start at the Food Network web site, as I like watching a lot of their shows, being partial to Sandra Lee and Rachael mainly because they cook things that are good and easy to make, and Alton because he is technical and even though some of his recipes are complicated all the ones I have tried are good. I also have several books from each of them. Anyway, the search brought up this recipe which provided a good starting point for me. You can make this from three juicy lemons, zesting them first then juicing. I used a third of the zest in each layer and all the juice in the first layer.


This recipe makes two pies, so start with two cooked pie shells. You can follow the web site recipe or your own to make the shells; I buy frozen Marie Calendar pie shells at our local supermarket. They come two in a pack and bake up in fifteen minutes, and my pastry capabilities don’t produce a significantly better crust. The rest of the pie is put in cold, so go ahead and bake to good crusts.
For the bottom layer:
1 ½ cups sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh lemon juice
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
1 ½ cups boiling water
1 teaspoon lemon zest (or whatever you get from one lemon)
In a sauce pan combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon juice and egg yolks. First do the dry stuff and mix well, then the juice and mix again, then the yolks. Use a whisk and make sure it is well combined. Then gradually stir in the boiling water; this tempers the yolks so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs. Add the butter, then put it on the stove over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and boil for two minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the zest. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes and divide between the two shells. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for it to set before doing the second layer.
Layer two:
1 cup powdered sugar
8 0z. cream cheese softened
1 ½ cups milk (we use 2%)
2 packages instant lemon pudding
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Cream together sugar and cream cheese with spatula until smooth. Add milk and extracts and stir until well blended. Add pudding and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes, then blend in 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Divide onto the two pies, pouring onto both, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to set. (Lemon extract optional, just adds some lemon flavor to layer)
Layer three:
1 cup powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese softened
16 oz Cool Whip (one container, we use extra creamy)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Cream together sugar and cream cheese with spatula until smooth. Add extracts and mix, then fold in the Cool Whip and lemon zest. Divide onto the two pies. (Lemon extract optional, just adds some lemon flavor to layer) Chill for four hours before serving to insure that everything is set. (We usually can’t wait, and cut a ragged piece right away, as shown in the photo)

I’ve been making these pies for several years now, and bringing them into work and to customers. Since the recipe makes two pies we usually try to give one away as the two of us don’t need quite that much sugar all at once.

Last month I went over to Leslie’s and picked two big bags of lemons. When I got home, besides making two pies, I zested all the lemons and then squeezed them all. I measured out one cup servings and put them into disposable plastic cups, put the cups upright into zip lock freezer bags and put them all in my freezer. This way I can just take out one cup, and scoop out some of the zest, and make a few pies whenever I want to.

I posted this as thanks to story teller and pie baker Blond Duck (even if she will not give out her special coconut pie recipe), go and see what she is cooking up. Another great cook is Clotilde, who makes some neat sounding stuff (and anyway I'm in love with France)

So, there is our first Cooking with Joe segment. Try the pies, they are fairly easy to make. The first layer is on the stove and must be stirred constantly, but the top two layers are easy to let kids make and put on, so it can be a family affair. The eating probably will be.

Santana

Last year we were discussion shows and concerts around Vegas, and B mentioned that she would like to see Santana. He regularly appears at the Joint at the Hard Rock, doing a two week run every few months. So I purchased some tickets for us and gave them to her for Christmas; we went to the show last Saturday. It was a very good performance - over two hours of steady sounds, I think my ears are still ringing from the volume. The concert was great - after forty years Carlos still can make his guitar sing.


The Joint is a large room built just for concerts. The lighting was great, and the sound system was one of the best I’ve heard. All the music was bright and clear (and loud). Santana is a marvelous performer; on stage were three drummers, a keyboard, two other guitars, two horns and two singers. It was a very energetic evening. We had not been to the Hard Rock since their big makeover last year. The casino itself is about a half mile east of the Strip and caters to a much younger crowd than the other big resorts. The place was a little slow when we got there before the concert, but when we left (after 11 on a Saturday night) it was packed, the music on the casino floor was fast and loud (most casinos do not have 'background' music playing), the tables were full and there were even a few pole dancers on platforms in the center of the main floor.


