The Rosendaul Homestead

Lessons Learned from the Recent Storm

2012-07-03T20:05:00.001-04:00

The recent storm that plowed through Columbus gave us a chance to learn some very valuable lessons. Some of which we had plans to prepare for but had yet to get around it. More importantly, if gave us some very definitive areas of weakness that need to be addressed.

The storm rolled in pretty quick, and while I left work in what I thought would have been enough time to get home, it wasn't. I was barely a mile from work when it hit. First lesson: driving on a freeway in rush hour traffic in a chaotic storm was not a fantastic place to be. This is pretty obvious for anyone in a city, but will now make me reassess the my departure times when a storm like that comes through. On the plus side, I was already taking an alternate route home, which got be off the freeway, and away from the human idiocy side of the danger equation. This is a huge recommendation of mine for anyone - figure out at least 3 ways home. This has great advantages on an everyday basis as many times there are accidents, events, etc. that will significantly delay a "typical" route.

I already knew we didn't have power because I called Lynette and let her know the route I was taking home. I waited to call when I was at a light and was able to pay attention to what was going on, but I felt that letting her know which way I was taking home was important just in case I got delayed, had to ditch the car, or got in an accident. That way, if I wasn't able to be reached by phone, once the storm blew over she could have come looking for me. I digress....so once I got home, we started evaluating the situation of being without power for the first time in our new house. Almost immediately, I got out a sheet of paper, and started a list.

This list included pretty much everything we could think of or encountered during our 3 days without power. Everything from knowing where the flashlights and lanterns were, to minor issues with the float valve on our back-up sump pump. On the back of this page, I also started a list of things to put into a procedural manual for the house. These procedures are basically all the little things that we never really think about proactively. For example, when the power is out and the fridge is off, the ice in the door of the freezer starts to melt and puddles on the floor. This will be especially good to remember once we get the hardwood installed in the kitchen. The procedure manual is a simple reminder that if the power is off for a few hours, go a head and just empty the ice bin to keep it from melting. This manual will also come in very handy once we get a generator and need the procedure to set that up and get it running to be laid and straight forward.

This leads us to our big lack of being prepared. No generator. We bought this place because it got us away from the city and away from the big population of people. In doing so, we know that while we are not remote, we are far enough out to make things like power outages last a bit longer. This was our big weak spot. We had planned to get one eventually, but put it off for other things. Once the power was out, and we had 3 neighbors around us running generators we knew that we had better correct this problem next time.

Also, while we were out looking for items that we lacked we realized there are quite a few things that come in short supply during situations like this (D batteries, ice, gas, coolers, generators, etc.). Luckily our small chest freezer was fairly empty and our fridge was too, so we were able to stuff everything in the freezer, and throw some ice on it. That kept it cold enough to salvage all the important/expensive stuff. We now know however to not only make sure we have these things stored for when it happens again, but to also test and make sure we know how to work something.

Example - we got a Coleman camp stove for Christmas so I broke it out and fired it up to make some coffee on Saturday morning, just to quickly run out of fuel....oops. The gas grill ended up and worked good for it, but used way more fuel than necessary. We bought some fuel on Saturday, but then apparently overfilled the tank. Again, a lesson better learned when you're not in need of something.

Finally, and sadly it seems that this society has an extremely short attention span. When the power went out, people panicked, and spent sometimes hours finding a generator, just to get home and apparently have power. You would think they'd be happy that they had a generator for next but, but you'd be wrong. Instead, it was immediately posted on craigslist. I saw many ads indicating that the generator had been run, yet they still wanted full price for it....?! Really people. Moral of the story is, it's better to prepare for it now, then rush around in a panic with a bunch of other crazy panicked people.

Did you learn any lessons from the weekend storms? Are there a bunch of little things or some big things that really made things worse than they had to be? I'd be interested to know because it may be something we didn't even think about or hadn't experienced.

Welcome home!

2012-05-01T22:20:00.001-04:00

It's been a busy few months, but for those that don't know, we are officially moved in to our first house!

This is us arriving on the day we took possession. We spent a couple of weeks cleaning and painting, and then we officially moved in on April 14th. We still have a lot to do before we can really settle in, first of which being 830 square feet of oak flooring to lay...

It still feels like home and we're very glad to not have a landlord anymore.

There is already a plot for the garden and we're looking forward to getting it started We have to get a couple of yards of top soiled delivered and tilled in before we can plant anything because it's pretty much crappy looking clay dirt.

We've got lots of plans, projects, and ideas that we want to do and try so be forewarned that a lot of the good and bad might be coming your way. For now though, it's off to bed. Just wanted to post an update and let the internets know that we haven't fallen in a hole somewhere.

2012-03-25T17:53:00.007-04:00

On March 9th, I lost one of my oldest friends. After begging for months for a dog, I brought Cissy home wrapped inside my coat. My parents figured a cat was the lesser of two evils, so my sisters and I got our first pet that did not require a cage. I had just turned 13. Now at nearly 28, I know I will likely never have another pet for over half of my life. I will miss that little sister cat dearly.

Though she belonged to me and all of my three sisters (and I have fond memories of several of us sitting together in an exam room at the vet's and pooling our babysitting money for her shots), I was the one that belonged to Cissy. Somehow I was always her girl, the only one she tolerated (as much as a Cisscat can tolerate anyone). And so, she came with me as soon as I graduated and got a place of my own.

When Eric started hanging around, he tried to tell me he didn't like cats - which he will vehemently deny, but who are you going to believe here ;-). Even so, he tried desperately to make friends with Cissy with little luck. Somehow, they won each other over. He finally got his very own head grooming just before she left us!

Cissy was diagnosed with liver cancer, spread to the spleen and kidneys last June. She did very well on steriods until recently. When she began straining to pee, we had to let her go. I will miss our little popcorn-stealing friend. I think I might even miss telling guests not to try to pet the cat ;-)

Here is Cissy, from 4 weeks until 15 years:

The real 1% - Possibly you and me...

2012-01-05T22:15:00.000-05:00

On my way to work this morning, I heard a figure that really gave me some perspective. To be in the top 1% of earners in the US, an income of more than $500k is needed, but to make it to the top 1% in the world, one needs to earn only $34,000/year. You heard that right...$34,000 a year!

The global median salary is only $1,225 a year. In the United States, a single person receiving welfare payments (some of the poorest in the country) can expect to receive an average payment of $200/month or $2400/year. That's almost twice as much as the median worldwide! (I do realize that median is much different than average, but I think it still illustrates my point).

I'd like to make something very clear though. I have no problems with people making significant amounts of money. I don't expect those people to give (voluntarily or involuntarily) their hard earned money to those that are "less fortunate." I think it's for the benefit of all that people are encouraged to work hard and give themselves opportunities to make money. I just found it thought provoking that in today's American culture, people always want more more more money because they can't possibly survive on their current level of income. In a country where wants are considered needs, and material driven consumerism is an epidemic, it seems that many people have lost perspective on what is really important. It's not about the stuff you have, it's about the life you lead and what you leave behind. I'm not trying to put down or judge anyone that has a lot of stuff. We too have luxuries that we don't need, but they do make our lives easier, more enjoyable, etc.

Over the last couple of years, we've started looking closely at the money we spend, where it's being spent, and if it could go other places more appropriately. I would encourage anyone reading this to take a long look at there spending habits. If you want to keep all those luxuries, go for it, but just realize how good you truly do have it in this country. If you're only making minimum wage, which just went up to $7.70/hour here in Ohio, your annual salary is $16,016. That's over 1300% higher than the global median! Even if you're on welfare, you're still doing better than half of the world...

Do what you can with what you've got now, but always strive for something better.

Let me know what your thoughts are on these figures. Did it change your perspective as it did mine?

Dog(s) in the kitchen

2011-12-28T23:01:00.000-05:00

I often kick Webster out of the kitchen while I'm cooking. When it was he and Gracie, it was even worse with dogs being under-foot. I rarely consider the benefits of having a dog in the kitchen (or at least on call) until I'm in a kitchen at someone's house without a dog.

