Evil has a new name...

And it's name is caffeine. I decided to give up caffeine starting today, and my head is paying for it now. Man, that's a powerful little drug.

I'm doing this in a further attempt to remove processed foods (and drinks) from my diet. Even though I was drinking diet pop for my caffeine fix I think I'll feel better (after the initial tough few days) when I don't have a gnawing need to get my fix each morning. And besides, it will save me a ton of money. I don't drink coffee so that isn't something I have to worry about.

After I get past these first tough days I'll be fine. And then I'll just have to watch what I drink from now on. (And eat to a certain extent)

But it doesn't feel like a very good choice right now.

You better watch out candy, you're next.

FGLB

Do you use oil?

If so, you need to check out this story.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-oilsafari2-htmlstory,0,3163462.special

FGLB

Blogs I've come across to share

I came across this article on Cleverchip's website. Thought I would share it here also. Cleverchimp writes about biking and living sustainably if you are interested in another place to read that kind of stuff. I just recently stumbled onto his site.

As an add-on to the article, when our family moved up to Iowa we lived with my in-laws for 7-9 months and it wasn't nearly as bad as it has been portrayed in the media. We laid down some ground rules about the situation, the house was easily large enough for all 6 of us, (and all the crap my wife and I were moving) and it allowed me to move at my own pace when I was finding a job and a place for us to live. I think this is easily something that more families can do, but speaking from experience, each group of people need some personal space occassionally.

I'm not sure if I would feel differently if I knew that we would be living together forever. Hispanic families live this way in America, until they get too Americanized.

This blog is about energy dependence and Peak Oil, etc.
Moral Equivalent of War

FGLB

Interesting composter

Check out this link.

http://www.rolypigusa.com/index.html

It's a home composter that's shaped like a pig. I bet my neighbors would appreciate something like this rather than my unsightly pile. Might be an interesting way to get your children interested in composting and helping in the garden.

FGLB

Zucchinni problem

Remember when I said I was going to have a zucchinni problem? Well, based on these pictures I don't think I'm going to have a problem anymore. It appears that I will have one plant left because something has gotten ahold of them and they are all dying. My green bean plants are also getting eaten alive and are dying. Anyone know what the heck is going on here? I'm reading something about a disease brought on by aphids but I'm not sure that is what it is.

Green beans


Zucchinni plants wilted















FGLB

How easy is it to steal a bike?

Check this out. (Link takes you to YouTube via Time)

Thanks to my buddy Tom for sending this my way.

FGLB

Food article

I saw this article on Oil is for Sissies. Check it out. It's about all the oil that appears in our food that we don't even see or recognize.

I've read this book and it is top notch. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in our country's agriculture system.

(Thanks to Jim for the link)

FGLB

New ride

I got a new ride folks. It's nothing special really, but should lead to some fun adventures.

I picked this up out of a gentlemen's front yard for $50. It works pretty well, although the shifting is a little clunky and the seat is not the best. It's been about 15 years since I rode a road bike so just getting use to the way it behaves compared to a mountain bike will take some work.

It appears to be a Schwinn World Traveler but I wouldn't mind having some second opinions. The frame fits well and most importantly, it's steel with some nice looking lugs. STEAL IS REAL!! It appears to be from the mid 80s, possibly 85-86. 10 speeds, 27 inch wheels, rides nice and cold air...oh wait...that's a used car...

Side note:
I am aware that this is most likely a women's bike, but I don't really care. I like having the low step through for when I'm loaded down for the commute to work and all bulked up with winter gear for winter commuting. I'm tired of hefting my meaty tree trunk legs over the top tube. Why should I be stuck with society's expectation of what kind of bike to ride? I say not me! I'll ride what's comfortable and what works for me. Besides, I'd just like to see one of those leg shaving carbon fiber punks make a comment to me. I weigh twice as much as they do!!

Anyway, it's a project bike. The plan is to make it a fixed gear bike (won't have to worry about shifting then!!!) and swap out the drops for some bullhorns. I'm starting slow and just getting it running as a fixie for now. Then I'll swap out the pedals and handlebars. Then it should be all set. I like the idea of taking something that was old and basically forgotten and making it useful again.

