09:45 – It was 55.2F (13C) when I took Colin out around 0715 this morning, sunny and clear. Barbara is waiting for a dump truck of mulch to show up so she can get the strips of raw dirt along the driveway mulched. The driveway is about 45 yards long and has dirt along both edges, so she’ll be hauling a lot of wheelbarrow loads of mulch today and probably tomorrow.
We had instant mashed potatoes with the leftover pork gloppita for dinner last night. I used the Walmart Great Value potato flakes. The first time we used them, I used only the dry potato flakes and water to reconstitute. They ended up okay, but kind of blah. Not surprising, considering that the Walmart flakes are 100% potatoes. (The Idahoan dry potatoes that we used to get in 3.25-pound boxes at Costco/Sam’s also include dry milk and lots of other stuff that may shorten their shelf-life.)
Yesterday, I made them up according to the instructions on the box for four servings, but substituting weights for volumes for reproducibility. Rather than fresh milk, I used enough water to provide the total amount of liquid specified and just added a quarter cup of Nestle Nido dry whole milk to the dry potatoes. I did use two tablespoons of real butter, but that could easily be substituted for by a fluid ounce of vegetable oil and a bit of butter powder. The result was pretty much indistinguishable from the Idahoan just-add-water potatoes, which is to say pretty decent. Barbara said they were fine, and she’s the ultimate arbiter.
I’d bought just one 26.7-ounce box of the Walmart potatoes to test. I have four cases (42 pounds) of LDS instant mashed potatoes in our deepest pantry, which I bought when my initial goal was one year’s worth of food for Barbara, Colin, and me. LDS sells them for about $3.36/pound, versus $1.60/pound at Walmart. That’s a big enough difference that it’s worth the minor time and effort to repackage the Walmart product in 2-liter bottles, so I’ll go ahead and order another 42 pounds of the Walmart potatoes and repackage them. In PET bottles with oxygen absorbers, they’ll be good for at least 20+ years and probably 100.
* * * * *
Shepherds pie seems like it would be a good meal from LTS. Canned meat, veg, and instant potatoes, flavor packet, and viola!
n
Heads up to Mr Lynn, here comes the storm!
n
Regarding FLASHLIGHTS, they need periodic maintenance.
My trusty EDC Pelican 1920 became erratic, not turning on, blinking, turning on only when smacked. In fact it started to behave like an old Maglite.
Upon examination, the aluminum threads at the base cap had become oxidized and I theorized that the base cap, with the switch ass’y, was no longer making good electrical contact.
So I sprayed with DeOxIT, scrubbed with a scotchbright, and removed a layer of white powdery oxidation. With shiny threads, the light now works brilliantly again.
I wonder now if the same thing was the issue with all the Maglites I spent years banging on…. and shudder that it was such a simple thing but that I never knew.
If your previously reliable FLASHLIGHT has become flakey, give the base cap threads a good clean.
nick
US passes bill to allow ISPs to sell users’ browser history
From the comments (emphasis added):
I’ve already started getting ads for VPNs that include private DNS. 100% sure that ISPs are going to grossly abuse this. This will result in some very unhappy people since they won’t be able to sue over the disclosure of private information. The result of this is that US government is going to get what it deserves, everyone in this country is going to start deploying heavy encryption and VPNs.
Might be a very good time to enter the VPN business. There is incredible potential for free advertising via stories of people who were abused and then explain how to use a VPN to stop it.
I’m lookin’ at you, OFD! A chance to leverage your years of sysadmin experience plus your current expertise in safeguarding your own privacy, with the added bonus of earning some much-needed extra cash in your declining years.
Yep, shepherd’s pie is on my list, although we haven’t made it from LTS food yet.
Which brings up an important LTS food issue. You’ll always want to have some JAW foods on-hand for situations where you can’t or shouldn’t cook. We’re well covered in that respect. If worse to comes to worst, we can eat canned foods straight from the can without even heating them.
But for the bulk of your food storage, you should be storing ingredients rather than prepared meals. That’s why I just ordered a whole bunch of prepared ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce rather than a few dozen bottles of barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauce is never going to be anything but barbecue sauce, while the separate ingredients can be combined in many different ways. That’s key to avoiding appetite fatigue.
