09:56 – Colin voted yesterday, although he won’t tell us who he voted for or how many times he voted. Either way, Democrats were crushed, as expected. I just hope the Republicans realize that most of the people who voted for them did so not because they like Republicans but because they hate them less than they hate Democrats. Not that it’ll make a bit of difference. As The Who said, “Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss.” I’m kind of looking forward to that day when we decide and the shotgun sings the song. And I’m still campaigning for an open season on politicians, to run from 1 January through 31 December each year, with no bag limit (on bucks or does). Taxidermists would have a field day. Can you imagine how many people would love to have politicians’ heads mounted over their fireplaces?
I got another email this morning from those morons at WalMart. This one says that my order has shipped and will arrive by “Mon., Dec 1”. Shipped how? By wagon train? Oh, yeah, and the item that they don’t have and have no idea when it’ll be back in stock? That one is scheduled to arrive next Monday. Morons.
11:54 – Barbara frequently tells me I’m not funny, to which I always respond, “Then why have women been laughing at me all my life?” Which is true. I’ve consciously cultivated that, because I realized even as far back as high school that women tend to be afraid of me because of my size and general demeanor. I am also very calm, speak quietly, and move very quietly, all of which for some reason scare a lot of women.
She’ll deny it, but Barbara also thinks I’m funny. Sometimes she laughs out loud at one of my comments. This morning, for example, I was making coffee. That’s unusual for me. Barbara doesn’t drink coffee–although she’s usually the one who makes it–and I drink very little. But I was doing research for the prepping book (how much coffee can you brew from a pound?) and I couldn’t find the coffee grinder. So I called her at work to ask where it was. (Just as she answered the call, I found it next to the coffee filters, of all places.)
So Barbara was telling me where the measuring spoons are and how much to use per pot. I told her that I was going to weigh the coffee, and she started to laugh. What’s so funny about weighing coffee beans on an analytical balance, anyway? (For this test run, I ended up using 50,013 milligrams of coffee beans and 1.226 liters of water, for a ratio of about 40,794 mg/L, not counting the water absorbed and retained by the grounds.) From the research I did, the “normal” ratio is 55 to 60 g/L, but I’m working my way down to see how little coffee I can use and still have the brew taste like reasonable coffee. My guess is that it’ll be somewhere in the 20 to 25 g/L range. If so, that’ll be around 20 to 25 liters per pound, call it 16 to 20 10-cup pots per pound.