It doesn't have any braze-ons for water bottles (didn't people drink water while on the bike back then???). I dropped it at the bike shop and they are going to redish the back wheel, put in a 16T cog (start low, I'm using the existing front crank, it's a 40), remove the deraillers and extra cogs on the back, replace the chain and remove the shifting cables. Oh, and also true up the wheels. Even though a lot of true fixies think you can go without brakes because you can push back on the pedals to stop you (remember the skid marks you use to leave as a kid?? Oh yeah) I'm not that brave and we're leaving both brakes on for now. After I can ride pretty well I'll remove the back brake but I would never go totally without a brake. No way. I have too much to live for.

I'll let you know how it turns out. I can't wait to get it back. It's going to take forever to get it back and I am itching to get on it and give it a try.

FGLB

Eating local is so nice we did it twice.

Pretty easy meal this week. We had some friends over to swim in our pool and this is what I made for dinner. (yes, I do all the cooking in our little household)

Marinated broiled Round Steak (from the 1/4 cow we bought)
Roasted red potatoes (farmer's market)
Zuchinni and Summer Squash (farmer's market)
Blackberries (farmer's market)

Round Steak marinade
1/2 veggie oil
1/2 apple cider vinegar (should have been red wine vinegar but didn't have any)
2 tbls steak sauce
1 clove garlic (market)
1/2 medium red onion (market)
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
I marinated it for 5 hours but longer would have been better. It had a ton of flavor but wasn't really that tender.

I wasn't all that pleased with the way it turned out broiled on my grill pan. I'll probably just use the grill pan on top of the stove from now on.

The red potatoes, zuchinni and squash were rolled in a flavor mix which I stole and modified from here. (This is the same spot I got the salsa recipe from. Put this in your favorites. She comes up with great recipes). Anyway, the potatoes were roasted almost completely and then rolled in the mix and put back in to finish up (probably about 20 minutes) and the zuchinni and squash mix was rolled and put in the oven at the same time. I've made this recipe before and it is great. The zuchinni and squash have tons of flavor.

Modified flavor mix
Some olive oil (I didn't measure it but you know how much you need)
Finely minced garlic-I used about 2 cloves (market)
Finely chopped fresh basil--I used about 10-12 leaves (garden)
Sea salt and pepper to taste

I thought I had made more than enough to enjoy leftovers this week but sadly it wasn't meant to be. Our friend was heading to do his National Guard drills the following day and I think he was happy to have one final good meal before eating on Uncle Sam's dime for two weeks.

Our second local meal this week (in reality our meals are mostly local. Only little parts here and there aren't. It's usually chicken that isn't local because I haven't gone to the final step of buying some yet, or our fruit portion) was a meal of the other piece of round steak I had defrosted, egg noodles and a corn/green bean saute.

I put the round steak (cow from farmer) in the crock pot with some red onion (market) and a can of cream of mushroom soup (does this count as a spice????). About halfway through cooking (and it turns out, too early) I put the leftover Amish egg noodles (23 miles) from last week's meal and some water. When I got home from work I cut some corn off the cob (market) and sauteed it in a little butter (not local, but from Iowa based company), garlic (market) and red onion (market) and threw in some green beans (market) to cook through (we like them crunchy so not too long). Turned out pretty good with really not a lot of work.

Some of you may already know this based on the ingrediants, but this turned out a lot like Beef Stroganoff. Heck, maybe it IS Beef Stroganoff for all know. All I know is it was pretty good and it was a good use of a fairly tough, inexpensive cut of beef, although the picture doesn't do it any favors. We'll do this one again. I didn't have any local fruit so we went without for this meal.

There you go. Entertaining while eating local is easy. Cooking easy no fuss meals for the work week while eating local is possible too.

FGLB

A bicycling tragedy

A bicycling tragedy has occured, but first, did you hear that Ullrich has been booted off the T-Mobile team? Wow. I wonder who they will pick as their main man in the future. If you ask me they were just looking for a reason to get rid of him anyway.

Back to the tragedy.

