Sunday, March 17, 2024

Shortages? Why?

I have a friend in Maine. Last week she emailed and said, "I am noticing in past few weeks big gaps on shelves in the grocery store in next town. In two areas today, all the shelves – top, middle and bottom, for 1/4 length of the aisle – were completely empty! To be honest I don't know what was there, but it's not there now. And the prices!!!!!!! Eggs are $4.59, a can of Spam is $4.39. I got a bag of Tostidos corn chips as I am making chili, $4.49! Generics or store brands are also disappearing. I wonder what is going on?"

I asked her to send me photos next time she was in town, and she sent the following pictures, along with a note saying, "Here are the empty shelves in grocery store I was telling you about. They are not even spacing stuff far apart like when the COVID shortages were occurring. The hardware and auto parts stores look the same way. All we hear is it's because of supply-chain issues. I thought we worked all through that mess already!"




In our local community, we haven't noticed much by way of shortages. I took a rare trip to the city a couple weeks ago and everything seemed fine. It makes me wonder if the shortages my friend is seeing are a regional thing ... or if I'm not seeing shortages because the stores are doing a better job of hiding it.

What is everyone else seeing?

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Seeking fame and fortune

A couple of interesting things came across my computer in the past week – funny how things "cluster" sometimes – that I wouldn't mind reader opinions on. The subject is those seeking fame and fortune. One case involves "influencers," the other involves a singing career.

I don't follow any influencers, but as a category they're received a bad rap (or maybe "annoying rap" is more accurate) over the last few years. Influencers are known to disrupt restaurants, gyms, grocery stores, and other public places for their antics. They often reek of entitlement, such as offering to "collaborate" with restaurants or businesses for freebies in exchange for "exposure."

People will often do the strangest things to get attention. Consider this article documenting how people (usually women) in Palm Beach, Florida will dress up in designer clothes and hang around street corners for hours in a desperate bid to get noticed by some local who started a "best dressed" social media account.

The article says: "Palm Beachers are desperate to make it on the glitzy beach city's unofficial best-dressed list to show off their glamorous clothes and designer accessories. The South Florida beach town is known for its posh residents, but now there is a new social status symbol residents can aspire to - being feature on 'Class of Palm Beach.' Class of Palm Beach, which has amassed millions of views on TikTok, parades the town's best dressed and asks them where they bought their chic outfits from.

"The wildly popular social media page is the brainchild of one Millennial resident, who often found herself stopping wealthy people on the street and asking which designer shops they had bought their clothes and accessories from. Some Palm Beachers have become so determined to make an appearance on the account – which has 672,000 followers – that they wait on the busiest avenue for hours in the hopes of being noticed by the page's in-demand admin."

(Honestly, folks, don't you have anything better to do with your time?)

That said, presumably there's something to "influencing" if people can earn a living from it. Shrug. Not my cup of tea, but whatever.

This leads to a random article I came across in which a mother was seeking advice concerning her teenage daughter who wanted to become an influencer.  She wrote:

"How do you talk to your kids about how social media isn’t a measure of their worth? I am a single mother to two daughters, “Carina” (19), and “Kylie” (23). When the girls were younger, I limited their access to social media. However, Kylie has always had a passion for social media, and the summer after she graduated from high school, she began a lifestyle/vlogging YouTube channel that quickly amassed hundreds of followers. Now, she is a fairly popular influencer making good money across several platforms. This inspired Carina, who believed that anyone could make a livable wage off social media if they put in enough work. She too began a YouTube channel after she turned 18, and I’m now worried that she may have become too obsessed with gaining followers and likes.

"Every day, Carina laments that her channels aren’t gaining traction like her sister’s. Whenever she comes out of her room in the morning, she’s always on her phone or comparing her account to other vloggers in a similar age bracket. She posts content almost every day, then gets upset when it gets hardly any views or likes. I’m genuinely alarmed at the downturn that her mental well-being has taken, and I’ve tried to talk to her about how her worth isn’t tied to what people 1,000 miles away think of her internet persona. It falls on deaf ears. Kylie has had the same conversation with Carina, which just made Carina angry because she thought that Kylie was just trying to “eliminate the competition.”

