Red, White And Blue

We should all know that the stars on the United States flag represent the current fifty states and the red and white stripes the thirteen original colonies.  But do you know why these particular colors were selected?

• Red stands for hardiness and valor
• White symbolizes purity and innocence
• Blue represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice

The flag is usually displayed from sunrise to sunset, but the locations below fly Old Glory 24 hours a day 

• Fort McHenry, National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Maryland
• Flag House Square, Baltimore, Maryland
• United States Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima), Arlington, Virginia
• On the Green of the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts
• The White House, Washington, D.C.
• United States customs ports of entry
• Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge State Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

More on the interesting history of our flag can be found at the link below.

https://www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/history/old-glory

10X

At the bottom of the picture below, which appeared for less than a second on a commercial for some humanitarian fundraiser I don't remember, is a line that caught my attention.  I had to "rewind" the commercial to quickly snap the picture. It states your donation "can" be used to get government money and that it "can" multiply its impact by ten times.  I suppose that also means it could be a great waste of money and only benefits grant writers or lobbyists.

What irks me more than anything is the use of the huge "10X" which I'm sure is meant to distract you long enough that you wouldn't notice anything else on the screen before it passed.  When an organization tries this hard to get you to miss what I'm sure a line their lawyers said had to be included, I'm inclined to believe I'm wasting my money on this one.

Am I just getting more distrustful the longer I live, or am I just getting smarter?

Mascarpone Limoncello Pie

If you closed your eyes and tasted the Mascarpone Limoncello Pie pictured below, you could easily mistake it for the best Key Lime Pie ever.  The crust is ground-up toasted pecans and coconut crisp cookies blended with butter and sweetened coconut.  The filling starts by whipping heavy cream to soft peaks and then whisking in mascarpone, condensed milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and Limoncello.  The filling and crust are combined and placed in a freezer for at least 3-4 hours.  We're not big dessert eaters, but there wasn't a crumb left.

Argon

Way back when Gourmet Chef Elaine and I were dating, we played trivia with a group of friends at a local watering hole named Bosco's.  One of the questions was "What's the third most gas that makes up air" to which I immediately wrote down "argon".  She looked at me and asked, "How on earth do you know that!?"  Well, I'm a geek, pure and simple, and that was my value to our trivia group.  She brings a vast amount of medical knowledge and each member of the group had their specialties, and we always did well.  

The name "argon" is derived from the Greek word meaning 'lazy' or 'inactive', as a reference to the fact that the element undergoes almost no chemical reactions.  And I just had to buy the coffee mug shown below as a remembrance. 

Android Camera Delay

For those of us smart, lucky, or handsome enough who have Android phones, we also have the option to set a camera delay like I posted yesterday for iPhone folks.  Launch the Camera app and click the gear icon to bring up the screen below.  Like the iPhone, there are the same 3 and 10-second delay options.  Pick one, return to the app, and press the shutter to start the countdown.  That's how it works on my Pixel 7 and that varies on the type of Android phone you have, which is talked about in more detail at the link below.

https://www.alphr.com/set-timer-android-camera

iPhone Camera Delay

Perhaps your fingers are so talented that you can take an arms-length selfie while simultaneously firmly holding your iPhone and pressing the shutter button, but the rest of us are at serious risk of taking a terrible picture or worse, dropping our phone.  After recently witnessing a near-disaster I asked myself if there might be a way to use a countdown timer and avoid pressing the shutter, and sure nuf, there is.  As the link below will explain in more detail, you just launch Camera, tap the up-arrow icon at the top of your screen, and tap the timer icon at the upper right.  That will bring up the screen you see below where you can select either a 3 or 10-second delay.  After tapping the shutter button a timer will count down to zero when your picture is taken.

https://www.howtogeek.com/833693/how-to-use-the-iphone-camera-timer

Locking Your SSN

The recent data security breach at National Public Data exposed 2.9 billion records, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and Social Security numbers—pretty much everybody.  As a result, we created free (I love free) accounts at the three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and froze any access to our credit reports.  In addition, we used the U.S. government's myE-Verify service (link below) to prevent access to our Social Security Numbers, which stops anyone from using your SSN to apply for a job and having their wages reported under our numbers.  