I first heard Santana way back when I was in the Navy stationed in central California. His Abraxas album had just come out, and along with albums from It’s a Beautiful Day and Cold Blood we would wear out the record players. The opening album songs were Oye Como Va and Black Magic Woman, which Santana also used to open this concert as well. Still good after 40 years, and probably one of a few performers that were at Woodstock still on stage. This video is a mix from different concerts, you can see how his group expanded (and his hair line receded), but his guitar playing continued to be great


It is not the kind of music that you can just sit in your seat and enjoy, especially not in a live setting


Carlos started his first band in 1966, and after thirty years of performing he still had a big hit in the late 90’s with Smooth


Several people have posted videos of his Hard Rock performances, this one seemed to have about the best sound and view. If your visit to Vegas overlaps one of his sets please think about putting it on your list of things to see. I always recommend a Cirque show when anyone comes to town, and for those of you wanting a little faster music than our other regulars such as Celene (coming back to Caesar’s next year), Cher, Donny and Marie or Barry Manilow see Santana. The average age at this concert reflected Santana's longevity: almost everyone had gray hair and I did not feel like the old fart in the room. Even if you get standing tickets in the side balconies (like where this vid was shot from)

Is it Spring yet?

We have been hearing all the news about snow back East, and I’ve been remembering what it was like to go out and sit in my cold car in the morning and not feel the heater doing anything even after I got to the work parking lot. It is much different here. We are about into Spring, and I am enjoying it.

What did I do the day of the big snowfall in Washington? I had to go outside and put out the pool pump, to pump all the rainwater off of the pool cover.


See it there, down in the pool, pulling off all that water from the heavy rains we had? And then that evening we went off to our local big home supply store and just had to comment on the display out front. Was it snow shovels and snow blowers? No, not quite . . .


Yesterday B spent some time getting our raised beds ready for veggies


Over under the trees some volunteer paperwhites had sprung up


But the rest of the yard still looks like winter


The only green grass is the different shade type that survives under the peach tree in our hot summers. The ground is still wet, we ended up with about 2.6 inches of rain total over three weeks, a lot more than we usually get, around half of our ‘average’ rainfall, and more than the 1.5 inches totall all of last year. This brings the worms up, so the birds keep coming back


Overhead the crisp air made my favorite sky patterns, lots of stripes.


And the temperatures? Low of 45 last night, it did hit 69 in our back yard yesterday. Supposed to warm up as the week goes on. You guys can keep your snow, and I love our summer 115 as well, so there.

(Sorry guys - that's a high yesterday of 20c with a low of 7c, in the summer it has gotten up to 47c since we've been here)

E Friday - year of the tiger

In following the tradition of Clare we return again to E Friday, where I post photos of my darling granddaughter E, because VG really likes to look at these pics.

When E and her mother were out visiting a few weeks ago we went down to the Strip to just walk a bit. One of our stops was the Venetian so that we could see what they had set up for the Chinese New Year, as that is one hotel that caters to foreigners, and does a good job of decorating throughout the year. Well, in the atrium they had set up a big tiger, since, well, this will be the year of the tiger.


E liked it, just had to reach over and pet its tail, and was disappointed that she couldn’t sit on its back. (hey, stripes with plastic flower leis look nice, no complaints now) And stripes alone look pretty good (right Lisa?)


Sorry, a bit of off-post here: while at the Venetian we did get to see one of my favorite Vegas sights; bride in wedding gown. This one is a little different than those just wandering the Strip; the white gondola is used for weddings, so she was being married here. Guess they are waiting for the minister to show up. No word on whether she did go out and wander the Strip for the entire afternoon wearing this outfit.


We did put her to work while here. She learned how to handle a broom, unfortunately it was because she found it herself and ended up sweeping up our gravel desert landscape.


She was not successful at sweeping up all the dirt however.
And she did put in quite an amount of time on the yellow swing.

Canadians

Last week we had some visitors from the far North. We were able to spend a pleasant day with these guys, one of whom I met in a roundabout way through blog comments, the other two who came down to Vegas for a guys wild week out while their wives went on a religious getaway. That seems a fair tradeoff: the women get religion, the guys get Vegas. Not sure what all they did while they were here, but we took them off Strip to a local restaurant and then out to Red Rock.


