SEA SHANTIES AND MORE

 

     A sea breeze from Newfoundland - the Irish Descendants.

THEN THERE IS UNCLE DAN!

the Ol'Buzzard

AS GOOD AS SLICED BREAD

 

 

There is nothing as good as fresh homemade bread; and toast made from homemade bread is excellent.     

My wife and I have been making bread in bread machines for thirty-five years.   We bought our first bread machine when we taught school in a remote Athabaskan Indian village in bush Alaska, where store-bought bread was not available. 

 

 Our bread contains water, flour, honey, salt, butter and yeast.

 

Our breads don’t contain Triticale Flour, Monoglyceride, enzymes, ascorbic acid, amaranth, monocalcium phosphate, soy lectin, calcium sulfate, niacin reduced Iron, thiamin mononitrate, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, sodium sterol lactate, calcium sterol lactylate, monoglycerides, calcium peroxide iodate, datem, ethoxylate, mono and diglycerides, enzymes, ascorbic acid, ammonium sulfate vinegar, dextrose sugar, hydrogenated soybean oil or calcium propionate…  

 

For years we had a Breadman Ultra bread machine and got excellent results, but after ten years the machine finally gave up the ghost.  We immediately looked for another Breadman bread machine and ordered it through Walmart.   The new Breadman machine was a piece of junk.  It had a collapsible paddle that would come off in the dough during mixing.  The beauty of ordering through Walmart was that we could return it locally.   We replaced the Breadman with a Cuisinart bread maker and it is excellent.   It has a cycle that warns you if you want to remove the paddle before baking.   Every loaf has turned out spectacular.

 

One of the aggravations with homemade bread is slicing.  Sometimes the slices turn out different widths, or thicker on one side than the other.   So, last week I went on line to see if there was a better, more consistent way to slice home made bread, and found a plastic slicing guide for eight dollars.   They had more expensive wooden models; but the cheaper one would allow me to find out if they work.  

 

I am very pleased with the results of the slicer.  I may, in the future, purchase a more substantial wooden guide

 

We make white bread, wheat bread, artisan breads, pizza dough, cinnamon raison bread, oat and brand breads.   There are also recipes for sourdough breads, but we don’t care for the taste.   The Cuisinart comes with a recipe book that is sufficient for any beginner bread maker.  We always make a one-and-a-half-pound loaf that fits well in a toaster.    The Cuisinart recipes have all produced good loafs.

 

There is a learning curve in making bread in a bread machine, and the only way to consistently turn out good bread is to use it enough to be able to determine a good dough consistency at the beginning of the cycle.  

 

A man I knew in rural Newfoundland, whose wife always made their bread, use to call bought bread “baker’s fog”.   Once you get use to home baked bread you will  understand his prejudice.    

 

During this time of pandemic isolation, why not become a bread maker?

the Ol’Buzzard 

 

 

FIXING THE SNOW PLOW

 

 

We get fixated by things we have no control over.  The insurrection that has happened this week has absorbed my wife and me.   We have been glued to the television and ranting about the Republican Party of Donald Trump – but to no avail. 

 

This morning I read the blog of Yooper Has Left Crackerland.   He lives somewhat off the grid in northern Michigan on the upper peninsula, and posted about having to fix his snow plow that he depends on for access to the outside world.  

 

This reminded me that life goes on.   I got early up this morning and fed the cats.  My wife was still in bed so I worked out on my Total Gym.   I spent some time reading and then had a good crap.   I put on a white bread recipe in my new Cuisinart bread machine.  Now my wife is up, we will have breakfast and life will go on – not from outrage at insurrection to resolution – but just go on.

 

Sometimes fixing the snow plow is the most important thing you can do in that day.  

We are living our daily routine isolated during a deadly pandemic, and fixating over things we have no control over is not healthy.  The outcome of our political disquiet will be what it will be.  We should probably keep that noise in the background and just focus on fixing the snow plow.

 

the Ol’Buzzard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://mannikko.blogspot.com/2021/01/nice-day-to-work-on-plowtruck.html

HOW CATS FEEL ABOUT THE PANDEMIC

 

the Ol'Buzzard

THOUGHTS ON HEAVEN AND HELL

 

 

Half of the people in this country believe that Donald Trump is a great leader and actually won the 2020 election; but was cheated out of a second term by a deep-state-conspiracy.

 

Just because people believe in something doesn’t make it real.

 

Religion has always been about control of the masses by manipulative conmen.   These men invented heaven and hell, because without the promise of life after death there would be nothing in their dogma to entice and control the punters to continual subservience.

 

 Actually, if the non-religious person were to invent heaven, there would be two to choose from:  

In men's heaven, men would live together in a hunting camps where they could swear, chew, spit, smoke, drink, fart, pig out, watch sports and then when they felt like it, hop on their snowmobile or motorcycle and ride twenty minutes down the road to the whore house

Mark Twain

Woman’s heaven would be much simpler: with nice homes, unlimited money, female friends, nice clothes, beautiful jewelry, good food and wine; and subservient men to do the chores, wash the car and mow the lawns.

Maybe this is a male sexist view of what men and women value.