Yeah, I have maybe two or three dozen jars of alfredo sauce stored, but as I continue to add incrementally to our pantry rather than buying more alfredo I’ll be buying several more cases of evaporated milk. That, with stuff like flour, butter powder, cheese powder, etc. can be used to make up anything from alfredo to plain white sauces to gravies to pastries, etc. etc.
On a plane to Ft. Lauderdale then drive to Ft. Meyers. Back Friday. Next week it’s LA, Dallas, Cleveland and Milwaukee. Back to back. Gonna be brutal, but I can travel with MrsAtoz now and help out. All on Southwest, so I fly for free.
A caution re shepherd’s pie: I’ve never made it successfully. The mashed potatoes basically liquefy and ooze down into the stew part and become unappetizing. Possibly making the mashed potatoes drier would reduce this. Possibly making the stew drier would reduce the steam coming up and liquefying the potatoes. Possibly frying (like an omelet more than like scrambled eggs) the mashed potatoes to make a sealed bottom layer would solve the problem. Possibly baking the stew at high temperature before putting the potatoes on would solve the problem. Obviously some people are able to make the pie so it can be done, but don’t be surprised if you get a mess or two.
MrAtoz wrote:
“All on Southwest, so I fly for free.”
FF points?
37 here and tomorrow looking to be the only sunny day until Sunday. No wind.
“…A chance to leverage your years of sysadmin experience plus your current expertise in safeguarding your own privacy…”
Such as it is. Or was. I’m out of practice by now, and my position in IT was roughly analogous to that of being the door gunner while somebody else flies the aircraft and navigates for it. I can probably help people make fairly decent decisions on their own IT setups at home and for small businesses and I can evaluate and recommend certain things, but that’s about it. I’m not a sales guy, programmer or manager.
But point taken; I like fooling around with it and am working on some interesting things here at my own house, so I’ll stay tuned for any potential money-making dividends from my experience and research.
And of course all of this stuff involving IT, spying on each other, security, cyber-war, etc., etc., presupposes that the Grid stays up indefinitely, or if it goes down, our lords temporal and the corporations will have it back up in a jiffy.
FF points?
Nah, he fits in a suitcase and travels as baggage.
When you fly enough “legs” on Southwest (100 I think) you get to designate a companion who flys with you for free for a year. MrsAtoz has met this for over a decade. You can change the companion several times a year, but if you call in and talk nice they will always change it. We’ve saved 10’s of thousand $$ over the years.
SWA goes to Cuba now, Cancun and I think HI is coming up.
Might be a very good time to enter the VPN business. There is incredible potential for free advertising via stories of people who were abused and then explain how to use a VPN to stop it.
I’m lookin’ at you, OFD! A chance to leverage your years of sysadmin experience plus your current expertise in safeguarding your own privacy, with the added bonus of earning some much-needed extra cash in your declining years.
It is a tough business. If IBM wasn’t around paying the bulk of the cost of provisioning the NetClient service, my former corporate masters at Death Star Telephone would have sold off their global VPN network a decade ago.
Last I heard, IBM was getting cheap and experimenting with SoftEther to replace NetClient on Mac. I know they wouldn’t pay for new Linux builds so the NetClient RPM they used until recently was one I personally built in 2009.
Of course, Death Star Telephone could invest a little money, but they have debt to pay off from buying DirecTV and, soon, Bugs Bunny. Priorities.
Jerry Coyne is visiting New Zealand, and some of his pictures will get Colin’s and SteveF’s juices flowing… 🙂
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2017/03/29/new-zealand-a-sheep-station-and-mussel-lagniappe/
From the Prepping Fail Department:
When Mrs. OFD gets home tomorrow night she’ll probably wonder where the dog is. He will be in Doggie Purgatory; not bad enough for Doggie Hell and nowhere near good enough for Doggie Heaven. Because he will have been executed, and either buried or cremated.
How could this be, you ask?