Setting up accounts at the credit agencies is pretty straightforward, but tedious.  Setting up a myE-Verify account requires answering four questions that are designed to prove you are who you say you are and those can be pretty difficult, so I suggest you pull one of your three credit reports and have it available when answering those questions.  

https://myeverify.uscis.gov

Slow Cooker Carnitas

Originally published on March 31, 2017.

This crock pot is filled with pork shoulder, spices, onion, lime juice and a squeezed orange, and then the orange is thrown in to boot. Eight hours later the meat was shredded and broiled to a crisp, then put on tortillas with guacamole, sour cream and cheese. Shortly after that, I was in the most pleasant food coma.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/scottloitsch/carnitas

1977 Dayton River Corridor Classic

Originally published on May 23, 2018.

My first half-marathon was the inaugural Dayton River Corridor Classic, held on the afternoon of Saturday, October 29, 1977.  My pace was about 8:08 per mile over those 13.1 miles and not being used to that kind of distance, I was sore for several days after.  The soreness fades, but being part of Dayton's running history lasts forever.

Mike Leach On Weddings

Originally published on November 29, 2017.

This is a perfect summary of what happens during wedding planning, with some advice on how us men can cope, delivered by Washington State football coach Mike Leach.  Spot on funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGIap2_tmng

Call Me Maurice

Originally published on October 5, 2015.

My most recent t-shirt addition, which a few people might get, is a line from The Steve Miller Band's song "The Joker".  And no, "pompitous", as in the "pompitous of love" is not a real word.

http://www.zazzle.com

WizTree

Originally published on June 20, 2018.

I've been a big WinDirStat fan for years, but WizTree has won me over with its blazing performance, taking a fraction of the time to display every file on a disk drive in the same three-panel format. The graphical display is the best way to find those huge files you once needed but now just take up space.  WizTree is free (I love free), but you can show some love by clicking on the Donate button at the top right.

http://antibody-software.com

Tomato Tart

Originally published on August 11, 2017.

This is better than the best pizza I've ever had, and a lot less work. The choice of cheese is important, and asiago fresco is awesome.  I suggest avoiding a mild cheese like mozzarella. This is best as a summer treat when tomatoes and basil are at their best.

Ingredients

• 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed
• Parchment paper
• ⅓ cup of basil pesto 
• 2 cups asiago fresco (or provolone cheese), grated 
• ⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese, plus 2 tablespoons 
• 2 large heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced (9 slices)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt 
• 5-6 basil leaves, sliced thinly

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Place the puff pastry sheet on parchment paper and roll out to 12" x 12"
• Spread a thin layer of the pesto on the puff pastry 
• Sprinkle 2 cups of asiago fresco (or provolone cheese), then the parmesan cheese over the pesto
• Place the tomatoes in a single layer on top
• Grind fresh pepper on top of the tomatoes
• Sprinkle the additional 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese on top of the tomatoes
• Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the puff pastry is puffed and golden brown
• Remove from oven
• Top with a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkled sea salt and basil leaves
• Cut into 9 squares

Mom

Originally published on December 21, 2016.

At Christmas, I miss my mother the most.  1985 was our last Christmas together when I was a young man of 30 years.  Hard to believe I've now spent more than half my life without her.

This picture dates back to Mom and Dad's wedding in 1950. She was a beautiful lady, inside and out.

Squeezing Lemons

Originally published on April 16, 2018.

I've always squeezed lemons and other citrus using a press with the fruit pointed down, like pictured at the bottom right.  But while watching Trisha Yearwood's cooking show, in the blink of an eye, I swore I saw her squeeze it upside down.  A quick back-it-up then play-and-pause and sure enough, I see that the fruit should be pointed up instead, like the picture at the bottom left.  A quick test showed that I get about 25% more juice, and a lot less mess, using what seems to me to be the upside-down way of doing this. 

Stratus Helicopters

Originally published on April 19, 2017.

I don't know how this one didn't get into the blog for so long.  Back in October 2016, I had a 45-minute introduction and safety course about helicopters, then climbed aboard this blue two-seater on a beautiful sunny day for the ride of my life. I got to pilot the helicopter for about 15 minutes as we made a big loop around northern Cincinnati.  It's very touchy, but Matt was there to take over in a split second if needed.

He demonstrated during the flight how a helicopter, without engine power, can float down towards the ground, just like a glider. We, fortunately, didn't test out the final part of the maneuver, which would involve pitching the copter nose-up near the ground to kill the forward speed and falling the last few feet. But it's nice to know you can survive and not end up a splotch on the ground.

https://www.stratushelicopters.com

Out-Of-Office Permanently

Originally published on August 25, 2018.

