Charlie's Steak and Ale in Forsyth Missouri

Late Fall Romaine Lettuce in Mid December!

While it might be cold outside, my mini cold frames are doing great. We’ve had a few nights when the temperatures outside have plunged into the teens! But witness how healthy the romaine lettuce is that was harvested today. The wonderful thing about having a cold frame is the way in which lettuce that was started from seed in early September is now grown but in a kind of suspended animation. Each head is growing very slowly and, even after sitting in the frame for a couple of months, is still as fresh as any I could get from the garden in the spring. I’ll tell you right now that the little bit of work I did back then to get these seeds to grow more than pays for itself as winter approaches. Just having a bit of fresh produce you have grown yourself helps to keep me going until spring gets here!

The Coming Winter Weater for 1009 and 2010

I always love to take a look to see what the Famers Almanac has to say about the coming winter and this year the predictions are a dozy.

The Almanac’s weather prediction feature has always been a major feature and the company which publishes it claims an 80 to 85 percent accuracy rate for its long range forecasts. That’s not bad considering this publication was started in 1818! The method they use to arrive at these forecasts are very secret. They admit only to using top secret mathematical and astronomical formulae that rely on such factors as sunspot activity, the tides and even planetary positions.

According to the 2010 edition this winter (January through March) will see more days of shivery conditions: a winter during which temperatures will average below normal for about three-quarters of the nation.

A large area of numbingly cold temperatures will predominate from roughly east of the Continental Divide to west of the Appalachians. The coldest temperatures will be over the northern Great Lakes and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. But acting almost like the bread of a sandwich, to this swath of unseasonable cold will be two regions with temperatures that will average closer to normal—the West Coast and the East Coast.

Also, near-normal amounts of precipitation are expected over the eastern third of the country, as well as over the Pacific Northwest and Northern Plains, while drier-than-normal conditions are forecast to occur over the Southwest and the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes.

Only the Central and Southern Plains are expected to receive above-average amounts of precipitation. Hey, that’s where I live!

While three-quarters of the country is predicted to see near- or below average precipitation this winter, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any winter storms! On the contrary, significant snowfalls are forecast for parts of every zone. For the Middle Atlantic and Northeast States, for instance, we are predicting a major snowfall in mid-February; possibly even blizzard conditions for New England!

The bottom line seems to be that most of the country, especially the center will see a little more precipitation and slightly colder temperatures than normal.

Three Things I Hate Most in Second Life!

Second Life - A must see!

If you would like to experience something really new and different on the Internet please give Second Life a try. It’s free unless you decide you want to buy land or start up a business in this virtual world. I’ve been hanging out there for a year or so now and find something new about each day I’m there.

SL provides a rich world where just about anything is possible. You start out as a rather simple avatar in one of the in-world greeting areas where, trust me, it will be a challenge to figure out what’s going on. But, this is due more to the incredible amount of stimuli that will assail your senses as you wander around in a virtual world that is the physical size of two large cities combined. Once you get accustomed to the place, you can enjoy a wide range of activities. Everything from shopping, building, joining clubs and attending simulcasts given by various corporations and universities. If your looking for a job and need to interact with other companies worldwide, this place is for you! My only caution is that it will take you some time (like a couple of weeks) to really begin to get the feel for the possibilities of this place.

I hope to see you there. here is the link for Second Life.  If you do get to In-World, please look me up. My avatar name is Danomanno Redyard. I’ll try and help you out with questions and instructions.

An old magazine found in my attic

Parks by My Home

The Tunnel of Political Love can be Fleeting

Cold Frame October 2009 Update - Romaine lettuce

It’s been some time since I made an entry concerning the two small cold frames I maintain at my home in southwest Missouri. True, while they aren’t much to look at, they still make me smile every time I harvest something that was grown in them.