I'm not going to be able to ride RAGBRAI. I know. It's a shocker. But I think it's a good reason. My wife (she who makes and maintains the social calendar) made a boo boo and scheduled a wedding for this weekend (which is good because that fit into our schedule really well) but unfortunately we found out today that the wedding is next weekend. Her boo boo was messing up the deat, not scheduling the wedding. The same weekend I was going to ride RAGBRAI. Not good. Not good at all.

So we were running around crazy this morning trying to figure out what to do. Can we even find a sitter for next weekend? What do we do about RAGBRAI? What about my sister who was coming to visit? What about RAGBRAI? OOOOO NNNNOOOOOO I will now flush my head down the toilet.

At first I tried to convince my wife that she should have her friend move her wedding up to this weekend because it works better for us and dammit, that's all that matters. But then I remembered one of my solemn rules in life, don't screw with a woman and her wedding. At all. Even though this is my wife's friend I'm sure my wife would be more than willing to end my life on behalf of all woman for even suggesting that I change anything with her friend's wedding. It's HER WEDDING YOU IDIOT. Men do not have any say in wedding preparations, other than to say yes. So after realizing that changing the date was out our choices came down to this small list.

Ride RAGBRAI, wife skips wedding, watches kids.
Skip RAGBRAI, watch kids, wife goes to wedding.
Both go to wedding, find someone to watch kids.
Nobody does anything so we are all miserable.
Ride RAGBRAI, wife goes to wedding, kids are otherwise disposed.

In the pantheon of important things a wedding easily trumps a bike ride (even one like RAGBRAI) so sending at least my wife to the wedding was a fairly easy decision. But we weren't sure if we would both be going or just her. (Hey, if we both go it's like a mini-vacation for us. When you have kids you take what you can get. A few hours in the car with no kids talking is glorious. Plus, I lived there for 6 years and was kind of excited to see some friends.)

So we both decided to go rather than her go and me do RAGBRAI. (the thought of being kidless and wifeless is too much for me. I would spontaneously combust I think)

My in-laws stepped up and agreed to watch the boys for us so we can both go. They are also hosting 16 RAGBRAI people at their house when it passes through town on the 28th so we need to send them some major cycling love.

As they say, the best laid plans of mice and men...

FGLB

Spam comment

My recent post on tax cuts was spam commented for an advertisement. Twice. I deleted the comments.

Additionally, I have implemented the word verification step of the blog to hopefully filter these losers out. Sorry you good people have this extra step.

There are extra steps I can take but I'm only going to go that far if I don't have any other choice.

I just wanted you to be aware of the changes I made so you weren't wondering what was happening.

I have a zero spam policy!

FGLB

Tax cuts?

Liz over at Pocket Farm wrote an incredible piece about the recent tax cuts and who is benefiting from them. I'm not even going to say anything about it to muddy it up.

Click here for the story.

FGLB

Eat Local meal #4

Chicken noodle soup and BLTs.

I used some leftover chicken carcasses (I cut up my own chicken most of the time and save the bones, naturally. That's good German stinginess in action.) The chicken wasn't local, but it was SmartChicken (which is good because if there is one thing I hate it's a dumb chicken) that I had been saving to make chicken broth. Threw in some onions and carrots from the garden and a couple cloves of garlic from the market. Let it simmer for a while and I had homemade chicken broth.

After all the necessary filtering of the broth (of which I had a ton leftover for the freezer. Poor freezer.) I grabbed it out of the fridge last night and threw in some chicken that came from the bones, carrots and some onions (sadly no celery as I couldn't find any local) and brought it up to a boil just to make sure any nasty critters that might have been in the broth were dead. Then I mixed in some store bought Amish egg noodles (I want to make my own but I just don't have time this week) which are made in Kalona, IA (23 miles) and let it cook for a while.

As this was going on I toasted up some bread from the local bakery and fried up some local bacon (72 miles) for BLTs. The lettuce is from my garden, which is surprisingly still producing lettuce, and the tomatoes are from the market. Put it all on the table and there it is.

No fruit this time because I came home from work and my wife had finished off all the watermelon, to my surprise.

FGLB

Pics of Lebanon

Pictures of Lebanon. Some are graphic.

FGLB

Lemonade?

