The snow is gone, but...

Amazing how quickly the snow melted from our yard. We did have a bit of water standing for a couple of days but it either evaporated or disappeared into the ground. But our happiness was short-lived. Yesterday it started raining and it is raining today. In addition it is supposed to get colder. Too cold to sit in our sunroom.
 We had lots of juncos in the last few days on the feeders. They are a month late this year. A few other visitors came, if only for a short time.

I think this is a Purple Finch

Oops, I don't think this is a bird...

A common sparrow. We have plenty of them in all colors

Terrorism

I am not trying to incite hatred or negative feelings, but I despise fanatics and fundamentalists, and militant and radical groups, be it political or religious. They are the ones who create unrest and chaos in the world. They are the ones who want to force others to live by their narrow-minded rules and beliefs. 
The RCMP uncovered a plot to blow up trains in Canada and the US. A couple of guys have been arrested and more arrests are apparently pending. Of course, there are already lawyers trying to defend these terrorists.
One of those arrested was in court today and was rambling on that the criminal justice system in Canada doesn't apply to him, it is wrong, only his holy book is true. He follows only what his holy book tells him. What the hell is that man and his family doing in Canada? How did they ever get in here? Yesterday they showed on the news his wife and daughter walking around all covered up in their sheets. This is Canada, peoples!We don't cover our faces. Anyone coming to our free country should be told that they must follow our laws first and what their religion tells them second. If they can't agree with that they should never be allowed to come here in the first place.
It used to be immigrants came here seeking a better life for themselves and their families. It seems now we get people coming here with only one purpose: To create trouble and bomb our trains, planes, bridges, and anything else they can think of.
We need to be more stricter and selective with who we let into our country, before it is too late and these people have such a strong voice that they can and will begin to change our customs and laws. If we are not careful now it will happen. I'd hate to be the one saying: I told you so. Sure,our country is not perfect, but I like it the way it is. I don't want anyone changing it. Unfortunately, many things have already changed, and not for the better, that's for sure. Let's not make it worse.

Pussys-willows and a grouse

The pussy-willows are growing despite the snow.They look good on the tree and in the vase. Yesterday we had a couple of shy and illusive visitors to our bird feeder. A couple of grouse. I believe they are Sharptails, I'm not quite sure. There used to be an abundance of Sharptails, Spruce grouse, and Ruffed Grouse, but not anymore. I guess hunting pressure, foxes, coyotes and possibly loss of habitat may be reasons for their decline. I managed to snap a couple of pictures from one of them, but when I tried to get closer they ran away. They are wary birds.

The Walking Dead

Just finished my walk on the treadmill. That's the time when I watch 'The Walking Dead', because my wife doesn't like zombies. This show is about zombies. But there is more to it than just zombies and the action is great. I still have 5 more episodes from season 3 to watch, then I'll be looking for another show to watch. I hope I can find one that is as good as this one with edge-on-the-seat tension.

I may watch Lost girl. That's another show my wife didn't like. It is about a succubus. I watched the first episode, but I don't remember much. I have all 3 seasons, season 3 up to episode 13. I don't know if that was the last one for this season. I don't want to check it out because I don't like to know what is happening. My wife read all the books of the TV series Game of Thrones and she told me a few things that will happen. I wish she hadn't, because that spoils the suspense for me. Luckily, I've forgotten a few hints she gave me and that is good. A bad memory is not always a bad thing.

I cut some pussy willows today. They are just right. Not too big and not too small. Another week and they may be to large already. Fresh pussy willows in the vase are always a good sign of Spring. Of course, looking out of the window doesn't invoke feelings of Spring with all that snow still on the lawn. We're supposed to get up to 17 C by Friday. Then the snow will melt quickly. Probably too quickly. The culverts are still frozen and the water will fill the ditches until they overflow. So far we've never had problems with flooding where we live, but one never knows.

