Well Duh!

Thanks again for everyone's nice comments.  I'm no longer in pain, and am up and about almost as good as new.  But, I am avoiding stairs, slopes, and uneven ground as much as possible.

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If this sounds like more whining, it isn't.  It is just to tell you how mentally slowww I'm getting.  I'm so disgusted with myself that I have been laughing all day since the bulb went on about 10:00 this morning.
LOL

Sometime around Easter, I noticed a funny little white bump on the back of my hand.  It kind of itched like a mosquito bite and after scratching it - oooo, what a mess.  Then I had more bumps  - all over my right arm.  The bumps would open and weep or be scabby, and they itched like crazy.  I was blaming the mess on laundry detergent, dish washing soap, bath soap, cold dry air, the animals, lack of sunshine.   I tried anything I could think of on it.  Vaseline seemed to help the most.  So on our first day of sunshine, I sat out until I burned the top of my head, and my arms turned pink.  The spots cleared up almost immediately.

Now for the* rest* of *  the* story: 

Last fall, we took all the big pots of flowers and vegetables inside.  We weren't quite ready to give up the last of the tomatoes and summer blooms.

One of the pots had come from my mom's house.  It had 

dusty miller

 mixed Gazanzia

and another pretty blooming plant that I've forgotten the name of.

All winter, this pot sat in front of the window at the shop.  We let the blooming plants to go to seed, but the dusty miller kept growing and growing.  Then a new plant sprang up.  I just figured it was one of the others coming back from the roots or from a seed.  Pretty soon I could tell that it was a different plant entirely than what had been in the pot.  The green arrow shaped leaves on long stalks where reaching out to the sunlight. (Are you getting a clue?)

I'd walk by, admire it, and touch it.   I asked J what if he knew what it was.  He didn't. The plant matured some more.   I was still admiring it and touching it.  I noticed the "funny" leave configuration, but didn't think too much about it.  (Are you laughing now?)

Finally, the plant was getting too big and flopping over where we were brushing it as we walked by, so J pulled it out and threw it away.


Then an article with pictures came out in the paper:

Poison ivy

This is what J pulled out.   J didn't react to it, but I had been handling it all winter.  Took me until about 10:00 this morning to realize this was the cause of the mess on my arm.  Well DUH! 

(In our defense - this was not our "local" poison oak.   This was poison ivy.  It must have come from "imported" potting soil or dirt.  Also, thank goodness, in the past neither J nor I have been bothered too much by poison oak.  Sumac hasn't bothered us at all.)

How Not to Cook a Steelhead

Steelhead trout (Picture source: my photo album)


How Not to Cook a Steelhead
(I really, really wish I had taken a picture.)
By Packrat Sue

Move oven rack to the center of the oven

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

Take a largish (28 inches long) whole fish
(cleaned of course)
(In this case, a highly prized steelhead
from the Salmon River in Idaho)
Rinse it with fresh cold water
Drop it on the floor
Rinse the fish again
Drop it on the floor
Say a bad word or two

Try to hold on to fish
long enough to get it back into the sink
without the dogs or cats getting to it first.
Rinse the fish again
Finally get smart
Leave the fish in the sink
Pat it dry with paper towels
Pick it up to turn it over
Drop fish again
(luckily in the sink this time)
Pat it dry again

Wash hands and splash soap on the fish
Rinse hands well
Rinse sink and fish again
Pat fish and sink dry
Carefully turn the fish
Pat the other side dry

Go into the bathroom and wash hands

Look for heavy paper grocery sacks
None to be found
Only light-weight brown sacks
Grab two. That should work.
Butter insides of both sacks
More butter on my sleeves than the sacks
because sleeves won't stay pushed up

Wash hands again cuz have you ever tried
picking up an already slippery fish with
greasy hands??? (No comment.)

Get fish into first paper bag
Wrap it tight
Get second paper bag on fish
Wrap it tight
Put package on large cookie sheet
Use weight of fish to hold down the extra paper

Put fish in oven
Set timer
Scrub potatoes
Put potatoes in microwave
Start to play solitaire

Jump three feet off chair when the smoke alarm goes off.
Realize that there is smoke billowing out
of every crack in the range.
Try to get the dogs out of the way to get to the smoke alarm.
Dogs are barking and just about
knocking me over because they can't stand the noise.
Get smoke alarm into bathroom
and shut the door so it stops screeching.

Wade through the whimpering/whining dogs.
Get back to kitchen to see even more smoke billowing
out of the oven and burners.
Reach to turn off oven.

Oh OH NO!
I left the oven on the Preheat setting.
The broiler had been on all this time.
Turn off oven.
Wait five minutes
Carefully open oven door
The paper bags had come unwrapped from around fish
and are touching the top element in the oven.
The bags burst into flame again.
Slam door shut.
Wait another five minutes.
Carefully open oven door
Bags are still glowing and start to flare up.
Slam shut oven door
Wait ten minutes
Open oven door
Black pieces of paper EVERYWHERE
The fish is black.
I am in tears.

Brush burned stuff off fish best I can.
Oh, only skin is burned and the fish isn't quite done.
Return fish to 350 degree oven
NOT using the preheat setting.
Paper residue burns up

Get potatoes
Quickly slice
Fry potatoes for a few minutes.
Remove fish from oven and remove burned skin

Eat the most delicious dinner of fish, charred paper, and fried potatoes.

The fish was delicious. It was done to perfection and tasted like it had been cooked over an open campfire.

****

Ghoulish, I Suppose

I had another post planned for today, but I spent the afternoon sitting on the organ bench looking out the living room window and wandering in the yard in the rain watching all the excitement. A pickup went into the river about 300 (?) feet up the road and across the river from my mom's house (directly across from my brother's house).

I don't know if anyone was hurt or not. I certainly hope not, but it would be a miracle if someone wasn't. (I hope it was a good sign that the EMT's never put anyone into the ambulance. Of course, another ambulance could have already been there and gone by the time I noticed anything was going on.)

The pickup truck went over one of the many steep banks on along the river and of course rolled. It was on its wheels with the front end wedged up against a rock as tall and wide as the pickup. It was in the water but right at the edge.

Why am I posting this? Because, there is a wreck along this very stretch of highway at least once every six months if not more often.

Theoretically, there shouldn't be any wrecks along this stretch. It is one of the few straight stretches along the river. There are no blind spots. There is a grade, but it isn't steep. This stretch of highway has two wide lanes with good wide shoulders. One does need to watch for rocks and animals, but that is a given in all mountainous areas.

Why are there wrecks? My theory is this particular wreck was caused by hydroplaning or the driver went to sleep. (I could be wrong.) But really, why wrecks? Because people get in a hurry. It they are headed north, they're going down hill and probably travelling way too fast. If they are headed south, they just came out of several miles of narrow twisting road. They speed up and lose control. And, of course everyone tries to pass everyone else.

Why did I post this? Because I'd would like to ask everyone to slow down and drive safely. Also, please remember - don't use cruise control unless the pavement it perfectly dry.

I like my friends to be alive and unhurt. HUGS