Right now I have a fall planting of romaine lettuce with a few radishes that were seeded in early September. Now as it is getting toward mid October, they are all beginning to look like something that will make it to the kitchen before too long. Even if the temps go down to freezing, I know from past experience, that the lettuce will come through in fine shape. Later in the year, if I still have something in the frames by, say December, I’ll just put the window sashes over them and even though they will cease growing very much, I’ll be able to keep them in edible condition right through the winter if I so desire!

When these plants get a little larger, I’ll post a follow up blog.

What the Future May Hold for Media Reporters

Recent televised rock throwing encounters in Jerusalem were somewhat troubling to a purist like myself. There was the usual configuration in place. A small groups of youths throwing rocks at the police. But, that's not what concerned me. No, it wasn't the combatants, but the sizable crowd of media people that were straining for good camera angles even as rocks whizzed by their heads. I wasn’t sure at one point which was larger, the police or the media. (At least the police had plastic shields with which to ward off incoming rock missiles. The reporters and cameramen were not so lucky and I understand one unfortunate even got injured).

So, is this going to be a trend or what? Will future confrontations look somewhat like a meatball sandwich with the fighting factions surrounded on all sides by hundreds of cameras, sound men and reporters? At some critical juncture, will a CNN or Fox reporter pick up a stone and throw it himself? These imaginings trouble me to say the least. I can even foresee a disastrous encounter where two groups of media, each representing one side, will drop their equipment and battle each other while the people who should be fighting stand around watching in awe. Actually, that would make for very interesting news!

Pink Flowering Dogwood Seed Propagation?

Forsyth Harvest Moon Video

 

Click here for video

Getting Your electric Bill Under Control

In slow economic times it behooves a man like me to pinch pennies. Jobs have been few and far between with no real job security. So, some time ago, I decided to set up my very first real budget. I’ll admit it has been an agonizing process and finding different ways to save still goes on to this day. However, very quickly, one area did emerge where I was sure I could do make some long lasting gains...the electric bill! 

This came home to me when, back in March, I got a bill for $160 and change. I decided, then and there, to get proactive on my own and to see what I could do to bring this cost more into line. First, I needed a plan, so the first thing I did was build a comprehensive map of all the devices in my home. For each item, I put down a brief description, the location, its wattage requirement and how much it was used during an average day. Just by knowing a couple of things, I could arrive at an average monthly cost for that item.

Now, the math for figuring this is pretty simple (see below). Just take the rated wattage , let’s say were looking at a 75 watt bulb ,and divide it by 1000 to get the kilowatt figure (0.75). Next you need to know what the electric company is charging you for a kilowatt hour. Here in southwest Missouri I am charged about 9 cents per kilowatt hour so we multiply 0.075 x 9 cents we get a cost per hour used of  0.675 cents per hour or 16.2 cents per day (assuming we ran the light all day and all night). Therefore , an average months cost would be 30 times 16.2 cents or $4.86 per month.

There is one small fly to this ointment. In the real world, many devices like furnaces, water heaters and fridges run for short or irregular periods of time, thus they can be hard to figure out. (I suppose in the case of the refrigerator you could stand around for a few hours with your ear to the door and then notate how long it hums. Doing something like that would get you an average at least)! However, for me there was a pretty neat device on the market called the ‘Kill-a-Watt’ that can do the work for you. Just plug it into what you want to measure and let an appropriate amount of time pass ( an hour, a day, a week...) and the reading will tell you exactly how much the power is costing you. Pretty neat like I said.

So, after a lot of running around and getting readings from various items, I was able to develop a strategy for saving myself some money. In order to accomplish this, I bought a few timers and multiple outlet devices to allow me to turn off devices at night when they aren’t being used anyway. Included in this category were such items as my cable Hi-definition equipment, surround sound, hubs, computers, printers and servers. I also replaced my old incandescent light bulbs with florescent one that are much more energy efficient. In the basement, I wrapped the water heater in a protective blanket and reduced the temperature at which the water was maintained. Lastly, I adjusted the AC and heat to more reasonable levels and used ceiling fans whenever possible.