"Because Carina is an adult, I can’t just take away her social media. I understand that I could stop her from having access to it (my friend has suggested that I change the WiFi password, threaten to evict her, etc.) but I’m worried that forcing her hand might push her away and limit my ability to help her. On the other hand, I know I’m not being very useful right now! I’m scared for my daughter and I could really use some advice."

The answer the advice columnist gave this mother was to gently steer her daughter into other interests, including a job, in an effort to break the daughter's obsession.

And that's the first thing I wouldn't mind reader input on. What advice would you give a mom whose adult teen daughter is obsessed with this career choice?

Not quite in the "influencer" category but still in the "seeking fame and fortune" mindset, consider this wail of worry from another mother of a teen daughter:

"My daughter Lailah is going to be a junior next year, and ever since she was little she LOVED watching shows like American Idol, The Voice, etc., and dreams of being a famous singer. While I think it's all well and good to sing as a hobby, she is simply not good at music.

"Lailah has a rather high-pitched voice, kind of like a cartoon or young toddler, and when she sings it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. I'm certain she's tone deaf, because she insists her voice is not high at all. I know that's awful as a mom to say, but it's true. We even hired a vocal coach before COVID and the lady outright told me she felt guilty about taking my money because [Lailah] "simply has no musical talent," in her words.

"She loves to sing at family events and it always results in chuckles at best or insults at worst from younger kids. She's always kept her head up and never let these comments get to her, which I admire a lot, but I wish she had more realistic adult plans by now.

"Lailah's grades have been struggling for years (mostly Ds) and we argue about it all the time. Her excuse is always "I don't need to learn this because I will be a famous singer!" This obsession has become a legitimate problem because she shoots down anything unrelated to singing when it comes to thinking about college or a job, which she also insists she will never need because one day she will become a world-famous singer.

"Today I told her she should be looking for a summer job and she again refused, and said now that she's old enough she wants to audition for a singing competition (undecided on which). I know these shows; most of them will have a poor-singer audition, only to mock them on TV.

"I'm not letting that happen to Lailah and told her I am no longer tolerating this obsession, and that she needs to apply herself in other areas soon if she hopes to get any sort of career, because she simply is not a good singer. She started bawling and called me an abusive mother. I feel like an a** now and am not sure if I should have handled this differently. Am I the [jerk]?"

The mother went on to answer questions from others, who made suggestions like having vocal coaches give the daughter their honest opinion to her face. The mother replied, "They have said it to her face, but she does not accept their input" and "I've done that. She still thought she sounded like Carrie Underwood" and "She took lessons a lot as a kid and has taken choir almost every year at school, and has been told honestly about her skills. She insists everyone is wrong."

Upon the suggestion the daughter should be recorded and let her listen to her own skills, the mother replied, "I've done that. She still does not get it, and even argues with music coaches."

One person responded, "I used to be a vocational employment specialist. ... You don't need to be the one to crush her dreams. You don't want to be. The best way to get through this, and to avoid backlash or appearing unsupportive, is to treat her aspirations as completely serious. Let her audition. Encourage her to put up videos on social media. Let her ram her head repeatedly into the wall until she gets tired of knocking herself out. And when she is good and ready, she'll quit, and you can be there, just as unwaveringly supportive as ever, when she moves onto the next, more realistic phase of life."

Others pointed out, "I used to wonder how all those horrible singers on American Idol got that far, thinking they were the next Whitney Houston. Someone should have told them before they embarrassed themselves in front of millions of people. You're protecting your child and that's exactly what you're supposed to do."

Both these mothers are facing the situation in which their daughters are infatuated with fame and fortune and are pursuing it obsessively. What advice would you give to either encourage or discourage these teenage girls' ambition?

Happi Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!


Pi, as you know, is the mathematical ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.


While pi is a constant, it's also infinite.

3.14159265358979323846...


My kids used to get a kick out of listening to The Pi Song.


For convenience pi is usually shortened to 3.14, hence Pi Day – March 14 – get it? Get it?


Come to find out – no surprise, I suppose – that there's a website dedicated to Pi Day.


Yeah I know, that's what I get for growing up in a family of nerds...

