RAIN SUN - SLICED APPLES - GREEN ONIONS - SPINNING DISK VIDEO - KATY PERRY INTO SPACE BUSHBARBIE QUESTIONS - JIBBER JABBER

Soaking rains this past week in the Piney Woods. Abundant sunshine in between. Lawns lush, planted onions ready to eat, wildflowers ready to pop, rose bushes exploding, 4-hour power outage last night because "we do not know," and general health of the bride and me in the plus columns. Cats thinning for the summer and several small vermin/varmints have been left on our back door entrance to show their pride in having done their job with extreme prejudice. They have received a few "atta girls" and a few loving touches for their efforts. Much here seems in order. 

A trip to Dallas via a northern route was made during a nasty rain storm this past week. The northern route through Fate and Rowlett to state highway 75 proved that we can still make it into Dallas and not have to fight the rapid fire traffic in Dallas proper coming and going. Takes an hour longer, but much much safer, more relaxing and scenic.

The expansion tentacles of Dallas now reach as far east as Greenville. Road construction and new zero lot-line home construction, protected by circular high walls are reminiscent of our time in South Africa two decades ago. We find no value in that life, but this is a personal opinion. I do not think that Dallas will ever find the smooth lines of coming and going. Competed projects will be insufficient for the speed of growth. The beat will go on till it doesn't.

But for now, we can still traverse this landscape of excessive fast moving traffic, crowed shopping, working and making our appointments at medical offices. We did find a restaurant serving fresh fried oysters and markets offering fresh, although expensive, meats and produce. Trips to Dallas will be adventures and serve to help keep some of our skill sets sharp. Add a few good eats. We will continue all of this until we cannot. 

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WHAT IS OLD IS NEW AGAIN

I cannot remember the last decade in which I used an apple slicer. Today, they are called Apple Dividers. Why it is necessary to change the name for a tool that slices apples? Regardless, treating myself to sliced apples over the past couple years has been easy and reasonably affordable. Pre-sliced and packaged has now turned into too much money, poor quality products near the end of their shelf life  becoming a norm at the local grocery store. I had enough of "lower quality" expensive products and asked my wife to order an old fashion apple slicer. The Oxo choice above was delivered the day after my wife ordered it. My old habit of off-the-shelf sliced apples from the grocery store was finished.

There is surprisingly a bonus from this old school food preparation in the physical positioning and slicing of an apple. Personal satisfaction coupled with aesthetic appearance. Satisfaction of saving money when shopping and an-in-your face of "I don't need/want no stinking store bought pre-sliced apples" ever again. 

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GARDEN ONIONS ARE ON!

We have started adding sliced/chopped onions from the garden now. The first planting is coming on, bright green and healthy. Most every meal from morning scrambled eggs to lunch and supper meals. They do add a flavor pop and visual appeal to meals.

 

Fresh chicken salad with sliced tomatoes and garden onions.  

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SPINNING A DISC. 

This has a wow factor for me and somewhere in the math/science of all of this is more information than I can grasp. Don't know, but I bet you watch it to the end and say "wow." Why did you say "wow?" Yea, watch it again, right?

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KATY PERRY GOING INTO SPACE 

I do not have any take on Katy Perry. Know her by pictures and name. But know not of her music and other things in general. 

From Bushbarbie and all of this makes me laugh. Maybe it is her accent or her take on the absurd. But it does make me laugh.  Adult language, just saying!

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JIBBER JABBER

Roses have been "on" for a month now. This is the spot where I tried to grow lemon trees and failed.  The roses have taken flight.

 

I surprised my wife a few weeks ago by putting a small bouquet of roses on the table for her. The photo below is the third bouquet and one she prepared for this blog.

 

Eventually, the kitchen table will be straightened up as things get put away today. But at this moment, the photo well represents a fresh bouquet of roses brightening up a living space.  

Time over the past few weeks has been spent in our rocking chairs under the car port watching pairs of cardinals hit the feeder and scoot off. We enjoy talking of things in general and soaking up the warmth of the changing days. Any wanting for more is nullified by the quiet of the day, time spent together and our increasing ability to put off chores without guilt.

Appreciate your visit this week.

 

POKE SALAD - JESUS NUT - BOSTON DYNAMICS VIDEO - OSPREY VIDEO - BUY A SAIL BOAT STORY - JIBBER JABBER

 Steamed Poke greens from the Poke weed.

I received a phone call from west neighbor asking me if I had ever eaten Poke Salad? I told him that the only thing I know about Poke salad is "Poke Salad Annie."

Sung by Tony Joe White, tells a good story about the poke weed and cooking some up for dinner. "chomp chomp."

Neighbor said he was chasing a cow that got out of the fence and was in a neighboring pasture when he noticed a large patch of fresh poke weed growing under the fence. Said he was distracted to the point of going to the fence and cutting a large bucket full of poke weed for dinner that night. Poke weed is a thing here and has been for decades. He said that a lot of folk don't like it, that he has to put hot sauce on it and would I like a small bowl to try.  Again, he said that some folk don't like it. He accompanies home boiled Poke greens with a fresh batch of corn bread. I said "sure".

