Student of the month

What a kid. Taking two courses in the same time slot. She knows how to set goals, I'll give her that. Whoa.

Knitted socks

Twenty thousand stitches of love. Thanks Mum. Knitting is an act of love, unquestionably.

Pulled pork

The second attempt at making pulled pork went off very well.

I browned up the cheap roast ($3.98) quite hard. I packed it into the bottom of the slow cooker smelling like heaven after it was browned. Lightly cooked a couple chopped garlic cloves, the spices and a medium onion in the same pot I used to brown the meat, gathering up all that brown goodness.

I added a half teaspoon of dry mustard to help emulsify the sauce, as I usually do in similar circumstances. The spices were comprised of a half teaspoon of quatre épices, (my own mix), a half dozen whole all spice, pepper and some dried garden hot peppers. I didn't feel it needed salt. Your mileage may vary.

Once cooked, I removed the roast, strained the liquid and reduced it all to a thin gravy consistency and then added it back to the meat, tossed it up and served. One of the wonderful things about an over cooked bit of cheap meat like this is it's easy to drain away a lot of fat and separate out the naughty bits before consumption begins in earnest. Darn tough not to sample as I went along.

Adding a bit of vinegar to the meat adds just that extra something special.

I was really happy with my concoction. Lots of pork flavour. Now I don't think I can wait until next Christmas to make up big pot of petit cochon.

Jersey Shore - bottom feeding

A young aquantance commented to me that it wasn't "cool" that I was showing some disrespect for the TV show Jersey Shore.

Some of the "cool" kids seem to love the show. I'm not cool by their standards, but I'm thinking they may have misunderstood the term. It's tough to see much of the world when you're viewing it from the bottom feeders perspective and I know that. There might be a bit of sky above, but most is lost when looking from the bottom of the barrel. I really don't mean to be disrespectful, but my distaste for bottom feeding humans can be overwhelming for me and does influence my behaviour at times. This may be one of those times, I'm not sure. I don't have a hate on for bottom feeders, I just think a spade should be called a spade.





Here are some of the ways to obtain the real deal, ever potent, knock them dead types of cool. Don't be fooled by cheap imitations.

Read a book.

Have a dream.

Think.

Love someone.

Understand self respect.

Have mentors.

Experience intimacy.

Get your hands dirty working in a garden.

Do your own laundry, well.

If you think it seems wrong, reverse the gender roles and check.

Make love, don't rut.

Practise empathy.

Exceed your own expectations periodically.

Sweat for joy often.

Have kids so you can finish growing up.

Make a plan.

Learn from history.

Make music.

Tame an animal.

Eat real food.

Consider karma.

Hunt with a skilled hunter at least once, especially if you eat meat.

Talk to strangers.

Detach with love.

Be kind.

Forgive.

Don't think with the little head.

Do something nice for someone and don't tell anyone and don't get found out.

Be as still as you can twice a day.

Share.

Teach a dog a trick.

Take humility on as a life skill.

Admit you're wrong and apologise early and sincerely.

People before stuff, always.

Men before boys.

Eat something wild every now and again.

Adapt to the seasons with vigour.

Enjoy a winter bonfire.

Care for your body well enough that it responds unmistakably.

Don't fear risk, learn about it.

Ask lots of questions.

Learn another language and remember what it's like to be ignorant.

Don't forget your bike.

Smell a horse.

Acknowledge your shortcomings.

Swing an axe well at least once.

Learn to throw a ball.

Be grateful.

Try not to take things personally.

They wouldn't call them blind spots if we could see them.

Love the one you win.

Somebody else, not me

Collected some of the "not me" images and posted them to my work site. It seems that I spend a disproportionate amount of my time paddling backward through others speedy fixes.

I do it at home a lot too. It's how I spend my days. Making grey laundry white etcetera.The work to be done is everywhere. The gift of marriage is that I've leaned to put relationships first and not stuff. Consequently the living space often more closely resembles a disrespect for stuff. What it is, in fact, is a living demonstration of my willingness to change and embrace chaos more willingly. In this way, I have been introduced to my own humility.

Over the last couple of weeks I've learned how to make a mess on top of the wood stove with wild sage from Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan. What a fantastic and exotic fragrance that stuff lends to the house. It's very different from what we have here locally. I must collect a little cedar to add to the mix. Ah, life in the fast lane. More chaos. Bring it.

Fixing a trackball computer mouse

I'm a fix it guy. I'll take a swing at almost anything if it seems worth while keeping. Thanks go to Chris for passing along his old hardware. Muchas gracias brother. Chris is also responsible for some excellent programming that makes me look good at work.

My mouse is one I now value and I'll keep the $75 for a new one and have some fun doing the refurbishment too. The trackball is easy on the hand and, OK, I'm cheap, or "Green" or whatever you want to call it. Re-use rules!

Doing more with less is a theme I've embraced. I don't need a new sweater just because this one is showing some wear. I may put one on that has cleaner lines, to go to town, but around here often even that isn't mandatory. Like I'm fond of saying, I've always wanted to be a peasant. I don't appreciate the airs of wealth, power and prestige. I do highly value wisdom that can, in some cases, come from the uneducated and impoverished. Poverty is the norm here. The land wasn't any good for farming and the population base is thin. The type of land is the type the powers that be would grant for a native reserve just like the one down the road. That, and gardens can be built. The hunting is good!

The gap between my urban and country selves has widened and there is no turning back now. I just hope my urban friends can relate closely enough to recognise some common ground and don't disappear from my life altogether. It's rough and dirty here sometimes, but it has many benefits too.

So I fix things. I repair. I restore. I resurrect. I salvage. My Dad was the very best at making a silk purse out of a sows ear. Sometimes it seemed as if Dad was only truly inspired when there was some meaningless piece of costume jewelery or dollar store wind up toy that a kid had ruined and was wanting repair. He loves to make kids happy. I know that's not his exclusive skill because he was gifted in dancing with precious metals, gem stones, watches and clocks too. Lucky me that I got to be a chunk off the old block. Although that sows ear isn't nearly so attractive to me.

Some people really don't like things that are used, worn or showing some patina, but I'm very fond of healthy wear, especially on something well engineered. When I need some pleasure I often extend the life of something I love. Today it was a computer mouse.

This was a gift from a junk drawer to help bridge the gap between my failing standard laser mouse and a new one being delivered. A little TLC and a twenty minutes of shop time and it's like new. Tools are everything to fussy jobs like this, but if you have them go for it.

The beast



The fix was to drill a hole under the ball, pop it out from underneath and then clean and rotate it to avoid the wear spot when it's popped back into the socket.



The drill was one millimeter in diameter