There usually comes a time when at this dogless house that something edible is dropped to the floor. My first thought it usually, "oh, the dog will get it" then I realize that there is no dog there and my thought turns to, "you need to get a dog." Seriously. There are very few times when we have to pick/clean anything off the floor in the Rosendaul household. If it's something they can't eat like grapes, onions, bones, etc then we'll pick it up, but other than that, the clean up crew is just a short whistle away!

I really cannot imagine a day without a dog in the house. Not only for companionship, laughter, and security, but also for their uncanny ability to keep a tidy floor.

Birthday Dinner - Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus

2011-10-25T20:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. We didn't plan for anything big, but Lynette wanted to take me out to dinner. She even picked the place!

We went to Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus.

It was our first time being there, and as we left, I realized it was probably the first time I had ever eaten at a "downtown" establishment (other than the Arena District which I don't think counts). They are a local brewery of which we've previously bought and tried a couple of their beers. We've liked all the beer we've tried and so we had high hopes for dinner. We were not disappointed!

Unfortunately I failed to get any pictures of dinner, or the inside of the building, but both were awesome! We were greeted with a long narrow building, that had some awesome historic details. Apparently it used to be a brothel/gentlemen's club and from what I've been told may have the oldest billiard table in the state. Next time we go, I'll probably pay more attention to the details of the building instead of thinking about dinner and the beer sampler.

I got the 6 beer sampler and loved all of them! Even the light beer was delicious (for a light beer)! Lynette got the fish and chips (which I helped her polish off) and I got the special, crab manicotti. There were only two manicottis, but they were quite filling, especially with a couple pieces of bread first and some beer.

It was a bit more expensive than what we usually spend for dinner, but we will definitely go back for special occasions (or when we feel like splurging). I've heard their appetizers are delicious too (though we didn't try any) so I mentioned to Lynette that it would be a fun place to go, get an appetizer, and have a couple of beers.

If you've never been to Elevator, I would totally suggest going. There isn't an adjacent parking lot, so you'll have to find a garage, but there are at least two within a couple blocks. The ambiance is a little dim, and some of the tables are close together, but it was a great, unique dining experience.

The building was awesome, the food was better than awesome, and the beer was outstanding!

Charcuterie

2011-10-19T21:44:00.000-04:00

A term I'm sure few are familiar with. Charcuterie is essentially the art of curing meat. Now we can just throw it in the freezer or fridge, but it was done before refrigeration was around. I also thinks it's knowledge and a skill set that is very good to have.

I got the opportunity to attend a Charcuterie class put on by Rachel from Hounds In The Kitchen and her husband Alex. I was lucky enough to actually win a seat at the class because of a giveaway Rachel was holding in honor of her birthday!

I've been wanting to go to one of her classes, but hadn't yet gotten around to it. I now know what I was missing. This was the last class of her Preserving Series, but I hope to be able to attend another class in the future. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, as the best camera we own is my Droid X which takes great outdoor pictures, but crappy indoor ones. This will be an all word post, but I'll try to make it short. I promise.

We learned a lot about charcuterie in general with regards to different methods, techniques, etc. We discussed confit, which is a method of preserving meat in fat. We also talked a little about salt curing, rillette, and stuff like bacon, pancetta, and sausage. I wasn't even aware that sausage was a form of charcuterie!

I've done some charcuterie before when I corned beef for St. Patrick's day this year. It was a lot of fun and easy so I was immediately interested in more. Alex and Rachel did a great job breaking things down to very simple and easy to understand instructions. They passed around some pork belly (in a bag) that they were curing for bacon so everyone could feel the firmness of the meat. They also made some sausage so everyone could see how easy it was. They at least made it look easy. Just like everything else, it seems like it would be a very involved process and way more hassle than it would be worth. They made it a point to specifically say that making your own sausage wasn't saving you any money, but it gave you more control. The good news is, it doesn't seem to be as difficult as what I thought it would be!

They cooked up a couple of links of the sausage for us to try, along with some of their spanish chorizo (I think), and pancetta. We also got to try some of their recently blogged about squirrel rillette! It was delicious! I imagine that most people reading this are having a similar reaction to what Lynette did, but all I have to say to those people is don't knock it until you've tried it! It really tasted very similar to dark chicken meat, and was really great as a rillette!

All in all, it was an awesome night! Everyone got to take home some sausage, I for one took home a lot more knowledge, and definitely the confidence to try my hand at some more charcuterie. Unfortunately with a very nosy kitten and a basement that is short, cramped, and probably too gross, we won't be hanging anything to dry, like pancetta. Someday we will, but while we're here I'll stick to something less likely to end up in the stomach of a certain trouble maker, like bacon and sausage.

I want to say thanks to Rachel and Alex for not only providing me a free seat to the class, but also for putting on these classes. It takes time out of there, I'm sure already busy schedule, but is definitely a benefit to the growing local food community. I'm sure many people feel this way, but speaking for myself, as just one uninformed Columbus food enthusiast, their blog and these classes have really helped me gain the knowledge to try new things, but more importantly the confidence to try them.

I would absolutely recommend that for anyone in Columbus that is interested in cooking food, preserving, gardening, or have kids that you're teaching to cook to look into one of her classes. It's well worth the cost for the great hands-on work and down to earth instruction.

Is a "simple life" really that simple?

2011-10-12T20:59:00.000-04:00

Forest Gump so famously said, "Simple is as simple does."

I've been thinking a lot lately about the word simple, and some of the things Lynette and I are striving towards. As some may know (and some may just learn now), we've spent a lot of time talking and thinking about the days when most of the meat, veggies, fruits, etc. we will consume will all come from animals we raise and food we grow. Most of the energy we use will come from wood we grow or sunlight or wind we harness. All of this is fairly new to us, and we're just trying to figure out how to grow and manage the stuff we can on the little room we have in the little house we rent in the city. We take advantage of farmers markets for fresh produce, try to make stuff from raw ingredients as much as we can, and try to be conservative with the energy we use.

Some examples of food are: butter, pumpkin pie, corning the beef for St. Patrick's Day, etc. There are many more things we've done just in simple recipes or plan to do in the future, but those were just some examples of things that many people refer to as "returning to a simple life." Visions of the Amish, farmers, or the early pioneers usually come to mind when people talk about the simple life - sitting on a porch, drinking a glass of fresh cider, and eating some homemade pumpkin pie. Sounds pretty great right? Pretty basic and pretty...simple?

I find that moving towards this type of life is the antithesis of simple. I can go to the store, buy a pound of butter, and be back at my place in 10 minutes. It takes me 20 to make it, and I still have to go to the store to get the whipping cream. The pumpkin pie....oh dear. It took me two night's work to get everything made, for a total of roughly 6 hours. Yes, some of that is me doing it for the first time, but there is a lot involved. Wouldn't it just simpler to buy it from the store? Yes, it's way simpler to just buy it, but of course you don't have control over what's in it, it's probably not as good, yadda yadda. Why then do people always say they are moving towards a simpler life when they start doing more for themselves and relying less on a system to do it for them?

I'd been thinking about this for the last couple of weeks, and just happened to re-listened to Episode 635 of The Survival Podcast - Creating Your Vision of Liberty. It's a great episode and I've listened to it at least half a dozen times, but it wasn't until this last time that I ~~caught~~ heard the comparison of simple and easy. "Simple is something anyone can do. Easy is something that requires little effort." It really was one of those epiphany moments!

Can everyone make their own butter? I think so. Does that mean that everyone will? Of course not. Does this mean that what we are doing is in any way better or worse than what someone else does? No way! The reasons we want to gain this knowledge and these skills in gardening, animal husbandry, hunting, plant identification, food processing, canning/dehydrating/freezing/charcuterie, etc. is because in many ways we think these will lead to a better and more stable future. I also believe that these are skills that are becoming 2-3 generations lost, and with that we loose a lot of our culture.

So is what we do and what we're striving to do in the future simple? Yes, as a matter of fact it is. Anyone can do any of the things we've done or have talked about doing. Many people may not want to, but is irrelevant to the point that they can.

Is it easy though? Not always. I think it's very easy to make butter, but it does in fact take more effort than going to the store to buy butter; therefore I think it's easy, but someone else may not. The pumpkin pie....not easy. It took me a lot of effort and would have been exponentially easier if I had just gone to the store (or better yet a local baker) and bought a pie.

