US getting ready to bomb Syria

Well, here we go again! They never learn. The mighty United States of America is getting ready to be judge, jury, and executioner...again. They’ve decided to bomb Syria, even though the rest of the world is advising caution. What actually is the point of bombing Syria? What does Syria have that the US wants? We don’t buy much oil from them. I don’t believe the majority of Americans want this. Does the US government want it? Here my conspiracy theory mind kicks in again. I think that the real powers behind the government, that small clique of power-hungry people, the same ones who have orchestrated wars, assassinations, market-crashes, and who knows what else, have their own agenda. They don’t care about all the innocent people dying in Syria. They don’t give a crap about  how many young men and women die in the so-called service of their country blindly following orders. As long as they stay in power, make money, and are able to pull the strings of the politicians in their pocket, the insanity will never stop. The killings of innocent people will never stop.

Haven’t the Americans learned yet? There was no reason to bomb Iraq and get rid of Saddam Hussein. At least he kept the people under control. They never found any Weapons of Mass destruction, because there were none.  Look at the situation in Iraq now. It’s a mess. Afghanistan is a mess. Nothing has changed there. The thousands of American soldiers, and soldiers from Canada and other countries died for nothing. That is the sad and bitter truth. How awful must the parents of these fallen soldiers feel knowing the death of their sons and daughters didn’t make any difference in the world. The wars go on, the useless, mindless killings go on. Nothing has changed and nothing will change. The power-hungry secret clique of vultures will keep on sending young men and women to die for a lie. They will keep on destroying property and building weapons, ammunition, warplanes, warships, and bombs so they can reap the profits, while the terrorists fight back in their cowardly fashion murdering innocent people in the name of religion or any other reason. One of the reasons being revenge. It is a never-ending cycle.

According to rumours, the Americans had a hand in getting rid of Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak, only to have him replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood. Much good did that do. Now look at Egypt. On the brink of civil war. Getting rid of the Syrian government and replacing it with the rebels with result in nothing. There’ll be no positive change. It will still be a dictatorship, just run by different people. There can and will never be a democracy there or in any of the countries controlled by Islam, because Islam and democracy do not go together. People who believe in stoning so-called sinners, cutting off limbs for crimes like stealing, and persecuting and murdering people of another faith are not tolerant. And democracy is a system of tolerance. As long as a country is governed by a religious group it will never be a democracy. A democratic government should never be controlled by religion. History has proven that this does not work. Religion works on intimidation, on fear, on obedience, on unproven promises. And people will do anything for the promise of a ‘better life’ after they die. Apparently, stoning someone to death cleanses their soul. What a bunch of crap that is! Unfortunately, that’s what they believe.

When the Americans bombed Iraq, I remember sitting on the couch and watching it unfold on the screen with tears in my eyes. I knew that people were dying at that moment. Rockets and bombs are so impersonal but they do kill.

I was only a little child during WW2, but I’ll never forget the horrors of war. My family spent a month in a covered wagon fleeing from the Russians into Germany. I still remember how scared I was when Russian warplanes flew over our convoy of wagons and dropped bombs. I remember seeing wagons burning on the side of the road. I remember hiding in the ditch when English warplanes flew above. I also remember standing lined up against a wall with English soldiers aiming machineguns at us while they searched the house we stayed in for soldiers who might be hiding in the house. Yes, war is a horrible thing and we haven’t learned. We still play that terrible game in the name of money, power, and religion.

Ladybug...ladybug...

I discovered a large population of visitors to my garden. They were sitting on the dill-weed and on the leaves of my kohlrabi. And I was happy to see them. A couple of years ago my peppers were covered with the same visitors. I panicked because I didn't know what they were. When I took one of them to our garden center nearby, they told me to use 'Seven', a pesticide, to get rid of them. They had no idea what they were, which was disappointing, because they should have known. So I killed them all (not the people at the garden center. I'm talking about the bugs on the peppers!). After that my peppers were infested with aphids. I found out later from my daughter-in-law, who knows bugs, that they were the larvae of ladybugs.

Now I know and I welcome them into my garden, because they eat aphids.

Here is a picture:

This is a larvae and an immature ladybug.

What time do these people get up in the morning?

