Difficulties posting

  Sorry all, it's been a trying week to get things posted.  My PC is still down, and I have had some issues with my blog format.   I'm still so new to this that it is taking me a while to figure it out.  So, I promise that tomorrow I will try to get my format issues resolved and post.  I can't use the PC as an excuse tomorrow, as Mommy skunk and the Skunk in the Middle will be on a field trip, so I can use the laptop.  I'm sure Baby Skunk will sleep at some point in the morning, thus allowing me to catch up on my duties.

Back into the swing of things

Go REV!!

  Ok, mixed results on the weekend.  The rest of the skunks had a great time.  The skunk in the middle has a new hero, the Revvin REV.  He is a pastor from the panhandle who races cars on the side.  The boys got to meet him this weekend, check out his car, and watch him race.  Apparently, he is quite good.

Thank God he's 11 years from turning 16!

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  I think we may have created a monster...this boys loves cars.  He made out like a bandit on his birthday.  Give the boy Hot Wheels and he is happy.  They were only able to stay a couple of days, but they really packed it in.  It was nice to have them home again.







I think it took a bit out of him!















  My part of the weekend was not nearly as successful.  I had my fishing trip, which I planned with the help of my new friends at the NE Fish and Game Association.  The plan was to go to Wagon Train SRA, fish by raft until sunset, then park it on the beach and spend the entire night going after catfish.  Then, at dawn the plan was to get back on the boat, and try to get a few Wiper Bass.

  As you may have noticed by now, things rarely go as I plan them.  Gallup once told me my #2 top strength was Adaptability.  It's a good thing, due to weekend like this.  It started innocently enough.  I found the SRA without difficulty, got the boat inflated, loaded and launched without a hitch.  So far, so good.  I drifted around the dock area for a while, trailing cutbait and a nightcrawler, using my anchor as a depth finder.  I didn't find any holes (or fish), so I moved out onto the main lake, which is deeper.  As I was pulling toward the west jetty, SNAP!  I turned around to see the lower half of my right oar slowly sink to the bottom of the lake.  Great....canoes have keels.  This allows you to pull on either side of the boat and still follow a relatively straight line.  Inflatable rafts have no keel, just a flat bottom.  I'm glad no one was recording my effort to paddle my way back to the dock, though I did hear a few chuckles.

 As I'd had no luck at all, and all I could hear around me at this point was the Husker game being played by 35 different radios, I pulled out and went to Branched Oak, a much larger lake on the other side of Lincoln.  It was full on dark when I got there, but I got myself set up on the beach, with my big rig geared for cats and outfitted with a strike-alert bell.  I sat down to read my book.  After pulling in my bait to check it and occasionally replace it for 4 hours, at 2:30 AM, I finally heard a tinkle from my bells.  Knowing that a friend had pulled a 56 lb flathead from this lake last week (!!), I was excited.  It wasn't that big, but it put up a big fight.  I finally pulled in a 22" channel cat.  Not huge, but it was easily the biggest fish I'd ever personally caught.

  As luck would have it, that was to be the only fish I caught the whole trip.  At dawn, I headed over to the dam and decided to take a 30 minute nap.  I set my phone alarm, for what it was worth.  I ended up sleeping for about 2 hours, missed the entire dawn bite.  Oh well, I got my gear put back together and single paddled my way out to the spot where the Big Brother Skunk had caught his monster wiper this summer.  I tried cutbait, crawlers, lures, spinners...I tried in 20', 10' and right up on shore.  Never even got a nibble.  Oh well, I was tired and sunburned and the other skunks were on their way home, so I packed up and left to get some house cleaning done.  I'd been home for about 4 hours when I pulled my catch off the ice to fillet it, and my heart sank.  My fishing bucket was not in the car.  Apparently, I left my bucket which was filled with my working tackle bag, meaning most of the tackle I own, my brand new fillet knife and my brand new landing net, in the parking lot at the lake.  I raced over, praying to find it still there, but alas, it was gone.  Then I got bitten by an ant or something on the way home.

  Well, the weekend is over, everyone is safe, and I learned a lot about solo fishing.  The most important thing I learned was:  Do a walkaround before you leave a fishing area!!!

Wow, where to begin....

  It's been an amazing week in Beaver Crossing, my Hometown.....

  Yes, regards to Senor Keillor....he is an inspiration to Lutherans everywhere!  Wow, where to start......
Well, my PC has officially gone on the DL....dead power supply exhaust fan, or some such nonsense.  My father-in-law valiantly made an effort at emergency surgery several months ago.  The man actually created a new snap ring for the fan shaft out of a piece of aluminum soda can...yes, he is that talented.   It worked for several months, but has finally kicked the proverbial bucket.  Therefore, I have not had the ability to post for a few days.  Sorry. 

  This week, my EMT class started.  It has been interesting so far.  I'm really glad that I have taken anatomy and physiology already, because we covered it in 2 hours.....  I do believe that we will spend more time on the subject as we get into treatment.  There are 8 of us in the class, so it's a fun atmosphere.  We're all volunteer firepeople (can't be gender biased, you know...learned that in College English), so we all have a twisted, somewhat morbid sense of humor. 

  The class is the reason why I am here in Beaver Crossing this weekend.  My wife and kids are in Wyoming.  The skunk in the middle wanted a race car birthday, so we decided to give him one.  My in laws, who live in WY, are friendly with a local pastor who happens to moonlight as a race car driver.  So, Karyn took Daniel to meet him, check out his car, etc.  Apparently, they even got team tshirts for the boys with their names on the back.  They are watching his race tonight....awesome, wish I could be there. 

  However, since I am not there, I figured I'd best take advantage of the opportunity.  I'm taking our fishing raft out and going kitty fishing all night tonight.  I went out to a freind's pond yesterday to get bait (cut bait is legal to transport...), caught about 15-20 little bluegills and bullheads.  As I was getting ready to leave, I discovered that I had locked my keys in the car.   This was a double problem, as I only had 15 minutes to get to town for a Cub Scout activity.  The pond owner was not home, so finding a coathanger was out.  I worried about it for about 5-6 minutes, looking for appropriate sticks or something, when I came to a sudden realization.  Duh, I've got 3 fishing poles leaning against the car, and my window was slightly open for ventilation!  I felt silly.

