Yield to Spring

It has been a long and tiresome winter. It is long past time for the sun to take over.

Very Good — Breakfast and coloring outside of the lines

Very Good — The opportunities we get when we explore

Sometimes you just WANT bacon. If I bother to make bacon I overdo it I am afraid — (1) virgin blood mary (2) coffee (3) chocolate (4) eggs with mushrooms (5) cottage cheese (6) BACON (7) Japanese purple potatoes (8) blueberries — probably not doctor approved but I did lose an hour of sleep with DST

Thank You

Last week, one of my favorite Newsletters, SoNovelicious kindly asked me to guest post about Non-Fiction History books. Gayla, the author of the Newsletter writes about all things books. It is an endearing and magnetic bit of writing. It is all the things people look for in a Newsletter. It is consistent — a subscriber always knows what they are going to get and the quality is amazing. My writing bounces around a bit in comparison. Gayla provides an inspiring how-to guide for those of us (like myself) who are still searching for our niche. Substack is, almost by definition, loaded with people who are intentional in carving out time to read. Her Newsletter is a great place because it helps you decide what comes next on your reading adventure. The link is to her Substack. Read my guest post if you want but better still, sample some of her material. Time well spent.

Last Episode

I was SURE someone would chime in on my all-encompassing opinion of the “worst song ever”. Until I hear otherwise, I still consider this song the worst ever. My criteria are (1) the lack of energy of the singers (2) a dystopian song (3) a boring and childish format. Come on people, I am open to a worse song if it exists. A friend who I work with lurks and reads my posts occasionally. We had a fun back and forth about the song. I think he “liked the song” but was surprised how it has not aged well. If he ever chooses to write as a guest, his satire is off the rails. I will gladly take a post off if he decides to share!

Spring Forward and Celebrate

Today’s post was going to be COMPLETELY different and it was already scheduled about a week ago. Rather, I am excited because life around me is showing signs of spring. This week I plan to restock my beans in the freezer using the crockpot this week in overnight efforts to make all sorts of beans. While I don’t eat meat that often anymore, bacon is part of a big batch of a great northern baked beans recipe. The recipe calls for LOTS OF BACON and I cut the recommendation in half when I make them. Bacon was a casualty of the pandemic and the broken supply chain and its price went crazy. I doubt I have bought bacon in about nine months. Yesterday, I saw thick-cut bacon in a three-pound pack for $10. THE SUPPLY CHAIN IS NO LONGER BROKEN! I am sure bacon was closer to $6 a pound last year! While I often preach my plant-based eating, I also advise I am not a vegetarian or a vegan but actually an opportunarian — this is where the thick-cut bacon enters the picture. I purchased six bell peppers, two packs of jalapenos, and bacon. When all is said and done there will be (1) two pounds of dry pintos, (2) two pounds of dry black beans, (3) one pound of small red beans, (4) two pounds of beans and lentils, two pounds of great northern beans baked, and a pound of dry garbanzo beans that result from this one week binge with the crockpot. I will again be ready for the apocalypse! When I need to scratch the itch I eat what I want and some bacon was hard to resist. This morning was that day as we spring forward with Daylight Savings Time.

It has been a long winter with way more snow than normal and it just seems to keep coming. How do we overcome the bad weather? I was SO EXCITED for breakfast this morning as I had the bacon invading my mind. Today was an ABOVE AVERAGE breakfast day for me — (1) tomato juice cocktail (2) coffee (3) chocolate (4) eggs with mushrooms (5) cottage cheese (6) Japanese purple potatoes (7) thick bacon and (8) blueberries. I wish I could eat like this all the time but the tradeoff (life expectancy of a diabetic) is too dear. It is amazing how great bacon tastes when you only have it rarely!!!

A while back I did a post about my bean obsessions. This week I will make about 150% of the beans an average American eats in a year (about 7.5 pounds tops). Here’s my bean story — not expecting a lot of click-throughs.

Beantown

Leaning Into Something New

I recently completed an eight-week, twice-a-week class. I enjoyed it immensely. I will likely write about it at some point, but not today. What I can observe, however, about the experience is its impact on my thinking. In the period since completing the class, what I spend my time exploring has changed slightly.

One thing I happened upon is absolutely amazing. An extensive research program at the University of Pennsylvania has been trying to ascertain the primal beliefs of humans and how they might impact our worldview. Understanding ourselves and those around us a little better always seems worthwhile.

I could not resist the rapid survey they offered. I am sure it was less than a ten-minute commitment and it was chock-full of insights. While it sounds a tad dramatic to refer to things as our “primal beliefs”, it sure is a fun premise. As always, I share this with modest encouragement. This was one of the best things I came across in quite a while. I wonder if part of my openness to the idea was affected by the class just completed. Humans are interesting and for me, there are few things more interesting than ‘the range of human behavior’.

Here is an overview story and the survey follows. It was fun! TAKE THE SURVEY — YOU WILL LOVE IT — THERE IS A SHORT, MEDIUM & LONG VERSION — LOTSA FUN!

The Poll & Music

When you just want the spring to take over, some music can help and is delivered by the king. Our snow totals just keep climbing for this year and now exceeds 80”. Only a couple of more snowfalls and this will be the worst (or best depending on your perspective) snow total in the history of the Twin Cities.