Monday, March 11, 2024

Helping with taxes

Older Daughter is working on her taxes. Frumpkin, her cat, is helping.

As you can tell, he's a BIG help.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Here's how to tick off a reader

Sigh. It happened again. I ticked off a reader. The subject – you guessed it – is pressure canning vs. water-bath canning.

This is the comment, which came in on an older blog post about canning bacon bits. Someone had asked, "Can you do them in a water bath if you don't have a pressure canner?" I replied, "Absolutely NOT. Bacon (and all meat) is low acid, so it MUST be processed in a pressure canner. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Boiling meats in a water-bath for ten hours cannot replace pressure. Do not risk botulism by processing meats or other low-acid foods in a water-bath. If you’re serious about preserving food, it’s worth investing in a pressure canner and learning its proper usage."

And that, I thought, was that ... until this morning, when a comment came in as follows: "Yes don’t let anyone tell you NO! This is how it’s been done before pressure canners were invented, meats are 3 hrs boiling with water 2” over jars. Theirs [sic] many groups on FB [Facebook] that will teach you how.. Blessings."

And, once again, I lost it – and no doubt ticked off the reader as a result. Here's what I replied:

"WRONG. Why do you think pressure canners were invented in the first place? It was because scientists learned boiling water doesn't kill botulism spores. Three hours – ten hours – a hundred hours in a water bath will NOT render low-acid foods safe. WHY CAN'T PEOPLE GRASP THIS CONCEPT???!!! Do you refuse to wear a seat belt while driving as well because cars were invented before seat belts?"

Arrgghh. It is SUCH a simple concept, time-tested and scientifically proven, and yet people will blithely continue to endanger their families by water-bathing low-acid foods.

Don urges me not to spike my blood pressure and just let such comments go. But I can't. I just can't let someone come onto this blog and spread the notion that unsafe canning practices are fine.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Mechanicking, country style

We had to take our old jeep in for some specialized mechanic work.

We bought this little vehicle five years ago, and it's served us well. However it needed some electrical work (relays, etc.) replaced as well as additional maintenance that were beyond the capacity of our primary mechanic (whose specialty is tires, but who does some mechanic work on the side), so off it went. Yesterday afternoon we got the call the car was fixed and ready to pick up.

The mechanic is a young family man, and he works in a shop on his property, which is located on a lovely stretch of road surrounded by broad meadows. Nice place to raise a family, especially since the dad works at home.

As Don and I crested the hill and crossed the meadow toward the mechanic's home, we saw elk. Lots of elk. Dozens of elk, possibly close to a hundred. I'd never so many elk in one location. With such a broad expanse of meadow, I suppose it's a natural place for them to hang out.

While Don paid for the vehicle, I crept to the edge of the lawn, peered through some bushes, and tried to photograph a few of the animals.

The herd was scattered over several acres, so I could only get a few animals into any single photo at a time.



The animals were calm and unhurried.


We've been in Idaho over 20 years now, and never have I seen such quantity of elk as we've seen around this place. It's delightful.

I followed Don home in the newly repaired vehicle just as the sun set.

Mechanicking, country style. Gotta love it.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Bwahahaha. NO

I received an email from a long-time reader named Mike who occasionally communicates with me. He wrote:

"Sorry to bother, do you’ve a free moment over email? I'm unable to speak over the phone due to a serious throat pain caused by laryngitis. Hope this finds you well. - Mike"

I replied, "Sure, what's up?"

His prompt answer: "Thanks for the response, I need to get an (APPLE GIFT CARD) for my friend's daughter who is diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer, it's her birthday but I can't do this now because I'm currently out of town, And I tried purchasing it online but unfortunately, I got no luck on that, wondering if you could help me purchase the gift card at any nearest store around you or purchase it online? I'll reimburse you, let me know if you can handle this. Await your earliest response. - Mike"


Bwahahahahahahahaha.

No.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Back-up power source

During last week's power outage, I mentioned in passing how we used our Bluetti portable power station to power the refrigerator and chest freezer.

Several readers asked about this unit, so I figured now's a good time to dive into it.