I bought a bottle of something called Lemonade out of the machine in Vendoland today. I say it's called Lemonde because that's what the bottle says. It's even "Made with real lemons." But in reality it doesn't really taste like any Lemonade I've ever had. It mostly tastes like a pale version of something lemony with no real bite. Kind of like crystal light or something. I guess Lemonade was too lemony so they had to tone it down or something.

Anyway, the real thing I wanted to share was a rundown of the ingrediant list. This is unholy. Where are the lemons they speak of on the front of the bottle? Does lemon concentrate count as "real lemons" because they WERE lemons at one point? If there are "real lemons" in the drink they aren't on the ingrediant list.

And what the hell is Glycerol Ester of Wood Rosin? Is this like the stuff in the rosin bags on a pitcher's mound? Why the hell am I drinking that? The most telling thing? They added yellow food coloring to this to make it yellow!!! That is totally wrong. It should be yellow on it's own you idiots!! You have messed up your "Lemonade" if it isn't yellow completely on it's own!!

You can tell I'm all hopped up on HFCS. My arms and legs are all shaky. I feel like I could run through a brick wall right now. I'm like JoJo the idiot circus boy. Imagine all the kids in America drinking this stuff right now and everyone is thinking "It's not so bad, it's lemonade."

The bottle says "Shake well and enjoy". Yeah right.

FGLB

Special skill

Have you ever wished you had a special skill that you could have developed? And I don't mean a special skill like being invisible or x-ray vision, but something real and tangible, like being able to fix drywall without seeing the seams or being a good runner or being the guy who always wins at foosball. (I hate that guy)

Ever since I started getting into music when I was 12 or 13 I wished I could play the guitar. You would think playing the guitar is something that someone could train themselves to be good at. And you are right, if you're the right person. I, unfortunately, am not. I have no musical talent. None at all. Zero. I can listen to music and that's about as far as it goes. I do a good job at karaoke, but then the point of that is to be funny, not really serious. (I hate the people who get on karaoke and sing like they are on Star Search. Get a life) I can not carry a tune. I can't read sheet music. I can't do anything musical. I can only sometimes carry a beat. Yes, you heard me right. Only sometimes can I carry a beat, and usually that's when it's painfully obvious what the beat is or my wife starts out the beat for me. Frankly, I doubt I have enough patience to learn. I'm not the kind of person who sits around and can practice, practice, practice. I guess that's why I've never tried. (I've also never really wanted to pay for lessons) This practice thing is probably why I quit doing a lot of stuff now that I think about it...

I abhor the idea of paying for a guitar and then sucking and then I have to look at this guitar for the rest of eternity. Or all that wasted money on lessons? No way. I can't stomach it. Better to not try than fail and have to see my failure all the time.

But playing the guitar would be so awesome. Maybe I think it would be great because I SOOO love guitar music. Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Van Halen, G'N'R, Lynard Skynard, Jimi, Joplin, Eagles, CCR, Don Mclean and all the others from the 60s, 70s and 80s. The heyday of the guitar gods. Oh man, that music was awesome. Back before everything is prepackaged and gift wrapped for our use. I have day dreams sitting around ripping off a nice little Pride and Joy riff or picking up a guitar I see lying around and setting up a little Freebird. Man, those are great dreams. Someday maybe I'll do something about that.

FGLB

Rain, rain go away, come again..wait don't go...

Oh rain, glorious rain. Come on baby. Bring on the rain. Daddy's veggies need some water.

Sunday Dinner

So yesterday we all went out for a little lunch. I wasn't feeling ambitious in the kitchen and I was planning for meals later this week and just didn't really want to whip up anything. We were all kind of tired already because we had already swam in the pool that morning and it kept getting later and later so my wife finally made the executive decision to go out to eat. (I know, we said we wouldn't go out to eat anymore but stay with me) We decided if we were going to go out it had to be something that I couldn't really make at home. (I don't mean to toot my own horn, but honk honk, I'm a pretty darn good cook, for most things) So we went for Chinese (still on my too hard list, except stir fry and fried rice) which is always a crowd pleaser for me and hit or miss for the boys.