My ‘improvements’ took have taken a couple of months to implement, but you can see the difference it has made since March in the form of real savings of about forty plus dollars a month so far. What’s really smashing is that I have not had to change my lifestyle very much. Just a little tweaking here and there.

Now it’s time to ‘kick it up a notch’, so I purchased a TED. That stands for ‘The Energy Detective’ and it is a device which will monitor the entire house in real time. My hope is that this will help me to achieve even greater savings. I plan to write a blog on this in a few weeks.

TED - The Energy Detective - Does It Work?

This last week, in order to get a better handle on my energy costs, I ordered a TED. TED (The Energy Detective) is a simple, yet extremely accurate, home energy monitor that will allow me to see electricity usage in real-time. The unit has its own web server built in and the connections are relatively simple. The main display which comes up on a PC or Mac looks like the pictured sample. I’ll do a follow up blog when I get this hooked up and working.

Followup: The unit has perform flawlessly up until March 2010 when the Gateway unit suddenly died. When I called, the TED people immediately sent me a return authorization and promised to send out a new unit. Nice!

Notebook Stuffed Banana Peppers

So, at the end of the growing season I found myself with quite a few Banana peppers, some time on my hands and the desire to do a little experimental cooking. Now, I’ve stuffed bell peppers in the past, but never anything like this. My thinking was ‘How hard can it be?’ Duh!

My plan was to use a standard stuffing mix and to perhaps try cooking them in the slow cooker rather than an oven. I like the way a crock pot works. Just load em in and let em go for about five to six hours on low.

The recipe was doodled together as is pictured at right. In case you can’t read the ingredients list, here it is;

1 lb ground beef

12 banana peppers, de-seeded and cut long ways

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 Tblsp. Parsley, dried or fresh

1 Tblsp. Basil, dried or fresh

1 Tsp. olive oil

¼ cup instant rice

1 dash dill seed, ground

1 small egg, beaten

2 Tblsp. Shredded cheddar cheese

De-seed the peppers and wash them in cold water, then put aside. Mixed the rest of the ingredients (use only half the cheese and tomato sauce) and then knead everything in a large bowl. (Just like you were making meatloaf). Next, stuff the pepper halves with the meat sauce and make a single layer of these in the bottom of a large crock pot. Carefully add a little tomato sauce to just cover each pepper, then add a sprinkling of cheese. Cover this with a sheet of aluminum foil.

Cover and cook on low for at least five hours.  When and if I ever get these made, I’ll post some pictures and comments.

What is this weed? Does anyone know?

So what goes with BBQ'd Chicken?

H1N1 plus H5N1 May Equal Trouble Brewing

This latest flu map shows the southeastern tier of states is now well involved with the spread of the H1N1 flu. While the current strain remains on the mild side, that is no guarantee that it will remain so. I feel, increasingly like a person in a gas filled room waiting for someone to strike a match.

I feel this way because once the virus becomes firmly established in the Midwest, it will then have a better chance to also impact the so-called ‘mega pig farms’ where large numbers of hogs are maintained in close quarters. Pigs can get infected with the flu just like humans. But, even more significantly, pigs can become infected with both human and avian forms of the flu virus at the same time. If an H1N1 (swine) virus should happen to have infected a pig that was already sick with an H5N1 (avian) strain… and, if gene re-assortment occurs, there is a possibility for a whole new strain to emerge. This ‘new’ virus could theoretically be more virulent and more infectious. Current vaccines would have no effect and we could have another ‘1918 meltdown’ all over again. Now, I’m not saying that any such thing will occur, but I tell you I feel like we are just asking for trouble with the way we manage pig production. They are, after all, a proven link from us to the bird form of flu which has proven to be deadly.

One after thought. The states with the highest population of mega pig farms are concentrated in the Midwest. States which will become increasingly involved with the H1N1 virus soon.

Stuffed Bell Peppers - Cajun Style?

So, do flu masks really work?