We purchased this unit a couple years ago, after we moved here and realized how fragile the power grid is in this area. Anything seems to knock out the electricity: a windy day, a snowy day, a Tuesday. The longest it's been off was three days, and fortunately that outage came in deep winter when the chest freezer (which is outside on the porch) was in no danger of defrosting; all we had to do was crack the lid open and let the cold air flow in. During that outage, we also emptied the contents of the refrigerator and either stored things outside, or put them in ice chests on the porch.

But of course, not all power outages fall conveniently in the winter, so we started sourcing portable power units that would allow us to keep the contents of the freezer frozen, at least long enough for me to can everything up (in the event of a long-term outage).

Don's good at research, so he investigated a number of options and settled on the Bluetti for a number of reasons.

What we wanted was something strong enough to power the freezer and fridge for about an hour once or twice a day (depending on whether the weather is warm or cold). Assuming the doors of these appliances stay closed, that should do it to keep the food from going bad. We also wanted a unit that could be recharged in a number of ways: electricity (wall outlet), generator, solar (via panels and a PV charging cable), even via a car cigarette lighter. The Bluetti fills all these requirements.

We purchased the Bluetti AC200Max for about $1500. The user's manual says battery expansion packs are available for this unit, though we didn't purchase those. We keep the unit charged at all times since, as noted, we never know when the power will go out. It's worth noting this unit weighs 62 pounds, so it's heavy.

The user's manual indicates the Bluetti can be used to power electrical items with 2200 watts or less of power requirements. Our fridge takes about 130 watts; the chest freezer takes about 110 watts. The user manual indicates it will power a 90-watt refrigerator for 17 to 19 hours nonstop, if needed.

During power outages, we don't waste the Bluetti's electricity on anything but the chest freezer and the fridge. We don't need it to power lights, heat, or anything else. (For lights, we use kerosene lamps and battery lights; for heat we have our wood cookstove; for my laptop on days I'm working, I have a rechargeable 12-volt battery backup and wireless hotspot for internet.)

For a long-term (and as-yet undone) project, we also have some solar panels. These were an incredibly lucky find on the local Facebook buy-and-sell. An older man was moving and wanted to sell his seven 100-watt panels, all of which are in excellent shape and in working order. We got them for the amazing price of $300. And then, as if that wasn't incredible enough, the seller threw in seven 12-volt deep-cycle batteries for free! (We later purchased a charge controller separately.)

Right now the solar panels are stored in the barn. Don keeps the deep-cycle batteries charged at all times, which means that (if necessary) we can connect those batteries to the Bluetti, thus extending its longevity. A project we hope to tackle this summer (or maybe next) is to install the solar panels permanently, and have them available to charge the Bluetti as needed.

So there you go. That's our back-up power source.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Wow. Just ... wow

I stumbled on this short video clip and clicked on it merely because the caption read, "You can't watch this without smiling." Literally I had no idea what to expect. Cute cat videos? America's funniest home videos? What?

Well, one thing is certain. I didn't expect this. All I can say is ... wow. Just wow. Just absolute flippin' WOW.


Soak it in. Listen to it several times in a row. I get chills every time.

Hmmm. Facebook was down

I know it came as no surprise to those who are active on Facebook, but Facebook was down this morning.

I don't use Facebook except as a means of communicating with Younger Daughter at her overseas duty station, so I didn't really care. Nor do I use Instagram, which I understand also went down.

But a lot of people are questioning the timing.....

Monday, March 4, 2024

Younger Daughter's bookshelves

If you recall, I shipped out Younger Daughter's library to her European duty station a couple months ago.

At the time, she was engaged in adding a dramatic splash of color to her apartment to alleviate the stark white walls. She did this by painting some IKEA shelves a dark blue, then wallpapering the backs. At first glance, the wallpaper choice seems garish, but as you'll see it turned out splendid.

She sent me photos after the shelves were set up. Unquestionably the end result was a vast improvement over a start white room.



She finally got the shipment of books in, and was able to populate the shelves somewhat.


She also bit the bullet and purchased a couch to replace the battered old one she had.

Her apartment is looking very homey! There's nothing like books to dress up a room, in my opinion.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

In like a lion

Whew. March has come in like a lion! Let me catch you up on the last few days.