But yesterday we scored a direct hit for both of them. After our first choice, a buffet, was closed we went to a place I had seen before but never tried. We weren't sure what to expect. After sitting down and seeing the menu it felt like we were in bizarro world or something because the prices had to be from 20 years ago. An iced tea for $.99?? You can get a whole meal for $4.99?? And it comes with an egg roll, crab rangoon, soup and the main dish? Unbelievable. By the time we were done both our boys (4 and 2) had eaten crab rangoon, egg rolls, egg drop soup and shared a huge plate of beef and broccoli, and we were all completely stuffed. I couldn't believe how much food there was and that they were eating it all. As far as I can remember this is their first try of the egg rolls, crab rangoon and egg drop soup. Not to mention Zach (4 yr old) has pronounced in the past that he doesn't like soup and he won't eat it no matter what.

When I went to the bathroom to hose the boys off after they ate I mentioned to Zach that he should tell his mom that he was hungry like a wolf and that's why he ate so much. He ran back to the table and did it. Kids are so impressionable when they are little.

Your welcome for introducing that song to your head. Now you can suffer along with me.

FGLB

Everyone salsa!

I decided to try to make up some fresh salsa today from a recipe on a blog I read. (click here for the recipe, halfway down the page) I figured I had most of the ingrediants and I've been itching to do it for a while. It turned out pretty good. I haven't really been a salsa guy in the past. Mostly I just go for the soupy flavored water on my chip, but I was really digging this stuff. We had quesadillas for lunch just so we could use them to scoop up a ton of salsa. (The bowl was full before lunch...I think my kids love salsa more than my wife and I...)

The one deviation I used was to use a can of chilis instead of fresh jalapenos. I couldn't find any locally and decided not to spend the prep time on them when I can just get them canned. Using a can might be the reason this didn't really turn out very hot. My wife thought it was plenty hot but it didn't have much bite to me. Besides, I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to work on a real pepper yet.

FGLB

In difficulty

I have a difficult time at work this time of year. Not really difficult because I have more work to do (My work consists of mostly the same thing every day on repeat the following day. Kind of like the movie Groundhog Day, only not as funny. My favorite part of that movie is when he's letting the groundhog drive the truck and telling it not to drive angry. Don't drive angry!!) but it's more difficult to work because it's hard for me to tune into the Tour De France while also trying to do my work and trying not to appear to be a total slacker who does nothing but surf the net. (In reality I do surf the net a lot, but this is because I'm an extremely efficient worker and get all my work done quickly and no one will give me more to do even though I ask over and over and over for more work. I know, it's wired.)

Anyway, I'm forced to monitor the Tour online through reading play by play action as it's updated because I'm too cheap to buck up for full cable. We have basic cable at our house, mostly to insure I can watch CSI on Thursdays and be able to use PBS for the kids when I need a minute of peace and quiet. I don't mind doing this because I still get the gist of what is happening and it doesn't cost me a thing. But the British accent I use in my head while reading the updates isn't as good as the real thing.

Fun stuff

Here is some random fun stuff that I've come across that I thought I would share.

Funny video

Fun with kids

Water show

Shining parody (clever editing and music make this movie appear to be a love story)

It's tough being a mascot (does have a little language)

And a joke:
Donald Rumsfeld goes into President Bush's office to alert him to the fact that 3 Brazilian men were killed in Iraq. The President's face gets all white and he places his head on his desk as he starts to cry. Everyone in the room kind of stands back in shock about his reaction, at which point he raises his head with tears still in his eyes and asks "How many exactly is 3 Ba-zillion?"

Ba da ba bum. I'll be here all week.

This joke, by the way, in no way attempts to demean the sacrifices are soldiers are making on the battlefield. It is merely intended to poke fun at our fearless leader.

Thanks to the Bike Riding Donut Guy and the Sports Guy for the things I stole from them.
FGLB

Local food challenge--meal #3

Meal #3. I was jealous of this meal so I copied it for this week.

Our A/C broke about two weeks ago (we didn't fix it. Too much $$$. We do have a little room one if it gets too hot but it hasn't really yet) and I haven't felt much like firing up the stove or oven to cook, especially yesterday when it was about 90 with 150% humidity, so I used the crock pot to cook a roast (from our cow), some potatoes and some carrots (both from the farmers market) while I was at work. Yeah!

