Footle and Grok

Messing about with empathy

I prefer dehydrated water

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

This post comes from a conversation I had with a friend at a writing event.

He was telling me about a woman he knew who canned water during the Y2K scare. I had all sorts of questions about that, so I googled “canning water”. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my questions answered (most of the sites were about the water bath used in canning), but I did learn about U.S. Government canned water, and that’s just as interesting.

First of all, we’re talking about water in cans, not canning jars. We’re also talking about tin or steel cans, not aluminum cans used for sparkling water. Cans for storing water might be up to 50 gallons.

During World War II, the United States canned water to ship to the troops. Apparently, canned water didn’t spoil and didn’t need an expiration date.  It was good up to 30 years (some cans opened 60 years later were still good), and the water wasn’t affected by heat, which could be useful depending on where you were fighting.

Civil defense canned millions of gallons of water in the sixties to have on hand in case of a nuclear strike.

Canned water is still available today in smaller containers for personal use. It can be an alternative to bringing a filtration device when camping, or for storing water in case of an emergency. However, it has two downsides. It’s expensive and it’s heavy, especially if you have to carry it with you.

I tried to buy canned water on Amazon, but they only had aluminum cans. However, they had boxed water, which is also interesting.

When I was at geology camp in the desert of Nevada in June/July 1994, I had an army green, 12 oz. can of water on the bedside table in my tent as a joke. I never opened it, and now I wish I had. It might have been my only chance to drink canned water, unless I get some from my friend’s friend the next time she prepares for the apocalypse.

Ravencat or Gryffindog

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

Yep, I sorted my cats into Hogwart houses.

I knew Hela was going to be a Slytherin, and she was. I thought either Chewie or Alfred would be a Gryffindor, but Alfred turned out to be a Hufflepuff, and Chewie is a Ravenclaw. I think Chewie is a Gryffinclaw (Gryffindor and Ravenclaw), but that wasn’t an option.

You can sort your animals, too. I used Buzzfeed quizzes because I find them more reliable than others. There is one for cats and one for dogs. If you have a different pet, they have one for general pets.

I used the cat one for my three cats. Just to test the general pet one, I redid Chewie. He got Ravenclaw again, so I guess that’s his house. I’m a Ravenclaw, so I know it’s the best.

If you sort your pet, let me know what house they end up in. I’m still looking for a Gryffindor.

No fleas on me

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

I’m fighting fleas right now.

We’ve made progress since we fogged the house while the kittens were at the vet. They also have flea collars and have stopped scratching.

I realized I know nothing about fleas. They may be a pest, but they’re still animals just trying to live and reproduce. I hope these flea facts don’t gross you out. They may be fascinating, but I still want them out of my house.

Fun Flea Facts (or not so fun) [From ThoughtCo.]

  • Fleas transmitted the Black Death. We blame the rats, but it was really the fleas. The plague that the fleas carried would kill the rats, and then the fleas would start chewing on humans, thus spreading the plague to them. Getting rid of the rats got rid of the fleas.
  • Fleas can lay up to fifty eggs a day and 2,000 eggs in their lifespan.
  • An adult flea may take as many as fifteen blood meals in a single day.
  • Fleas are smooth and skinny, so they can slide through animal hair without getting tangled up.
  • There are over 2,500 species of fleas with 325 in the contiguous United States.
  • Almost all fleas in homes are cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. Despite the name, these fleas feed on dogs too.
  • Dinosaurs had fleas too. These fleas were .8 inches long and had mouthparts large enough to pierce dinosaur skin. However, they couldn’t jump.
  • Today’s fleas can jump 12 inches forward or upward. That’s about 150 times its own height.

Noon is the November of time

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

I don’t know why I never wondered about the origin of the word “noon.”

We use the word all the time, but I never thought to ask where it came from. Then I was listening to the Court Appointed podcast last Monday (everyone should listen to this funny legal show) and was floored to learn that noon came from nona hora, which means the ninth hour.