  So, now it is Saturday afternoon, EMT class is over, and I am out the door.  I've got some catfish to catch.  I think Herr Keillor would be proud.

Much better

  When I finally convinced Big Brother Skunk to go selling popcorn again, our erstwhile competitors had left town.  They apparently decided to sell inside the store or something.  That is fine by me.  I appreciate that they realized the effect their actions could have.  That bolstered Timmy, so it ended up being a good afternoon.  Now he is off to the Youth Center to have some fun with his friends........and try to sell them popcorn too!

  Life is once again, awesome!

Cub scouts isn't supposed to be filled with drama!

  I can't believe this.  We live in a town of 450 people.  There are 3 cubs scouts here.  Last year, a kid from another town, whose grandparents live here, showed up and sold popcorn to most of the village before we even GOT our popcorn.  My wife ran into them on the street, and the scout's mother said something along the lines of, "Oh, we didn't know there were any scouts here, we won't do it again."  I was under the impression that there was a "rule" that says we are not supposed to sell popcorn in another pack's "market" for the first week of popcorn sales.

  So it was with a sense of dread that i was called by our district executive and told that one of my scouts was selling at Walmart in a neighboring town.  I was ready to drive over there to talk to them, but we didn't have any details.  As it turns out, the scout in question was actually a Boy Scout, and he lives in that neighboring town.  It was discussed, via email, that since Walmart is a large store, with a countywide clientele, and is not actually in city limits, this was ok.  That assuaged my sense of wrongdoing.  Incidentally, when the kid was approached about the situation later, he was VERY upset that he might have broken a rule.  That's the true spirit of scouting, integrity.

  Today, Timmy and I spent the morning selling here in town.  We ran out of a few items, so I ran to get more popcorn.  On my way back I thought, "Hey, we could set up at our local hardware store and catch people as they came in!"  Brilliant!  It's in our own town, so it's ok.  When I pulled up to the hardware store, a cub scout was there selling popcorn.  Not one of ours.  The very same scout as last year....I walked up to his mother and said, "Hi, I'm Rick, I'm the cubmaster of the local pack."  She said, "Call the district executive, we are allowed to do this."  No, oh, we forgot to tell you, or hey, do you mind?  In the kids defense, his grandparents own the store.  But I got a nasty phone call for a kid who lives in Seward selling in Seward, a town of 5,000.  (Which, technically he wasn't anyway.)  So I called said executive and asked him.  He said that he had not given expressed permission.  i was speechless.  He went on to explain that there was nothing he could do.

  Cub Scouts is about doing the right thing.  It's about raising our kids to show courtesy, and respect.  It is NOT about showing our kids how to "get around" the rules, or that if it's not in writing, it doesn't apply.  I am aghast.  Poor Timmy, who was so enthuisastic about selling this morning is completely demoralized.  I'm having a hard time keeping tears back, watching how upset he was.  (I let him play Angry Birds on my kindle, he is in a better mood now.)  I don't know what to do.  I just hope the selfishness of one parent doesn't destroy the fire and spunk of my little salesman.  HE told me this morning, "Popcorn is my favorite thing about Scouts!"  Now, he doesn't want to go.  And that is plain wrong.

You know, maybe I can rock this Mr. Mom thing after all...

  So, today was Karyn's 3rd rendition of  "Literacy on the Lawn."  This is the activities portion of the Plum Creek Literacy Festival at Concordia University, Seward.  It went off smashingly, probably Karyn's best yet.  I was telling a professor this afternoon that I had attended CUNE for 4 years, and Karyn has done her 3 years leading the "Lawn", yet I had never been on campus during the event.  Thousands of children, making "Baghead" masks, blowing bubbles, playing with parachutes and, yes, throwing shaving cream at each other.  (That one didn't got quite as planned, but hey, they all had fun.)  Karyn is exhausted from her weeks long effort of preparing and executing, and I am proud of her, as always.  Having actually SEEN the chaos, I mean fun, I have to say I am amazed all the more.


 
Now, how does this tie in to Mr. Mom, you ask?  Well, today was my first day with all 3 of the boys, with Karyn leaving at 7:15 and the older two not starting school until 10:20.  I have been anxious about this for a while.  Knowing that the older two can be helpful or extrememly disruptive, and not knowing which I was going to get, was a bit terrifying.  Add in an 8 week old whom I have bottle fed exactly twice and it was scary.

  What a great morning!

  Both big brother skunk and the skunk in the middle proved to be even more helpful than I could have hoped for.  They got dressed when asked, Tim did his homework without complaint.  They took turns helping with Baby Skunk while I got the car loaded up and myself ready to leave.  Even Baby Skunk was awesome.  First of all, he slept until almost 9:30.  Awesome, no other way to describe it.  Then, he didn't fuss, just rooted while I got his Pre-Pumped Fresh Squeezed Mommy Juice warmed up.  Then he ate it all!  Burping, no problem, took 15 seconds.  Then he put on a grin-fest for his brothers whilst I did other tasks.  On the way to drop off the older boys at school, he fell asleep again and stayed that way until nearly 1:15!!!  Yeah, the baby who only takes 10 minute catnaps during the day, was awake for all of 20 minutes of my morning.  If this trend continues, I may apply for full-time Mr.  Mommy-hood. 

  Realistically I know that all days will not be like this.  Heck, very few will be!  But it was a great way to get my feet wet.  Finished off the day with popcorn selling with Big Brother Skunk, the Cub Scout.  And we didn't even have to kneecap any rival scouts.  What a great day.

No post tonight

I had my first day of EMT school, and Plum Creek is tomorrow....and I had PB&J for dinner, not terribly exciting.   Though, it was peach-habenero jam!