 

But I know which heaven I would choose. 

the Ol'Buzzard

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMPEACHMENT OF THE 25 AMENDMENT?

 

                IMPEACH NOW!

 

Invoking the 25^th. Amendment could remove Trump from office immediately – same day; but it is not going to happen.  

 

The Vice-President and Trump’s cabinet would have to move against him, and each and every one is afraid of being a target of Trump’s unhinged base.    It is easier (and safer) for them to resign than to take a stand to remove Trump from office.

 

Impeachment would be preferable, if it could be done within the next twelve days.   Impeachment would bar Trump from ever running for President in the future.   There might be enough votes in the Senate to pass an impeachment this time, because a number of Republican Senators, with an eye on a Presidential run in 2024, would love to see a no-Trump Republican ticket. 

 

Trump permanently barred from running for President would neuter the Trump base.

 

But if we wait this out and do nothing for the next two weeks, he will run again and his base will become more embolden.    

 

IMPEACH NOW!

the Ol’Buzzard

TRUMP AGREES TO PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER

 

After the terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol building by insurrectionist instigated by President Trump, there is talk of removing Trump from office by impeachment or enacting the 25 Amendment.   It has finally dawned on Trump that he has overreached and he is scared shitless - so now he proclaims a orderly transition of power. 

We should not be fooled.  He needs to be held responsible for an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States.  

PAST THE NOISE: THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

 

Remember when Trump picked Rick Perry to head the Department of Energy, replacing a nuclear physicist?   Rick Perry with a degree in animal husbandry, who during his run for presidency had to be reminded on stage (Oops) that he would do away with the Department of Energy if elected; and who, after nomination, was surprised that the Department of Energy wasn't all about oil, but also controlled nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.

This was the highest standard set for all the Trump Cabinet picks and appointments.

The following is the list of the Biden Cabinet and appointments.

Biden's Cabinet Picks.    

Qualified people overseeing critical government functions, along with a Congress that doesn't block everything  on partisan principal...

Too good to be true?

the Ol'Buzzard

YOU HAVE NOW CROSSED OVER INTO THE TWILIGHT ZONE

 

 

WELCOME TO CRAZY TOWN

This week the Y-axis on the idiot scale has risen off the chart.   Sanity has left the building.  It is no use in my listing the orgy inside the crazy-house which is the United States – just buckle up your seat belts and turn on the television for a minute-to-minute update. 

 

Stephen Hawking called us an advanced breed of monkey, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson pointed out there is only 2% DNA difference in humans and Chimpanzees.   I think we can say, for most of the population, that cross-species kinship is closer than we would like to admit.     

 

We have elected a mentally defective child to the White House and half of the population want to keep him in for a second term.   Almost half of our government officials have willingly drunk the Cool Aid and checked in to the asylum.    Lunatic has now become a normalized and accepted mental condition.  

 

Of course, the press and politically correct liberals prefer to ‘address the Republican base’s concerns’ instead of calling them out as the poorly educated, functional retards they are.   We overlook the fact that they elect to office the same incompetent people as themselves. 

Hanlon’s Razor states: Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity.   And P.T. Barnum said you can never underestimate the intelligence of the American Public.

 

 If Trump and his supporters are normal – then maybe we are the ones that are clinically delusional.

 

So here we are.

the Ol’Buzzard

 

 One out of every four people are seriously fucked-up.   Look at your three closest friends; if they are all-right, then it’s probably you. 

 

 

 

MY WARNING TO 2021

 

No Fucking More Bad News!

Don't make me let loose the flying monkeys.

The Whiz.  Probably my most favorite musical.  

the Ol'Buzzard

GOOD BY 2020 – GOOD RIDDANCE

 

 

On The first day of 2021 we can all look back and agree that last year was a sucky year.  However, being old I have a more balanced perspective.   This is not my first rodeo.

 

I was a child during the Second World War and remember the fear and helplessness that people felt.  Food shortages, ration cards and Gold Stars in many people’s windows.

 

I was a young adult during integration that sparked racial violence throughout the south.

 

I was assigned to a Naval patrol bomber squadron that blockaded Cuba when Russia attempted to establish a nuclear base off our southern coast.  We did not know from day to day if we would spark a nuclear war. 

 

The country was divided during the Vietnam war.   When I returned, we were flown back to the states on a chartered Qantas Airline.  Many abord were carrying injuries, both physical and mental, that would plague them for the rest of their lives. We all applauded and yelled when we touch down in San Francisco; but were met by protesters that booed and shouted insults.

 

The U.S. was attacked on September 11.  In some ways it brought us together.

 

Now a narcissistic conman has divided the country and brought into the open the most extreme elements of our society.    Our very democracy is threatened; while at the same time we are experiencing a once in a century global pandemic, that is by all accounts out of control.  

 

At the beginning of 2020 many were puckered up to kiss the mouth of a prosperous economy but ended up laying a big one on the ass of Donald Trump.   The rich still prospered during 20, but the rest of us have suffered.

 We should look at 2020 as the year brought to us by the Republican Party.  If we don’t recover it will be our own fault.

 

Starting with the Tea Party movement, we have allowed the inmates to take over the asylum.   Now here we are.

 

the Ol’Buzzard