Red Rock is a National Conservation Area located about a dozen miles west of the Strip, located in the Movaje Desert and a little higher in altitude than here. The above and below photos are from Calico Rocks area, and it is quite colorful.


Above you can see the clouds starting to come down. This was a day after our heavy rains, and there was still a lot of water flowing down the rocks in waterfalls and streams. In a few minutes we were surrounded by thick clouds and getting wet.
A little further along the loop trail we came to an area that had been used for sandstone mining, where the colored stripes were much more pronounced. And there was still a little snow on the ground.


In a strange coincidence some new bling started to show up around town. These little gold pins have started showing up on the outfits of some attractive adult entertainers.


These pins first made their appearance about a year ago, but only a few were seen and then they disappeared. These started showing up again this week. I spoke to the young lady wearing this one and she had an interesting tale about how she got it. She said a nice older man from the far north of Canada gave it to her. Unfortunately, like most younger people (yes, I consider myself an old fart too) geography is not a school subject that students pay much attention to, and young women like this one probably could not find Canada on a world map even if she did know how to spell it. But back to her story; she said the gentleman was very friendly and amusing, telling lots of jokes. He gave her this solid gold pin (instead of a tip) because he liked her, and insisted on pinning it on her outfit himself. She said he had some problems with the clasp that slid on the back, probably due to him loosing feelings in his fingers due to frostbite.

As the poor guy was trying to attach the clasp he kept dropping it, and had to keep reaching around inside her top to find it again, continuously apologizing about his inability to feel anything as he kept feeling around to find the small cap. She said he must have dropped it three or four times but kept smiling and telling jokes and fishing around for the clasp until he finally had it attached. She did say he was ever so nice and friendly and funny and the pin was nice and shiny and probably worth a lot of money because of the price of gold now (I’ll have to remember that line and try it out myself) but for some reason her skin was turning green right behind the pin.
Several other young attractive women in the entertainment industry here in Vegas had similar pins, and told similar stories, about the poor man with frostbite that insisted on putting on the pin but then kept dropping the clasp and having to spend considerable time reaching in to find it because he had lost feeling in his fingers.
This all sounded pretty good, until I noticed other girls with the pin located elsewhere.


And these girls told the same story, about the nice funny man that kept dropping the clasp and kept reaching down to find it. And dropping it, and having a difficult time finding it. Again, seeing as there really wasn’t that large an area to misplace it in, he seemed to be spending an awful lot of time just reaching around.


I kind of feel sorry for him myself, not being able to feel anything and continuously dropping things in the strangest places. Hmm, I wonder if he might have anything to do with the group of Canadians I met.

E posing

In following the tradition of Clare we return again to E Friday, where I post photos of my darling granddaughter E, because VG really likes to look at these pics.

E and her mom visited us a few weeks ago. Before taking them to the airport for their return to far off Portland we wanted a group photo, so I set up the camera on the counter, set the timer and we all gathered together for the image. To be safe, and insure that at least one photo had everybody with their eyes open we took several shots. Extracting E from the group, here is what she looked like:








Care to make a bet about which photo was the best one for the rest of us?

Nice week

It has been a really nice week here in Vegas. With the storms dropping all that rain last week everything is damp and starting to green up. The sky is blue and clear and sunny (well, that’s normal around here) and the mountains around us stand out. I didn’t take my camera when we went out last week, and tried to take a photo of the mountains with snow, this one is looking north from in front of our house


Those are the mountains there under the cloud. Yes, we have telephone poles and wires strung around the neighborhood. They are not along the street but run down the back yards, here crossing the street in the middle of the block. That’s our local grammar school down a block on the right, with a big blue canvas cover over the playground equipment. Pretty nice scene for January, with the green pines and palm trees.
The high humidity has given us some nice sunrises and sunsets, with clouds coming in at night and disappearing during the day.


These shots never look as good in pictures as they do in real life. Ah well, imagine the pinks and orange colors in there if you will.