Like many times in life, taking the easy road, usually leads to a life without interesting sights to see, places to visit, and people to meet. I look forward, every day to the simple life (as uneasy as it may be). Hopefully we can do our part to inspire at least one person to look at the status quo within any aspect of life, realize that there are many means to an end, and find their own, simple, not necessarily easy path to get there.

Local Foods Week - Potluck Pumpkin Pie!

2011-10-10T21:08:00.000-04:00

Last week was Local Foods Week (as if you couldn't tell from the Local Matters logo above)!!

We weren't able to attend any of the events last week, but I couldn't let the week go by without doing my part! Unrelated to Local Foods Week (though I should have made it related) we had a potluck on Thursday at work. I used this as an opportunity to get most of my ingredients for my potluck contribution locally. Last Fall, I made a couple of pumpkin pies that were a hit. It was the first time I had made a pie crust from scratch, but I still used the pumpkin puree in a can. Not this time though!

We always try, but are increasingly becoming better, at buying from local producers. It's really just a matter of being more organized and using the opportunity of a farmers market to get what we need locally. We made a trip to the Worthington Farmer's Market on Saturday the 1st to pick up some pie pumpkins and other stuff. We got the last two pie pumpkins from Wayward Seed Farm. They are the Winter Luxury variety, which I believe is an heirloom. I also picked up a couple of pie pumpkins from The Green Grocer on Tuesday. I'm not sure where they are from, or what the variety is, but I'm assuming they're from Ohio since pumpkins are so rampant here this time of the year.

Seeing as I've never made the filling from scratch before, I consulted a trusted resource: Hounds In The Kitchen. It usually never fails that when I'm thinking of doing something, Rachel has already done it and blogged about it. It was no different with preparing these pumpkins. After a quick search, I found a blog post about pumpkin puree. Unfortunately, after re-reading her post (after baking and scooping), I realized I didn't bake the pumpkins nearly enough. No wonder they didn't scoop out as easily as I had hoped. It still worked out, just maybe took a little longer to puree than it should.

I started this process on Tuesday. I chopped the pumpkins in half, scooped out all the seeds and gooey stuff.

I then baked them, open side down for about 30 minutes (though they should have been closer to 45-60 minutes probably. I should have double checked that...

I made the pie crust dough while the pumpkins were roasting, and wrapped them up, and put them in the fridge to roll out and bake on Wednesday.

After the pumpkins were out of the oven, flipped over, and cooled, I spooned out the insides and put them into bags to puree on Wednesday. As you can see from the time on the stove, it was already past 10pm. Looking back, I would have pureed the pumpkin the same night.

At first I had planned to just mix the pumpkin from both varieties together, but decided instead to keep them separate and make a pie out of each to see how they differ. Obviously, I have way more pumpkin here than I need for two pies. I wanted to make sure I had enough, as I wasn't sure how much I'd get out of each pumpkin, but I also knew that once I made the puree, it'd keep in the freezer. After pureeing, here's the bounty of pumpkin puree!

Since the recipe calls for a 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree, I bagged the puree just shy of a pound. I got 3 total bags from the winter luxury pie pumpkins, and 5 bags from the other pumpkins.

The pies turned out pretty good. There wasn't a huge difference in the two, though I think the pie from the winter luxury pumpkins had better texture. The flavor was pretty much the same though. Next time I'll probably us light brown sugar instead of the dark and might use a little less ginger. Regardless, here's the recipe:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree (Wayward Seed and The Greener Grocer)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar (I'll probably use light brown sugar next time)
2 teaspoons ginger (I'd consider taking this down to 1.5 or even 1 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy cream (Snowville Creamery whipping cream of course)
2/3 cup whole milk (Snowville Creamery)
4 large eggs (The Greener Grocer - Kings Farm (Stoutsville, OH)

1. Remove partially baked pie crust from oven, leaving the oven rack at the lower middle position. Increase oven to 400 degrees. The crust must still be how when the filling is added.

2. While the crust is baking, put the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, spices, and salt in a food processor and process until combined (about 1 minutes). Pour the pumpkin mixture to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about 5 minutes. Make sure to keep stirring or it'll splatter hot pumpkin lava on your arm. Whisk in the cream and milk and return to a simmer briefly, then remove from the heat.

3. Process the eggs in the, still dirty food processor until uniform (about 5 seconds). With the machine running, slowly pour about half of the hot pumpkin mixture through the feed tube. Stop the machine, add the remaining pumpkin, and continue to process the mixture until uniform (about 30 seconds longer). Note: when all was added, and the processor was on, the liquid rose above the max level for my large food processor. It dripped out of the bottom when I took the processor canister off, but I made it work (just so you know what's coming).

While cooling, I made the whipped cream. This recipe is tough, so hang on...

1 cup chilled whipping cream (Snowville of course)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Put these all in a bowl, and using an electric mixer, whip it until soft peeks form. Piece of cake...or pie.

I double the recipe since there were two pies, and whipped cream is freaking awesome!

Here is the final result (along with a well used stove top):

The pies seemed to have received good reviews during the potluck. Like I said, next time I'll probably adjust the spices/sugar, but other than that, I was very happy with my first, completely from scratch, pie making experience!

Middle West Spirits - A Distillery Tour

2011-10-05T08:05:00.000-04:00

There are a couple of micro-distilleries in town. One of which is Middle West Spirits, and I finally got a chance to go take a tour and sample their three spirits. They've offered tours for a while, but it never seemed like a good time for us, but finally it seemed like we were free on a Friday, and they added a second, 8pm tour to the schedule. I pitched the idea to Lynette and she agreed that it sounded like fun. I called them up, got on the list, and on this last Friday, we went to check it out!

It's really an awesome way to spend part of your evening. It's only $10 a person, and it's not one of those 20 minute, come look at our place kind of tours. It's 90 minutes long (though they seem very willing to chat longer if you hung around with questions) and extremely informative! Granted, I think I was more interested in general, than Lynette, but she really had a great time too!

Our host/tour guide was Brady Konya, one of the co-founders of Middle West. Half of the tour was spent sitting in front of their incredible still and listening to how Middle West got started.

A significant amount of time was also spent talking about their ingredients. Basically, soft red winter wheat, from right here in Ohio.

I'm not going to pretend to try to tell you (or remember) all the interest facts regarding the process, the differences in what they do and what the rest of the industry does, or really anything. It's something you definitely have to check out for yourself!

After talking for what was probably 30 minutes or so, Brady took us back and to their mash and fermentation tanks.

These are perfect indications that they make everything from scratch. This was also the point where he told us that they had decided to go with all electric heating and cooling equipment, even though it was more costly to operate initially. Middle West not only makes phenomenal spirits, they've definitely thought well into the future of their operation and their energy footprint. They're working with OSU to develop a photovoltaic system to be able to supply all of their own electricity. Once he mentioned this, I remembered reading something about it a year ago. They are also working on ways to reuse their waste products.

After learning about some other aspects of their business, it was time to get down to business. The tasting! I failed to get any pictures at this point because frankly, I was too excited to try some of their spirits. They are remarkable! I'm by no means a connoisseur, but there is no doubt that the OYO Vodka is exceptionally better than the "control" vodka we tried first. Lynette was surprised to find out that she quite enjoyed their OYO Honey Vanilla Bean Vodka, though I doubt it's something either of us could drink straight up. My favorite though, and what I had been waiting to try...their OYO Whiskey. It's incredible! Since it's an aged spirit, it's unfortunately only occasionally available, and when it's released I think it sells out pretty quick. They said that the next batch is being released in mid-October, which is quite a coincidence considering my birthday falls at the end of October...

Spirits aren't for everyone. Even if you do like mixed drinks, there's a good chance that you're not a straight vodka or whiskey drinker. Whether you are or aren't, Middle West is definitely a place I would recommend checking out. Get a group of friends together and go. Make sure you call ahead because I think their tours fill up pretty quick. They are a wonderful example of a local company that sources locally. They don't take the word local lightly either. They really do believe that Ohio has some wonderful and fascinating flavors and I think the folks at Middle West really enjoy bringing those flavors to the public in the form of some delicious vodka and whiskey. Not only that, but they are a perfect example of a business that thinks beyond what they sell. They're about sustainable and responsible practices, education, doing what's right, and dare I say...having fun while doing it!