Summer Chicken Wraps

  A couple of days ago, suppertime came around, and I had nothing thawed.  I've not done any menu planning for 2 weeks, so my pantry stocks are bizarre.  I didn't want to cook anything, so I just started taking things out of the fridge and throwing them together.  It worked, kids and wife loved it.  It's kind of a hot/cold chicken taco thingy.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken (leftover rotisserie is perfect)
3 Tbsp Mayo
pinch salt
1 apple cored, quartered and sliced thin
1/2 c chopped walnuts
2 stalks celery chopped
1 c romaine lettuce, chopped
3/4 c shredded cheddar
12 tortillas

  Pretty simple for the filling.  Mix all ingredients except cheese and tortillas in a large bowl.

   Spread 1 Tbsp of cheese onto a tortilla and microwave for 20 seconds.

  Scoop a few spoonfuls of cold chicken salad to tortilla, fold and serve.  Just that easy!

  I guess I'm going to have to get a little more advanced if I'm going to get away with posting recipes.....So next time maybe we will do a Langustine Bisque...... or
maybe not....

A whole day with the skunk in the middle...

Pic By Geomateo at ToonPool

  Yes, well almost a whole day.  Had to go to the VA to get some tests done for EMT school.  But Karyn had plans in Lincoln, so we met, I grabbed Daniel, and we had a marvelous day.  We hit a bunch of hobby stores, looking for Christmas present ideas (I tend to do that pretty early, mostly to torture Mommy Skunk.)  We sang songs, told silly stories and had a grand time.  As we pulled up to Hobby Lobby, I saw Karyn (Mommy Skunk), walking in the parking lot, looking at me with a confused face.  She was not aware that we were shopping, she thought we went straight to the Children's Museum.  We talked for a second, through my window, then she started walking to a kids clothing store.

  As  I pulled into a parking space, I asked Daniel, the skunk in the middle, if he saw who we ran into.  He said no, and started looking around.  I told him that we ran into Mommy in the parking lot.  He said, "No way Daddy, stop teasing me!"  We continued like this for a few seconds.  Karyn was only catching my part of the conversation, and didn't understand the horrified look on Daniel's face.  I wasn't looking at him, or it would've dawned on me.  As he got out of the car, he looked at Mommy with a relieved look on his face and said, "See!  You didn't run over Mommy, she's right there!  Quit teasing!"

  Wow, sometimes I forget that 4 year olds are not well practiced in idiom.  Captain Literal, that's my boy.  Well, we finished our grand tour of every hobby shop in Lincoln and spent the rest of the day at the Lincoln Children's Museum.  Then we picked up Big Brother Skunk from 4-H and went to School Fun Night.  All in all, a busy day.

  At this point, I feel I should probably explain the whole Skunk in the middle thing.  I realized that, other than my wife and in-laws, none of you probably have any clue what that was all about.  Except maybe Dawn...  Anyway, it all started when Tim and I did a rockhounding trip about a month ago.  I turned on the stereo, and there was a children's CD in the player.  Normally I would gag.  My wife is a preschool teacher, so she has a bazillion or so children's CD's.  You know the type, "Elmo sings Nursery Rhymes" and such.  Ick.  This one was different, I was laughing nonstop.  It was by far one of the most brilliant collections of children's songs I had ever heard.  It is total Cub Scout campfire fodder, with songs like "Black Socks (They Never Get Dirty)", "50 ways to fool your mother" and "Dad Threw the TV Out the Window".  Toward the end of the CD, the author tells an amazing story called, "You're Not the Boss of Me".  It starts off with, "Once upon a time, there was a family of skunks.  There was a Daddy Skunk, a Mommy Skunk, a Big Brother Skunk, a Baby Skunk....and a Skunk in the Middle....and her name was Charlene."  Other than Daniel not being named Charlene, and a boy, and not a skunk...it was too good to pass up.  Daniel has been the Skunk in the Middle ever since.

  It turns out, this CD is by an amazing singer/songwriter/storyteller named Bill Harley.  He's won 3 Grammys and been nominated for 6 more.  He had been a featured artist at the Plum Creek Literacy Festival, held annually at Concordia University in Seward, NE.  This is a celebration of children's literature that has few rivals in the country.  Past guests include Roland Smith, John Archambault, and Lois Lowry.  It's a pretty big deal.  Well, for the last 3 years, my wife has been the coordinator for the Literacy on the Lawn portion of the Festival, which is a series of literacy themed games, activities and crafts for the children to participate in.  So, Karyn had met Mr Harley and acquired the CD, called "Play It Again".  I highly recommend it to anyone with kids, or without, it really is brilliant.  Here's the Amazon link for the album: http://www.amazon.com/Play-It-Again-Favorite-Songs/dp/B0000296XN .

  And here is a YouTube video of him performing "You're Not The Boss Of Me."  It's not quite the same as the album, but he adds some fun twists in the video....enjoy!

... --- ... ... --- ... ... --- ...

This is my excited face....

  Morse code anyone?  Well, big brother skunk and I finally finished our simple telegraph. He's been very excited, but we had to wait for my hands to heal a bit.  We ended up boosting the power to 4 AA's, and messed with the angle of the clacker for quite a while before we got it to work.  But, work it does.  We spent an hour sending messages back and forth.  Since neither of us knows Morse code, that means we passed about 10 words and it took an hour!  In the process, we learned that Father Skunk can't spell...but Tim figured out what "I lve xou." meant.

Finished wiring the electromagnet

Wiring in the contact for the "key"

Installing the "clacker"

  Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that we built a "clacker" type telegraph.  It operates by using an electomagnet to attract a steel bar, which makes a click.  Then when you release the key, the bar flies up again and hits a nail head, which makes a clack.  So a dot is "click clack", while a dash is "click.........clack".  It is very difficult to tell sometimes what is a click or a clack.  I think we may eventually rewire it to use a buzzer , or a light instead.  That would be a lot easier to distinguish.