Game of Thrones

We watched another episode of Game of Thrones. Wow! I just love this show. The only problem I have with it is that much of the scenes are so dark. I'm talking about the scenes that happen either in the forest or in other dark places. Sometimes it is difficult to tell what exactly is happening. You can't really make out the faces of the characters and other details.

I envy the writer of the books 'Fire and Ice' George R. R. Martin for having this epic made into a TV series. Any writer dreams about something like that. I'd just be ecstatic if one of my books were to be made into a movie. Just fantasizing. It costs nothing. Speaking of my books. I've started spending a bit more time with my writing. I'm at 84,000 words with the seventh novel in my erotic Science Fiction series 'The Xandra'. I'm aiming for around 100,000 words. Longer than that and it is difficult to get it published as an e-book.

When can I plant my peppers outside

This year I started my peppers early. I seeded them already February 28, because I wanted to get an early start. Last year my peppers were still quite small when I put them out into the garden. Well, last year was different. We already had plus 27 C in March. Today is April 22 and it is minus 5C outside. In addition, we still have a thick blanket of snow on the grass. Last year at this time I was already finished with cleaning the yard.

I've been putting the trays with the pepper plants into our sun-room during the day. It is only a 3-season room and even with the sun shining we still have to have a heater going to bring the temperature up to around plus 22C. The pepper plants are growing nicely, but now I'm worried they may grow to large for the small containers I have them in. Sure, I could transplant them into larger containers, but I have 72 plants. I'll be running out of room on the shelving unit. So now I'm hoping it will warm up soon and the snow will melt quickly so I can do my yard-work outside and get my garden ready. I usually put stuff into the garden either at the end of May or the beginning of June. We have a short growing season to begin with and every day is important. The sooner I can get the plants into the ground, the better the chances they will grow and produce fruit.

As you can see, there is still plenty of snow outside

Last year I had over one hundred pepper plants in the garden. Some were my own but most of them I bought. Why so many plants? We love peppers. We eat them in salads, make lots of Salsa and 'Pfeffersosse', that's Pepper-sauce, made with peppers and tomatoes. Something akin to salsa, but it is made with oil and fried instead of boiled, like salsa. I can be eaten like that or used as a sauce for spaghetti. Either way, it tastes great.

I will start my tomatoes probably this week. They grow pretty fast. I don't want them too leggy when I plant them. I may grow around 20 plants, they'll give us enough tomatoes for eating and making salsa and pepper-sauce. I'll probably buy most of my plants anyway. Last year they were so cheap. I bought some for $1.19 for 6 plants at Canadian Tire. Hopefully, this year they'll be as cheap, but even $2.00 for 6 plants isn't bad. A good investments for all those tomatoes they'll produce.

Is Mother Nature a terrorist?

What crazy weather we're having. Even Mother Nature is terrorizing us. We had already some grass showing, the roof was without snow, but today it is snowing again. We had planned to go out for lunch, but have to cancel that. I'm not going onto the highway if I don't have to. It's probably treacherous driving and there will be plenty of idiots out there who need to prove that they can drive under any conditions. Speed-limits don't apply to them.

I was a bit excited this morning when I saw a junco (a type of sparrow) in my bird feeder. When I checked back to last year's log, I found that I had juncos already middle of March last year. In fact, there was no more snow on our lawn and on March 18 the temperature rose to 27 C. What a difference this year. It  is 0 C right now with a windchill of minus 3 C. Our yard is still covered with plenty of snow and more being added as I write this.

Last year I saw my first robin on March 22. I haven't seen any yet this year, although the other day someone sent a picture to the TV station showing a robin. The sparrows are already preparing their nests in the birdhouse, but if they'll start laying eggs is questionable. I wouldn't if I were a bird, but then again, maybe I would because I'd have only a birdbrain.