Have you been to Middle West before? Have you tried their spirits? Do you have any suggestions on other local business that do tours? We'd like to know!

Functional Strength

2011-09-29T22:19:00.000-04:00

I recently listened to Episode 750 of the Survival Podcast. It was an interview with Bryan Black from ITS Tactical and it covered the top 10 tactical skills for the common man.

It was a great episode with a lot of great information and ideas. My ears perked on #3, fitness. Bryan mentioned something that I'd never heard of before - functional strength. It led me to look through ITS's site a little more for some additional information on what functional strength is. I came across the article Can You Physically Save Yourself? which really got me thinking. Can I?

The answer...probably...maybe? I can do some pull-ups, push-ups, and have decent core strength, but overall, I'm pretty out of shape. I've been struggling over the last few months about wanting to start working out again, but I just haven't managed to get over the bump. I'm not going to join a gym because I don't want to spend the money, but I also think it's completely possible to get/be in shape without belonging to a gym. Alternatively, I also don't want to spend $200+ to buy weights or workout equipment nor do we have the room for anything in our tiny little rental house. I can't run any significant distance because I have a bad hip, and while I can cycle, I feel like I would have to make available, a significant amount of time in order to ride the 30ish miles or more to make the effort worth it.

There you go. All my excuses in one paragraph. It's time to find solutions to those excuses.

We're going to borrower P90X from a co-worker and give that a solid and honest try. I don't think it will really, specifically address my idea of what "functional strength" actually is, but it'll at least put us both at an awesome baseline to build from. Even with a bad hip, I think it's feasible for me to think about trying to at least run a mile. I'm not going to dedicate to that for sure because it'll depend on how my body (hip) reacts to that. I feel like the ability to run a mile and not feel like death afterwards is a significant thing to be prepared to do. Alternatively, I plan to get back on my bike. I don't think I'll get many longer rides in with what remains of decent weather this year, but when it's relatively nice, I'm going to try to do some high intensity hill sprints at the big hill that is just down the road from us. I think it'll do a good job of building some leg fitness and endurance.

All in all, it's just a matter of finding what will motivate me enough to push me out of my comfort zone for a month in order to build that habit. While, I've never considered myself at any point to be in awesome shape, there was a time that I was much more fit than I am now. No longer do I seem to be motivated by just the thought of feeling or looking better. Though I know I felt and looked much healthier when I was working out. I'm now feeling extremely motivated by the idea that if push come to shove I want to be as prepared as possible for anything life might throw at us. It's not going to be easy, nor is it going to show quick results, but just like anything else, it's a matter of building the habit and being stubborn about sticking to it! Time to get my game face on!

This time, I feel like it's for real. Hopefully, by putting it on here, I'll have yet another place to stay accountable to.

A Recipe Fail - A Call for Help!

2011-09-28T20:26:00.000-04:00

We made shrimp jambalaya tonight for dinner.

It looked tasty, and all the ingredients in the recipe seem like they would play nicely together. By all accounts it was edible, but it was not tasty. For starters, it was a little too tomatoy for my taste which normally isn't surprising since I don't like tomatoes, but it was also a bit tomatoy for Lynette too. I'm also wondering if it should have been seasoned more, we should have used more of a chunky tomato sauce instead of just diced tomatoes, or...?

The best and also worst part of a meal like this, is that it makes a lot! Best in the sense that if it's delicious it makes a lot for very little money. Worst in the sense that if it's not so great, it's a lot of food to waste or force myself to eat. Since it's edible and not disgusting, I can't just throw it out.

In lieu of this dilemma, I'm looking for suggestions on ways to improve this so I can enjoy what will become lunch for the rest of the week and then some. Please help! Put any suggestions in the comments below and hopefully something will help. Thanks!

Is Fast Food Cheaper?

2011-09-26T22:11:00.000-04:00

It's been a crazy Spring and Summer, full of a lot of ups and downs. Luckily, I think it's behind us for the most part. So I now declare the hiatus over, and I've decided to get back to posting more frequently.

I recently saw a comparison chart posted on Facebook by Hounds in the Kitchen. It was from a New York Times article titled, "Is Junk Food Really Cheaper." While my opinions differ slightly regarding the solution to the problem, I think the majority of the article is spot on!

There was a comment on Facebook to the effect that people aren't actually eating fast food because it's cheaper, but instead because it's faster and more convenient. It think this creates an interesting dichotomy regarding this whole fast food vs. real food issue.

The reason people give for eating fast food.
The real reason people eat fast food.

Granted this is most likely not a true dichotomy because there are probably overlapping areas, but I think in general it's a fair thing to say.

The reason people give for eating fast food - they can't afford anything else

Many times when I hear people (either in person, in articles, comments of articles, news reports, etc.) talk about eating primarily fast food, it's because they supposedly can't afford "real food." They claim that "with a family of 4, 5, 6, etc. the only way they afford to feed their family is with fast food." "They don't want to, but when you have to choose between the value menu and a steak, there's just no comparison." These are general paraphrases based on what I've seen and heard, but if your comparing the value menu to steak, then yes, you probably can only afford fast food; however, if you're that financially strapped why are you even using steak as a comparison measure?

I think this article, and more importantly the comparison chart, does a great job showing people that if they are poor, then they can't afford fast food! The crazy thing is these numbers totally disregard the "true" costs of the food. It doesn't take into account the actual costs to get the food there (which is basically all the subsidies, tax credits, etc. that they'll pay for through taxes) or the future healthcare costs of eating that junk.

I'll throw it out there that I think the cost issue is just the issue that people are willing to argue about. It's a hot issue that is easy to throw out there and illicit sympathy for. I will say though, I don't think it's overtly attempting to garner sympathy, instead I think it's just lack of knowledge. This leads us to the real reason people eat fast food:

The real reason people eat fast food - they don't have the organization skills or cooking skills

It's hard to admit that you don't know how to do something. Yes, it's also hard to admit that you don't have money, but more and more I think it's becoming much easier to ask for help financially, but this doesn't seem to be the case with lack of knowlege. I think we have a whole generation of people that have ZERO idea what a kitchen is actually for, how to use a stove/oven, how to use a knife, or even make mashed potatoes! If people are willing to look at the real issues, they will see that they lack the skills, and they can't easily blame it on their job, their education, or the government. Yes, they could easily say that they were never taught how to cook, but that is easily remedied, usually much more so than finding someone a good paying job (especially in today's economy). Also, this type of cooking requires organization, and fiscal responsibility which is a whole other topic that I think a lot of people these days are for whatever reason trying to avoid.

This article also touches on this cooking issue and makes a really good connection that people define cooking as work. Don't get me wrong, many times cooking a meal can be work, but that doesn't mean it has to be! With a little organization, and some planning, you can make most meals in 20-30 minutes during a weeknight and not even dirty a lot of dishes. Yes, this might mean spending a few hours on the weekend preparing some stock, precooking something, slicing/dicing vegetables, etc. but what a great time to teach your family or yourself some useful life skills! If some pre-work is done on the weekend, that pinto beans and rice recipe would probably take 10 minutes to make on a weeknight.

I think the real fast food problem in America is not so much that people are eating it all the time (which is definitely a HUGE problem), it's more that the skills of cooking are being drastically lost with each passing generation. Without those skills, people will logically fall into eating fast food because they don't know any different. We need to change the way people are thinking. When people start taking back the responsibility to feed themselves and their families by cooking, only then will we be able to gain ground on the obesity and malnutrition epidemic that is facing our nation.

There have been great strides by organizations like Slow Food USA and their $5 Challenge. As of today, there are 5,572 different meals that have been shared on that site that are under $5 per person. These meals would all beat the $6.97 per person price tag of that McDonald's meal. There are also organizations all over the country like Local Matters here in Columbus, that are at the grassroots, with the children of the nation, educating them on real food, how to prepare it, and all the benefits of eating something real. They are also making huge efforts to make good, real food more available in areas that are considered food deserts.