Installing the "key"

  Big brother skunk has had a ball with this, so I'm going to run with it.  I picked up an electronics book for myself, so I can teach him a little.  He's nowhere near the math required to pull off algebra, but his comprehension of concepts really blows my mind.  I should be able to get him to understand what components are, what they do, etc.  I will wait a few years to teach him how to decide what size components he needs.  Ohm's Law is a bit difficult to calculate for a 3rd grader!

Yes, I know this is not Ohm's Law, but it gets my point across

   He doesn't know it yet, but I picked up a bunch of components from Radio Shack today.  I'm going to spring them on him later this week.  Resistors, Diodes, LED's...he is going to be like a kid in a candy store.  With his imagination, who knows what we will end up with...



  If anyone is interested in the telegraph design, (No, not the lawnmower...) or how to build a similar project, I got the idea from http://www.w1tp.com/perbuild.htm .

How to deal with an ambitiously creative 8 year old

image from captainbs.blogspot.com

  My oldest, the big brother skunk, is a visionary.  He comes up with the most creative plans for building the wildest things.  No wonder he is such a fan of Phineas and Ferb!  However, the part of that wonderful cartoon that he doesn't seem to get is that.....you just can't do that!  For example, when he was 2, my wife discovered him trying to drag a chair into our closet with a butter knife in his hand.  Turns out, that's where our attic access is, and he was planning to build a rocket.  However, he didn't want to ruin the house, so he was going to cut a hole in the roof for him to shoot it out through.  No thought was given to the point that a 2 year old on a chair can't reach the ceiling.  Nor that a butter knife won't cut through the roof.  I have no idea what his plan was for the rocket....

  Earlier this year, he came up to me and announced I was going to help him make a submarine out of a 2-liter bottle.  I was amused, accustomed to the drill by now.  I decided to let him figure out the feasibility on his own.  He came up with a complicated drawing, with all of the parts labeled.  When I asked him where he was going to get a torpedo launching mechanism, he looked at me matter of factly and said, "Radio Shack...I'm sure they have something like this."  Oh buddy....

  Tonight, the Toes (his nickname since he was a baby), was messing around with some batteries, wires and an electric motor I got him a few years ago from, you guessed it, Radio Shack.  He was trying to think of things to do with this rig.  He tried making a propeller out of foil, to make a fan.   He tried to convince me to cut him a sheet metal propeller out of a tin can.  Ummmmm, he's never needed stitches and I don't want to change that fact soon!  Next he decided he was going to take apart the motor and reassemble it so the casing turned instead of the shaft.  I asked him how he was going to attach the wires if he did that.  Blank stare...

  I love his interest, he reminds me SO MUCH of myself at his age. I feel horrible having to bring him back to Earth sometimes.  I don't want to damage his spirit at all.  I think the only way I can think to address the issue is to work on some actual projects and show him what we can do.  It reminds me of a comic that is attached to the wall in my University Physics lab.  It shows the two teenagers discussing huge nuclear equations and using lasers to form new molecules in the first panel.  In the second, it shows them rolling a cart down a ramp and sighing.  Real science isn't what you see in the movies, at least without a PHD, and Toes has to get out of 3rd grade first...

Simple is still fun....

Thank you George Lucas

  Blogging really is work!  Especially when your kids are bored.  Mommy is busy with the baby skunk, so the other two are my domain.  And they are literally asking me something every 90 seconds.  I've been trying to spend the afternoon learning about blogging:  content, etiquette, promotion, etc.  They finally found the Return of the Jedi.  Ah...peace!

Marinara Sauce

  Having beaten pasta into submission yesterday, I had some homemade pasta in the fridge, when my brother's girlfriend came over this afternoon.  I didn't have time to start with raw tomatoes, but I put up a batch of basic tomato sauce earlier this summer.  (My Roma tomatoes are LITERALLY out of control, there are hundreds out there!)  So I whipped up this Marinara to go with the fettuccine.

Ingredients (serves 8):

2 Tbsp butter
1 c onion, finely chopped
1 c green pepper, finely chopped
2 pt tomato sauce
1/2 tsp salt
6 cloves garlic, minced (I was out, so I used 3 tsp granulated garlic)
1 Tbsp red wine (I used some sweet red, all I had)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (or 1 Tbsp dried)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 Tbsp dried)

  In a 2.5 qt saucepan, melt butter over high heat.  Add onion and peppers and saute until onions start to turn clear, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.  Add garlic and continue to saute for a couple of minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until desired consistency reached. 

  Puree sauce and toss immediately with home made pasta!

Basic Pasta Dough....or Rick Finally Wins

  So the score now stands:  Rick 2, Pasta 1.  After the ravioli debacle last week, I've been chomping at the bit to get back in the ring.  The whole dislocated finger thing has been slowing me down.  However, with the help of the big brother skunk and the skunk in the middle, we pulled it off today.  Our first foray was fettuccine.  It was tasty, though a bit thick and doughy for my taste.  Second was the ravioli, and we all know how that one turned out... http://howdidibecomemrmom.blogspot.com/2012/09/pasta-has-learning-curve.html  Third was today, made fettuccine again.  This time we used a thickness setting of 5 so it worked much better!

Ingredients:

3 1/2 c unbleached flour
4 large eggs
Pinch salt

That's it!  I only use olive oil if I accidentally get too dry, didn't have to today.  I know I said 4 eggs, but our chickens lay small eggs, so I used 5.  And the Kindle is the most important part...my kids know it's illegal to cook without music!

  First, crack eggs into bowl.  Using the freshest possible eggs is important.  Store bought will work, but the pasta is just not the same.  Whisk eggs until mixed.

Fresh eggs have a much more orange yolk, which sits much higher.

  Slowly add flour, a little at a time, stirring with a spoon to incorporate. 

