NO WINTER FOR OLD MEN - - "SHOOTERS" ON HIS MIND - - BAKING CAKES

This is not a winter for this old man. So far, Mother Nature is toying with me. Rain, sleet, melting then freezing, add a little wet snow and repeat. 

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Mid of the New Year 1st week, 2019. Gonna be a bumpy ride this year for peeps.

"The beginning of the end" some write. Impeachment paper work filed before week's end. Newly elected congress woman screaming across the aisle to impeach the M***ker. Apparently reaching across the aisle for the good of the order looks much different when in power. Never saw that coming, huh? I digress!!

I find the coming into any new year to be anti-climatic. I do not begrudge the happy happy and gathering of folks for the midnight hour. I cannot though ever remember that moment to be worth all the hoopla. Five minutes into the new year, most folks are packing their bags and goodies and hitting the roads home.

For the past few decades, NYE has been normal to bed times here on the hill. Maybe a vague midnight awakening from distant fireworks. The dog would always arrive within seconds and noticeably plop down near our bed for safety and security. She always received a pat on the head from the wife or me for reassurance. 

The only noise I remember this new year arrival was the plopping of wet snow sliding off the metal roof and hitting the edge of the deck below. Seemed abnormally quiet; the arrival. 

I think this new year, 2019, will be one for the record books and looked back upon as a year of groundwork laid for epic change in the worlds we live in. There will be no coming back to the ways of old, other than storytelling. 

What ever is coming, what ever the trigger(s) for major change, the uptick this year will be noticeable locally, state, nationally and worldwide. The writing is on all the walls and one has to have his/her/its head deeply embedded in a hard sand not to see.  

My advice, which I, too, will take, is keep knees bent, stay away from crowds, stick to your plans, work the work, live and love the life and prepare for down times to be as self-sufficient as possible. 

If you are one that will have to leave and you should know that by now, practice the plan. Hard snow flakes in your midst might have to be left behind. Your other choice is to drag them kicking and screaming with you. But if the day comes where you realize your immediate survival need to leave, you will not have the time nor energy to do so. If you are leaving, it will be a new ball game with different rules.

If you are planning on digging in and you should also know that by now, then keep digging and shoring up the moat. 

There are absolutely no guarantees. None. BUT a few cans of soup, rice, powdered milk, flu/cold meds, toilet paper, ability to meet 4 seasons for you and yours plus hundreds of other little everyday items tucked away may make the difference short and long-term. The supply chain failure may very well be a part of a down-tick. That will be an ugly in your face fact. Prepare. If you have children and people that depend on you, then you have no choice other than to be ready.  None. 

TURNINGS.   http://www.lifecourse.com/about/method/the-four-turnings.html

Worthy of time reading

THE BURNING PLATFORM   A fourth turning article. He follows this closely and explains it well. Put this blog into your reads this year.

RACONTEUR REPORT.     YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

A fellow who is a nurse and works in an ER. He pulls no punches. Writes exceptionally well also. Also tracks the Ebola outbreak.

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Playful new breakfast try by my wife in the photos above. Baking pan sprayed, 2 thin ham slices, cheese crumpled in, one egg each and baked for 12-15 minutes a 400. Let rest a minute after out of the oven. All 4 disappeared in a cone of silence. Next time will be put on toast and or a slathering of Hollandaise sauce. 

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SHOOTERS ON MY MIND   from Seacoast on line.com 

"The bodies are piling up. So is collective traumatic stress: emotional numbness, anger, anxiety, guilt, denial, withdrawal. Not the best characteristics to restore open, civil discussion and repair a shredded democracy."

(I cannot help but wonder if  "impeach the M***ker" is part of civil discussion?--most likely just fine because the screaming was passionate)

Not an adjective left behind!

There is no getting away from the ever increasing hanging of fear over this great land. If 2018 was bad, then this year is going to be brakes-off, loosen the reigns and let 'em run full speed out of the gates. To hell with the direction, be it flat and smooth nor laden with ruts, trees and cliffs obscured by bramble. 

Of all this social unraveling beginning to happen now, the hyping up and grandstanding this week in political/social circles, one of the emotions threading through me is not one of fear. I do not fear the man or woman's path I cross. I do not fear wind blowing through the trees, shadows in the late afternoon nor the car running down the highway with a rear tail light out. I do not go out of my way looking for every bad trait or pending bad behavior projected on to my fellow man. Nor do I ascribe a negativism and pending life ending doom to the most minuscule duck out of order. Who can or wants to live like this? 

The author of this article is having difficulty with daily norms and likely dug into his fears.  Pity the poor kid delivering a couple hot pizzas for lunch there.

What's in your lunch bag? 

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OMG OMG, THEY ARE SHOOTING BOOKS.

.22's LR in                                                             .22's LR out 

                                                  ........................                                                         

  

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW

My wife happened on this show a month or so back. The 2016 season. After watching for a few minutes we were hooked. To date, I cannot tell you what it is about this show that holds us from start to finish. The competing bakers sure. What they try to bake, yes. The hosts and judges, a little bit. But the major draw that keeps us glued, not sure. Regardless, we are in with all shows on record so as not to miss a drop of ganache.

NO ILLUSIONS

I/we like cooking as evidence here from cooking topics covered. My wife dabbles and I am guessing that her Lemon Bundt Cake with icing last week just may have come from watching this show. Not sure, but she had a smile on her face and treated her final cakes with much TLC. The flavor was excellent and all 4 cakes were gone in a half-hour when friends popped over for tea and a post-holiday visit. 

This morning it was my turn with King Arthur Flour Apple Spice Cake mix with Bourbon Glaze. Our current cake baking thus far comes from a box using KAF cake mixes. And why not? We have the big KAF baking book and will get to that in due time.

We get out the KitchenAid mixer, a few tools and all the ingredients along with instructions. Set the oven to 350 and "bakers-bake." Neither of us have any illusions that we can bake. But all the fun of mixing, baking and drizzling glaze is there. And the flavors are wonderful. 

       

Like other products talked about here, I am not trying to push the product, just talk about it. KAF is in local stores and the main store is in our back yard. They, of course, are on the net.

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A week into the new year now and winter is wearing as I all-too-often mention. The photo above is what we are dealing with as new weather accumulations have no where to run off and temperatures have not been helpful. Eleven degrees tonight. The snow cover on the driveway above is now all the glaze ice. Off to throw 5 gallons of salt and 5 gallons of sand after publishing this morning. But we are warm with plenty of homemade soup to supplement.

No promises here this new year. Gonna keep plugging away following my suggestion of "living and loving the life."  

Thank you for the visits and keep checking in from time to time.