Writing this, I know we've been no where near good these last couple of weeks. We've gone out far to many times, but at least we knew it wasn't because it was cheaper. It was because we were unprepared. We finally sat down tonight, made a menu for the week and went shopping. There will be no more eating out. There is a lot of work to be done!

Gracie's Slideshow

2011-09-19T21:36:00.001-04:00

On Wednesday September 14, 2011, we had to make the decision we'd been dreading for a while. It was finally time to say goodbye to our sweet Gracie.

It hasn't been an easy year. There have many ups and downs, but we cherished every day we had with her.

She was a fighter until the end, but Tuesday night, her body let us know that it was time. We took her to the vet on Wednesday morning, and she went quickly and peacefully. It was the hardest thing either of us has ever had to do. It hasn't been easy since then, but we are staying positive and remember all the wonderful times and the joyous 9 years of life she gave me, and then, us once we were a family.

The following is only a small part of her life in still pictures. These are some of the happiest moments we remember with her. We've had fun going through the old pictures to put this together for ourselves and for everyone who loved her.

Gracie, the house is not the same without you. You are missed every day. Thank you for all the wonderful moments you gave us, and all the great memories you leave us with. We will love and miss you forever!

Life is good with animals.

2011-08-27T11:04:00.000-04:00

Watching any pet or animal get old, is not always easy. Though some age gracefully, some do not. It's different though with cancer. It accelerates that aging process, and never in a graceful way.

As some of our readers are aware, our 9 year old lab/border collie, Gracie has cancer; however what we haven't mentioned is that Cissy, our 14 year old cat, too has cancer. We mentioned a bit here about the hospital visit, but went on a blogging hiatus afterwards and never explained. Cissy's cancer seems to be a little more touchy as it had completely stopped the digestive process in her body. Her spleen, kidney, and liver are partially cancer ridden. She was on meds to get everything up and running again, but is now off of those. She's only on a steroid to help control the growth of the cancer. So that basically catches everyone up on the details about two of our beloved pets having cancer. Currently, we are in the process of fulfilling our responsibility to those pets.

I believe that when you take "ownership" of any animal, it's your responsibility to care for that animal, and treat it with respect. We've spent what to us is a lot of money in the last year to uphold this responsibility, and we would have spent countless more if we thought it would be to the benefit of either. Fact is, with all of our decisions, we always first thought about quality and second about quantity.

For Gracie, we decided on just the pain killer route as we didn't feel the it would be a quality remainder of life recovering from a major surgery like amputation. A part of me still wonders what if, but right now, she's actually using the broken leg, and getting around better than she has since it first happened!

Cissy's been doing quite good as well! She's decided now that she deserves only wet food, which is a little divaish, if you ask me, but I suppose she deserves it. Charlie, our new kitten, is pestering her what seems like constantly so the least we can do is give her wet food. As I mentioned before she's only on the steroid now and when we finished with the medicine to keep her system going, we were very concerned that she would immediately revert back. We talked about it before she came off of that med, and decided that if she did revert and she stopped eating and well...you know, then we'd most likely have to put her down. With Gracie we are essentially managing pain (even though we know the cancer is spreading), but with Cissy the medications were actually supporting her failing system. We weren't sold that supporting her vital systems like that was quality, but more us wanting to extend the quantity for our benefit. Happily, she never missed a beat coming off those meds. She's still eating and making us very aware again when she's hungry. I do still feel bad that we picked up this crazy kitten, and I wonder if sometimes she thinks we did it just to spite her. I think I've said in the past that she never was very loving to me, so I think I wouldn't blame her for those thoughts, if indeed that's what she thinks. Not now though. I love her very much, and it's hard to imagine a day without her. I can pet her almost whenever I want and pick her up, but she still doesn't groom my hair like she does Lynette. I guess I should just be grateful for the love I do get.

Living with not just one, but two pets with cancer is tough. Within reason, we could still go away for a weekend and take Gracie, but it's a different story with Cissy. She doesn't necessarily adjust to new places, plus she'd need a litter box. It's just not feasible. At the present moment, we are now simply limited to day trips. Yes, someone can easily come over twice a day to feed her the wet food, but she gets her medicine in the evening, and I wouldn't expect anyone to do that. It's a two person job, and it took us a month just to figure out the best way to do it. I wrap her in a towel, making sure her front legs straight and pointed down, and all that is showing is her head. I hold her firmly against my chest, while Lynette holds her head, forces her mouth opens and uses a syringe administer the meds. It's quite the event, but we've gotten much better, and now that it's just the one it's not so bad. I still wouldn't expect or even think of asking anyone to do it in our stead. Gracie too, I would only really consider taking to my parents or Lynette's parents. She's familiar and comfortable in both places, but I don't think she's all that comfortable in the car anymore.

I don't pretend to compare our pets with cancer to people with cancer. There is no doubt, that they are not comparable. I do however think there is little difference in the respect and responsibility we have towards them. Sure I recognize that with a person, we would be fighting for a cure, and not simply sustaining what we can for a balance of quality and quantity. I think every living creature has an inherent worth, and I think if more people thought this way, many of the troubles in the world would simply not be issues. I know that some people (none that I'm great friends with, I'm sure) don't agree with this type of thinking, which saddens me. Somemeds themselves cost us very little each month, especially compared to what we get back in return. This may rub people the wrong way, but I question if many people should really have a pet, if they can't afford to care for them adequately if they are sick. It all comes back to the responsibility and respect for the animal.

I've learned a lot over the last year. I've learned that even when you think it's the end, a dog can show you that she has more strength and stoic beauty than you've ever seen. I've learned that even a cat that you joke about being evil, can become so much a part of what you enjoy in your life that you question how it'll ever be the same without her. Even though we are a little inconvenienced by not being able to come and go as we are used to, it's humbling to see Gracie and Cissy continue to persevere without much expectation of sympathy. Sure Gracie still stares you down with those big brown eyes trying to make you feel sorry for her and give her either something tasty or a scratch behind the ear, but she's done that since she was a year old. Cissy still doesn't act that much different than she has since we've moved in here. She's still excited when we make popcorn, yet only "petable" when she allows said petting. She's never used her claws against the kitten no matter how annoying she is (which is very annoying, most of the time). Humanity could learn a lot if it slowed down and observed these sort of behaviors.

Life is good with animals. It's always a reward, even when you have to watch them fade away. I've thought more times than I can count that I wish I could take their pain away, but in the big picture I know that their time is ending, and the lessons that they've taught us will move us to bigger and more important goals in life. I thank God everyday for the blessings in my life, even if those blessings sometimes come in difficult packaging.

Marriage is easy. Life is hard.

2011-08-16T20:34:00.000-04:00

This has become our little household saying during the first year of marriage. That's right, it's been one year. I seems like it was just a few months ago, even though so much has happened in the last year.

Actually, our anniversary was a week and a half ago, Sunday August 7th. It was during our little blog hiatus/blackout, so we didn't post anything about it then, but I am now. It really was a great day!

It started when we got in the car to head to the North Market. When I turned the car on, the check engine light came on. Great! We just got back from a trip to north central Ohio without any problems so I couldn't think of what it might be. We headed to Advance Auto so they could pull the code and hoped for something simple (which is usually not the case with my automotive luck). The code pulled as some "gross emission leak." Hmm... The guy said it could be a number of things, but could be as simple as the gas cap not being screwed on. I knew Lynette recently filled the car up, but I thought, "surely she screwed the cap on all the way." Needless to say, we managed to leave Advance without spending any money...

Now, on to the North Market!

We honeymooned in Maine last year and our favorite things were the lobster rolls!

We decided once we returned that we would make them for our first anniversary. We missed them all year long, and so we made them.

We picked up a couple of Maine lobsters - total weight 3.2 lbs.

Lynette resisted the urge to name them, though I bet we could have come up with some stellar names! In all seriousness, these were the first animals that we'd actually killed for food. Yes, some people may think that they are "just lobsters" but it was still something we didn't take lightly.

It took more time getting all the meat out of the shells than they did to actually cook, but after some effort we had ourselves a meal!