Last week we volunteered to help the Habitat for Humanity group again. This time we were at the World Market Center consolidating furniture donations. Driving down we passed the new Ruvo Brain Institute designed by Frank Gehry being constructed across from the market. (no, I haven't distored this picture, the curves are really there. Wonder what the rooms look like inside)


I don’t know what is more impressive, that someone could design a building like that, that a company would agree to pay for it, or the builder that can actually make it happen. The back is made up of standard office rectangles, but the front is rather interesting.
The World Market Center is also interesting, not as curvy, but comprised of different angles


There are only three buildings constructed, with glass walkways connecting the upper floors (seen at far left in picture), with another three or four to be built as profits are made. This week they are holding the market - these buildings are really only used twice a year, for the week long furniture and furnishings shows. We’ll be back there on Friday after the show collecting more stuff for Habitat. They have two local stores where they sell these things, some of the stuff donated is brand new, just last year’s models of chairs and couches and tables and stuff.

Also doing some things at home. We plan on redoing our kitchen, and were just set to order the cabinets last June when my employer decided to cut back some more (no, still haven’t found anything, job market in Vegas is really the pits) but put plans on hold for a while. Our house was built in the late 60’s, and the kitchen is in need of a change. We still have the full ceiling fluorescent lights that were popular back then but have fallen out of favor. We are testing different lights and trying to decide on what we want, mainly trying out different LED and fluorescent fixtures, we’ve purchased a few different ones and I’ve mounted them in the kitchen ceiling to see what they look like. (well, it’s all coming down when we remodel) We are about settled on the LED spotlights over most of the counters, much more efficient than regular incandescent lights and a lot cooler and long lasting. We have already replaced some spots around the living room with LED spots, liking the way they look in our test situation. For general background lighting we will go with some 3 inch diameter fluorescent fixtures that Home Depot had in stock. B liked them, and wanted some more light in our front room, which does not have any ceiling fixture, just lamps on the tables, so I put up a string of four yesterday along the wall soffit.


They look pretty good, and at 11 watts each they don’t consume much power, or give off any heat (important in summertime Vegas). So I spent most of yesterday crouched in the attic, moving fiberglass insulation and stringing wire. But I also put in a few in the front entryway and kitchen to use as night lights, so as to keep some lights on around when we have guests spend the night. I'm still itching from the fiberglass embedded in my arms from all that, even after some showers to try and wash it out.

Last time we painted B decided to put horizontal stripes up, applied over the paint with a clear glaze. You don’t really notice the stripes as they are not a different color; they just reflect the light a little more. She did the painting too, trying to pull some more color in there without overwhelming things.

So that’s it for around here. Oh - for those of you that like Buster pics; he is getting old and at times has a problem with making it outside. He doesn’t use the flipper doors any more, his eyesight is too poor for him to find them, especially when he is outside wanting to come in, so we have to let him out. In the warmer seasons we just leave the doors open, we don’t have to worry about bugs out in the desert, and when the swamp coolers are on they just blow the air out the doors. We do keep doors closed when it is cold, like now, and really hot and the air conditioners are on, so we have to catch him when he stands at the door waiting for it to open. But sometimes he just gets off the bed and makes no attempt to get outside, heck, at 21 he is what, 147 dog years old? When I get that old I promised B that I would probably just stand up and let go myself, her problem to clean up. But then she will be equally old, so I guess it is up to our daughter (or whatever caretaker we end up with) that will have to worry about it. But back to Buster: we got him some ‘pants’ that hold doggy diapers that work fairly well at containing things. But after wearing them for a day he refuses to let us put them back on. He is rather cute like this, no?

Three February things

I wanted to do this more often, but thanks to Clare here are three beautiful things for today:
1. The sun is shining, and everything seems clean from the rain last week. The ground is still moist, and it smells like springtime. I bought several packs of flower bulbs yesterday and am working in the moist garden and anticipating colorful blooms in a few months.
2. Buster is out in the grass wandering around. Even almost blind and twenty one years old he still likes to sniff the grass and check things out. When he bumps into my leg he sniffs to make sure it’s me and just stands there waiting to be picked up.
3. Buster normally sleeps all day on our bed, but we can hear when he gets down and goes for a drink of water as the tags on his collar hit against the metal water bowl, and the distant clink clink echoes around the house.

OK, can’t do this without at least one picture, here he is just supervising us in the kitchen, that missing left eye doesn’t seem to bother him too much.