The ninth hour?

Everyone knows that noon is at midday, the twelfth hour. How did the ninth hour become the twelfth hour?

Actually, it’s a little confusing, but here we go. The Romans counted time starting at sunrise or about 6 a.m., so nona hora was at 3 p.m.

The medieval monks borrowed the Roman time scale. They had to say prayers every three hours, and each prayer time had a name. The one that started at 3 p.m. was called “nona” or noon. In the 12th century, the 3 p.m. prayer was moved back to 12 p.m., and the name of the prayer came with it. Thus the 12 p.m. prayer became known as noon.

By the 14th century, noon and midday were synonymous, and everyone used this word that means nine for the twelfth hour. Crazy.

Check out this website for a more detailed explanation. I thought calling the eleventh month of the year “November” was weird, but this is really out there.

The one thing that the article didn’t explain was why the time for the prayer changed. I mean, the monks were already saying prayers from sun-up to sun-down. Maybe they decided to get up even earlier.

Do it before a cat types on your laptop

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

2w

I’m at a friend’s house and Magic (a large black cat with a short tail) decided to write my blog post for me. Thus the 2w on the first line. I left it there as a reminder that we should all back up our computers in case a cat gets ahold of our keyboards and wreaks havoc.

Many years ago, I had a cat named Sheridan. He wasn’t the smartest animal out there, but he laid on my keyboard and managed to delete an app off the desktop. From then on keyboards were off-limits to all animals.

So back up your computer. Do not delay. Do it today. And keep your cats away from the keyboard unless you want them to write your posts for you.

Hello

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

It’s World Hello Day.

Unlike a lot of odd holidays, this one was created in 1973 to promote world peace. I can get behind that. All you have to do is say hello to people, friends and strangers. I don’t say hello, but I always give a nod and a smile to people that I pass on the sidewalk. If they say hello, then I talk back.

Now that I think about it, I love it when people say hello to me. (Nothing else though. Let’s not get carried away.) Perhaps we need to say this friendly word more often.

To help you out, here is a list of how to say hello in several different languages. I truly believe that world peace will succeed when we travel and see how other people live. Ignorance is our downfall.

See if you can say hello to ten people today. A kind word can change a life.

Hello around the world

  • Arabic: Formal: Asalaam alaikum (Peace be upon you), Informal: Ahlan
  • Chinese: Formal: Nǐn hǎo, Informal: Nǐ hǎo
  • Dutch: Formal: Goedendag, Informal: Hoi, Hallo
  • French: Formal: Bonjour, Informal: Salut
  • German: Formal: Guten Tag, Informal: Hallo, Hi
  • Hebrew: Formal: Shalom, Informal: Hey
  • Hindi: Formal: Namaste, Namaskar, Informal: Hai, Helo
  • Indonesian: Formal: Selamat siang, Informal: Halo
  • Italian: Formal: Salve, Informal: Ciao
  • Japanese; Formal: Konnichiwa, Informal: Yā, Yō
  • Korean: Formal: Anyoung haseyo, Informal: Anyoung
  • Norwegian: Formal: God dag, Informal: Hei
  • Spanish: Formal: Hola, Informal: ¿Qué tal? (What’s up?)
  • Swahili: Formal: Shikamoo, Informal: Habari, Hujambo
  • Turkish: Formal: Merhaba, Informal: Selam

Too messy to think

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

My office is a mess.

It’s not as bad as it used to be, but I’m in the middle of finishing gifts, wrapping gifts, shipping gifts, occupying cats, hiding hubby’s papers from the cats, and reading a huge stack of books. All these projects are out in the open, so my office is a mess.

“If your desk isn’t cluttered, you probably aren’t doing your job.”

Harold S. Geneen

There is some debate as to whether a messy desk (or office) encourages or discourages creativity. For me, a messy office brings my creativity to a halt. But what am I do? I can’t finish everything today, so I have to ignore the mess and type on.