"Let me try and answer a couple of questions a lot of people will be asking themselves fairly soon."

• Is there any proof that masks actually help protect you from the flu?
  
  
• What kind of mask should I get?
  

The answer to the first question is in the affirmative. There has been a study conducted in Australia during the winters of 2006 – 2007. You can go to the website and check it out in its entirety (this will cost you some money for the abstract). In brief, the study was conducted on 286 adults most of whom had kids in 143 households. They were broken up into three groups; one that got to wear surgical masks, one that wore so-called P2 masks that are specially designed to filter water droplets from the air and one group that wore nothing and therefore acted as a control group. All of the groups had one thing in common and that was children who were sick with a respiratory illness. The two groups that wore masks were instructed on how to properly wear them and were asked to do so when in the presence of their kids. After just one week, researchers found that the group that wore no masks were four times more likely to catch either a cold or the flu. Another interesting thing was that the two groups that wore masks appeared to be equally spared.

This brings me to the answer of the second question as to what type of mask you should consider purchasing. The surgical mask is made of paper and is the least expensive. You can find them in most pharmacies. The other masks like the ones labeled as NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) N95  and which are often made from a combination of cloth and paper and which have gotten a lot of press… are now priced all over the board. They can be found on the internet (watch out for price gouging). My bottom line is you may want to seek a cheap surgical mask solution and here’s why.

In order to achieve the promised 80% reduction in your chances of getting the flu, you will need to investigate practices like ‘self quarantine’. Also, it would pay to; 1) have a heightened awareness of those around you, 2) stay away from crowds as much as possible, 3) wash your hands often and well, 4) cough into your arm and 5) wear your mask in a proper fashion whenever you are around sick people.

Now for the bad news…the flu may hang around in you locale for a couple of years! If that’s the case, you will be going through quite a few masks! (This fact alone may explain why it’s been tempting for some to hold ‘flu parties’ where they attempt to get sick from someone with the flu). Once you’re over it, you’ll be pretty much immune to that particular strain. (If your luck is really bad, like mine, you might get the regular flu strain and therefore catch it twice). Bummer.

In a future blog I’ll cover who’s really at risk and why.

Forsyth Missouri Harvest Moon and Car Show - Oct 3, 2009

This coming October 3^rd, the Chamber of Commerce in Forsyth, Missouri will be celebrating a Harvest Moon Festival and Car show.  The event will be held in the Shadow Rock Park area proper. It will feature vendors from all over the area and includes a good old fashioned chili cook off. The cook off will be an interesting event for sure. There will be three categories of contestants; Professional, Amateur and Wacky. I think I fall into the wacky group. Not sure. My chili, should I pay the $10 entry fee, is still a work in progress. My last batch wasn’t all that good. OK, it was edible but on the sweet side of edibility. I think I will need to man-it up if I hope to walk away with a ribbon.Information concerning the event can found at the Forsyth Chambers web page. You can find a registration form and other information pertaining to the kind of chili they will accept. I don’t think CASI rules apply here, but if you have a doubt give them a call. For my entry there will definitely be some beans, a no-no in regular competition chili. I am of the group of chili lovers that believe if there are non beans, then there is no interest! 

 

Click here for video link.

I think other than the Christmas Parade; this will be the last event of the year. The weather should be agreeable, and if you are a people watcher, like me this is a great event to attend. See you there! Oh, and I do plan to get video of this event up on You Tube. Look for it at Danomanno

August 2009 Garden Report

June Garden Report

Dieting page 1 of 2

Dieting Page 2 of 2

The Nuts, They are a Falling!

It's not that I have anything against ACORNites, I'm sure they are a class act! No, It's these other nuts I'm worried about. You know, the ones I'm voting out of office next year!

Is it Too Soon for Peppers?