The melon is from the guy I bought the sweet corn from (he swears he grows it himself), the bread is from a local bakery and I had milk to drink from Heartland Creamery which is the most local milk I can find so far. The milk is really good. It comes in glass bottles and it's hormone free. Tastes sooo good. I'm still on the hunt for local butter and cheese if anyone has any suggestions.

In other news, since I watered the garden yesterday morning it fits that it rained last night and appears that it will be rainy all day today. Doh!

FGLB

Obesity through the years

Click this link, follow the directions and watch America get fatter by the year.

Weary weekends

Why am I always happy to go back to work Monday morning so I can get some rest? I guess because I'm so busy cramming all my stuff to do into the weekends that I exhaust myself.

I spent the weekend at my apartment building painting the trim around the outside of the windows. And boy are my arms tired. HA HA Oh, OK. Anyway, it wouldn't be that bad except that it is plenty hot outside now and the front of the apartment building (the side that needed painting the worst) is in the direct sun for most of the day. So needless to say I got waaayyyy too much sun this weekend. I'm feeling the after effects of it today. I feel like a slug moving around right now. (I drank so much water the past few days you would swear I had been out in the desert on a horse with no name.) But, I must say it sure looks a lot better and should hopefully make the tenants more proud to live there. I'll be spending my free time over there for the next few weeks trying to get it finished up. I'm not really that excited to spend more time out in the sun and on a little ladder but hopefully it will be worth it eventually.

We were also able to get about 4 pounds of green beans and 13 ears of sweet corn frozen up for the winter. We are starting to put some things away for this winter. Unfortunately for us everything we put in the freezer needs a spot so we have to take something out. We are just under prepared with our freezer space. I'm pretty sure we'll be picking up a small little freezer this week for all the fresh produce we want to freeze for the winter.

On the same subject, sort of. I've come to the realization that I will be swimming in a sea of zucchini soon. I planted 5 plants (along with 3 summer squash plants) and I think I could have done with just one. I like zucchini, and can probably eat 1, maybe 2 per week, but I think when it starts coming in I'll have a lot more than that. (if the amount of flowers on the plants are any indication) Lucky for me you can freeze it (according to my books, and use it in zucchini bread) but I still think after this summer we won't want to see a zucchini for a while. Guess I should have listened to mom when she questioned why I planted that many plants. If you have any ideas on interesting ways to prepare it pass 'em along. I'm happy to take suggestions.

Went out to eat last night and I was roundly disappointed. We've both come to realization that restaurant food just isn't as good as the food we eat at home. The food we are eating at home is fresher, better tasting and most times, more healthy for us. We've decided to give up on eating out. Why continue to pay someone to cook food for us that we don't enjoy and isn't good for us? That just doesn't make much sense.

We are having our local dinner tonight so stay tuned for a posting of that later tonight.

On another note, does anyone have any knowledge about how to freeze Spinach? If you do please drop me a note. I've got some from the market I need to save and I'm not sure how to do it.

I ran over a rabbit this weekend driving to my apartment. As much as I hate the little things for the havoc they are wrecking on my garden I still feel bad about running it over. I swerved to miss it but it hopped right into me. Poor thing. I hope you enjoyed your short time on earth.

FGLB

Zucchinni Bread update

After taste testing an end piece I was disappointed in the bread. It was really dry. I was afraid to even serve it at work, but I decided to take it anyway since it was ready and I was running late this morning.

But I just tasted a piece from more towards the middle and it was fine. Really good actually. I don't know why the zucchinni is in it because as far as I can tell the bread just tastes like cinnamon. With banana or pumpkin bread you can tell what the fruit adds but I can't tell here.

Oh well, at least I know it's good now and I won't be afraid to make it in the future. My mom was worried about what I would do with all my zucchinni when I told her how many plants I planted. Well I know now what I'll do with it!

FGLB

FGLB attempts to make zucchinni bread

Tomorrow is food day at work and I decided I wanted to bring something homemade. I normally bring something homemade but the last few I've stopped at the store or just plain forgot. But what to make...