Well this morning I came downstairs to the kitchen and found a mess. I had left several plastic bags there filled with various food products purchased yesterday and destined for our cellar storage. I forgot about them and went off to the Land of Nod last night. Come to find that Doggus Stupidus had ripped open a plastic bag and then ripped a 5-pound bag of King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour from it and then dragged it, also ripped open by now, across the kitchen and living room floors. You can imagine how the air in the vicinity turned blue for a while, as poor ol’ OFD had to sweep all that up and then vacuum it. Flour is not a real easy-peasy cleanup in that quantity and it gets in the air and all over one’s attire as well.
So we’re out five pounds of good flour and we’ll need another dog, one with short hair this time, and halfway intelligent. I’m lobbying for a Belgian Malinois.
House training a puppy vs the price of a bag of flour….. It’s just a bag of flour and the house needed cleaning anyway. And you were going to take a shower anyway.
Yeah, I get you being pissed-off. Just who left the groceries where dog can reach them?
The dawg is an 80-pound golden retriever, and when he gets up on his hind legs he can reach quite a way and has done so in the past, and he knows it pisses me off and he won’t get treats or playtime today. He’s also pissed because Mommy’s been gone for three weeks, and when she’s here, she coddles him like he was a 5-pound puppy. Except he’s not a puppy; them days are long gone and he has gray around his muzzle. IIRC he’s around 10-11 years old. When he’s gone, I made it known to Mommy that the next dawg, IF ANY, will have short hair. And trainable. All three cats are less hassle than him and they’re useful for something at least. Although his bark is OK for when other humans or animals he doesn’t know are too close to the den here.
So I just finished a couple of hours of cleaning in the living room and kitchen which I was gonna do anyway, and got a bunch of stuff outta the cah so I can run it through the cah wash tomorrow and vacuum it. And then replace my go-bags and tool kit. And I’m a little beat; getting old blows.
For those people who wanted to know, we did get our Russian contract. And they paid us this morning via wire transfer from their Cyprus affiliate. I guess that the Russian capital export controls are still in force. And, we specified on the contract that we were not going to supply any software until after payment. I thought that they were going to hang us on payment and try to get the software installed anyway but, they did not.
Make sure it actually clears.
And you probably already know it, but a wire transfer can be pulled back. Fukcing Chase bank.
n
And you probably already know it, but a wire transfer can be pulled back.
I did not know that a wire transfer can be reversed. Do you actually know of a case where this was done ?
Be careful, Mr. Lynn and do what RBT and Mr. Nick have said. If it goes OK all the way, congrats!
Make sure it actually clears.
The wire transfer is showing in our bank account using the bank web access.
That doesn’t mean it’s really there. Ask your bank.
Special onNordVPN: https://deals.kinja.com/congress-wont-protect-your-browsing-history-so-do-it-y-1793795708
Got lots of good reviews.
Any of you using it or have an opinion?
Here is one review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2479241,00.asp
Yeah, double-check wid yer bank, Mr. Lynn. They sometimes have funny ways of actually crediting deposits. As we have learned here.
“Any of you using it or have an opinion?”
Nope, I’m using PerfectPrivacy and encryption.
My Chase business account rep told me that scammers will do a wire transfer, then reverse it later. I replied that I thought a wire transfer was as good as cash. She said the only thing as good as cash is cash, and even then you have the possibility of counterfeiting.
So I don’t know the mechanism, but they warned me off dealing with a scammer.
Your bank rep should be able to clarify for you.
nick
Absolutely. Even a certified check is not guaranteed.
I’m using IPVanish and liking it.
Arrived at Ft. Meyers. Beautiful weather.
Could Lynn transfer it to another account and thus make it reverse-proof? Or would that be treated as similar to writing a check with insufficient funds, with Lynn dinged for it? Or would that depend on the bank?
Lynn will be on the hook no matter what. Banks take zero responsibility. If they’re defrauded, they pass the loss to you.
Could Lynn transfer it to another account and thus make it reverse-proof?
No, if the transfer reverses the money is taken from the account. If the account goes negative you get dinged big time, and for every item drawn on the account as long as it is negative. Really a bad idea.
Even a certified check is not guaranteed.
Some “certified” checks. A check that is drawn on the bank’s account and has the embossed stamp from the bank is almost as good as cash. It could be forged but generally unlikely. A true certified check will have the embossed stamp of the bank over the signature block.
scammers will do a wire transfer, then reverse it later
They could. But the problem is that source of the funds are associated with someone (or a company) and as such can be traced. It is also possible to contest a wire reversal but it is difficult and usually involves a ruling by a judge.