After being unsuccessful yesterday, I tried my luck again today. I got to Lockport at 6:30 in the morning. The sun was barely up. I never get up this early, but I needed to find out something and prove a point. Well, when I got there, I wasn't the first one, or at least the second one, as I had secretly hoped. There were already eight people fishing, and the good spots  near the dam were, of course, already taken. One thing I tried different today. For bait, instead of using minnows that had proved pretty much useless yesterday, I used meat. Beef, to be exact. I cut off a chunk from a Cross-rib roast and cut it into small strips. I put a tiny strip (about 1 inch long) onto a small #2 hook with a sinker in the line in front of the hook. It did the trick. I managed to catch 1 small sauger and a few Goldeye. I lost only 2 hooks among the rocks in the river and got tangled up with other lines only four times. I left for home at 8:00 am. In time to be home to have breakfast with my wife. By this time the place was overcrowded with anglers. I ask myself: When do these people get up in the morning? It seems this year is worse than last year, or even the year before. More and more people come to Lockport to fish. And they all seem to know each other. When one leaves, if they ever do, another one takes that place in the front. Hard to get to a good spot, no matter what time one gets there. It really isn't much fun anymore. Next month I'm going to try for sauger. Hopefully, it won't be so crowded anymore, but I know I'm dreaming.

Another Master Angler fish

Saturday is not the best day to go fishing in Lockport, but I did so anyway. I got there 7:15 am, and found even more people there than the last time. When do these people get up? I was barely awake just getting up at around 6:45.

I managed to find a fairly good spot near the dam again, but it wasn't too much fun. My line got tangled up a few time with lines of other anglers. You'll have to find sort of a rhythm when casting, because the current is quite strong and takes the hook and sinker toward the dam. Now if somebody closer to the dam casts out after you did, then there is a good chance that person's hook will catch your line, or worse, that angler's line will wrap around your line and then it's a mess. Not everyone seems to be aware of that. They just cast willy-nilly across all the other lines already in the water.

I didn't stay too long. Fishing like that is not really something I enjoy. However, I stayed long enough to catch a nice 38 cm long Goldeye. That qualifies for a Master Angler award. Last year I caught one 39 cm long. I was hoping for one a bit larger this year, but the season isn't over yet. By the way, to qualify a Goldeye needs to be a minimum of 35,5 cm.

Here is the proof. A 38 cm Goldeye.

Have I gone and joined some cult or just gone mad?

No, no. It's not what it looks like. This is not some weird religious headgear, even though it could be. I watered my garden today, because it has been hot for a few days now. I love my garden and so do the mosquitoes. I just couldn't stand it any longer to constantly have them buzzing around my head and sitting on my bare arms and legs trying to suck the blood out of me. So I put on my mosquito-battle gear: the mosquito net, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, even though it was hot. The hat was optional. I know it's not a pretty picture but, hey, it beats being eaten alive by those pesky little critters.

Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe

Bread and Butter Pickles.

6  pounds small pickling Cucumbers, cut into ¼-inch slices

2  fairly large onions, sliced

5  cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced into smaller pieces

6  tablespoons coarse salt

4 ½ cups of sugar

1 ½ teaspoons turmeric

1 ½ teaspoons celery seeds

2     tablespoons mustard seeds

3     cups white vinegar

Makes about 4 quart glasses.

Combine cucumbers, onions, garlic, and salt in a large bowl. Cover with crushed ice and stir. Let stand for 3 hours. Drain cucumbers and discard the liquid. Set drained cucumbers aside.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Add the drained cucumbers. Bring back to a boil and boil for about 10 minutes. Put into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

 

These can be eaten right away after they've cooled off, but they last a long time when jars are properly sealed. They don't need to be refrigerated.

How to sterilize jars: I use Sodium Meta Bi-Sulphite. (Used to sterilize wine making equipment). Fill one glass and transfer the liquid from one glass to another. Pour liquid from last glass back into container. Then rinse glasses with clear water. Sodium Meta Bi-Sulphite can be bought from wine making stores in powder form. Dissolve 2 ounces in 1 gallon of warm water and store in a gallon jug. It can be used over and over until it loses its potent smell.

Dill Pickles

I pickled some cucumbers today. Yesterday I got 2 big shopping bags full of cucumbers from a friend. Actually, I picked some of them myself. Some were small and the right size for pickles and some were medium sized for Bread and Butter pickles. They are for my wife. I don't care for sweet pickles, but she loves them. So today we made 12 quart glasses full of pickles for me and about the same number of Bread and Butter pickles for her. It is a lot of work but well worth the effort.