Speaking of birdbrains...they captured the younger brother who was involved in the Boston Marathon bombings. He is injured and in the hospital, but he may survive. Now they're debating if he should be treated as an American citizen or a terrorist. There are already lawyers waiting to get involved, warning that any information obtained without reading the suspect his rights will not be admissible in court. Is this a joke? The man has no rights! He is responsible for the deaths of 4 people so far, many still in critical conditions who may also die, people who have lost limbs, over a hundred injured. Their lives have been disrupted and changed forever. The city of Boston changed in many ways, the people held hostage by fear, the monetary cost involved in dealing with that cowardly act, and they are worried about this criminal's rights? As far as I'm concerned he lost those rights when he built the bombs. We are much too lenient with all the criminals; there are just too many bleeding hearts out there, most of them have never been touched by crime. They might just change their minds if they suffer losses through criminals. I wonder why any lawyer even wants to get involved with this man and have his name associated with the horrendous crime he and his brother committed.

Happy Birthday to me

It is my birthday today. I've received a few good wishes on FaceBook from my friends. They are appreciated. I just read something by Mark Twain: Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind it doesn't matter.

Well, Mr. Twain, I have news for you. I mind and it does matter.

With every year that I get older I'm getting closer to the moment when I'll be seeing the green grass from the other side. A sobering thought, but then again, I'll have to say I'm happy to be getting older, otherwise I'd already be admiring the green grass...you know what I mean.

Speaking of green grass, there's still an awful lot of snow out there. My wife and I took a walk down to the Red River this afternoon and the water is already flowing. The ice is mostly gone. The water level seems low, which won't be for long. The water of the melting snow from the South will come pretty soon and make the Red River flow over its banks. We should be okay. Even with the Flood of the Century in 1997 and other years of flooding we never had any problems. We'll have plenty of water in the backyard and the ditches, but nothing to worry about.

It is a happy event to celebrate a birthday, but not everybody is happy in the world today and not everything is okay. We watched the news last night about the bombings in Boston. What kind of people commit such horrific and cowardly crimes? 3 people dead, 17 in critical conditions, over 170 people injured. As I wrote on FaceBook, I hope they catch the ones responsible and execute them, along with their lawyers who will try to get them off with an insanity plea. People who are willing to murder innocent people for any cause do not belong into this world, never mind all those bleeding hearts out there who will find some excuse to feel sorry for them.

If they are terrorists from another country it will be bad enough, but should they be home-grown terrorists, men or women who were born in the USA, that would almost be a bigger crime. We have people like that in Canada, take for example the two or three young men who were killed in Africa. They were born in Canada and joined a terrorist group. Another example is that guy who was in prison all these years for killing an American soldier. He became a terrorist as a teenager, obviously influenced by his father, who was a known terrorist and was killed committing terrorist acts. I still don't know why the family wasn't shipped back to where they originally came from. What are they still doing in our country? They openly mocked our way of life. Our government booted people out of Canada for other reasons, like having a website where they wrote about certain uncomfortable subjects not popular with some people. Sometimes I just can't understand that. We let real criminals who commit real and atrocious acts like murder go free while people who use our right to freedom of speech to make their opinions known, be they right or wrong, get persecuted.

Spring - does it exist?

ARGHH...! Will it ever stop snowing? Yesterday was so nice and sunny. I was watching the last bit of snow melting from my garage roof, wondering if the weather people would be right with their prediction of a snowstorm. They were wrong before, but not this time. Woke up this morning to a snowstorm. Come on! This is the 15th of April. Have mercy. I had to cancel my appointment with my chiropractor, because of the road conditions. This is the time to stay inside if you don't have to go out.

We celebrated my birthday yesterday. I barbequed ribs and chicken breasts. The ribs were supposed to be succulent, but I left them a little bit too long on the grill and they were dry and tough. I'd like to blame the weather, because somehow I couldn't get the temperature up. Every time I opened the lid the wind just brought the temperature down and it seemed as if the ribs weren't getting hot. Well, they did. Some were a little bit burned on the edges. Everyone said the ribs were great, but I know they weren't.