This is a rare Saturday post, but it's a one-in-a-lifetime day, that being my first day of retirement.  I posted the following as my "permanently out of the office" message before I left yesterday. 

------

I've run away and joined a circus...

Just kidding.

After working since I was 11 years old in one job or another, I've retired.  

I've traded in my alarm clock for adventures, my calendar for a second cup of coffee and morning commutes for morning exercises.  While this work journey ends with the declaration of retirement, the next journey begins, one that offers the most precious thing in life other than love, that being time.  Time to read, write, golf, explore, create, mentor, listen, give, appreciate and deeply inhale the fragrance of the roses. 

I really have loved working, mainly because of the people I've come to know and what we've accomplished together.  Information Technology was a great career choice and one that ended up being just as much a creative outlet as a technical challenge. And one that I don't have to stop because I'm retired.  That wasn't true in 1974 when I entered Wright State University, in the era of mainframes, but personal computers, the Internet, websites, mobile devices and open-source software hadn't been invented yet.  I can dabble to my heart's content.

Don't bother replying, I'll never get it.  This out-of-office message is permanent.  

Signing off ...

Paul

 

Christmas Lasagna

Originally published on December 30, 2016.

A tradition on Christmas Eve is for me to turn the following collection of ingredients into a lasagna to bake on Christmas Day. While it sort of looks formidable at first, there is really a minimal amount of chopping (onion, garlic, basil) and is mostly an exercise in simmering, boiling and layering. I've used a number of different recipes over the years, settling on this one from AllRecipes.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/23600/worlds-best-lasagna

Dueling Toilets

Originally published on September 9, 2015.

This takes the girl's trip to the bathroom together to the next level.  When the wait staff at Parlay Social in Lexington, Kentucky was asked why they built this, they explained that so many women go to the powder room together, they thought this would be a good idea.  Hum...

http://parlaysocial.com

Herding Cats

Originally published on October 8, 2014.

Hump Day Humor:

EDS's 2000 Super Bowl commercial about herding cats is one of the all-time best.  Never gets old. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8

Wine Away

Originally published on July 9, 2015.

There are few things in life that are just shy of a miracle.  Wine Away is one of them.  It's saved couches, wedding dresses and carpets from major red wine spills.  I don't even flinch when a glass is spilled.  Wine Away eliminates every trace.

http://www.wineaway.com

Tying Your Shoes

Originally published on Monday, July 6, 2015.

For about 40 years of my life, I tied my shoelaces incorrectly.  Then after buying new dress shoes and being unable to keep them tied, I searched around until I found this website, which explained the problem and the simple solution.  "Left over right, then right over left" has worked ever since.

http://shoeknots.com

Oldies But Goodies

Gourmet Chef Elaine and I are embarking on an 18-day road trip that will take us to Pittsburgh, Gettysburg, Monticello, Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head Island, and Charlotte.  Instead of just taking a break from this blog, I rummaged through the 2,247 blogs I've published since 2014 and selected 15 to be republished over the next 3 weeks.  

Simple Roots

Simple Roots is an Amish store located in Corwin, Ohio, just east of Waynesville on the other side of U.S. 42.  They have Amish meats and cheeses and an eclectic selection of other products.   We bought the half-pound roll of Amish butter we came for but ended up also getting a cinnamon roll with maple glaze, a bottle of Frostie root beer, a container of chili con queso dip, an apple fry pie, a jar of mild pepper giardiniera, a bottle of roasted garlic dressing, a bruschetta cheese bar, a jar of strawberry jam, three packages of microwave popcorn, and a dozen of ready-to-bake Der Dutchman snickerdoodle cookies.  

Impulse buying at its best!

https://simplerootsbulkfoods.com

Jonathan Dayton

Dayton, Ohio, is named after Jonathan Dayton (1760-1824), a man born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, educated at what is now Princeton University, and had a political career that included serving as the Speaker of the House in the Fourth and Fifth Congresses.  His national political career was destroyed due to his affiliation with Aaron Burr, who apparently planned, but never executed, a plan to travel to the southwest U.S. to conquer Spanish lands and create an empire.  The city of Dayton is named for Jonathan because he owned 250,000 acres of Ohio land between the Big and Little Miami Rivers.  More life details can be found at the link below.