The reason I make my own pickles is that don't care for most commercially made pickles. They are usually too sour for me. I got this recipe from the same friend's wife and I love them. They are just right, not too sweet and not too sour.

Here is the recipe:

Note: This makes 14 quart glasses. We only made 12, so we had some liquid left over.

18 cups of water
  6 cups of white vinegar
1 1/2 cups of sugar
  1 cup of coarse salt
Dill and dill tops
1 clove of garlic cut in half for each jar.

Sterilize jars. Fill with cucumbers, garlic and dill. Boil brine, pour over cucumbers. Seal jars with sterilized lids.  Put jars in pre-heated oven (225 - 250 F) for 30 minutes. Let cool and make sure lids of jars have popped, which means the jars are sealed. Wait a couple of weeks and enjoy.

Of course, with fewer jars the brine has to be adjusted accordingly.

Gone fishing

This morning I went fishing again in Lockport, which is about 2 km away from our place. I wanted to avoid the crowd, so I got up early. Didn't even have breakfast. I got there 7:15 am and was disappointed. There were already 5 cars parked there and when I walked down to the dam there must have been nearly 15 people already fishing. Of course, the good spot right near the dam where most of the fish congregate was already occupied. So I found a spot as close as possible to the dam, standing pretty much shoulder to shoulder with other anglers. I have no idea when these people get there. They may possibly camp there overnight, because a couple of them were having breakfast...noodles from a container.

I wanted to cast with a jig, but then I noticed everyone was using just hooks with a piece or nightcrawler and a sinker, so I did the same thing. I did manage to catch 5 Goldeye and a couple of Freshwater Drum (Silver Bass). I kept only one Drum and let the other one go. I want to smoke this one and see how it tastes. Apparently, they taste good smoked. The Goldeye I'll smoke for sure. They are no good in any other way. I lost 2 Goldeye just before I could land them. I also lost a few hooks and weights, but that is to be expected in Lockport because of the rocky bottom. I was there Monday afternoon and fished for 2 hours, but all I managed to do was lose half a dozen hooks, with the sinkers, and a couple of jigs. I only caught a tiny sauger no larger than a big minnow. The frustrating thing was that the people beside me caught one Goldeye after the other, while I got stuck all the time, sometimes at the first cast. Too many rock.

Fishing in Lockport isn't really relaxing or much fun, because of the good chance to lose many jigs and hooks, and also because of the large crowd of people, but the fish bite most of the time. So that is one reason for me to go there. You just can't beat fishing from a boat on a nice lake, but the water has to be calm and the sun shining ^_^.

Freshwater Drum - are they good to eat?

I went fishing this morning for an hour and a half. I was after Goldeye and sauger, but I wasn't lucky. All I caught was a tiny sauger, not much larger than a minnow. Gave me a good fight, though.

I talked with another fisherman, a young Filipino man, who was fishing beside me. I gave him one of my jigs, because he forgot his at home. He caught a few Freshwater Drum, also known as Silver Bass, Sheepshead, and some other names. I usually toss them back into the water. When I asked him what he does with them, he told me he barbeques them. Then he offered me one of the fish. I didn't want to insult him, so I took one. He gave me the recipe.

After gutting and scaling the fish, I stuffed the cavity with onions and garlic. Then I rubbed garlic, pepper, and some olive oil all over the fish. I put it onto a rack and a cookie sheet and barbequed it at around 300 to 400 F. I had the controls set to low. I turned the fish around once, an action that left some skin on the rack. After one hour I removed the fish from the bbq.

My wife scraped off the skin and removed the meat from the rib cage. There were no bones in the meat. The meat was white and looked kind of mushy and wet, but, to our surprise, it was quite solid. Kind of flaky like Cod and it tasted really nice. There was no muddy flavor as I had expected.

 So from now on I'll keep one of the Drums, if I catch any, but next time I may smoke it. Apparently, they taste great smoked. From what I read they don't freeze well. It proves again, you always have to try new things. You never know what you'll miss.

I also smoked 4 Goldeye. We'll have a couple of them for supper tomorrow night. With all this Omega 3 we should stay healthy for another week or so.

My new book: Alien World

Usually, I don't mix my personal blog with my book blog, but I'm a writer and that is part of my personal life. Yesterday, I published the seventh book of my 'The Xandra' series. I self-published it with Smashwords. Anyone interested can find out more on my blog 'Herbert's World' or on my new website Fictitious Tales with  Weebly:            Alien World        Please, check it out and leave a comment.