The way we make ribs is to cook them first until they are done, then we put them into a plastic bag with BBQ sauce, leave them in the fridge for a few hours and then I warm them up again on the BBQ for about ten minutes...on low heat. Usually, they are moist and falling-off-the-bone soft. Not these ribs. I don't know what happened. Maybe they were already tough when we bought them...maybe they were old...maybe they were not thick enough...maybe it was the BBQ...maybe I left them too long on the BBQ...Oops, I said that already. It was probably the wind that did it. Let's blame the snowstorm that was coming.

We finished eating the lox I made. Everyone liked that. The chicken breast turned out okay. At least something worked out.

Saturday I filtered two of my wines. Since I'm home today, I'll be filtering the third batch I have going. I may even start a batch of beer so I'll have some to drink in the summer. I refuse to pay those high prices our government charges for beer. I saw a report the other day that beer and wine sales are up. I can't believe that. They probably made more money on the sale of alcohol because all prices have been creeping up these last few months. I can't see people rushing to buy more. Once in a while I drink whiskey mixed with a soft drink. When we were in Cuba in March I brought home two 1-litre bottles. They'll last me until next year and beyond. I drink very little. I paid $10.00 a bottle. They had even cheaper ones, but I splurged. There is nothing wrong with that whiskey. I mix it anyway. It is produced in Spain and bottled in Cuba. I don't understand why alcohol has to be so expensive in our country.

Oh well, I'm getting carried away again with my complaining. That's what the weather does to me. If it weren't snowing I'd be on the way to my chiropractor right now, looking forward to have my spine cracked. Not that it helps much. The pain in my lower back still lingers on. It's arthritis my doctor says. Part of growing older. All I need is more snow to get off my driveway. Will it ever end???

Dandruff - how to get rid of it

My blog is about many subjects. Today I’d like to write about dandruff. I’ve had to deal with it as long as I can remember. It can be embarrassing, especially when wearing a dark suit.

By the way, this is not a commercial. I don’t get paid for this. It is just my own experience and opinion, which I like to share with my friends.

When I was still working I washed my hair pretty much every day. Now I don’t have to anymore. My hair doesn’t get dirty, but, of course, I still wash it on a regular basis, just not every day. To keep my dandruff under control, I used Head and Shoulders. It helped but didn’t get rid of it.

Dandruff is caused by a fungus. It leaves small white flakes of dry skin on the scalp that can pepper the shoulders of even the fanciest black suit. Not a pretty sight.

I found a product that nearly eliminates dandruff. It is a shampoo that goes by the name Nizoral. According to the label on the bottle it Kills the fungus that can cause dandruff & seborrhea. When you start using it you wash your hair twice weekly with Nizoral for the first 2 to 4 weeks. After that you use it once every 1 or 2 weeks to keep the dandruff from coming back.

I can only  recommend this product. My dandruff is gone. I don’t worry anymore about tiny snowflakes falling from my hair.

I bought it over the counter at the drugstore. It seems pricey; about $16.00 for a bottle of 120 ml, but you need so little of it, it lasts for a long time. And it is worth every penny. This is the first shampoo that actually did what the label promised.

For those who are interested in what Nizoral Shampoo contains, here is the list of ingredients:

Each ml of pink-orange, viscous shampoo contains ketoconazole 2% (20 mg/g). Nonmedicinal ingredients: coconut fatty acid diethanolamide, disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, perfume bouquet, hydrochloric acid, imidurea, laurdimonium hydrolyzed animal collagen, macrogol 120 methyl glucose dioleate, sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide, sodium laureth sulfate, erythrosin, and water.

Apparently, some people may have side effects, but from what I read they are not serious, like dry skin, itching, or swelling. I’ve never experienced any side effect, and I’ve developed plenty of allergies toward many products as I’m growing older. All those wonderful perks that come with old age.

Making Lox

I made lox. It is expensive when you buy it but can be made at a fraction of the cost. And it is quite easy to make.

You will need two small salmon fillets.

Ingredients for the rub:

1/4 cup coarse salt

1/4 cup white sugar

fresh dill weed (washed dill from our freezer)

Note: There was too much rub. I put 1/2 of it into a jar for next time.