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/constitution/bio11.htm

Tree Recognition

We first saw the sign shown below at Kettering Central Park on Lincoln Park Blvd in Kettering, Ohio in front of an old and large tree and wondered why recognizing a tree made any sense at all.  Surely the tree wasn't even aware of the sign given it's turned away from the tree and they don't have eyeballs anyway.  Later that day we saw an identical sign at the new Gentile Park on Maddix Drive in front of another large tree and figured Kettering was up to something and according to the link below, their new Heritage Tree Program is a "celebratory program allows us to appreciate the environmental and aesthetic gifts provided by the remarkable trees around us."  Up to 10 trees will be selected and provided a sign to be displayed between Labor Day and Halloween.

I have an opinion and I'll keep it to myself.  As my mother taught me, if ...

https://www.playkettering.org/heritage-tree-program

Vehicle Weight Hype

A while back I read about how heavy electric vehicles (EVs) are due to their batteries and how they would be harder on roads and that parking garages might buckle under the extra weight.  It seemed to make sense at the time but while a friend of mine and I were munching on Skyline chili dogs one day at lunch I looked up the vehicle weight of my Infiniti QX60 and his Tesla Model Y and found that I had the heavier car, 4,519 pounds versus his 4,416.  Given all the Ford F-150s, Chevy Silverados, and full-sized SUVs on the roads today, all of which weigh about the same or more than an EV, the roads and garages have already endured quite an increase and EVs are not likely to be some magical tipping point.

I guess freedom of the press includes to right to scare you for no good reason (except to generate revenue).

Dairy Queen

As is our yearly tradition, Gourmet Chef Elaine and I go to Dairy Queen and have an ice cream cone. Our favorite is the chocolate-dipped small-sized beauties shown below.  It was a nice day so we sat outside while we licked the ice cream down to the cones.  And yes, we only do this once a year, which makes it special and something to look forward to.  

Hot Pepper Relish

I had a lot of leftover peppers and decided to try this hot pepper relish recipe to use them up.  Dicing up three cups of multi-colored peppers into little bits took the good part of an hour, but the rest was just combining them with white some vinegar, sugar, chopped garlic, chopped onion, mustard seed, and salt, bringing it to a boil and then simmering for a half hour.  It is a delicious topping for a lunchtime hot dog.

https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/sauces/hot-pepper-relish

Shiny Appliances

Gourmet Chef Elaine uses baby oil to keep our stainless steel appliances looking brand new and fingerprint-free.  After cleaning the surface she applies a small amount using a paper towel and it transforms a streaky mess into a perfect shine.  Baby oil contains mineral oil and that's the magic ingredient.  You can read more about why this works so well at the link below.

https://www.housedigest.com/1319288/shine-stainless-steel-appliances-baby-oil

Ohio BMV Express

I saw the Ohio BMV Express machine shown below at our neighborhood Meijer store recently, which turned out to be a convenient way to renew your car's registration.  You just scan your vehicle's renewal notice barcode or the barcode on your current vehicle registration, pay with a credit or debit card, and it will print out your vehicle registration card and license plate sticker.  

I always renew my registration online after I get the notice in the mail, but I can see this would be a great option if you need to renew immediately (i.e. you forgot) and you don't like to wait at the BMV office along with a few dozen others.  

You can find nearby Ohio BMV Express machines at the link below, which in my area appear to be limited to Meijer or Kroger stores.

https://ohiobmvexpress.com

Bald

Contrary to the picture shown below, I'm not really bald.  It's more like I elected to shave most of my head as my hair thinned to the point that I was approaching the dreaded combover look and I wasn't having any of that.  So I shaved it one day and decided that was the better of the two options.  But I never considered any other plusses or minuses to a bald head.

The biggest negative is that I get my hair cut more often than before.  After about four weeks the sides grow out enough to create a "Bozo Effect" (yes, like the clown) and it's not a good look.  So it's back to the barber for a 3-minute, $20-dollar hair clip down to 1/8 of an inch.

The biggest positive is that I don't have to shower first thing in the morning.  Sleeping on my longer hair always resulted in one messed-up hairdo that could only be tamed with a shower.  I also like that drying my hair takes two seconds with a towel and getting caught in a rainshower isn't a big deal anymore.  One swipe of the hand and I'm good to go.

