Bits and Tids II

I was having too much fun at the computer keyboard yesterday. Any mention of the World Weekly News makes me chuckle. And, based on some reaction to yesterday's posting, the soon-to-be-defunct supermarket tabloid also makes me step across the line in having good ol' tongue-in-cheek fun. It's hard for me to have tongue-in-cheek fun cuz I'm usually chewing on my tongue, and it can't get over there to the cheek very easily.

But it did yesterday, and some folks out there took me seriously--even chastising me for not knowing what day it was. So, please read the disclaimer posted above yesterday's piece and figure the grain-of-salt response goes right along with a tongue planted too firmly in a blogger's cheek.

• Speaking of fun, I had some fun last week, hearing from my two kids on precisely the same subject in two different cities on two different days. Have forgotten to mention it until now. My senior memory sometimes gets caught with the chewed-upon tongue and fails to function. One morning, I received a call from Annie who was walking to work in Seattle. She had to call me because a bus had just passed by. Now, this wasn't any ol' Seattle metro. This bus had pictures on it, pictures of someone Annie knew from her high school years at Sandpoint High-----Kristy O. formerly known as Kristy Osmunson. Seems the Bomshel gals were enroute to their next gig. The next afternoon I received a call from Willie who was driving to work from Boise to Nampa. He had just passed the Residence Inn near the Boise Towne Mall where we stayed a couple of years ago. And, there sat a bus, with pictures on the side and great big letters BOMSHEL. Kristy O and Willie have something in common; both were ASB presidents at Sandpoint High School. I heard on the radio a few days later that Kristy O. got to fiddle with Charlie Daniels recently and figured that was a chance in a lifetime. Seems the Bomshel duo is doing just fine as they cross the country with their big hair and foot-stompin' good times. I looked on their website and learned that they've got an ambitious tour ahead, including more U.S. stops, Sweden, Korea and Japan.
• In the penny for her thoughts department, I thank my friend Jeanne Helmstrom from the Spokesman office for sending an idea my way. I wrote about bee stings a few days ago. At that time, I'd been stung twice and was enduring the itch on both my nose and my flabby flab. That itching has almost subsided, but the mean bees haven't. One got me yesterday on the skinny part of my left arm and, for geographic needs, over under the apple tree while I was weed eating. I remembered Jeanne's suggestion, went to my box of pre-fake pennies, pulled one out, stuck it on the sting for about 30 seconds------and---voila!---welt completely disappeared. Today there's no sign whatsoever of the sting. I don't know the reasoning behind this and I'm usually a skeptic about such things, but it worked. The key is that the penny must be of the copper variety.
  
• Ah, summer. Ah, vegetable gardens. Ah, steamed vegetable dinners. There's got to be some reward for daily bee attacks. I fixed my favorite the night before last, and it's one of those that gets better with age. About as simple as they come. Go to the garden, pick beans, carrots, new potatoes (and cabbage, if you want), wash, throw all into a kettle, along with some Wood's German sausage, cover the kettle, cook at a slow boil until carrots can easily be punctured with a fork. Drain. Season to taste. I use salt, pepper, and a healthy dose of onion salt. Of course, those new onions from the garden might work just as well. Smother with Imperial Margarine. Chop off a big chunk of Tillamook medium cheddar cheese and cut into bits. Mix. Cover the kettle again, turn on "warm" and watch closely so nothing sticks to the bottom of the kettle. This warming period allows all flavors to wed, thus producing an "ooh, oohm good" reaction with the first bite and every bite thereafter. Watch yourself though, cuz it's easy to be a pig with this stuff. If any is left over, place in tupperware container for overnight refrigeration. Next day, pop it in the microwave, and plan for an even more heavenly reminder of just why you love August and fresh veggies.
  

Guess that's enough for the Thursday Bits and Tids. I'd better get out there and water that corn cuz Alice Rankin, the garden lady on Huckleberries Online, says corn likes water when it's producing those big ears. And, I've got some stalks in my Lovestead garden with honey-flavored ears. If I treat 'em right with the hose, we can plan on a few mouth-watering corn delights to go along with those boiled vegetables.