Hey! Why not some zuchinni bread? I got some zucchinni cheaply at the roadside stand and it will be semi-local since I made it myself. I've never made it before but that's no big deal. My mom is the worlds best banana bread maker so some of that skill has to have ended up in my gene pool right?


Well let's see...follow the recipe on page 43 of my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook and here are the results...

Looks pretty good. We'll see how it tastes in the morning.

FGLB

It's time to make a change...for once in your life

With apologies to Michael Jackson...

CAUTION: Political rant/diatribe to follow. You have been warned. Read on at your own risk.

OK. Now I can get this off my chest.

Can someone explain to me what is going on with our world? What has happened to us as Americans that has completely warped our sense of right and wrong? Why do we think it is OK to deny "political prisoners" their human rights at Guantanamo Bay? Why do we think what we are doing there is any better than what Kim Jong Il is doing to his people? Or that Saddam did or that Hitler did back in the day? Why are we OK with one but not the others?

Remember what those brave soldiers fought for in WWII? Why are we now treating people the same way that Hitler did, only now it's OK? Why is our government now treating it's citizens like Hitler treated his? How is this different? Why are we trading all our freedoms away for protection from potential terrorist attacks that all stem from our horrible international policies in the first place? Wouldn't it be easier to change the policies? Why aren't any of our "leaders" willing to be leaders and make changes? Instead of focusing on important issues they bring up stupid little meaningless issues to try to steal the headlines for a few days and skew the world to their view. Why do we accept this? Is it because we don't see any other way?
Why does our news coverage have so much information about celebrities? Are we nothing more than gossip rag reading mindless drones made to work in artificial work environments being spoon fed processed food and processed air? Are we supposed to like this? Why aren't more people seeing what is happening? Is our world so unimportant that newscasters feel no greater need with their news broadcast than to maximize their Nielson ratings to make that extra $1 of profit?

Why is our world so generic? Everything looks the same. All the stores are the same. All the buildings are the same. Is this what we want? Why would we want to live in a world lacking uniqueness and beauty? How did we get this way?

Why does the most terrifying weapon of mass destruction in the world live freely in the White House? Why is our political system controlled by corporations with big pockets? The court system is skewed to protect the little guy, shouldn't the political system be skewed as well? Why do I feel like all they want to do is get re-elected and could care less about any "issues"?

Why is it OK for our "leader" to hi-jack his religion to fit his political desires but we aren't OK with Muslim groups doing the same thing for their beliefs? Because we agree with one but not the other? I don't see the difference. And while we are on that topic, why does anyone think it is OK to deny someone a human right that they may want because of their particular religious belief? Why do people have such a hard time saying "You know, I wouldn't ever want to do that myself (for whatever reason), but just because I wouldn't want to doesn't mean that it shouldn't be available to you if you should want to"? Why do we try to force people to think like us? Why can't we embrace that which makes us different and celebrate it?

Why oh why can't I be a mindless drone like so many people and just plod along through life accepting it for the way it is or enjoying the artificial world piped in on my cable box? Why do I have to challenge things and contemplate things? Why do I have to always have a thirst for knowledge and change? Was I designed to hold up this heavy burden about our world? Concerns about local food, peak oil, living sustainably, reducing TV, reading enough, raising kids, recycling, reusing, living efficiently, reducing my impact on the earth, reducing car use are all great, but it is such a drag when I think about how everyone else is living and why can't I be like that? Why do I have to be the one to sacrifice? Why does one sacrifice matter? Why does your sacrifice matter?

Things like these are things I wonder about on a daily/weekly basis. Most I can't do anything about, but some I can, and by banding together with others who are similarly sacrificing we can make a difference. God made me with sturdy legs and broad shoulders to do my part, and he created the internet so that people with similar beliefs can get together and feel the support from each other rather than feeling like an outcast in this big world we live in. If you ever feel down or despondent about the world or what you are doing in your part of it think about the individual sacrifices you are making (whether it is eating local food, driving less, removing the TV, etc) and think of the other people around the world who are making the EXACT SAME sacrifices you are and you all have the same focus in mind.