Baby Blanket

I crocheted a baby blanket back in 1980 for my soon-to-be-born baby girl.  I used multicolored yarn to give it an interesting look and used the basic single crochet stitch, the only one I ever learned. I would sit in my living room chair night after night, crocheting as I watched TV, slowly building row after row of stitches until I achieved the somewhat oversized blanket shown below, which she has kept for all these years.  

Vegetable Stand

Mr. and Mrs. Barnett have a vegetable stand (bottom picture below) so far out in the country that Google Street View doesn't have it.  They have tomatoes, corn, beans, onions, peppers, watermelons, and more and it's best to go mid-week for the best selection.  It's a cash honor system, so bring enough fives and ones to make the proper deposit.  It's also good to bring your own large shopping bag(s).

The top picture below was our takeaway, with six large tomatoes, ten huge yellow peppers, and a basket of who-knows-how-many jalapenos, which cost us a total of $7.  That's a bargain!

This Google Maps link will pinpoint the address and when you get there you will turn on a gravel driveway and the stand is immediately on your left.  

https://www.google.com/maps/place/4060+Middle+Run+Rd,+Spring+Valley,+OH+45370

Limoncello Spritz

We began a recent Dorothy Lane Culinary Center class with the Limoncello Spritz shown below.  A single serving has 3 ounces of Prosecco (or another sparkling wine), 2 ounces of Limoncello, and one ounce of soda water.  You can party-size that by replacing the ounces with cups.  Serve on ice with a lemon slice and mint leaves. It's the mint that really makes this stand out.  

Rear Wiper Replacement

I've often used the phrase "It's not hard, but it's not obvious" and my recent replacement of the rear wiper blade on our Infiniti QX60 is a perfect example.  I could not figure out how to get the old wiper blade off and I've learned from experience that applying too much force is not a good idea.  So I headed over to the Perplexity AI chatbot and asked "Find me a video of someone replacing the rear wiper on a 2018 Infiniti qx60" and it returned a perfect link to the YouTube video below.  After viewing it, I understood how the blade was attached and that removing it would require a fair amount of force.  Armed with this knowledge, I replaced it in under a minute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7oLuUksZq4

At Least We Made It

The picture below was all we saw for 2 1/2 hours on westbound I-70 back in February as we began our trip to Fort Lauderdale for a week-long cruise on the Celebrity Ascent.  The two-page blog post at the link below details the four crises we went through over the two-day journey.  The short story is we almost hit a semi, we might not have had a hotel room in Indianapolis, our flight was delayed five hours, and we thought all our luggage would end up missing.  Why when it comes to catching a cruise ship we have nothing but bad luck and stress?

https://lifeexperiences.paulishing.com/2024/08/at-least-we-made-it.html

Wobble Shims

We all have a four-legged table or chair that wobbles and we all find something to use to cram under the leg to make it stable.  In our case, it was our patio table with 4-5 paper coasters and it looked so hillbilly.  I noodled for a while and came up with several ideas, but I chucked them all when I found a 6-pack of wobble shims for $3.39 at Amazon.  Each shim is about 1" wide, 2" long, and tapers down from a 3/16" height, and is made with a rubbery, variegated surface.  I needed four shims to level the table and as you can see from the picture below, they are not hillbilly at all.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EALUQWW

Roast Beef And Swiss

Gourmet Chef Elaine made the most delicious sandwich using our Griddler panini press.  She lightly spread the outside of the ciabatta bread with oil and the inside with a bit of her homemade pesto.  Boarshead roast beef and Swiss cheese were layered inside and the sandwich was placed on the preheated panini press.  The top closed, my job was to apply light pressure to the lid for one minute to flatten them a bit and get the nice char marks you see below.  It was so good we repeated the recipe a few days later.

2G Station Spoofing

It's amazing how creative technologies' crooked side can be and the Google Security blog at the link below goes deep into how crooks are using False Base Stations (FBS) to send you SMS messages trying to get you to fall for their schemes.  The FBS broadcasts itself as an LTE/5G cellular station, gets your phone to back down to its 2G (early 1990s cellular) connection, and then uses 2G's weaknesses to inject the messages.  All this bypasses the protections included with your wireless carrier.