When the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl, remove to a lightly floured surface and knead, adding flour as necessary if it is still sticky, until you get a firm, yet not dry ball.  (Add a drizzle of olive oil and knead a few times if it gets too dry.)  One of the most important things I have learned is that there is no exact ratio of flour to eggs.  Each batch is a little different, depending on humidity, consistency in egg size, etc.  This batch only used 2 cups of flour out of the 3 1/2!

Tightly wrap dough in plastic wrap, and let it rest for at least 30 mins.  Some say to rest in fridge, some say at room temperature.  I've had best results with room temperature.  The rest is critical!  You start with a firm ball of dough and end up with a supple dough that is easy to roll.

After resting the dough, it is time to roll it out.  You can use a rolling pin if you really want to.  I much prefer a pasta roller.  It is far easier and thickness is far more consistent.  Rollers aren't terribly expensive.  I have a really nice Italian model (not kidding, all the directions are in Italian!), that my wife found at a thrift shop for $15.  Yes, my wife is amazing.  Here is a decently priced model new from Wayfair.  "Imperia Home Pasta Machine" (Google Affiliate Ad).  If you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, they make an excellent attachment for rolling/cutting pasta.

Say hello to my little friend

 Take your ball of dough and cut it into 3 or 4 pieces, to make it easier to work with.  Make sure you tightly wrap the dough you aren't working with, so it doesn't dry out.  A small bit of dough rolls out amazingly long.

   Lightly flour the rollers and the surface the sheet will land on.  Always start at the largest setting of the roller, feed the dough through the roller, fold the resulting sheet in half and run it through again on the same setting.  Do this until the dough takes on a silky sheen, then start dropping the setting on the roller, one setting at a time, until desired consistency is reached.  Today, we went to the 5th setting out of 6. Feel free to cut the sheet to manageable lengths, it does get very long.

Big brother skunk cranks the roller while the sunk in the middle watches on.

Resulting sheet, this is about 1/12th of the dough.  The top dough was cut off at setting 3, was getting too long to work with.

     Once the desired thickness is achieved, it's time to cut your noodles.  If you aren't blessed with a pasta cutter, lightly flour the sheet and loosely roll it up into a short cylinder, then you can use a knife to cut pinwheels, which roll out into noodles.  I use a cutter, which operates exactly like the roller:  Just feed in one end and turn the crank

Mine has two options, fettuccine and tagliolini (flat angel hair).

   Once your noodles are cut, toss them lightly with flour and then either hang them on a drying rack, or lay them flat on some wax paper to dry for at least 5 minutes.  At this point, you can cook the pasta immediately, refrigerate them in a sealed bag for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

My improvised temporary drying rack.

 When cooking, remember that fresh pasta cooks much faster than store bought.  Bring salted water to  boil, then add noodles.  Cook for 2-3 minutes or until al dente.  Personally, I like to add the cooked pasta directly to the sauce and toss, rather than pouring on top.  Better texture in my opinion.

Ready for the fridge!

 

 

And there you go, it's pretty easy, just takes a little practice.  Don't be afraid to mess up a few times, eggs and flour are cheap!!

My wife is creative

  Poor James has been trying to go to sleep all evening. The flies are horrible right now, and we don't have a flyswatter....yet.  So my wife came up with a marvelous idea......

  Karyn searched for those picnic covers forever....glad to see they are getting good use!

Simple Herb Pork Chops

  You don't have to get complicated to make good food.  Sometimes, actually quite often, simple is best.  Tonight, I've been dealing with my psoriasis and a dislocated finger, so I didn't want to do a whole lot of work.  Pork chops are great for this.  If you keep an eye out, you can get a great deal buying in bulk.  Econowraps are great, so are whole boneless pork loins.  You can usually find either at Sam's, Walmart, or your local grocery.

Ingredients:

4 pork loin chops at least 1.5 inches thick (I cut my own)
1 Tbsp Mrs. Dash original
1 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp EVOO
3 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350deg.  Cut your chops, then season all over with salt and Mrs. Dash.  Using an oven proof skillet, (I love cast iron, it's easy to use if you take care of it, and they are fairly cheap at Walmart), heat oil and melt butter over high heat until foaming subsides.

  The oil/butter comination should be lightly browned and smell kinda nutty.

Place chops in skillet and sear on each side 2-3 minutes until nicely browned.  Since we are searing with high heat, the chops interior is probably not even 100 deg yet, definitely not safe.

So now, plop the skillet directly in the oven, and roast until temperature reads at least 145 deg for a good medium rare chop, usually about 6-7 mins.  USE AN INSTANT READ PROBE!!  I don't care what they do on Hell's Kitchen, you don't want to mess with undercooked meat, especially poultry or ground meat.  Here's a good one to use: Polder Speed Read Instant Read Thermometer - Silver (Google Affiliate Ad).  Once desired temp is reached (145 for medium rare, 155 for medium, 165 for medium well, and 180 for well done, though I may have to shoot you for ruining a good chop if you make it well done), remove pan from overn and transfer chops to serving platter.  Tent a piece of aluminum foil over the plate and let rest for at least ten minutes, to allow juices to redistribute.  Serve with rice and a salad.

I was tired and lazy so I phoned in the rice and salad, using store bought mixes for both.

Bon Appetit, and remember, don't use detergent when washing cast iron, just REALLY hot water, and season your pan with oil before you put it away.

Good news, bad news

  Thankfully, my finger is NOT broken after all.   After being yelled at by my rescue captain, I went to to doc today.  They x-rayed it, and it was just dislocated.  So the doc "relocated it."  Now, I used to semi dislocate my left knee cap often when I was younger, and I learned to relocate it myself.  But, you never get used to that feeling.  For a split second, the pain blossoms like a supernova, hot and massive.  Then, almost immediately, the pain drops in such a feeling of relief that it is hard to describe.  I've already gained a lot of my range of motion back (Though I'm still typing without it.)  So that was the good news.