 We bought a whole sockeye salmon and cut off a piece to make lox, which we kept in the freezer.

I took the piece of salmon out of the freezer and thawed it during the day. Then I left it in the refrigerator over night.

Day 1: This morning I rinsed off the piece of salmon and filleted it to get 2 fillets.

 After pulling out the pin bones with tweezers I laid the two fillets skin-side-down onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Then I piled the mixture onto the fillets and added some dill on top of the mixture. After sandwiching the two fillets I wrapped the whole package tightly with the plastic wrap and put it into a zip-lock bag. Then I placed the bag with the wrapped fillet into a flat dish, which I put into the fridge to cure for 3 days. To keep the fillets pressed together I put a stone on top of the package.

Day 3: I took the package out of the fridge, unwrapped it and rinsed off the 2 fillets. Then I sliced them lengthwise into thin slices with a flat knife.

We laid the thin slices on crackers and hard rye bread and ate them with a glass of white wine for lunch.Next time we'll try to eat them on bagels.

They tasted delicious. Of course, they were salty, but that is the nature of lox.

I shall make it again.

April 11, 2013: This is what I had for lunch today. Homemade lox on rye, Camembert on dark rye, homemade smoked salmon, peppers, carrots, and a glass of homemade Sauvignon Blanc. Plus the glass of Vegetable juice and as appetizers chips with homemade salsa.

Smoking Salmon

I smoked some salmon today.

This is the cure I used:

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/6 cup coarse salt

For the rub I used:

3/4 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 tablespoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Note: There was too much rub, but I put the rest into a container for next time.

Time needed:

Prep time: 30 minutes

Curing in the fridge: 3 hours

Second Rub and air drying: 1 hour

Smoking: 35 minutes

Resting: 20 minutes

Total time: approx.: 5 1/2 hours plus.

I used Cherry wood chips for the smoke.

A few weeks ago, we bought a whole frozen sockeye salmon at Safeway. It was 50% off. We paid $10.00. We cut off 4 steaks (I used my reciprocating saw and a new blade) and barbequed them. They tasted great. Then I cut off a chunk to make lox and put it into the freezer. The rest, the part with tail, I kept in the freezer for smoking.

Yesterday, I thawed the frozen salmon pieces and filleted them. It is difficult to fillet the back part of the fish, but I cut along the backbone and then carefully sliced the fillet from the ribs. This has to be done very carefully, because the meat of salmon is quite delicate and bruises easily.

The Cure: I put a piece of plastic wrap onto the counter and sprinkled a third of the salmon cure onto the wrap, then I put one fillet skin-side-down onto the wrap. After sprinkling another third of the cure onto the fillet I laid the second fillet onto the first fillet skin-side-down. Then I sprinkled the rest of the cure onto the exposed meat of the top fillet. Once that was done, I wrapped the whole package tightly with the plastic wrap.

I laid the two wrapped fillets into a flat glass baking dish and put a couple of full soup cans on top of the fillets to weigh them down. This is important. I put everything into the refrigerator and let it sit for 3 hours to cure.

The second Dry Rub: Once it was cured, I removed the fish from the fridge, unwrapped the fillets and thoroughly rinsed them under cold water. There was quite a bit of the cure-mixture in the pan. It was like a thick syrup. After patting the fillets dry with a paper towel I rubbed one fillet with the dry rub mixture. I sprinkled just a little bit onto the second filet to get a different taste.

Then I air-dried the fillets on a rack for a little over one hour to let the pellicle form. They looked slightly glazed after this was done. 

The Smoking: While I waited for the fillets to air-dry I preheated my Electric Smoker to 170 F. That took 20 minutes. Then I put 2 pieces of aluminum foil onto the rack and put the prepared fillets skin-side-down on top of the foil. The foil is there to keep the fillets from sticking to the rack.

I used a meat probe which I inserted into the thickest part of one fillet. It took 35 minutes for the temperature inside the fillet to reach 148 F. That’s when I removed them from the Smoker.