Given a choice between a check and a wire transfer a wire transfer wins every day. And when dealing with foreign currency is generally the only way to easily transfer the money as the bank will take care of the exchange. Wire transfers between banks are usually solid transactions.
I have had money wired from Norway. Had to wire it to a bank in New York that has international wire transfer capability (not all of them do). I had to provide the sender with the ABA number and account number. Bank in New York gets the money and does an ACH transfer within a day of the funds to my bank (actually a credit union).
“Some “certified” checks. A check that is drawn on the bank’s account and has the embossed stamp from the bank is almost as good as cash. It could be forged but generally unlikely. A true certified check will have the embossed stamp of the bank over the signature block.”
Forgery is possible, but even a genuine certified check is not guaranteed. A scammer writes a check drawn on bank #1 and deposits it in bank #2, which originates the certified check and places a hold on the account balance. The scammer sends the check to Lynn, who deposits it in his bank. Meanwhile, bank #2 finds out that the original deposit was fraudulent when bank #1 drafts it for that balance, which it returns to bank #1. Bank #2 turns around and drafts Lynn’s bank for the full amount. None of the three banks has lost a cent, so everyone wins. Except Lynn, of course, and none of the banks give a shit about him.
Arrived at Ft. Meyers. Beautiful weather.
We were just there two weeks ago. Fort Meyers is experiencing an incredible Spring, but South Florida didn’t have much Winter.
Find a Doc Ford’s. We’re partial to the Sanibel location, but Fort Meyers Beach or Captiva work.
http://www.docfords.com
If you have the time and want a little adventure, I can send you to the place for the real “cheeseburger in paradise” that inspired the song. One question — How do you feel about bugs?
I have seen a few articles that say that you will be able to opt out of allowing your ISP to grab your traffic for sale. The regulation that is being repealed made it an opt in. Need to find the date the change goes live to check the right box with my ISP.
Well this sucks. My mower shed was compromised. Had security lights on the front. Cretins came in from the blind side. No openings on that side so they made their own. Tore through the cement board siding. Busted a small hole then ripped out a larger hole. Found the small piece from where they punched the siding in, larger chunks laying outside where they ripped the stuff off.
Stole 9 gallons of gas (100% stuff, no ethanol) in the containers. Stole my electric chainsaw, electric blower, electric trimmers, electric weed eater and all three batteries and chargers. Stole a couple of branch trimmers, expensive ones that really cut easily and reliably.
Two mowers and pressure washer remained as they are too large to get out between the studs on 16″ centers.
Have no idea when as I have not been in the shed for about 5 days. Probably some drug head looking to make $10 by selling $1000 worth of my stuff and about $500 worth of damage. Police looked and said there was little they could do except look at the pawn shops.
I need to replace the siding. This time I think I will put concrete reinforcing mesh underneath the siding.
I did order my eclipse viewing glasses today. $20.00. Certified by NASA to be used for viewing the eclipse on Aug 21. Only the fringe will be over my house so I am traveling about 60 miles to Spring City along highway 27 to view the eclipse. Spring City is exactly in the middle of the path of the eclipse. This will be the second eclipse I have been involved. The first one I did not have viewing glasses, only a pinhole viewing. This should be fairly awesome to be able to view.
Could Lynn transfer it to another account and thus make it reverse-proof?
No, if the transfer reverses the money is taken from the account. If the account goes negative you get dinged big time, and for every item drawn on the account as long as it is negative. Really a bad idea.
Even a certified check is not guaranteed.
Some “certified” checks. A check that is drawn on the bank’s account and has the embossed stamp from the bank is almost as good as cash. It could be forged but generally unlikely. A true certified check will have the embossed stamp of the bank over the signature block.
scammers will do a wire transfer, then reverse it later
They could. But the problem is that source of the funds are associated with someone (or a company) and as such can be traced. It is also possible to contest a wire reversal but it is difficult and usually involves a ruling by a judge.