OK. It’s only mid March here in southwest Missouri. The outside temperatures are doing wild gyrations up and down that are indicative of the approach of spring. Just this morning a brief but strong squall line of storms made a quick passage west to east and I saw the outdoor thermometer go from 72F at 9AM to 67F in just fifteen minutes. Tonight, the weather service is predicting a cool down to 40F or so. Not your typical pepper growing weather, for sure. However, seeing as how I will be keep my plants indoors for at least a month. I figured why not! The little plant pictured here is one of five the germinated a week or so ago and came from a packet called Big Dipper. The seed company is Burpee and I’ve always had good germination results with them.

Very shortly, I will be making a trip to the lumber yard here in town to purchase a few 2x6 boards in preparation for the building of another raised bed. This will be my third one in the back yard and will increase my growing space by another 32 square feet. I also plan to use a more custom soil mix containing peat moss, compost and vermiculite that will be separated from the ground by a weed barrier. (I’m doing my best to try and keep the local crabgrass from getting all the nutrients out of the soil). Once established, I hope too plant a wide variety of vegetables including romaine, peppers, radish and beans. I will try and videotape this from start and on into the growing season. It will appear on my You Tube page at DanoManno. Anyway, wish me luck.

River Run Park Post Flood Report

I just finished a short You Tube piece (River Run Park Post Flood) on a local park that had been flooded for most of last year. It’s called River Run, I think and is run by the Core of Engineers here in southwest Missouri. The heavy rains we had last spring and summer contributed to the rise in what is a flood basin, so I shouldn’t be too surprised. I have lived in the Forsyth area since 1992 and have seen numerous times when the Bull Shoals River has risen out of its banks. This was the first time, however, that the flooding was so persistent. In years past the water generally receded after a month or so. That was not the case this time and I fear that the damage will be much more pronounced. For one thing, many of the trees that line the water way now have big red X’s on them. To me that means they must be removed. If true, there will not be many trees left come summertime when campers will be looking for some shade from the heat. As if that was not bad enough, the ground has an even quarter to half inch of much that was deposited evenly over every surface. This stuff has dried into a hard adobe like substance that looks to be impervious to growing blades of grass. River Run has always been a great place to camp and it is my hope it will be again.

Low Sodium Stuffed Bell Peppers

While waiting for spring gardening activities to begin, I came up with this recipe. I needed something that would be relatively low in calories, low in cholesterol and low in sodium. Instead of salt, I used so-called fake salt (potassium chloride) for the seasoning. I then only eat one half of each pepper at meal time. The result was much better than I expected.

Ingredients:

2 bell peppers, seeded & tops removed
1/3 lb ground beef, browned & drained
3 tbsp onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1/3 cup rice
1 slice of American cheese

Directions:

Make up the rice according to package directions. Blanch peppers in hot boiling water for about 5 minutes. Combine the hamburger and onion, brown in a pan over medium heat and drain off any excess fat. Add the rice and garlic. Mix a little then add about half the can of tomato sauce and mix well. Add this mixture to the bell peppers. Overfill the cavity slightly. Place these in the crock pot that has been set to low. Add the rest of the tomato sauce.

Cover and cook on low for about 3 hours. Cut the American cheese into four strips and make X’s over each bell pepper. Re-cover and cook for another 15 minutes or nuke briefly in the microwave.

Ice Storm aftermath

What a wild ride that ice storm was! I cannot believe the luck we had here in Forsyth Missouri to come so close to disaster without actually stepping over the edge. Too bad it hit the Harrison Arkansas area with such a vengeance. I understand that a lot of folks have been without power for three days now. Other states like Tennessee have been even more adversely affected with over 600,000 without power at one point. Even so, the damage done to trees was bad enough. I would estimate that about 15% of all the trees in this area have lost one or more limbs. That adds up to lots and lots of piles of debris in front of most homes in my neighborhood.

My cold frames slept through most of this under a blanket of sleet that is over five inches deep in some spots. It’s Saturday today and most of this stuff should melt as the weather is supposed to warm into the mid fifties today and tomorrow.