I joked that this probably wasn't the fanciest anniversary dinner, but it was still perfect! It took us back to all the fun times we had in Maine!

It was also a good time to reflect on everything that has happened in the last year. If you've followed the blog, I'm sure your well aware, but regardless of all the not so happy moments, it's been a wonderful first year. And they say the first year of marriage is the hardest (I sure hope so). This is where our household saying, "Marriage is easy. Life is hard" comes from. Through all "life" that we've experienced this last year, it was always our marriage that helped provide us strength. Overall, it was a wonderful first year, with a wonderful woman! Here's to many many many more (less stressful) years!

Reading - Who knew it could be so fun?!

2011-08-15T22:01:00.000-04:00

Librarians and nerds probably. Ha!

Seriously though. Growing up (K-12), I couldn't name you a single book that I read front to back. Not a single one. Yes, we were required to read books, but as soon as I found I could still get an A or a B in a class without reading said book, I didn't read them. I may have skimmed chapters, or read bits and part, but I never went through a whole book, front to back, especially not quickly or with any desire too.

Fast forward from that time, 12 years to now. I'm 30 and while I've now read a few books, never any with real passion. I still read a few books though, but most because I was "suppose" to for one reason or another. The sad thing was, I was in a strange way proud of this "no reading" attitude. This all changed a couple of months ago.

Over the last couple of years I've become more and more interested in the American food system, what food really is, and how we can make better choices. This blog became focused based on a lot of those beliefs. I began to realize how mislead the general population is regarding food, and how it's never talked about in mainstream media. I began looking for other resources. Through this search for more information, I began reading a lot. Not books, but dozens of different blogs, articles, forums, etc. All of which, the culmination of could easily constitute many books. I never considered all this reading to actually be "reading." Weird huh!? I never considered it "reading" (which to me was something painfully boring), it was instead informative and interesting. The first time I thought about all this reading I was doing, was with an off-the-cuff comment Lynette made about the fact that I probably read way more than she does with all the blogs and stuff I look at. She had a very good point, and it was like a light bulb went off.

Quickly I started finding my Amazon wishlist filling up with books of varying topics instead of other random items (which still find their way on the list). I found myself craving books to read, but still not actually reading any.

A few weeks after the light bulb moment, we made a stop at Half Priced Books so I could browse some of their food oriented books. It was there that I found a couple of books I had been wanting to read: The Omnivore's Dilemma (If you clicked on this, you're seeing the right link. In my excitement, all I noticed was the first part of the title and glazed over "The Young Readers Edition" part. Don't worry, I'm planning on re-reading the actual book) and In Defense of Food, both by Michael Pollan. I read both of these within a week and a half (an unimaginable speed as compared with my past reading "accomplishments). Then I wanted more.

I soon re-discovered this magical land called a library!! Wooooooooo! It was awesome! This was just 3 weeks ago at this point, and I picked out a couple more books. The first one I tried to read, I won't even tell you the name of because after 30 pages I became annoyed with the writing style, confusing story line, and the authors general attitude so I just closed it and moved on to the next book. The second book: Living At Nature's Pace: Farming and the American Dream by Gene Logsdon was amazing! Amazing! I'll buy the book someday because I think it will turn into an annual read. It was that good!

We recently returned those and I got a few more. A couple of which were less read front to back and more browse like Self-Sufficiency for the 21st Century. It's an information packed book, but most of the information will be more useful once we own a place. It's very interesting though. The books that are next up to read are Against the Grain and then Soul of a Dog. I'm excited to get started on both, but first my biggest reading accomplishment ever!

I read a whole book, front to back, in less than one day!! It's a book I had been wanting to read for a while, but just kept putting off. It's written by a farmer in Georgia. He and his wife have a podcast that I thoroughly enjoy and have listened too since a few months after they started it. I've read some of their blog, but not nearly as much as I want to. I found out last week that they are speaking at a big food fair in Cincinnati, OH on August 20th. It's called the Farmers' Fair, and since we didn't have anything going on that day, I knew we had to try and make it. I knew first though, that I needed to read their book, The Accidental Farmers. Luckily, I had bought Lynette a Kindle for a wedding present so I ordered the book in the late morning, and finished it by late evening! I couldn't believe it. I finished a whole book, in one day. The book was great! He definitely pulled no punches with regards to some of the horrors involved with their type of farming. In general terms, it's an ideal that Lynette and I are planning our lives towards, just not farming on their scale. We're looking more towards producing enough for ourselves and extra for our family, but as of right now, not farming for consumers. Lynette is currently sitting next to me and reading it right now. I'll be very interested to chat with her about her thoughts on it, and maybe even get a chance to meet Tim and Liz this weekend!

Not all the books are food related books, but so far they have been the ones that have garnered the most excitement. I do have some books on hold/order from the library that are of a different subject matters so it'll be nice to be able to break some of the food stuff up with other topics.

I never thought I would be someone who would enjoy reading, but now there are quite a few nights where Lynette and I will sit on the couch together, and read for an hour or two a night. It's really great, and I love the fact that she doesn't judge me for acting like a little kid in a candy store when we go to the library!

Does anyone out there have similar experiences with discovering reading later in life? Do you have any book suggestions?

Bittersweet Birthday

2011-06-26T13:06:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Gracie's ninth birthday, and we were so happy to be able to celebrate it. Eric and I confessed to each other that we never thought she'd actually make it to her birthday this year. We are so proud of our strong pup!

We've seen her slowing down over the past few weeks, sleeping a bit more, but definitely still herself when she is awake. I've been watching our friends' son, and every time I tell him it is time to go somewhere Gracie will about lose her mind thinking she is coming too. On Friday, she pushed her way out the door ahead of us and ran laps around my car whining before I could get him in his car seat and her back in the house. We decided to give her a car ride for her birthday, along with a trip to Three Dog Bakery in the Short North.

The car ride ended up being longer and the trip to the dog bakery ended up being a trip to the pet store because of crazy traffic from Comfest. She thoroughly enjoyed the people watching along with her car ride around campus:

In other news, we are waiting right now to hear back from OSU about Cissy's x-rays and blood work. She didn't eat yesterday (or go to the bathroom), and the vet couldn't get us in then. We were going to try to hold off, but she was painful this morning and still wouldn't eat or go to the bathroom and we weren't positive we'd be able to get her in to our vet tomorrow - Woohoo,emergency fees! She got a complete geriatric profile done (blood work, urinalysis, etc.) less than two weeks ago, because she has been losing weight and not taking care of herself. Came back ok, though slightly anemic. Now this...

Ack, pets! Why do we love them? Oh yeah, see the picture above.

Recipe Wednesday: Rhubarb crunch

2011-06-08T22:15:00.000-04:00

It's been far too long since my last post, so this well overdue! Tis the season for rhubarb and one of my favorite recipes is rhubarb crunch:

Rhubarb Crunch

For the filling:

4 cups of cut up rhubarb

1 cup white sugar

1 cup water mixed with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch

Cook together until clear

And

1 tablespoon vanilla- added after you remove from the stove top

For the crust:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup oatmeal

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon (I prefer the Chinese Cassia Cinnamon)

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

Mix all of the above together until well blended and place 1/2 of the mixture in the bottom of the pan (I spray the pan first with some cooking spray so the crust will release easier)

And save the rest for the topping

(This recipe works for an 8x8 or a 9x9 pan)

When the rhubarb has cooked to a clear consistency and you add the vanilla, carefully pour over the bottom crust. Then crumble the remaining mixture over the hot rhubarb.

Bake 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Take care because if baked too long, the crust can get burnt. Let cool for 10-15 so the filling will set up, and then dish out for your enjoyment!

This would go great with some homemade vanilla ice cream (or Jeni's), but we didn't have any.

I hope everyone enjoys this as much as we do!

The Littlest Spoon

2011-05-29T11:13:00.005-04:00

The weekend after the barn fire last month (the same weekend Gracie broke her leg and was diagnosed with bone cancer), Eric and I had a quiet morning, just the two of us, taking care of the surviving horses at Oasis. One of the barn cats, Cat Food (yes, her name is Cat Food), was having her kittens. It was a moment of peace in a devastating week, and the new lives were like a little sign of hope for us. We decided it felt right to bring one of them home.