Given a choice between a check and a wire transfer a wire transfer wins every day. And when dealing with foreign currency is generally the only way to easily transfer the money as the bank will take care of the exchange. Wire transfers between banks are usually solid transactions.
We get three or four wire transfers a month and we have never had one reversed. Almost all foreign payments to us are done via wire transfers and in USD.
We lost a certified check in the mail once for $20K. I closed an account at the old bank and got a certified check from them for the contents of $20K. I stupidly threw it in an envelope and mailed it to the new bank. A week later, it was missing. The issuing bank required me to get a bond from a bond broker which cost almost as much as the check was for. So I did not get the bond. Five weeks later, the mailed check came back to us with the envelope saying no such address. I took it straight to the new bank.
Shit, that sucks, Ray. WTF.
Yeah, throw the mesh in there and maybe look into security webcam/lights back there. Ratfuckers. I hope they blow themselves up with the gas.
And this is a good reminder for me to get the new deadbolt and strike plate on wife’s studio out back; of course they can just bust the windows, but that would cause a racket and presumably alert our dog and our neighbor’s five dogs, who bark at everything. She doesn’t have anything really worth stealing out there but dopers grab whatever for pennies on the dollar. They’re fucked, though, if they think they can do that with the house here; good way to end up at room temp.
Agreed w/RBT on how the banks operate; they simply won’t take any kind of hit, even if it’s their negligence. You, the customer, eat the hit. Again, I’d make doubly and triply sure of that transfer; it’s not coming from a stolid Lutheran country like Norway or Switzerland; it’s coming from a country with a known hacker population and all kinds of criminal bullshit going on. Sort of like here.
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast reunites for 20th anniversary”
http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/29/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-reunion-ew-cover/
They are all so old ! And heavier ! And Spike’s hair color changed !
I need to replace the siding. This time I think I will put concrete reinforcing mesh underneath the siding.
Well, that sucks. You need steel siding ! Then they have to use a sawzall to get through it. Very noisy.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-12-Amp-SAWZALL-Reciprocating-Saw-with-Case-6519-31/202438078
Throw up some triple-standard concertina razor wire, too. With trip smoke flares. Hell, I’ll come down and hep ya set it all up! Be a blast!
And from the WTF Department:
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2017/03/29/587-refugees-admitted-since-120-day-moratorium-should-have-started-syrians-top-list/
What a joke. We’ll know by May 1 if we’ve been had yet again.
They are all so old ! And heavier ! And Spike’s hair color changed !
I saw this a couple of weeks ago, and Alicia Silverstone cast as “Mom” made me feel really old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g7DrEzhFR0
Click this link. You’ll hate yourself if you don’t, especially after all the cool kids are laughing about how great it was and you don’t know what they’re talking about.
“….all the cool kids…”
There aren’t any cool kids anymore. And fuck them anyway.
Those guys in the car at the top of that page looked awful familiar and then it hit me; Rockford Files, with Angel, the snitch. And the guy who played Dennis, the cop lieutenant buddy, also played one of the bank robbers in The Friends of Eddie Coyle, another flick I watch every year. It so evokes the Boston area of the 1970s that I grew up in, sort of, as I came back and forth from Uncle’s wars. I woulda been the gunrunner kid in that flick if things had been a little different. All the actors from that movie are gone now, except “Dennis,” and Alex Rocco, who played on of the other bank robbers, and himself a genuine Boston mobster.
….nope, just checked; they’re all dead now; Rocco a couple of years ago and Joe Santos last year. Wow. Now I feel old.
Anyway I highly recommend that flick; one of the last by the late, great, Robert Mitchum. Peter Boyle was in it, too, and Richard Jordan, who last role was in Gettysburg.
Helping your chillunz with their skool’s show-and-tell display and project?
https://www.gunblx.com/
Let ’em bring one of these in, and then sit back, get your smartypants phone ready, and watch the fun! SWAT on-scene in minutes! Choppers overhead, Apaches and the nooz Eye-Teams. People screaming.
From The Revolution Eats Its Own Department:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_WZvgAfVHk
Progs bitch about the Dems; what jolly fun! In this one they’re dumping on Princess Chelsea. Who makes more in a minute than I’ve made in the last three years.
