Thursday, January 24, 2008

Is it cold, or is it just me???

Global Warming??? WHAT Global Warming???


This morning, when I dropped off the kids at school, it was -24Deg F in the school parking lot. Yes, that's right, -24 DEG F!!! I sat there, in the nice warm car, for a few seconds staring at the digital thermometer thinking that this thing must be broken. But no!!! When unloading the kids, the cold was intense - it actually hurt your eyes. By Noon today it was up to 10 Deg F below zero. Not too bad if you stood in the sun....behind a double paned window....with the thermostat set to 70 deg.


It is a balmy -5 Deg F outside right now, and supposed to warm up to the low 20's ABOVE zero by Saturday. Just think, that is a 40 Degree increase in temperature in a just a few days. Maybe there is global warming after all?


Here is a pic of the kids this past Thanksgiving outside of Grand Marais:



We now have a good foot of snow on the ground, with no sign of a meltdown in the near future.

Stay warm everyone!!!


Saturday, January 19, 2008

Here's To Your Health!!!

Can it be true??? A recent article reports that German researchers just announced that drinking beer promotes good health. How could this lovely dream be possible? They say that, “preliminary studies indicate xanthohumol, a compound found in hops, inhibits a family of enzymes which trigger cancer, as well as help the body detoxify carcinogens.” While I can’t pronounce “xanthohumol” even after a number of drinks, I’m happy to hear about this latest news on how healthy consuming a few cold ones is.



My current favorite is Sleeman's Original Dark 50 Ale:




Brewed from specialty barley malts, English aroma hops and deep well water. Smooth in taste. The hopping is generous but not bitter and has a unique flavour that has become a trademark for Sleeman.




Sleeman's also has an excellent Porter:

Fine Porter is the first of the John Sleeman Presents series. Taken right from page 68 of the family recipe book, it pays homage to the original Porters of Great Britain, and was brewed by George Sleeman back in the 1800’s. Fine Porter is a great opportunity to sample an historic beer of yesterday. 5.5% alc./vol.
Tasting Notes: Fine Porter is one of the more flavourful styles of ale. It has a rather bold, malty taste and a deep, rich colour.
Okay, now I'm REALLY thirsty!!!! Time for my healthy beer!!!

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Citizen Ben

Benjamin Franklin's birthday is fast approaching: He was born on January 17 in 1706. He did much in his 84 years.





What A guy

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Born 1706, January 17

In a resent story, I mentioned the fact that Ben Franklin left some money to the city of Philadelphia; actually he left a great deal of money. One of the things that were funded is the 3 times life statue or him sitting in the Franklin Institute. I think if our present City Fathers had got there hands on his money, the public would not see a cent.

Ben would be 302 years old this year, so let’s celebrate with some little known Franklin facts:

Franklin started writing under the name of Silence Dogood when he was 16, later he used the name of Anthony Afterwit, as “poor Richard” Saunders. In his almanac he predicted that a rival almanac maker would die at a certain hour and minute during the year. He didn’t.

Franklin’s greatest hoax was the “Speech of Polly Barker” He wrote that Polly was being persecuted for giving birth to her 5th illegitimate child. In her speech to the court, Polly cited God’s command to increase and multiply and claimed that she had enthusiastically obeyed His word. She concluded that the authorities should have a statue erected in her memory. Foreign papers, magazines and history books picked up Franklin’s tale. John E. Hall of Philadelphia also published it as fact in the American Law Journal of 1813. The last time the story was printed as truth was in 1945, in a book called “A Social History of the American family. The Polly Barker speech was written when Franklin was 40. This has been referred to as his “salty year”. He had just written his “Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress”, in which he gives eight reasons for having affairs with older woman instead of younger ones.

Colonial gossip had it that Franklin was not asked to draft the Declaration of Independence for fear he might hide a joke in it.

While in England, he wrote a newspaper report that the whales in America leaped up Niagara Falls in pursuit of cod.

In his Pennsylvania Gazette of Nov 24 1738, he reported that a woman gave birth to octuplets, seven boys and one girl, all living. He also wrote about a witch trial in Mount Holly NJ, which was also fictitious. When he was 76, he was still making up tales by propagandizing against England with a story that Indians scalped 1,062 Americans under orders from King George III.