“Then there’s the joy of getting your desk clean, and knowing that all your letters are answered, and you can see the wood again.”

Lady Bird Johnson

I can’t handle it. I’m going to clean my office today. Otherwise, nothing will get done.

Do you work better with a messy desk or a clean one? I need your input because I can’t think anymore.

My family stuffing recipe

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

Thanks for responding to my questions.

Apparently, people like stuffing. Some people like cornbread stuffing, which I’ve never had, and others like a more traditional stuffing.

I do not eat stuffing but I like fixing it. My recipe came from my grandmother, and I feel close to her when I make it. It’s a very traditional dressing, and everyone gobbles it up.

If you are looking for a stuffing recipe, feel free to try out mine. A printable PDF version can be found here or you can read it below. Whatever stuffing you use, I hope your Thanksgiving is delicious.

Ice Family Stuffing

This is the stuffing that my grandmother (Edith Ice) made, and she taught my mom. It’s classic, and when I serve this at Thanksgiving, people devour it.

The recipe is not exact because you can’t screw it up. Use whatever bread you like (we use basic white or wheat.) Cut the onions and celery as large or small as you want. Make it to your taste, and it will become your family stuffing.

One last hint: use the biggest bowl you have because the bread likes to escape when stirring.

Ingredients:

  • 1 loaf white bread
  • 1 onion
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 stalks of celery
  • Innards from the turkey
  • ½ cup butter (1 stick)
  • 1 tsp. sage
  • Salt and pepper (a pinch)

Directions:

  1. Put the innards in a small saucepan. Cover with water and simmer.
  2. Chop up the onion and celery.
  3. Put the onion, celery, butter, sage, and salt and pepper in a second saucepan. Add water to cover and simmer twenty minutes.
  4. In a large bowl, tear up the loaf of bread into small pieces.
  5. Add 2 eggs to the bread.
  6. Pour the onion mixture over the bread and stir.
  7. Add enough of the innards water for the bread to be moist.
  8. Cook for thirty minutes at 350° in an ovenproof dish, or stuff the turkey.
  9. Add pepper to taste (more is better.)

This turkey ain’t a turkey

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

I’m having two Thanksgivings this year.

Since my moms-in-law are visiting us this week, we had turkey with all the fixings yesterday. We’ll do it again on Thanksgiving with friends. What I forget every year, until I do it again, is how much I like cooking a turkey.

It’s simple, hands-off, and the results are always great. Why can’t all food be this easy to fix? The smell makes everyone happy, and there are leftovers. It’s a perfect food.

I think the turkey industry is missing a bet. Except for an occasional Easter turkey, we only cook a turkey in November and December. Why doesn’t the turkey lobby convince us all to have turkey once a month? We don’t do it now because it’s almost impossible to find a turkey and if you do, it’s really expensive. But that could change.

Maybe the turkey growers don’t want us eating whole turkey year-round. Perhaps the industry’s doing fine with the Thanksgiving turkey formula. I once saw a Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe where he went to a turkey farm. It seemed like a lot of work and a very dirty (and noisy) job.

I don’t think the amount of turkey I eat in a year is going to increase, so I’m going to enjoy the couple I get to make. I’m just glad it’s so easy to get tasty results. All I need to be happy at Thanksgiving dinner is turkey and cranberry sauce. What do you like best?

I gave in, but I had a good reason

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

You probably know my feelings about Christmas music.

I like it, but I prefer to listen to it during the Christmas season. I can’t help but hear it when I go into stores and even restaurants, but at home, I wait until the day after Thanksgiving.

This year I gave in.

Not wanting to listen to news radio, my hubby and I found the Christmas station. It was refreshing to hear the happy melody of “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls.”

This leads to my question for all of you.

When do you start listening to Christmas music at your home? The day after Halloween? December? July? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll know if I am a holdout or one of many in my Christmas music preferences.