  The bad news is that my psoriasis is settling in, now that we have discontinued treatment.  Everything I have read says it's not supposed to be particularly painful, but it is rampant on four of my fingers, each of which bear at least one major fissure.  It is also on two other fingers, though thankfully to a much lesser degree.  At least I can say that my thumbs are still unaffected, thank God!  I've learned to do so many things using my thumbs, or my thumbs against my palm.  I still use urea cream, which helps with the dryness, so I can deal with it. 

  I'm starting to wonder what life is going to look like, 6 months from now.  I know as James gets older, it will get easier on my hands.  And I'm starting to look into some speech to text stuff, just so I can minimize my typing.  I can still sort of type, though it is much slower and does hurt.  If anyone knows of any good programs, please let me know.  For now, we are still doing pretty well, and I know that God has some kind of plan for this.  Now I ask that He grant me the patience to find out what that is.

p.s. If anyone sees an autoharp for a ridiculously low price, let me know.  Guitar is out of the question, but auto harp could still work.  Would be nice to play along for campfires.

Mini pizzas...4 year old style.

  When the wife heads out for the evening, with both the big brother skunk, and the baby skunk, I am left alone with Daniel, the skunk in the middle.  No problemo, we always have fun together.  Since we were on our own for supper, we had to kick it down a notch.  Daniel loves to be my sous chef, though for most of my recipes, there is very little that I want a 4 year old to do.  So we went with the old standby kiddo food....Mini Pizzas!

  It is so easy, it's just ridiculous.  I would have taken pictures, but the SD card was in the laptop, which Karyn had with her.  So, use your imagination!

Ingredients:

2 English Muffins
1 Tbsp EVOO
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 cup pasta sauce
1 c Shredded Mozzerella
1 eager 4 year old

  Halve muffins, and brush with EVOO.  Sprinkle lightly with garlic. 
  (Just a note, granulated garlic is worth it's weight in gold.  It doesn't clump, like garlic powder, and it is stronger, so a little goes much farther.  You will see it in a lot of my recipes when I don't want to deal  with fresh garlic.  Substitute 1/4 tsp for one clove minced). 
  Spoon pasta sauce onto muffins, spreading to cover the whole surface.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Place mini pizzas in toaster oven set to 425 deg for 10 minutes.  Let sit a few minutes to cool, and enjoy.

  The beauty of a simple recipe, is that a 4 year old can do all of it!  You can always add pepperoni, or peppers, but my skunk in the middle prefers cheese pizza.

Popcorn, oh how I loathe thee....and love thee....

  I hate fundraisers.  I am such a terrible salesman for that reason.  I'm a rather persuasive public speaker.  I've been told a million times, "You should sell cars!"  But alas, sales is not my ballyhoo.  I have difficulty with being aggressive or assertive.  My son, on the other hand, has no such compunctions.  Timmy, the big brother skunk, could could sell Obama on drilling in ANWAR.  As long as he could wear his Cub Scout uniform.  He is hysterical to watch.   He sells on pure cuteness.  I've watched him sell to the grumpy old guy wearing the wifebeater with stained underarms.  I've watched him sell to CUSTOMERS at the gas station.  The kids is unreal!  Last year, we had a kid from another pack encroach on our turf on the first day of popcorn sales...the first day!  He hit the entire town before we even got our popcorn.  Yet, Timmy still sold the expected amount, with a good deal more.  (I've had a word with said other pack's Cubmaster...that won't happen again.)  As for myself, I will just sit back and watch, and thank Heaven that I don't have to do anything but drive the car full of popcorn.  I'm glad to know that Tim will never be lacking in funds to do just about anything he wants in scouting.

  This was our first pack meeting of the year, which means the popcorn spiel.  The boys always do fine with it, and frankly, the parents in our pack are extremely supportive of it.  With a few exceptions of course.  Last year we had a kid sell enough that he won a free, nice, tent and two tickets to the Husker spring game.  Sadly, the spring game was rained out for the first time in history.  Tornado warnings will do that.  They always put up a goofy prize for kids who sell $600.  They get gift cards for each milestone, but $600 gets the awesome prize.  Timmy's first year, it was a marshmallow crossbow............seriously................a marshmallow crossbow.......Outstanding!!  The second year was a Zyclone.  Pretty cool toy, with the right wind you can launch this little foam ring thingy across a whole football field.  Even better, it floats softly enough for Daniel, the skunk in the middle, to catch it.  This year is the "Blast Bow", or something of the sort.  Think Nerf Darts moving at roughly Mach 6.  The kids are excited.

  The meeting was great.  We had an extremely active summer, so I had a bunch of awards to hand out.  I even got to give belt loops to a couple of first year Tigers, because we had recruitment in the Spring.  11 out of our 18 kids won the Summertime Activity award for participating in at least three summer events.  4 of those 18 joined after we had all those events, so really it was 11 of 14.  What a summer.  I'm really excited for this year.  We have a day at the Goehner trains, a star party at a University observatory, several camping trips, and of course, the Pinewood Derby.  I've got my Dremel back, so we're going to have some fun with the derby this year.  Man, I LOVE being a Cubmaster!

Sometimes I wonder about the VA

  Working with the VA is always....interesting.  It is a wonderful service that has made an amazing difference in the lives of literally millions of vets.  In our own family it has been a great blessing.  They bent over backwards for Karyn's pregnancy.  They expedited my claim for my hands so that I wouldn't have to pay for my treatments.  All in all, they do a pretty good job...eventually.

  But then you have days like yesterday.  I start EMT school next week, and as a healthcare worker, I am required to be fully immunized.  Well, I was overseas with the military, so I've been immunized for EVERYTHING.....THRICE.  (The Army lost my medical records twice.)  So I have to have proof of vaccination or a positive titer for chicken pox, mumps, rubeola, rebella, Hep B, and current DTAP and TB tests.  Now, I got a DTAP when I cut the end of my finger off two years ago (long story).  And I was required to get a TB test before the dermatologist could give me my meds.  VA is going to do a titer for chicken pox, which I definitely had.  We have records for MMR, but I had no idea what Rubeola was.  Apparently, neither did my nurse...or my DOCTOR!   They checked with the CDC and there is apparently no vaccination for the disease of Rubeola.  But, there is a titer. 