My Garden Plans for 2009

Once the month of January is behind me I find I can begin to concentrate on the how and why of my spring and summer gardening efforts. The month of February is a time for two things to kick in gear. One, I get my catalog orders done. In recent years it seems that seed cost has really gone through the roof. Or is it just me? In either case, I have gotten much more selective concerning what I order and who I order it from. Increasingly, I find myself drawn to a company called Pinetree Garden Seeds (www.superseeds.com). They have a good selection of seeds that do not cost an arm or a leg. They accomplish this by offering packets that contain fewer seeds. This suits me fine as my small raised beds rarely require a packet of 30 tomato seeds to get me through the season. Pinetree offers packets of 15 to 20 seeds. An example of this would be a heirloom tomato, Brandywine, that I love to grow each year. One very popular online company offers a 50 seeds packet for $2.95 while you can get them at Pinetree for $1.15 for 20 seeds. I don’t know about you, but I’ll go for the fewer seeds since they generally have a limited shelf life and I like fresh seeds at the start of each season. This does not mean that I do not order from companies like Burpee Seed (www.burpee.com) or Park Seed (www.parkseed.com) from time to time. They all have great products and service. I just need to keep my eye on reality. (It would be nice if you could order seeds in little micro packs of 5 to 10 at a time. That would be perfect for small time home gardeners like me).

So anyway, I plan to get my computer warmed up and will peruse the electronic pages to see what’s being offered for 09. My two little raised beds are 4x8 feet each in size and produce more than enough for a bachelor like myself. My focus this season will be on the following vegetables for springtime planting; romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes and beets. These all grow fairly quickly and do not require much growing space. In the late spring I will also plant beans (pole and bush), tomatoes and bell peppers (both sweet and hot).

The second thing I like to get started in the month of February is some plant starts using 10 cell seed starters I’ve had around for ages. By starting some plants indoors (lettuce, radish and spinach in the early spring) I find I can get a great jump on most everyone around me. By the end of March when many gardeners are just beginning to peck at the soil in their yards, I plan on harvesting my first cole crops. I get this done through a combination of early planting and cold frame propagation techniques. I also work my garden soil just as early as possible. Here in southwest Missouri, it’s generally warm enough in late February (see graph) to work in some compost, sand and vermiculite and to get a few early starts out there. More later in the month as I get cranking.

Looking for a little sun

The good news. It’s mid January so we’ve got a month of winter behind us. The bad news. We’ve got at least another month to go. Record cold has made this winter seem longer than usual. Combine this with the cold state of our economy and I think we could all use a bit of warmth sometime soon.

My cold frames are clicking right along. Like me, they’ve gone into hibernation for the time being, just waiting for that magical morning when the sun comes out and temperatures warm up enough for growth to resume. For my part, I’m planning a more aggressive campaign by relocating, if only for a week or two, to warmer climes. This coming week, I will be taking a trip down to Little Rock Arkansas to check out local conditions and to do a little photo journalism. If time and conditions permit, I may even go the extra distance to New Orleans where I can warm my old bones on gulf breezes.

Cold Frame Update - Early January 09

Well. Well. It’s the first week in the New Year and I’ve finally harvested my first morsel of lettuce and spinach for a grand total of nine grams! Yes, I said grams. Not much to show for my efforts at this point. I also had a single radish that was about half and inch wide and weighed in at 5 grams. As I think I have pointed out in another entry, the crop is more or less in suspended animation at this time. Everything looks healthy; it’s just not growing very fast. Had planted the seed back in September instead of late October, I think I would have a lot more to eat at this time.

The radish got consumed first and tasted great! The lettuce and spinach was next. I added a small amount of iceberg lettuce and a short stalk celery, then sprinkled on some oil and vinegar. The result was a very fresh and tasty addition to my lunchtime fare.

My big hope is that as the weather moderates, I will see more and more growth. So that’s it for now. A total of 9+5 grams for a whopping total of 14 grams. My basket runnith over.