We knew we were going to be hit by a storm on Thursday with high wind and heavy rain. We were used to high winds in our last home, but it's far rarer here in our current place. The weather report said power outages were "expected." Accordingly, we battened down the hatches.

This meant catching up on laundry...

...bringing in the high-profile cushions from the porch rockers (except, crucially, the seat cushions with I naively thought would be fine) ...

...and filling water containers. We always keep stored water, of course, but I filled up two 50-gallon barrels in the barn (we drain them during the colder months lest they freeze) and topped off some water pitchers in the kitchen.

Don, meanwhile, is in the process of building a shed next to the barn. He frantically worked to get the roof on before the storm came in. He got as far as getting the plywood on top and the tar paper nailed down, but that was it.

The storm rolled in just at the start of my workweek, when I'm literally glued to the computer for three days of 11-hour days. For this reason, when we first moved into this house and realized how unreliable the power grid is during any adverse weather, we have full battery and internet backups for my laptop.

The rain held off, but the wind picked up, stronger and stronger. Sure enough, about 10:30 am Thursday morning – long before the wind even reached its peak – the power went out. I plugged my computer into the battery backup...

...and connected into the wireless hotspot (since our regular internet was down).

My workday proceeded fairly normally, just doing my online job, but Don and Older Daughter were trapped in the house and frankly bored. Don couldn't do any of the outdoor projects he wanted, and Older Daughter couldn't get any work done on the shop tools (since they're electric). They got a lot of reading done.

The wind was the highest we've ever seen here. This little outdoor carpet on the back porch kept getting blown off – literally – so I finally anchored it with a bag of dog food.

We have a small table on wheels on the front porch, and we forgot to lock the wheels. A gust sent the table spinning into the rails...

...and flung both a snow shovel (that had been leaning against it) and a thermometer (that had been resting on top it) to the ground below.

And it ripped off all – all! – of the tar paper Don had stapled to the roof of the new shed off. We saw pieces everywhere.


Around 3 pm, the rain moved in, and it grew so dark outside that it seemed like evening. This is how dark it was inside the house.

When evening came, we lit lamps.


We wiled away the evening reading books and talking. Because it was chilly on her side of the house, Older Daughter opened the connecting door and let Frumpkin (her cat) wander around.

The next morning, concerned that the refrigerator was getting too warm, Don used our Bluetti to power the fridge for an hour or so, just long enough to bring the inside temp back to safe levels.

He did the same thing to the chest freezer.

Then he hauled out the old military generator we bought from a neighbor a few years ago, and recharged the Bluetti. It wasn't really that the Bluetti needed recharging so much as Don wanted to see how well it worked to recharge the battery pack. (Short answer: very well.) We've bought new generators over the years, but nothing beats this old workhorse. As with any power outage, it's a good opportunity to test our preps.

The yard was soggy with the previous day's downpour, and littered with branches.

The wind had ripped the netting off the blueberries and peach trees, and toppled the cattle panels. We got out there and pulled everything back together.

As the day progressed, since Don was listening to the scanner, we learned power had been restored everywhere except around our place. Sure enough, late Friday afternoon we saw the power company's vehicles driving around the neighborhood, as if looking for the source of the disruption. (For the record, these workers are among the greatest unsung heroes of our society.)


Thanks to their dedicated efforts, power was restored around 2:30 on Friday. Suddenly life was back to normal.

For a couple hours, anyway. Late in the afternoon, a sudden microburst of wind hit us so hard, the house literally shook. It picked up one of the porch rockers and flung it across the deck.

The seat cushion was blown to the ground below. Note to self: Next time, remove all the seat cushions when it's windy.

Things were calm for about 24 hours. In the interim, we made sure our battery packs were re-charged.

Then last night, after dark, a sudden burst of rain started dumping on us. The temperature dropped and the rain turned to snow, blowing sideways in the wind. Within half an hour, three inches of snow had been plastered everywhere.

This morning revealed another winter landscape, and the temperature had dropped to 22F.





I should add that none of this weather drama – outside of Thursday's wind and rain – was predicted. Go figure.

So yeah, March is coming in like a lion. But hey, at least we're not in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where people are experiencing a blizzard described as "as bad as it gets."