A few minutes later, he pulled up in the driveway with a tupperware container with a handle. Hot out of the pot. See through container showed dark green in a hot bath. "A lot of folks don't like boiled poke greens" he said again. Had a smile on his face.

I thanked him and took the container in the house. Here was an opportunity to try some fence greens common to the fields of east Texas. I showed my wife and she pulled away from me as I asked if she would like to sit down and try some authentic "poke salad greens." She said she had never tried them but "no, thank you."

Opening the lid, I noticed boiled bacon pieces and figured that the bacon was added to help with the flavor. The greens were dark, lush and drained down from the fork like spaghetti noodles as I portioned my first bites into a small bowl. Looked very much like steamed spinach and I am a big fan of spinach in any form. I added a few dabs of hot sauce and dove in.

One bite, two bites and three. Not bad. Good. A little salt, just like adding to spinach. I am a fan of most vegetables. I draw the line at rutabaga, but beyond that, enjoy most all vegetables. Grew up with my grandmother's garden.

Then I made the mistake of looking up Poke weed. I learn that it is poisonous if not boiled and boiled and boiled. The boiling takes out the poison and the weed becomes safe and edible. Folks have been eating this weed for years beyond my age. A poor people food that grows freely in the fields here and there.

Neighbor said that granddaddy lived to be 95 and ate Poke greens his whole life. Grandma, too. Point being, that all you have to do is clean it and boil it and boil it.

I will eat it again. Wife will not.

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JESUS NUT

The recent helicopter crash into the Hudson River has resurfaced the term, "Jesus Nut." It is the one single nut holding the rotor system onto the vertical transmission shaft coming from helicopters. I learned this in 1966 while attending some of entry courses in the U.S. Army's Primary Helicopter School at Ft. Wolters, Texas. That/those lessons were soon reinforced by our flight instructors when we learned how to pre-flight a helicopter. My instructor was adamant that in our preflight around the helicopter, we climb up and inspect the rotor system. That included hand turning the rotor system to visually inspect, and touching/twisting the moving connecting rods in the system.  He was a believer that visual inspecting accompanied by physical touch insured a proper pre-flight inspection and he mandated all his students to do just that. I did that on every pre-flight of every flight I flew while in the Army. And yes, all of the touching and twisting found sticky control rods that needed attention by maintainence. 

The main rotor hub is set down on top of the vertical shaft, special washers and spacers added and then the nut is torqued to specifications. There are metal tabs on one of the nuts that bend up to one of the flats on the nut and prevent the nut from coming loose in flight. I think that there had to be 3 of those flats bent up and touching the nut. Yes, we touched the Jesus nut as part of our inspection. 

That helicopter flight program was by far the best eduction from any formal school or training I ever had to this day. There were many spin-off lessons that have applied to other mechanical devices in my life time and how to pay attention to detail. 

I have watched two videos below trying to figure out what happened in NYC. Too early to say.

CAPTAIN STEEEVE 

MAST BUMPING THEORY 

Now, any news story of this accident is so contaminated with jibber jabber from folks who have no business trying to explain anything helicopter related. 

I have never heard of any helicopter crash directly related to the Jesus Nut coming off in flight. Bell Helicopter and the Army did make a video we saw in 1966 in flight school, of a Huey UH-1 helicopter on the ground, being tested purposefully to demonstrate what happens when lift is applied to a heliccopter rotor system without the Jesus Nut. The video was what expected it to be. Parts and pieces into destruction. 

Whatever did happen in this accident, I am confident that I can say it was an instantanious catastrophic event. I would like to see more good video of the other pieces as they fall down too.

There are many, moving parts and connecting rods/nuts and bolts on a helicopter rotor system. Failure of any of these parts in flight could cause the whole system to instantly fail.

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 WALK, RUN, CRAWL

I thought that I would check in on what Boston Dynmics is up to and some of the advances in their robots over the past couple years. Let your mind play with this!

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OSPREY DEATH FROM ABOVE 

Mother nature and some exceptional photography.

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 GET YOURSELF A 30-FOOTER AND GO

Maybe nothing more than a fun read. 

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 JIBBER JABBER

A week of contractors working on the house. Some more roof repair and preventative maintenance on the siding of the house to prevent eventual rotting. 

All the work is done and we have good bones in this ole house.  

We drove to Edgewood yesterday to meet family at the Lumber Yard cafe. Delayed wife's birthday gathering and excellent food. My wife was gifted 8 lobster tails on ice. We have not had lobster since we left New Hamshire 5 years ago.

My wife steamed the tails in steamer bags for dinner tonight, two at a time, 2 minutes at 80%. Plated and devoured. She was like a kid digging, cutting and dipping into melted butter. Yea, it was grand. "Chomp chomp."

Thanks for the visit this week.