Damn, my daughters LOVE lego… but the girly princess lego.
n
Wanna know why I won’t be giving any money to my alma mater?
This is from the What’s happening at [your old school program] newsletter.
And crap like this (emphasis added):
Don’t miss the wrong use of ‘apart’ or the ambiguity of the ‘it’ in that last para. Or the other poorly written bits…
“…shepherd’s pie: I’ve never made it successfully.”
Pie is one of my favourite dishes, both to prepare and to eat. I often make it if I’m expecting company, as it can easily be prepared ahead, if necessary, and the sauce ingredients need not be expensive if there’s a crowd to feed – stretch it with diced potatoes, celeriac and carrots.
I prefer “cottage” (beef and/or pork mince) over “shepherd’s” (mutton mince) pie. I really, really like it made with minced venison and wild mushrooms in a beer or red-wine sauce; this is “poacher’s pie”, and a great way to use up tougher or less attractive cuts of game meat.
If you can get “Bisto” gravy granules http://www.bisto.co.uk/our-range/gravy-granules a handful in the sauce makes it unctuous. Bisto granules are basically beef-flavoured salty cornstarch pellets with some dark caramel colouring, so you could get much the same effect with concentrated/jellied beef stock, soy sauce and cornflour.
I’ve not had the troubles you describe. I’d suggest making the meat sauce separately and letting it cool completely (meat sauces anyway taste better the day after they are cooked), and putting very hot but rather dry mashed potato on top directly before the pie goes in the oven. Dry mash will still spread OK provided it’s hot enough.
Make pretty patterns with a fork, and sprinkle the top with cheese. Bake in a *very hot* oven just long enough for the meat sauce to get hot – it’s done once you can see a little red trace of sauce bubbling up the sides of the dish. A metal dish is much better for this than a porcelain one.
“Shepherds pie seems like it would be a good meal from LTS. Canned meat, veg, and instant potatoes, flavor packet, and viola!”
In my experience, it usually tastes OK even without stringed instruments 🙂
Q: What’s the difference between a viola and a violin?
.
.
.
.
.
A: The viola is somewhat bigger, so it burns just a little bit longer!
With trip smoke flares. Hell, I’ll come down and hep ya set it all up! Be a blast!
Oh, to be able to bring so much joy into OFD’s life. But I suspect before it was over OFD would have the place looking a highly secured perimeter. Just the act of getting in myself would be a risky venture.
Well, that sucks. You need steel siding !
Too difficult to work with and would not match the rest of the building thus mandating replacement on all sides. Concrete reinforcement mesh and security lights on the back should be enough. I have lights on all four corners of the house, low voltage spotlights on the back patio (come on at dusk and remain on all night), lights over the garage and boat cover covering the driveway. Just one light on the shed, the front, which I thought was enough but apparently is not. I have seven motion detection lights in all soon to become eight.
Throw up some triple-standard concertina razor wire, too.
I ain’t workin’ with that stuff. My bumbling self would soon be missing some fingers and critical appendages, maybe even requiring me sitting down to pee the rest of my life.
Even girls can pee standing up these days, welcome to the wonders of the modern world…
https://www.shewee.com/
n
And you can piss your name into the snow, just like the boys.
Whats the dif between a violin and a cello?
No one minds when you stomp on a cello…
Oh my, don’t get me going on drummers………
n
I’d think about installing knob & tube wiring in that wall.
WRT “Bisto” gravy granules: Like most things available across the pond in Jolly ‘ol England, you can get them over here in the Colonies from Amazon, of course.
(Sorry for the long link, but I wanted to give you all the “Amazon Prime” choices.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_85_0?fst=p90x%3A1%2Cas%3Aoff&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abisto+gravy+granules%2Cp_85%3A2470955011&keywords=bisto+gravy+granules&ie=UTF8&qid=1490879096&rnid=2470954011
WRT “weepy” potatoes in Shepherds and/or Cottage Pie: I have found that only freshly mashed real potatoes do not weep.