We decided on the fourth one born, a little tortoiseshell. I had watched her birth, went to groom one of the horses, and came back 15 minutes later to find Cat Food on top of her and her sac still on. I pulled off her sack and rubbed her a bit to get her breathing. As soon as she gave a little peep, Cat Food finally realized she was there and started taking care of her. I think I fell in love with her at that moment, too.

We picked her out when she was 15 minutes old and kept saying that she had better be cute. Well, we lucked out because she is adorable. We brought her home this past weekend, along with her grandma, Jessie (who stole her from Cat Food), and her week-younger uncle. They had come along on an awesome horse camping trip that weekend, so that we could give them the medicine they needed for conjunctivitis. I didn't want to miss her for a few more weeks, and Debbie agreed that they could all come home with us. We found a home for the little boy, Einstein, and he will leave us in a few weeks. Jessie will go back to the barn to be spayed. And our little girl will stay with us!

We decided to call her Charlie. I love little girls called Charlie, but we probably would not name a daughter Charlotte. I also thought it was fitting because Oasis barn cats often end up with the opposite gender name from kids naming them before an adult bothers to check the sex. Lizzy, he is one of the best cats ever. And Herman was such a good mom. At first Eric said no, but then he realized that she looks like "Charlie," a chocolate, peanut, coconut, and marshmallow bar that his grandpa makes at the holidays. It was perfect!

Charlie is doing well! She is not afraid of the dogs and tries to rub on them when she sees them. They love her, too! Cissy is interested but not sure what to make of her yet. We are keeping them apart until Charlie has been to the vet.

Here is a video of her yesterday morning in the Saturday morning cuddle pile. Webster isn't the littlest spoon anymore.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

2011-05-09T21:50:00.001-04:00

I had the intention of getting this up yesterday, but like most things lately, I ran out of time, and didn't get back into town until later in the evening.

Regardless, I'd like to wish my Mom and all the Mom's out there, a Happy Belated Mother's Day!

We went to my parent's this weekend, not only to celebrate Mother's Day, but so they could also see Gracie. We hadn't had a chance to get up there since she broke her leg. She's actually started to use that leg again, so she was almost normal while we were up there. I digress...

This year marked my Mom's 30th official Mother's Day. I bet she didn't realize that... I know everyone says that their Mom is great and is the best Mom in the world, but my Mom truly is! As I get older, I've begun to see and realize all of the things that she told me (or tried to tell me) are true. More importantly I've started to see all the things she didn't tell me:

She always treated friends like family and family like friends (not in a bad way). If you were to look at how she is with some of her closest friends, you would truly think they are family, and really...you wouldn't be that far off. I have absolutely seen that in myself, as all of my friends are considered family in my eyes. Our family is also pretty close, so while most people only see their family a few select times a year, I find interactions with our family as more of a friendly get together. It really is great to see that there is more gray in that area than there is black and white.

I've also realized, that I got very little of her patience. She's an incredibly patient, understanding, selfless, and caring woman. I've seen her give give give, until she's exhausted, and then get up and do it all again. As far as patience goes, lets just say she had two Rosendaul boys, and managed to live to tell about it. Luckily I've managed to land me wife that has all of these traits, and I count my blessings everyday!

Another thing that I really count my blessing for is that growing up, pretty much all our meals were made at home. I remember maybe one time we ordered pizza, and it was a BIG deal! Mom always just made the pizza. I know as kids were were bummed because everyone else always ordered theirs, and it just seemed weird, but I thank God everyday I'm in the kitchen that we were exposed to that! I've always been around family that makes things from scratch (cinnamon rolls, apple sauce, mashed potatoes, pie, etc.). I'm truly grateful that my mom continued to expose us to this. There is no doubt that this is the reason I feel very comfortable in the kitchen, and enjoy cooking. To this day, she'll still go out of her way to make some of my favorite foods when I'm home, or some of my brother's when he's home.

There is really so much I could and would like to say. Alas, I'm honestly not great at portraying those things through words (written or spoken). I realize the irony in the fact that I say I'm not good at putting things into words, and that I'm telling you this through a blog. So I guess to try to wrap this up quickly and efficiently, I'll write her a little note:

Mom,

Happy Mother's Day. No combination or amount of words will ever say how much you mean to me, and how much you've shaped my life. I know I haven't always listened, and I've been a pain in the ass more times than I'll probably ever admit too, but thank you for always being there. Thank you for always being a voice of reason, calmness, and wisdom. Thank you for the unconditional love you give to not only me, but Lynette as well. Thank you for teaching me (with the help of Dad of course) what's right and what's wrong, and what doing the right thing is all about. Thanks for those silent teaching/learning moments, and for everything you've ever done for me. I love you!

Love always,
Your #1 son! :-)

Photo by Courtney Mason Photography

Maybe a new addition...

2011-04-24T21:28:00.001-04:00

This is a barn kitty that we might be getting.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.3

Brought to you by the letter "R"

2011-04-20T20:42:00.000-04:00

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Lynette and I just had a conversation about this last night. I think that a lot of people look at this slogan and actually interpret it as Reduce, Reuse, or Recycle. While, yes I think that is good, I think it should be more like Reduce, then Reuse, and then Recycle. Let me explain.

I like to consider myself a fairly normal American, and I feel like I can relate to the misunderstanding of this slogan. I never assumed that the "R" words were arranged in the order they are for any particular reason (other than sounding catchy). I bought whatever I bought, and tried to recycle what I could of cans, plastic bottles, glass jars, etc. In the recent year, I've become more aware of all the stuff that can actually be recycled (paper, cardboard, etc). I find that we're doing whatever we can to put something in the recycling bin before the trash bin. Yes, this is great, but we find our recycling bin filling up very quickly, and I think just focusing on the last of the three is completely missing the point. They are in that order for a reason! I think people, us included, need to evaluate what they buy a little more and consider the order of the slogan: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

I think that over the last year we've really tried to buy more fresh produce, less processed foods, and in general less packaged stuff all together. We've done really well, but I still look at a lot of the stuff we buy and I think we can do so much better. Luckily, my wife is completely on board and we both look forward to a day when we aren't buying anything in cans, plastic bottles, and glass jars. I know that the tomato juice/sauce/paste/ketchup, mustard, pickles, and whatever else we make ourselves will be so much better on every level! Yes, there will still be the occasional thing we'll need to buy like an odd ingredient, or just stuff like flour, sugar, spices, etc. that we realistically won't easily be able to get away from. For these exceptions, that is where the second "R" comes into play.

Reusing items is something I've thought about from time to time, but didn't have an exact idea what to do with that wine bottle, jelly jar, or ketchup bottle. From here forward, we're going to be trying to save as much of this stuff as possible and try to find some use for them. Some people may know that we don't have pop/soda in our house. We just don't buy it. I, however, have gotten some 2 liter bottles from work, cleaned them, filled them with water and stuck them in our deep freeze. We've only had our freezer for a few months and it's still pretty empty. Having these frozen bottles help to add to the thermal mass in that freezer and helps maintain the temperature; therefore making it run more efficient. They are also great to put in a cooler, and a great source of emergency water if the water here becomes undrinkable for some reason. Old wine bottles might eventually hold some delicious, fresh made apple juice/cider, and the ketchup and mustard bottles might just hold homemade ketchup and mustard.

Another interesting Reusing item is something I haven't actually tried, but I've recently heard about on a podcast I listen to. It's the Harvest Eating podcast, and the product is a reusable canning lid! They are called Tattler Reusable Canning Lids. They are BPA free, work just like regular lids (from what I understand), and seem fairly reasonably priced. Like I said, I've never used these, and I'm definitely not getting paid to talk about them or anything, but it just seems like a really good idea. We're planning on ordering some of these sometime soon and will give them a try once we finally start canning some stuff. I'm excited that it won't be just a "one and done" product!