The husband of Deborah Rogers owed debts he could not pay, facing legal action; he left Philadelphia and never came back. Deborah became the wife of Ben Franklin in what is believed to have been a common law arrangement, as there was no record of their marriage.

Franklin was one of the best swimmers in the colony, and praised swimming as “a normalizer and reducer of fatty tissue”

In the late afternoon a Franklin tree shades his grave located at 5th and Arch Street.

Jack Schmidt 2/9/2001
Updated 1/8/2008
Information found in the column “A Rambler in Philadelphia” published in the Philadelphia Bulletin in the late 1960’s.




For more information about this great America hero see:
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/

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Christmas Memories

I'm thinking about what to write about this year, but after my Mom, Anastasia went away, my few moments of happiness were overshadowed by her absence however here are some of my memories:



I still think of that magical time leading up to Christmas, the anticipation, the lights, music and the dreams of the many toys I wanted and hoped to find under the tree. The trolley trips to Market Street to enjoy the Christmas displays in the windows of Gimbles and Lits’ Department stores, and the lights decorating Market Street.

The last year we lived as a family on Emily Street, Dad and I went out late at 10pm Christmas Eve to get a tree and to find the best deal. As there was snow on the ground, he pulled me on a sled. As I remember, we traveled many blocks and stopped at many tree stands before getting a tree for fifty cents, Dad tied it to the sled, put me on top and headed home. The tree needed some work and Dad drilled some holes and moved some branches to make the "front" appear full. As was our custom Mom, Dad and I trimmed the tree that Christmas eve. Boy was I excited. I think Mom and Dad gave me a small glass of wine (probably hot chocolate) to get me in bed.

The Christmas tree was lit by small colored lights on a series wire, that is, if one light failed, the whole string would not light. And they did fail quite often. Mom, Dad and later, me would use a new bulb and replace each bulb on the string until the bad bulb was located. Each year, Dad cut a small piece off the bottom of the tree trunk and drilled a hole for a candle in the side and planed the other side flat so it wouldn’t roll. In three years we had three candle holders, two large and a small one for me. Dad decorated them with some pine cuttings. Every Christmas Eve we burned red candles and saveed the candles for the next Christmas Eve. Most of the houses had a few branches of pine cut from their Christmas trees that were trimmed with the previous years’ red bow that they hung on the front door; few folks had either the means or the desire to purchase a wreath.

Uncle Con and Dad spent many hours in the cellar making toys for me, and Mom had to keep me busy and out of the cellar, I just couldn't contain myself, wanting to know what my Dad and Uncle were doing as I was always with them when they were making something. Well they made me a scale model of an army Jeep about ten inches long, which I could only look at and not play with. On Easter, the following year, my Jeep was displayed in the front window with eggs made up to look like Roosevelt and Truman and McArthur sitting in it and a gallows with eggs looking like Hitler and Tojo hanging from ropes. Politically correct we weren't, ah the good old days.

That Christmas I found a cap gun under the tree, a real cowboy cap gun. Roy Rodgers was my current hero and I spent Christmas day shooting at my playmates and them shooting back with their new guns. Nothing like hiding behind snow piles and having a battle on Christmas Day! Being “shot”, and sliding down a snow pile pretending we were dead. Mom and Dad and my playmates parents were tolerant of us kids as the country was still at war. I think we went to Grandmom’s house for dinner and I got some more toys. I still remember Grandmom’s Rice Pudding and could eat the entire casserole myself if they would have let me.

Usually Dad had his 1938 Chevrolet coupe parked on the street and he only drove it on weekends and when there was no snow. He would drain the water out of the radiator so it wouldn’t freeze. (Anti-freeze cost money and we didn’t have much). I think he removed the six volt Battery on very cold days. On the weekends that Dad did drive Mom and me in the car, Dad heated a kettle of water on our three burner stove and poured the warm water into the radiator and let it run for a while. Mom brought blankets, as the car had no heater and no radio either. Even though the seat was narrow, Dad, Mom and I just fit and kept warm under her blankets and by just being with each other. I can still feel the warmth of those moments and what a wonderful memory for me of my family.


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