  So now, I'm wondering how I can possibly get a positive titer for a vaccine that doesn't exist.  A titer is when they draw blood and check it for antibodies.  However, it is required by the State for all healthcare professionals.  When we got home, my wife did some research....for about 45 seconds.  Rubeola isn't a disease.  It is the name of the vaccine for MEASLES.  So it is a part of the MMR.  I'm slightly concerned that no one in my healthcare team picked up on that.  I love my doc and his nurse.  They are wonderful people who have taken great care of me.  But, I guess it's good to know I will never die of the dreaded Rubeola.

Murphy's Law

Unbelievably, I broke my right index finger....shut it in the door to the fire barn.  I'm going to bed before I inadvertently kill myself.

Emotions are annoying....

  More than once in my life, my wife has accused me of being Spock.  I admit, sometimes I shield what I'm feeling, for a variety of reasons.  Mostly, I guess it's a defensive mechanism built over the years of not wanting to embarrass, or call attention to, myself.  The problem with shielding emotions is they build up.  I've learned a lot in the last couple of years about sharing how I'm feeling, and why.  It's been hard opening up to people, especially to those I love the most.  I'm getting better at it, but sometimes, especially when under stress, I tend to revert to old form.  What's somewhat comical (always in the rearview mirror, not at the time), is that usually, no one even knows I'm upset, unless I go overboard or something.

  Today was one of those days.  I just had a lot not going right.  I did not sleep well last night, despite my medication.  I have something called REM sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD).  This doesn't mean that I try to kill people or anything, but I act out my dreams, which tend to be very vivid.  Normally, when a person falls asleep, their brain dispenses a paralytic hormone that prevents them from reacting to dreams.  For some reason, my brain doesn't do that.  I've heard some pretty outrageous stories from roommates about my antics while I'm sleeping.  There was one time, I was reading Patriot Games, so of course, I was dreaming about meeting the Queen of England.  My roommate woke me up as I was standing in front of my lamp, saluting it.  Sigh, sadly that was neither the first, nor the last time.

  Anyway, the point of the diversion into the sleep discussion is that if I have a nightmare, I tend to react at high velocity.  I have run into walls, flown across the room, I even broke my wife's nose shortly after we were married.  (Again, ten years later, makes for a very funny story, was not at the time...)  Shortly after my son was born, I had a dream where the ceiling was collapsing, so I jumped over to protect my wife from the debris, as it were.  Luckily, James was in his bassinet, so no one was injured, but that was scary.  At that point, we decided to pursue the problem again with the VA's neurology department.  They agreed with the diagnosis, and prescribed me a medication that has proven to be effective in battling RBD.  However, until the medication takes effect, we agreed it would be best if I slept in the guest room.  It's been nearly a month now.  Most nights, I don't recall reacting.  I wake remembering dreams, as I always do, but not reacting to them.  Of course, no one else is around to tell me otherwise.

  This has been incredibly frustrating to me.  Add to that the fact that BOTH of my hands are shot today, and it was just not a good mix.  I got really grumpy.  My wife told me to go take a nap, so I did.  And magically, I felt better.  We just settled into a good activity on the wii when another rescue call came in, lol.  Sometimes you just can't win.  When I got home, I hugged Karyn and apologized for being grumpy.  She hadn't noticed, she just thought I looked tired!  So yeah, need to communicate better, before I get overwhelmed.  Looking back, if that's as bad as it was going to be today, my life is awesome.

Pasta has a learning curve

  Today's attempt at ravioli didn't work out so well.  I tried using an Alton Brown recipe, with a tweak of using whole wheat flour, but it did not do nearly as well as the fettuccine did.  I was able to make about 8 raviolis, but the rest of the dough just would not go through the roller.  It was too dry and not pliable AT ALL!  I think the problem lay in resting it too long and putting it in a covered bowl, rather than plastic wrapping it.  So, I will try again, hopefully with better results!

  I remember one of my brothers (I don't remember who) once complained that they just couldn't get food to turn out the way that I do sometimes.  I told him that it's taken me years of completely botching recipes to learn how to do things right.  That's half the fun of being creative, it doesn't usually work the first time!  Had to take a dose of my own advice today, but fear not!  I will get back on that horse and BREAK IT!!!

  Incidentally, the ravioli filling went well, as did the sauce.  I posted the sauce recipe (which I served over hastily prepared spaghetti instead of ravioli), but the filling recipe will have to wait until I pull off the pasta.  No fun without pics!

Tomato Basil Cream Sauce

This is a great, fresh recipe for any occasion.  So far I have used it on Spinach Cheese Ravioli and spaghetti.  It's fairly easy and makes the kitchen smell really awesome!

Here is our list of ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs Roma Tomatoes
2 Tbsp EVOO
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp fresh Thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp fresh Basil, minced (1 Tbsp dried)
1/3 c Heavy Cream

Here are all the ingredients compiled, mise en place

Blanch tomatoes by placing them in boiling water for 1 minute, then immediately transfer to bowl of ice water to shock skins loose.  Peel and seed tomatoes, then chop coarsely.  Add tomatoes to pot with all of the other ingredients except the cream.  Simmer for 10 minutes, or until tomatoes are very soft.

  Puree entire contents.  You can use a food processor or blender, but I use an immersion blender.  If you use one, be sure to remove from heat first.

Simmer for 20 more mins, or until desired consistency is reached.  Add cream and continue to cook until hot once more.  Remove from heat.

Serves 4 if you like Grisanti's sized servings.  Serves 8 regular dinner portions.

Football and pasta

What do these have in common, you may ask?  Absolutely nothing!  Last time I was going to post on pasta and politics, but I can't remember what the political topic was....oh well. 