Note: It was supposed to take about 45 minutes for the temperature to get to 140 F, but these fillets were quite thin, only about 3/4 inch thick. The temperature was already 137 F after 25 minutes.

Let the fillets rest: I put the fillets onto a baking sheet and erected a little aluminum foil tent over them. I left them like that for 20 minutes. Then I refrigerated them.

Conclusion: I’d like to write that the smoked salmon tasted delicious, but I’m not a liar. The fillet that I rubbed with the dry rub just before smoking was salty and too spicy. Even after scraping off the rub before eating didn’t help much. The other fillet was not quite as salty but still no gourmet meal. We found the pieces too dry. It is possible that I should have removed the fillets from the smoker when the meat thermometer read 140 F, or perhaps I should have left it in the brine only for 20 minutes, the way another recipe I read suggested, but I don’t think it would have changed much. Could it be that sockeye salmon is not greasy enough for smoking? I don’t know. I doubt we’ll ever smoke salmon again. We would rather cut the fish into steaks and barbeque them. They taste much better. Actually, my wife said, “I like sockeye salmon best from the can.” She might just be right.

They looked so nice and appetizing on the plate.

I had looked forward to eating my own smoked salmon. Now I have. This Sunday meal was memorable only in a negative way.

I’ve also started making lox today from another piece of the same salmon, but that is another recipe and I will write about it in a few days when the lox will be ready to be consumed. Hopefully, that won’t be a disaster like the smoked salmon.  

Update: April 8, 2013.
We ate a small piece of the smoked salmon today and it tasted much better. If I make it again, I will not leave it in the brine for 3 hours and I won't use the second rub before smoking the salmon. In addition, we'll wait until the next day to eat it.

Let it snow...let it snow...

It snowed last night again. Will it ever stop?

Supper at the Keg

We went out for supper last night to the Keg at 115 Garry Street in Winnipeg. My wife had the Thai chicken, which she found a bit spicy, but she enjoyed it. I ordered the 8 oz top sirloin. I would have liked the New York steak, but it only came in the 12 oz size, which was too large a portion for me. Perhaps 20 years ago I would have ordered it, but now I eat senior’s portions. The steak was done as ordered, medium, and was nice and tasty. The potato was huge with sour cream and chives and bacon bits. There were also a few spears of asparagus, mushrooms, and some other vegetables. The Caesar salad was plenty and nicely prepared. What impressed me most was that the waitress brought the beer with the meal, as requested. It’s one of my quirks that I have when I go out for supper. I don’t drink more than 1 beer because I’m driving, and I don’t want my beer before I start eating. I don’t like warm, stale beer. Anyone who has read my blog about tipping in my Memories Caribe report, will have read about this, but I’ll mention it here again. The last time we were at The Keg the waitress brought my beer when I was finished with my meal. I had reminded her many times about my beer during supper and she always said that is was coming. Well, it didn’t until it was pretty much too late. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when the waitress actually paid attention this time.

We found it a bit pricey, I have to admit. The steak cost around $27.00 and the beer was $6.25 for a pint of Rickard’s Red. A bit steep, but then again, beer prices have soared, thanks to our government. I don’t know how people can afford to go out all the time, I mean to nice places. Eating out was much cheaper in the US when we went on our trip last year. We had a nice steak in Hill City for $12.00. They even served a wedge of lettuce with it. The beer was $5.00. And the steak was good. That’s a price I can live with.

That’s why we barbeque a lot at home. I can afford a good steak at the fraction of the cost when going to a restaurant and it tastes just as good. I can even throw in a few shrimp without breaking the bank. Summertime is coming. So is the barbeque season. Hurray!

Why is beer so expensive?