Android 12 (~ 3 years ago) introduced the ability to turn off 2G completely, as seen in the screenshot of my Pixel 7 below.  I did that because I could, not that I'm the type that clicks on things just to see what would happen.  Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a similar turn-off switch for iPhones.

https://security.googleblog.com/2024/08/keeping-your-android-device-safe-from.html

Recuva

I was asked recently if photos inadvertently deleted from a large-capacity SD card could be recovered.  If you didn't know, deleting files normally does not wipe them out, you just don't see them anymore.  If the data isn't overwritten, it's usually possible to get them back.  

There are many recovery tools on the market with Disk Drill being the best that I tried, but for $80 that was a bit much for a (hopefully) single-time use.  In the end, I used Recuva, free (I love free) Windows-only software that could recover all the files and put them on my hard drive.  It's impossible to know if it recovered every single file, but Recuva's and Disk Drill's file counts matched, so it likely snagged them all.

You can find Recuva at the link below.

https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

Moses

It's been eighteen years since Moses, "my little buddy in the purring business", passed away. Still, until recently I never realized he was a "rescue" cat, but since I got him at SICSA (Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals) that makes him one.  I just knew they had cats and Moses was the only one who was not a kitten (he was a year old) and let me pet him immediately and purred.  There are several Moses stories over on my Life Experiences blog at the link below.

https://lifeexperiences.paulishing.com/2016/05/remembering-moses.html

Arborvitae

The bottom picture below was taken two years ago when our arborvitae were planted.  The top picture was taken recently and shows how much they have gotten taller and thicker.  The purpose of these trees is to provide a little more privacy in our backyard and they are certainly doing that.  I can't wait to see what another couple of years of growth will do.

Slow Cooker Beef Short Ribs

Gourmet Chef Elaine made this uber-delectable recipe of beef short ribs.  Beef stock, red wine, onion, garlic, tomato paste, spices, and cornstarch produce a gravy that's perfect over a mound of mashed potatoes.  It was cooked on low for about 6-8 hours while filling the house with its mouth-watering aromas.  This could be your next crowd-pleaser!

https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/crockpot-beef-short-ribs-with-rich-gravy

Rimfire

A very good friend gave us a bottle of Rimfire Whiskey, named after her great-uncle Eli Chapman "Rimfire" Hamrick.  According to legend, Rimfire came by his nickname when asked how he killed the chickens for the hotel he worked at, he replied, ‘‘With a rimfire rifle, by God.’’  Rimfire is a type of ammunition with its primer located within a hollow rim at the base of its casing and is used by the .22 Long Rifle cartridge, the most widely sold ammunition in the world today.

Rimfire is a great sipping whiskey that is smooth with a variety of aromas which you can read about at the link below.  It's not found in Ohio, but you may find it in Indiana where it's bottled.  However, it can be ordered at regencyliquor.com.

https://www.rimfirewhiskey.com

Clover

Clover is a type of weed and while it's way prettier than the typical dandelion its biggest downside is the bees it attracts.  I stepped on one earlier this year at our swimming pool in bare feet and wow was that painful.  Not only does the barbed stinger hurt, but it releases a chemical called melittin, and that venom causes a burning sensation.  More venom is released for up to a minute, so getting the stinger out quickly is important.  We kill clover at home using Spectracide Weed Stop For Lawns and I wish the pool would do the same.

More information can be found at the link below.

https://www.livescience.com/32566-why-do-bee-stings-hurt-so-bad.html

ChromeOS Flex

You can breathe new life into an old laptop by installing ChromeOS Flex, turning it into something like, but not exactly, a Chromebook.  You get a similar web-browser-only experience which needs far less CPU and memory than Windows.  The link below will get you started by looking at which laptops have been certified to work with ChromeOS Flex.  Then the basic process to install ChromeOS Flex is to create a USB installer via a Chrome extension, boot up your target device using that flash drive, and install ChromeOS Flex.  That's all there is to it.

https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11513094

Quarterly Newsletter

People ask me all the time what I do now that I'm retired (6 years!) and that's a variety of things, but one that I enjoy doing is writing a 6-page quarterly newsletter for our friends who own Kinzeler Realty.  The first page is a seasonal topic, page two is tips for homeowners, page three is related to buying and selling your home, page four is about our community, and page five is a history topic related to our area.  The last page is used for addressing the newsletter which is mailed to several hundred people.