Birds after the rain

We have a little break in the rains this morning; official total so far this week is 1.69', over the total for all last year of 1.59'. These are the storms coming up from the Los Angeles area that are causing so many problems there. Today was supposed to be the heaviest rainfall, but the forecast has been revised to just random thunderstorms, instead of the steady rain like we had all day yesterday. Normally we get most of our rain in February coming up from Southern California like these storms, but not so much over so many days in a row. Then it’s back to dry, with a usual series of Thunderstorms coming up from Mexico via the Phoenix area (southeast direction instead of the LA southwest direction) during July and August, and back to dry again. The snow level is down to 2,500 feet, so all of the mountains around us are white, with several inches up the street around Red Rock Canyon. Should make the skiers happy, the Mt. Charleston ski resort is less than an hour drive with the ski slope up around 10,000 feet; reports say they received about 24" of snow in the last day, so it will probably be pretty good for a while. Next week afternoon temps on the mountain will probably be around 50f with plenty of sun, so it does get a little slushy for skiing late in the day.

I filled up the bird feeder out back this morning and the birds pictured yesterday are all there eating now. Along with several dozen of their friends: when I put birdseed out we usually have fifty or sixty house sparrows and finches on the ground and fighting for one of the perches on the feeder. They are quite a noisy bunch chirping at each other out there. In addition to the seed feeders we have a lot of bug eating birds, as the rains have driven a lot of worms up to the surface. I counted a half dozen robins, two quail, three or four woodpeckers, and over a hundred starlings in addition to our regular hummingbirds and mockingbirds all out back at the same time. The front yard is full of pigeons and doves eating the fallen olives.

I tried to take a shot of our water fountain out back when the starlings descended - there were about a dozen on the rocks pecking at each other. But as usual some noise startled them and they all jumped up to the trees. So you'll have to settle for five, with a robin in the lower right corner watching.


The starlings come in a flock, I can count a little over fifty in this picture, but my camera doesn’t shoot wide enough to get the whole group, extending left and right about the same amount as here.


It’s funny to watch them all jump up when there is a noise out on the street, or fly together as a group into the trees, wait a bit, and come back down. See what little it takes to amuse me?

Here is the feeder. It took a while to find one that the pigeons can’t perch on, I got this tube one and cut the perches shorter and glued plastic partially over the seed holes so that the birds can’t just swipe all the food out quickly. It holds about a pound of seed, and these guys can clear it out in about six hours.


One of the woodpeckers came back - here he is on the fountain. That black looking mark on his chest is a very iridescent bright red when caught in the sunlight. I think it’s a sapsucker, as they have circled our peach tree with holes then come back a few days later and eat the sap that oozes out. I don’t think we have that many boring bugs in the peach tree.


All the birds have black and gray speckled feathers, and blend into the dry grass and gravel yards. It's hard to see the sapsucker on the peach tree until he starts beating on the trunk and you see his head moving. The starlings turn full black in the summertime, and the robins are not a bright red but have more of a pale redish gray front, not as bright as the ones I remember from back East.

On a different front, my allergies are back and really knocking me right now. I never had problems before we moved here, but have developed an allergy to one of the trees that blooms in January. I guess the rain pushed them, and yesterday my head felt like it was about to explode from the stuffed sinuses. I’ve got some prescription pills an allergist prescribed to me last year; they help but not really enough. I’ve talked about all the pollen produced by desert trees and bushes before, because the plants are so far apart they depend on air pollination, so are quite generous with pollen output.

Birds in the rain

What do birds do when it rains for three days straight in Las Vegas? Well, they give up on sitting in the trees and look for whatever little roof they can find. Our roof extends out over the walls by about two feet, so it's dry right under that. We noticed them when we looked out our front window into the courtyard. Over on the right wall we have an iron sun sculpture.


To the left of that is our front gate.


And to the left of that is a bedroom window.


These are all the little house sparrows that eat at our feeder (when I fill it up) and come drink from the fountains front and rear all the time. They are used to coming into the courtyard regularly for a drink, and at times like this (very rare) they keep coming back. So that’s five on the sun, four on the wall, four on the gate and seven on the window frame. They are also around the brick edging on the rear patio, but our house isn’t laid out where we can see them from inside and they fly away when I try to sneak up outside.

We are hiding inside out of the rain as well. More rain scheduled for tomorrow, then clearing but cold by Sunday. So far this week we have had almost as much rain as the total last year (big deal, a whole 1.5 inches : 35mm)