Finally, when all efforts have been made to Reduce consumption and you can't Reuse what you have bought, then it's on to Recycling. I think that we should all be buying products with these 3 things in mind right away. I know when we go to the store next we're going to be asking ourselves if we can 1. make this ourselves and save from having to buy it, 2. reuse whatever packaging the product is in, and finally 3. if we can't do either 1 or 2, can we at least recycle it. I think this will even further reduce our waste, save us money, will mean fewer trips to drop off the recycling, and will most definitely mean tastier, fresher, and healthier foods in our fridge, pantry, and stomachs!

I know that to some people we are pretty out there, making our own butter and all, but I really think that everybody should be thinking about this on some level. Yeah, you might not have any desire to make your own jelly, but could you use that glass jar for something else?! You could easily store some dried beans or rice in it. You could use it for something non food related too. You could put buttons in it or use it on your desk to hold your pens and pencils. If anything, just make sure you recycle it, but don't use that as an excuse. There are still extra energy, fossil fuels, and costs that are expended to remake that jar into another jar.

Do you have some creative ideas to reuse? What are somethings that you've started making yourself in order to reduce your consumption of packaged goods? Do you find your recycling bin filling up faster than your trash can like we do?

Not Arthritis...

2011-04-17T22:27:00.003-04:00

The last week and a half has been pretty stressful. First, we were rocked with the news that a horse barn in Cincinnati had a bad fire on Tuesday, April 5th. It was Oasis Farms, the barn that Lynette spent a lot of years, working, riding, and becoming friends with the owners and horses. It was an emotional day. We went down that night and were out at the barn first thing on Wednesday morning to do what we could to help out. We both, reluctantly came back to Columbus that night for work on Thursday and Friday, but were right back down on Friday night.

Saturday morning started off with Gracie trying to hop up in bed with us, but when she failed to make it up, and fell back on her butt, she whined. I hopped out of bed and help her stand up, and she didn't put any weight on her rear left leg. We figured we'd give her an hour to see if she would "walk it off," but when she didn't we made an appointment with the vet they used to take Cissy to, and took her in at 11am. After some time, and some x-rays they came back with this:

She has a bone tumor in the upper part of her rear left femur. It had pretty well eaten away a lot of the bone. When she jumped up and came back down on the leg, the bone essentially collapsed in on itself because of the loss of integrity. Even writing this now, I'm in disbelief that she'll never walk on 4 legs again.

They gave her some pain meds and we took her back to Lynette's parents, and headed out to the barn. We knew that we weren't going to make any decisions until we got back to Columbus, and that she'd be "fine" until Sunday night. We had friends to help.

The weekend went by and Sunday came quickly. We were on our way home and the closer we got, the harder it became to hold back the emotions. Finally, we got inside and I think we both lost it. We had successfully stayed focused enough on helping out at the barn, that we were able to keep our minds off of Gracie. It was a hard start to the week - little sleep, little food, little happiness.

It was no surprise to us when Gracie started doing better. She's still getting used to life on 3 legs, but she's now able to get around the house, go up 3-4 stairs on her own, go down a full flight of stairs with absolute grace (even more so than she did on 4 legs!), and just today showed that she could hop up in her favorite recliner by herself! Seeing her progressively doing better on three legs is really helping Lynette and I cope. There is no doubt that it's been hard, but we're trying to be as optimistic as possible. If she's not giving up, we're not giving up on her.

The vet in Cincinnati mailed us a CD of the x-rays so we could consult our vet here. We made an appointment and went in on Friday. We basically went in for a second opinion and/or to see what they think since they're familiar with her, and her first surgery. We didn't really come out of the appointment with a lot more information, but we did end up and have the x-rays from Cincinnati and the x-rays that our vet took post-op sent to some specialists at OSU to look at.

Right now, we looking to see if she is a candidate for amputation. The main reason being that it's that between the cancer and the break, it's the one thing that is causing her pain. There are many things to consider as to why not to do it, but unfortunately they are less...precise, lets say. It basically comes down to quality of life vs. quantity of life. We don't want to put her through a major surgery if she'll then spend the remainder of her life recovering, but if the major surgery means she has a better quality life, then it might be worth it. This might also depend on the type of cancer. The vet in Cincinnati told us that the cancer was most likely osteosarcoma, but our vet here isn't necessarily convinced that it is.

Osteosarcoma is the most common bone tumor in dogs. It's also highly aggressive. We've concluded that this is most likely the primary site of the cancer, that was previously removed from Gracie's neck. The vet also did some chest x-rays that didn't show any major concerns as far as metastasis. There were definitely some areas of concern, but based on the fact that the survival time isn't very long because of the aggressiveness of the cancer, there is hope that it's something less aggressive. I'm trying to stay optimistic that this is the case, and that the specialists at OSU will hopefully be able to provide some more insight.

All in all, Gracie is doing well on her pain meds. She's adapted to life on 3 legs and can do just about everything she did before. I'm still carrying her upstairs at night because she doesn't yet have the strength for all of those stairs, and we're gating off the upstairs while we're gone. I'm sure she's not happy that she can't come upstairs when she wants, but with the rate she's going now, I'm sure she'll be able to climb the stairs by herself in a week or two!

We'll keep you all up-to-date as things change.

Defining Liberty

2011-03-30T23:18:00.001-04:00

This post was inspired by the most recent episode of The Survival Podcast, titled Creating Your Vision of Liberty.

I sometimes wonder if some people think we're crazy or wonder why we do some of things we do. After all we both have good, professional jobs, have relatively cheap rent, and we're the stereotypical "dual income, no kids" family (though the dogs and cat should count for something). Yet, with this disposable income that we most surely have, why do I drive a purple '98 Corolla that seems to have more problems than things that work? Why do we not realize we're in 2011 and get rid of this old tube television, and why are we cancelling our cable? Why are we spending time making bread, butter, starting to can, wanting a KitchenAid mixer instead of a PS3, etc.

First off, if you haven't listened to that episode yet, I'd encourage you to do it now. If you don't have an hour to listen to the whole podcast episode, please please PLEASE listen to at least the first 25-30 minutes. At least get through the 2 stories that are read. Then, if you're wondering why we do the things we do, you'll probably understand. If you don't understand, here are the answers. The car is paid for, the TV sucks money and time that can be used in more productive manners, we choose to spend more time making our food because it's healthier, more accountable, and many time cheaper than you can buy in the store, and the KitchenAid helps us do this efficiently.

The sacrifices we're making now, as hard as they sometimes are, are defining our liberty. They are mere steps in our journey. The stories on the podcast are great, and very inspiring! I'll even admit, while listening to the stories at work today, my eyes got a little misty. You see, I love my wife. I love my wife more than anything in this world! I don't want to be away from her. Some people may think I'm strange for feeling like this and may just chalk it up to being a newlywed, but I would disagree. If you're the type that doesn't feel this way about your spouse than I would really challenge you to look hard at the last paragraph of this post. The choices we're making everyday are leading us to a life that is much more financial stable and will be able to withstand almost any hardship.

Lynette and I have spent a lot of time, even before we were married, thinking and talking about life and what we want. It's an always evolving subject and list of things, as our circumstances or knowledge change. The biggest thing is that we talk. This specific podcast episode has really brought some clarity to my head. I'm usually the "dreamer" type that always has lots of thoughts running through my head, but rarely are there concrete plans behind them. Without a plan, a thought is just a thought. The most important stuff is always talked about at some point. Sometimes it's easy to agree on something and other times there are compromises. I don't consider these bad at all. We're in this together and while the little twists and turns are important, as long as we get to the goal, that's what really matters.

We want land. What for, how much, why, what land attributes, etc. are all questions that need to go along with that one statement, "we want land." Imagine what goes along with statements like, "we want freedom from debt, we want real financial security, we want control," etc. There are so many questions, and everyone has different questions and different answers. The question, "where do you want to live?" For us, it's in the country, but you may be a city person. That's awesome! It's the same question, but a different answer. The real issue is not what your questions and answers are, it's 1. are you willing to ask yourself (and if you're married, your spouse) the questions and find the answers and 2. are you willing to do something towards it.

We are, and I hope you are too. I hope you listen to the podcast and read this and take it to heart, talk to your spouse (or yourself if it's just you), and define your personal liberty. Define what it is you want most out of life, find the things you can do to get there, and go do it!