Power Of Attorney

We've recently updated our Will, Living Will, and General Durable Power of Attorney, and Health Care Power of Attorney, and it got me thinking, why do they call it a Power of Attorney (POA)?  The Power makes sense: you're giving someone else the legal authority, in other words, you are giving them the "power" to be you in the eyes of the law.  To understand "Attorney", you need to travel back in time.

In the past, an "attorney" wasn't just a lawyer. The word comes from the Old French atourné, which simply means "one who is turned to" or "one who is appointed."  Essentially, an attorney is anyone appointed to act in the place of another.  This is who you appoint to represent you in private business or personal matters (the person you name in a POA).

A deeper dive into what a Power of Attorney is can be read at the link below.

https://www.ncoa.org/article/what-is-power-of-attorney

Using AI To Summarize The Weather

The last part of this past January was brutally cold, and it felt like it had been forever since we last had seasonally normal temperatures.  Pulling up my favorite Gemini chatbot, I asked it, "Using the daily high temperatures for January 2026 at the Dayton International Airport, calculate the average high temperature and list each day's high temperature."  

The average was 31.7°F, significantly colder than the mid-30s average.  The table below shows all the highs, and I was surprised that the highest was 61°F on the 13th.  Without the frigid temperatures over the last five days, it would have been a normal January.

I ran the same question a few times, and the Gemini chatbot demonstrated one of AI's big problems: making things up.  It returned totally wrong temperatures that were, fortunately, easy to spot.  I told it the numbers were not correct; it rechecked, told me I was right, then produced the correct numbers.  Computers are good, but never take them as perfect.

https://gemini.google.com/app

Pabellón Criollo Venezolano

The plate you see below is a traditional Venezuelan dish that is considered their national dish.  There are avocado slices, tajadas (fried plantain slices), shredded beef, rice, refried beans, and salsa in the middle.  We are hoping this will become a regular entree at Jorrge's, our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Big shout-out to Janet for making us her authentic and delicious plate!

Jubie's Creamery

Jubie's Creamery has retail locations in Fairborn and Troy, Ohio, but I recently found that our local Dot's Market was carrying pints in various flavors, including the Hot Honeycomb you see below.  This flavor won the 2025 Best Flavor award at the North American Ice Cream Association conference in Palm Beach, Florida.  It's decadent, with swirls of hot honey and pieces of Winans uncoated honeycomb candies.  If you look at the menu at the link below, you will find all their amazing flavors.  Oh dear, what should I try next?  Banana Cream Pie?  Cookie Dough?  Mint Chip?  Coffee?  Might take a while...

https://www.jubiescreamery.com/menu

Eyelashes

The headlight eyelashes you see below are from a car in the parking lot of our local Dot's Market.   I've not seen this before, but given the options at the link below, it appears to be a real thing.  If you ever see me doing anything like this, have me committed asap.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=car+eyelashes+headlight

Lavender Butter

Back in 2010, Gourmet Chef Elaine and I spent a week in Napa Valley.  This was her first time in Napa, and I arranged private wine tastings on Monday and Tuesday at 10:00 am.  Monday's tasting was at Matanzas Creek Winery, for which I had made the reservation over six months before.  She did not know, and I had to strain not to tell her, that Matanzas Creek has a large lavender farm, and a tour of the fields and the barn was included in our private tasting.  Getting settled in, our hostess asked if we were ready for the lavender tour, and Elaine looked at me with a puzzled and hopeful look.  I finally had to fess up and admit I had this planned all along.  The tour was wonderful, and scooping up and smelling handfuls of lavender seeds from a large wine barrel was a sensory overload.

One of the products we brought home was the French Lavender Body Butter you see below.  Elaine is in love with it, and I've reordered jar after jar from their online market (link below).  If you have a lavender fan in your life, add this to their gift list.

https://www.matanzascreek.com/lavender-market

Using AI For Paint Color Recommendations

Below is a picture of our kitchen backsplash, and the missus recently asked if we might ever paint the walls in the adjoining dining room.  My reaction was probably not, since I couldn't think of another color that would work.  Turning to AI, I uploaded the picture and asked, "Recommend paint colors for a dining room that would go with the kitchen backsplash in the picture."  Liking the response, I followed that up with "Create an image in the form of a paint strip with the recommended colors," which you see below the backsplash.  The "Saybouk Sage" is a dead ringer for the color the walls are painted now.  The most intriguing is the suggestion of "Whole Wheat", which I wouldn't have thought of in a million years.  

https://gemini.google.com

Cowboy Chicken Spaghetti

Southern Living is our only paid subscription, and it paid off with this recipe for Cowboy Chicken Spaghetti.  Gourmet Chef Elaine's helper (i.e., me) took a Costco rotisserie chicken and carved it up, which he took half of for this recipe.  Its creamy goodness comes from a combination of Cheddar and Velveeta cheeses, and its spicy kick from Ro-Tel and chopped green chiles.  Add spaghetti and the rest of the ingredients you can find at the link below, and the result was a meal that I couldn't stop shoving into my mouth.  If you have some hungry mouths to feed, this could be your winner.

https://www.southernliving.com/cowboy-chicken-spaghetti-11783881

Water Meter

When I remodeled our basement a few years ago, I installed the grey plank flooring you see below.  I didn't like the concrete around the water meter, so after looking for solutions, I landed on using a piece of black foam board.  I measured carefully and cut out the circle at the bottom-right and another at the top-left.   Finally, I cut a slice (which you can't see) so I could bend the foam board around the pipe.  I think I did a good job of making an unsightly mess into a cool cover.

Thankful

Over on my Life Experiences blog (link below), I wrote about six things I'm thankful for during that dreadful year-and-a-half of COVID craziness.  Reflecting back on bad stuff is depressing, and I prefer to look at the brighter side.  Good memories are so much better than bad ones.

https://lifeexperiences.paulishing.com/2026/02/thankful.html