I like to drink a bottle of beer once in awhile, especially with a steak or, like today, with pork hocks and sauerkraut. Wine just doesn't seem to fit. I've been making my own wine for years now, because of the high cost when you buy it. A bottle of wine cost usually a little over $10.00. Two people can easily drink a bottle of wine with a meal. By making my own wine I bring the cost down to $2.00 a bottle. You can even make it cheaper, but the wine kits I buy from a local dealer cost normally $60.00. I wait until they go on sale and then I buy maybe 3 kits. I make red and white wine. Sure, it takes time and patience to make wine yourself, but it is worth it. In fact, the cheaper wines you buy at the liquor commission don't taste as good as the ones I make.
Coming back to the beer. I bought a case of 12 last week, in cans, and I paid $20.00 for the dozen. And this is the cheapest beer you can get. It goes under the name Brewhouse. Sometimes I buy Lucky. Pretty much the same price. Same beer, just a different brewery. I used to buy Lucky for about $13.00 only a few years back. The price has sure gone through the roof in just a few years. You see, the Canadian Government is controlling the sale of alcoholic beverages and they make the price. We actually pay tax on tax. The beer I buy is considered the cheap stuff, even though it is just as good as the beer that cost $25.00 a dozen.
I was in Germany in 2009 and I was sure surprised how cheap beer and wine is there. You can buy both, including brandy, rum, vodca etc. in grocery stores. Alcohol is also cheaper in the USA.
I guess I won't be buying much beer anymore. I used to make my own years ago but quit doing so, but now with this high price I will start up again. You can buy different kinds, as low as $10.00 a can to make 5 dozen. A couple of weeks ago I bought 2 boxes of must. Each box contains 23 litres of pure must. All I need to do is add yeast and then wait for it to ferment. Each kit will make 66 bottles of beer. I paid $33.00 for one kit, that will bring the price of a bottle of beer to 50 cents.  Now that's a price I'm comfortable with. Sure, it will take some work, but I don't mind. I've made this beer before and it tastes just like the bought stuff. Home-brewing has come a long way in the last twenty years or so.
I don't really know why our government has to be so greedy and make such profit on alcohol. Of course, all the people who work for the liquor commission have to be paid high wages, after all, those are government jobs with all the perks private employees don't get. 

The Walking Dead

Yesterday I watched the season finale of The Walking Dead.The last show of season Two. That's right, season Two. I have a whole season still to watch. I understand season three already ended, and I got it all on my computer. What  a show! I can't wait to start watching the next season. It's all about zombies, but then again, it isn't. There is much more to that show. I don't get overly excited with most shows, but this one keeps me glued to the screen. There is never a dull moment. Edge of the seat entertainment. Great characters and a good plot. My wife doesn't like shows with zombies and I keep telling her she's missing a great show, but I can't convince her. This means I have to watch it by myself. I do it when I'm walking the treadmill...with headphones on so she doesn't hear the growling of the zombies. Watching it on the treadmill gives me an incentive to actually walk on it on not just look at it. I'm combining exercise with TV watching. Who said watching TV is not healthy?

Vandals strike again

Murphy’s Law: When you’re feeling good, don’t worry, it’ll pass.

How true. We were looking forward to spending Easter with our family. The sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a great Easter Sunday...until we opened our garage door to drive away.

There was an empty 4 l oil can on our driveway. Then I discovered its contents had been spilled all over our driveway. It looked like recycled oil. When I closed the garage door it was splashed with yellow, so was one of our dining room windows.

Déjà vu. The Vandals had struck again. They egged our house.

Last year we had our driveway lights smashed and on Mother’s Day our house was egged. Cleaning dried eggs from bricks is not an easy task and takes forever.

On one of the sites I belong to somebody wrote about spanking children. I added my two cents worth to that and wrote this:

Should you spank your children? This is a complicated and touchy subject. Unfortunately, many people confuse spanking with hitting. Nobody should ever hit a child! I grew up in a time when corporal punishment was okay. My dad spanked me when I did something wrong, with a belt on the butt. He never hit me in anger, never anywhere else but on the butt. You can’t do much damage there, but it hurts. We were punished in School and our parents didn’t scream abuse and sued the teacher or the School. We had respect for our parents, teachers, the police, and especially older people, which is missing in many of today’s youth. Too many have no respect for other people’s property or anything else, not even the law. One of the problems in our society is that punishments for crimes committed are not severe enough. We have too many bleeding hearts out there. And punishment starts at home. Some children need to be spanked (not beaten!! I'll say it again), some need to be talked to, but they need to be punished whenever they do something wrong. Neglecting and not disciplining children is also a form of abuse, because these children grow up thinking they can get away with anything without paying the price. But at the same time children should also be awarded for good behaviour and for their achievements. I have two sons. I never hit them, but I used a belt (very gently! How could I ever hurt my child that I love so much?) on our oldest when he was five. On the butt. And believe me, it hurt me more than him. That was the only time. Both boys remembered that incident. When they misbehaved all I had to do was touch my belt and that stopped them in their tracks. My youngest son gave me the best compliment a father could ever get when he was a teenager. He said, “You know, Dad, I hope I can be just like you when I have children some day. Remember the belt? I was always afraid of it even though you never used it on me.” Both my sons recall that incident fondly and we always have a good laugh. They love and respect me for the way they were raised by me and my wife. They both grew up to be wonderful sons with respect for the law and respect for other people and their property. And that little incident with the belt didn’t hurt their psyche one bit.

Here is an excerpt of what somebody else (a woman) wrote about that:

I actually feel very strongly about the issue of spanking...I actually find Herbert's fond memories of only having " to touch" his belt to scare his kids alarming and deeply disturbing...

That woman was disturbed by my comment. Actually, in a sense I’m not even overly surprised by her reaction, because it cements what I said. Too many bleeding hearts out there who are so worried they might do harm to their children’s psyche by not disciplining them when they should be. People with no children have no idea what they are talking about. Besides, that woman probably never read my whole comment. In no way does it say anywhere that my sons were terrified of me. They had respect for me and, yes...the belt. But they were never scared or terrified. Once they were old enough to realize I would never use the belt on them to hurt them, any fear they may have had disappeared, but the idea of the belt had done its job. They grew up to be men who respected the law, not feared it. They knew they’d be punished if they did something wrong.

It’s the job of parents to teach their children right and wrong. To raise children demands a huge portion of love, and yes, it also means disciplining them when they misbehave. They need to learn how to discipline their minds and their bodies. It should also be taught in Schools. If they don’t learn this when they are young, they will grow into adults who have no respect for people and their property, and the law, and may think they can do anything they feel like without getting punished. The signs are all around us that society seems to have failed so many. Criminals will take no responsibility for their deeds. The latest fad is to plead insanity. They didn’t know what they were doing. “Bullsh.t!” I say. They knew what they were doing; they just didn’t give a crap about the people they hurt. Instead of putting them away for the rest of their lives, murderers may spend a couple of years in an asylum and be released back into society, apparently cured. And Big Surprise when they offend again. I have news for those bleeding hearts: People like that can never be cured, because there is something wrong with their brains and their way of thinking. Perhaps, if their parents and the system would have raised them in a more disciplined environment they may not have turned out that way. Not all but maybe a few.

The young punks who egged our house obviously have no respect for other people’s property. I reported it to the RCMP and they filed it away with all the other incidents that happened this last week. The officer told me that it was Springbreak and children are just trying to have some fun.

Fun! That’s what they call it? In fact when the same thing happened to us last year one woman we talked to said, “Kids will be kids.”

I have one satisfaction. The fingerprints of the punks who did that to us last year are on file in Ottawa. So if they ever apply for a job with the government they’ll be out of luck.

I was a kid once. We were no angels, but we never did stuff like that. And neither did my sons. They knew that it was wrong to damage other people’s property. Sure, they did stupid stuff, all kids do, but they knew their limits.

Wow! Talk about venting! But things like that upset me because I have such a strong feeling of what is wrong and what is right. I fail to understand people who do stuff like that. Why would anyone want to hurt others? Be it their property or their feelings. It makes no sense to me. But then again, I should not be surprised. We live in a violent society. The whole world is going crazy. Just look at what is happening in the Middle East or, lately, in North Korea again.

Insanity rules.