WE ARE ALL FOCUSED ON MAKING A DIFFERENCE.

FGLB

A couple rides

I went out at 5 this morning for a quick little ride around town. I figure I better get off my ass if I'm going to ride 50 miles on the 29th and halfway enjoy it. Riding in the mornings is great. Nobody around to bother me and it is so quiet. All I can hear is the clicking of my freewheel.

Then the stars aligned and I was able to hit the Sugar Bottom Mountain Bike trails tonight. I can't believe how sweet it is to ride some nice singletrack, but man, doing that kicks your ass. (or at least mine) Up and down the hills and pedaling away like mad to go forward over all the tree roots and branches in the way. Careening down hills and trying like mad to steer quick enough to miss the trees and making sure to maximize my speed for the next uphill (and the sweet jumps) takes a lot out of you physically and mentally.

But it's worth it. Riding on the trails is so much better than churning away on the street.

I make so much noise laboring up the hills that if someone was in the woods and heared me pedaling away they have to think Sasquatch is giving birth. It's unreal. It sort of sounds like a cat being strangled mixed in with a fat guy trying to breath and also sounds like an alien child. I finally quit because my arms were just too sore to hold me up and move the front wheel on the bike.

I'm going to hit the sack.
FGLB

I Love the smell of sweet corn in the steamer

I'm submitting my second picture for local meal #2 this summer.

Yesterday on the way home from work I saw one of the many farm stands that are popping up here and I turned in there like he was giving away gold. (In a way I guess he is) He had tomatoes, sweet corn, zucchinis and melons. I picked up 3 zucchinis (3 for a $1) and some sweet corn (12 for $4). I regret not picking up a melon today. Doh!!

I decided to make a little stir fry with the zucchinis (I used one that was fairly large) and also mixed in an onion from my garden, a few carrots (garden), some leftover potatoes and broccoli, and a clove of garlic (all local). I have to admit, I did use some oyster sauce, soy sauce and a little corn starch in it too for flavor and thickening. I think those are condiments though. As that was cooking I steamed some sweet corn (I know, it's a wierd combination but I just have to eat sweet corn when it's available). So, that's what we had for lunch today. A stir fry made from local veggies and some sweet corn. I'm proud of myself for only having 3 ears of corn. And it was a vegetarian meal to boot.

I snapped a quick pic today of my carrots after I yanked them from the garden. I also pulled up a little onion that had dislodged itself from the dirt. (I threw these in the stir fry) The carrots are pretty darn small, even though they are at their maturity date. I think I'll just have to leave the others out there longer to see what happens. They tasted just fine. Very carrotty, as my wife said.

It's kind of exciting as these are the first things I've harvested except greens. Yeah!

Have a good 4th.
FGLB

The smoke cooked it good

Things turned out really well. Those are the slabs on the bottom right. They are baby back slabs. I usually cook spare ribs which have a lot more fat so these were a little dry. They were quite flavorful, but they needed to be sauced. On the bottom left is the first helping of pulled pork. That turned out fantastic. I smoked it for just about 11 hours and then put it in the oven wrapped in aluminum foil for about 2.5 hours more. Turned out really great. Nice and smoky and moist and very very tender. On the upper right is the leftover shoulder. 10 lbs makes a ton of pulled pork. I had enough after shredding what is still wrapped in the pic to fill that bowl up again. It's in the freezer waiting for the next time I get a hankering for some que.

We also had some roasted new potatoes, cheesy corn and baked beans. It was a good dinner.

Fatty rating on ribs: 7 for flavor but 4 for dryness. Overall a 6 I'd say. Next time I'll sauce them while they cook and see how that goes.

Fatty rating on pulled pork: 9 for moistness and flavor. When you put a little sauce on them it was over the top. Easily over 9 with the sauce. Very happy with those results. Maybe I don't need to be such a stickler to smoking it the whole time to get good results.

FGLB

Do you smell what the smoke is cooking?

It's 3:45Am and I just tossed a 10lb pork shoulder on Ol' Smokey for later today. There's plenty of room left on that grill for some ribs. Good thing I have them ready...