I also upload the PDF file to their website and you can get to them at the link below.

https://www.homesdaytonohio.com/quarterly-newsletter

Zap Those Cobs

When a friend suggested microwaving corn on the cob, I thought that was crazy talk.  Truth is it's the best corn I've ever had with great flavor and since the cob gets hot also (unlike other methods), the corn stays heated as you munch off the kernels.  Gourmet Chef Elaine likes to soak the corn in water for twenty minutes, then microwave it on high for four minutes for one ear or seven minutes for two ears.  Be sure to wear appropriate gloves when you shuck them because, once again, they will be HOT!

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

Kevin Milstead, the owner/operator of "The Food Dude Street Eats and Catering" and known for his amazing smash burgers, made the delicious and nicely garnished drink below using muddled strawberries, a light simple syrup, and the juice from a fresh lemon.  Not that it needed it, but I added a couple of glugs of vodka to kick it up a notch.  Perfect summer drink.

His contact information and where you can find him out and about can be found on the Facebook page below.

https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Food-Dude-Street-Eats-and-Catering-LLC/100091404420448

Radio Data System

I never thought about how a car's radio displays the song title, artist, station name, and other information, but a recent discussion with a friend led to the discovery of the Radio Data System, a standard that was first published in 1984.  It uses RDS a 57kHz subcarrier, a frequency higher than the audio.  Among the many optional features, if a time and date are included, clocks can keep themselves current.  That's a feature used by, for example, an alarm clock that automatically keeps its time current.

The history and lots of details on RDS can be found at the link below.

https://www.mediarealm.com.au/articles/fm-rds-radio-data-system-guide

Voice Isolation

Sorry Android users, this feature is for iPhone/iPad only.  Bummer for me.

Voice Isolation is a feature that allows you to mute your background noise allowing your voice to stand out to the person you're talking to.  Gourmet Chef Elaine and I tested this out by cranking up some Kenny Chesney music on our Bose speaker and then I called her.  In normal mode, I could hear Kenny quite well, but after she turned on Voice Isolation, Kenny was gone.  It's like someone killed Kenny.  OMG.

Voice Isolation can only be activated during a phone call (or Facetime) and lasts only for the duration of that call.  Just swipe down from the top-right corner towards the middle of your screen, which opens your Control Center (left picture below).  Tap Mic Mode and select Voice Isolation (right picture below).  You might also see a Wide Spectrum option, which is the reverse of Voice Isolation and will magnify your background, which might be useful on an iPad Facetime when multiple people need to be heard.  

More details and prerequisite hardware and software levels can be found at this Apple Support link.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/101993

Zevo Flying Insect Trap

The insect trap shown below is the latest gadget to combat flying critters and is the result of returning home from a 4-day trip to find dozens and dozens of flies had infiltrated our house.  It uses blue and UV light to attract the bugs, which get stuck on disposable adhesive backing.   I don't plan to have this going year-round, just the times when it's needed.  More details can be found at the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T869RNY

PB&J Burger

Gourmet Chef Elaine just had to try the PB&J Burger at 40 Thieves in Buffalo, NY.  You can see in the picture below the peanut butter but the jelly is hidden.  We've heard from several people that this is a really good combination, and while probably there won't be a repeat performance, it was good and worth saying she tried it.  It is a really cute bar with a good menu and many beers on tap, which you can see at the link below.

https://40thievesbuffalo.com

Golden Margaritas

Gourmet Chef Elaine and I have probably had a couple of hundred small pitchers of Golden Margaritas at Jorrge's over the last three-plus years and the owner just knows to bring us one with two, no-salt-on-the-rim glasses when we sit down.  The angle of the picture makes it hard to judge its size relative to the in-the-foreground glasses, but one pitcher is enough for two margaritas each.  Two pitchers would mean an Uber home...

https://www.jorrges.net

Give Us A Call

I spotted the phone number in the picture below from Tangles Hair Salon in the Fairmont Plaza Shopping Center in Kettering, OH then looked around at the rest of the buildings and found no one had listed their numbers.  I checked some other shopping centers and just a few had numbers on their signs.  Yes, I know nowadays we can easily search for a number on our smartphones, but listing it on the sign says to me "Please call us!".   

This is where Gourmet Chef Elaine gets her hair done and has for many, many years.  With that glowing recommendation, you can call or visit their Facebook page link below.

https://www.facebook.com/tangleshairsalonkettering