  So, we start with the pasta.  Daniel, the skunk in the middle, helped me learn to make whole wheat egg fettuccine a couple of days ago.  The recipe was pretty straightforward, stole it from allrecipes.com, I think.  However, it came out really dry, so I added a tablespoon of EVOO.  Then I got to play with my new toy.  My wife found a pasta roller/cutter at a local thrift shop for $15.  We looked it up and it seems to run on ebay for $75-$150.  We had to find a youtube video to figure out how to use it, since the instructions were all in Italian.  I assume it's Italian.  I speak French and a bit of Spanish and it definitely wasn't either of those.

  Daniel held the end of the pasta sheets whilst I ran the machine.  It worked AWESOME!!!  I may never buy pasta again.  This weekend Timmy, big brother skunk, and I are tackling Spinach and Cheese Ravioli with a Tomato Basil Cream Sauce.  Kind of making it up as I go, but I will post the recipe, with pictures.  I would have had pics of the fettuccine, but the battery was dead in the camera.

  Football plays in because today was the local high school's homecoming game.  Our Cub Scout pack does the flag raising for all the home games, so the whole family went.  We had a great time, and our Broncos were up 31-0 with one minute left in the first half.  I have no idea what happened after that.  James, the baby skunk, was getting tired, cold and cranky, so we came home.  It's always fun to watch HS football.  Living in Husker land and being from Denver, I'm accustomed to seeing pretty high quality football.  HS is hysterical, but man, those kids sure do try hard.

Anyhow, off to bed.  

Short Post Tonight (originally posted 9/5/12)

  Well, today the wife and I went over to the university we both graduatednat.  She had some volunteer work to do, so I took James to visit some of my old profs.  It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been on campus, so it was nice to catch up.  Since I started college at 28, most of my professors aren’t much older than I.  Great trip….

  I have a lot to say, but my left hand is really bad tonight and typing is difficult, even on the kindle!  So I will finish this tomorrow.  Thought I could do it now, but it just ain’t happening.

Labor Day Weekend, Part Deux (originally posted 9/4/12)

Ok, so like I said, it was an adventurous weekend!  To continue from my previous post…

We woke up early on Saturday and got to work on the important duty of the weekend….fishing.  We had mixed results, pulling in some small cats and sunfish.  Nothing to write home about, but certainly fun.  After lunch, we went swimming and broke out our new play raft for the first time.

We had a ball, even Charlie got into the act.  Charlie by the way is a funny story.  He is technically my brother in law’s dog.  However, Dave moved into an apartment where he can’t really keep Charlie.  My father in law has really wanted a dog for quite a while, but mother in law was resistant.  So, Dave pays his parents “Dogimony.”  It works out great for everyone!
We eventually tired of swimming/rafting and headed back to the trailer for supper and more fishing.  More of the same, though my brand new fishing pole had snapped on the second cast.  On a cast mind you…with just a bobber and a jig on it….not happy.  So Boppa lent me a reel-less rod to attach my reel to.  It all worked out.
Sunday morning began with the ever present fishing.  Better luck this time, but no keepers yet.  After lunch, we headed into North Platte to get a rubbing for the Great Parks Pursuit.  (www.negpp.org/about/ if you are not familiar, it’s awesome)  Then, off to Scout’s Rest Ranch, the home of the great Buffalo Bill Cody.  My eldest is a big history buff, especially pioneer stuff.  He was lost in history for over an hour, and we had a great time ourselves.

That is my youngest, we couldn’t get Timmy on the saddle.  On the way home, we stopped by “The Fishing Store!”  (Walmart), to pick up some tackle.  Daniel, the skunk in the middle, convinced us he needed a new fishing pole.  By some oversight, we did not bring his Superman pole (Which holds the family record, 24″ wiper!), so Karyn found a dock pole for $10 and Daniel was thrilled.  However, as excited as he was to go fishing with his new pole, there was swimming with friends first.  Boppa and I stayed behind to fish of course.  Biggest mistake of the weekend….  We had good luck, caught a ton of sunnies and Boppa caught a bunch of cats.  However, at one point, I had snagged on a rock a few feet from shore.  I walked off to my right a bit and started down the rocks to the waterline to free it.  Next thing I knew, I was sitting in the water.  At some point in between, I apparently had some unscheduled knee surgery performed by a rock with questionable medical experience.  I scraped up my lower back, my left ankle and my right elbow, but the knee was bruising fast and bleeding pretty freely.  Now, I am a trained Combat Lifesaver from my Army days, and I start EMT class in a couple of weeks, so I cleaned it up, and bandaged it.  Boppa seemed to take it worse than I did.  When the boys came back, we had to fish…there was not any option, so I fished!  My knee is still very sore today (Tuesday), but I still think it’s just a deep bruise.
Fishing went spectacularly that evening.  Timmy fished with Boppa and had quite a few cats.  He’s always been intimidated by cats, because their spine are pokey and hurt a lot when you hit em.  However, he unhooked a few of his own.  I was very proud.

Daniel was beside himself with excitement with his new pole.  I still can’t quite trust him to cast, he nailed Grandma with his bobber once, thankfully not with the hook!  So, I cast and guided his pole, set the hook and he reeled them in.  We caught a few sunnies, it was great.

In the morning, we started fishing as soon as we woke up.  Had to use up the rest of the worms, you know…  Daniel had an amazing 30 minute stretch, pulling in about a dozen sunnies and even a 8 in largemouth bass!  He is so into fishing, it’s adorable.  However, our camping experience had come to an end.  We packed up, said goodbye to Boppa, Grandma and Charlie, and headed on down the road.  Hit a couple more post rubbings on the way home, and went to bed super tired.
Back into the routine today.  Grocery shopping, cleaned the kitchen, read some of Treasure Island with Timmy, and currently listening to my Rockies putting a hurt on the Braves.  Tomorrow we tackle my first attempt at making pasta with my new pasta roller/cutter.  The instructions are all in Italian, so wish me luck!