BTW, here are the ingredients for the “beef” (not a sign of any animal product): Potato Starch, Maltodextrin, Palm Oil, Salt, Wheat Flour (with added Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Colour (E15c), Sugar, Flavourings (contain Barley), Flavour Enhancers (E621, E635), Emulsifier (E322) (contains Soya). I doubt this would be “legal” in Californication. 😉
No need for Shewee products, wimminz can already pee standing up, or so I’m tolf by reliable sources.
another blog posted links to travel medicine with lidocane and suturing supplies–
https://www.travmed.com/apps/search-results#stq=lidocaine&stp=1&facets%5Bshopify%5D%5B%5D=product_type
Suturing is probably NOT recommended in most cases, due mainly to the risk of infection, but it is nice to have the option.
n
“Oh my, don’t get me going on drummers………”
Or Bodhráns.
http://www.ceolas.org/instruments/bodhran/jokes.shtml
Thanks for the shepherds/cottage pie tips, Denis and DadCooks. I’ll make it again sometime soon and see if it comes out better.
“Even girls can pee standing up these days…”
Useful stuff for TEOWAKI and the BOB / car bag, no doubt. However, that link of Nick’s is daylight robbery at 17 bucks. DX has them for under three:
http://www.dx.com/p/women-s-outdoors-stand-pee-urination-device-purple-pink-423905
“WRT “weepy” potatoes in Shepherds and/or Cottage Pie: I have found that only freshly mashed real potatoes do not weep.”
Aha – I should probably eat umble pie, for not reading SteveF’s OP more carefully. Using fresh potatoes might indeed be crucial.
I admit I have never used anything in my pies but freshly mashed real potato. I probably haven’t even *seen* instant mashed potato since my childhood – my mother kept it and dried milk powder in the travel pantry for caravanning. I remember I rather used to like to eat the milk powder by the spoonful, but I certainly detested the instant potato.
You’re welcome SteveF.
Instant mashed potatoes are a very peculiar product. Their point of optimum re-hydration is actually a fairly close tolerance. That’s why it is easier to get soup or concrete than the perfect “mashed” potato. Instant potatoes are also a water absorber, as in humidity. The minute you open that package they start sucking water out of the air. That is why the next time you go to use a previously opened bag you get a different result. I store my leftover potato flakes/powder in FreshSaver bags (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=freshsaver). The FreshSaver is really only for short-term storage. The advantage is that the vacuum unit does not take up your whole countertop and the bags can be reused many times.
IMHO Yukon Gold Potatoes and Red Potatoes (for each the smaller the better) make the best mashed potatoes (the traditional Russets have a tendency to be “grainy”).
There are a bazillion crock-pot mashed potato recipes on the internet, but here is a good one:
https://www.recipesthatcrock.com/crock-pot-no-boil-mashed-potatoes/
These folks who run the Recipes That Crock site are down-home good-‘ol-folks who actually make their recipes. Take some time to browse and try.
And finally a Crock-Pot Shepherds Pie recipe that I have prepared using the leftover mashed potatoes (with added butter) to make. Yes, this is a sacrilege of a “real” Shepherd’s Pie, but we do things differently here in the Colonies. 😉
https://www.recipesthatcrock.com/crock-pot-shepherds-pie/
I use instant when I make my shepherds/country/whatever kind of meat pie.
I haven’t noticed the ‘weeping’ problem.
I use frozen or fresh ground meat, haven’t tried using leftover lamb roast.
Canned peas, single serving pack is enough, onions, and carrots from can or fresh…
I use a british import flavor pack, can’t remember the name ATM.
n
I hadn’t had instant potatoes since childhood but ‘store what you eat, eat what you store’ had me storing instant potatoes, so…..
They have improved immensely and buying premium pays. Some of the pouched sliced pots are indistinguishable from fresh. My wife even agrees.
While we don’t normally eat potatoes (other than the occasional holiday, and sometimes roasted baby reds) they are a nice change of pace.
n
Whats the dif between a violin and a fiddle?
Fiddles are used to make good music!
What’s the difference between a viola and a pound of bacon?
No one cares if you burn the viola.
How can you tell there’s a drummer at your door?
— He says your pizza is here.
How can you tell there’s a drummer at your door?
–the knocking speeds up and slows down
Where does a drummer keep his sticks?
— on the dashboard, so he can park in the blue spots
thank you, I’m here all week, don’t forget to tip your waitress…..
n