shut the damn thing off

I had a rather loud cooking experience tonight

    A simple meal.  Spaghetti, sauce, meat balls, garlic bread, salad.

    The salad went well, the spaghetti went well, the meat balls and sauce blended nicely.

    Now, a note to my real Italian friends.  I used frozen Italian style meatballs.  And Ragu original spaghetti sauce.  I do not have the ability to make my own sauce, so I rely on store bought items.

    But it is the damn garlic bread that always gets me.

    I had a 6 inch section of bread.  I cut it in half, lengthwise, buttered it, put some onion and garlic salt on it and stuck it under the broiler.

    After 2 minutes I checked and it did not look brown, so I gave it another minute.

    In the meantime, I set the timer on the microwave for the sauce and the timer on the oven for the spaghetti.  Everything was going well until......

    I opened the oven door to take out the garlic bread.  Not only was it black, but flames were actually burning on the end of one piece.  Smoke was filling the room.

    That's when the timer on the microwave went off  and the timer on the oven.  Then the smoke alarms started beeping.

    I went to open the back door and put some fans on, which delayed me turning off the timers.  It was damn loud.

    After scraping the remains into the sink, I found an other six inch section and followed the same procedure.....right down to setting one freaking end of the bread on fire!

    I need to lower the top oven rack so it is not so close to the broiler.  I also need to watch it more closely.

    This  second attempt I scraped down so it was not terrible.  I gave Jackie the better piece, not that there was much improvement over my piece.

    One regret was I did not have some red to go with it.  I was afraid once I opened the bottle, I would just find a straw and a soft chair.

Peace and Love

 

what hath I wrought?

I made have made a giant mistake tonight 

    A friend in Switzerland, Cristina, recommended a mint tea.  It's Morrocan mint and it is very nice.

    I am just finishing a cup at about 9 p.m.

    Trouble is, I noticed after drinking that the box says it is "refreshing" and "stimulating."

    Nowhere does it say no caffeine. 

    It is an herbal tea, but I don't think that automatically makes it decaf.

    I have trouble sleeping to start with.  This will not help.

    Especially since I stopped at Starbucks in Rockford for a iced vanilla latte after visiting my brother and sister in law today.  We had a nice chat about family, Switzerland, Florida and our health, which when you hit 60 plus is the dominant topic of any gathering.  And I swore I would never be that way....yet, here I am.

    We had left-overs tonight.  I made some broasted potatoes to go with rump roast and corn.  When the smoke alarms went off, I knew the potatoes were done.  Those damn alarms ran for 5 minutes before the smoke finally cleared.

    I gave Jackie the not as badly burnt ones.

    Then we Facetimed with Bob and Anita in Forida.  It's always great talking to them, except after the Packers beat the Bears.  And yes, health issues did pop up.

    And Anita, my head is still itching.  

    Hopefully, I can get some sleep.

Peace and Love

choo choo

 I have always been fascinated by trains

    Big trains.  Little trains.  Medium sized trains,.

    I have parts of a Lionel set from when I was a child.  I need a locomotive and a tender, but when I went to buy one, it was expensive.  I don't know what I would do with it, honestly.

    I always thought when I retired I would build a layout in the basement with mountans, rivers, little villages.... but it turns out I am not that kind of person.

    I love riding the train into Chicago, even though it takes too long.  I loved riding the TGV from Paris to Geneva, sailing through the country side at 120 mph.  Someday I hope to ride the train to the West Coast.

    But my biggest fantasy .....  the one I need millions to fulfill....involves trains once found at kiddlylands and amusement parks across the land.

    I want a kiddyland size train.  Seriously.  I want to have a train I can sit on and drive, wearing my engineer's hat and my grey and white striped bib overalls.  I want to be able to blow the whistle and say, "All Aboard!"  drawing out the board part so it sounds like "boooooaaaaarrrrrrrrrd."

    I want 50 acres of land, with trees and a creek, so I can run  tracks through my wilderness.

    That dream was revived today with a story in the Tribune.

    The train that ran at a kiddyland in Chicago is for sale.  This was around Harlem and Irving and was open until 1964, so I suppose my folks took me there once or twice when I was a kid.

    According to the article, the train was found in a man's collection up in Michigan.  He evidently had severeal trains and his wife told him it was time to downsize his collection.

    So he sold it.  A museum bought it with the idea of restoring it and running it, but Covid derailed those plans.  (Clever pun, eh?)

    Now it is available for about $30,000, which includes 2 one ton engines, passenger cars and an obvservation car.

    The track will cost me an additional $10,000 for  3,160 feet, not exactly enough to get around my 50 acre plot.

    The bad news is there is more restoration work to be done, about $10,000 worth.

    Then there is the cost of buying more track and installing it,   building bridges, adding a tunnel.....and buying the land and you can see why I would need a million or more.

    True,  money can not buy happiness, but it could buy a cool toy to tour my 50 acres.

    Whoooooo!     Whooooo!

    Chug a chug a chug a chuga

Peace and Love

almost normal, almost

I am still not totally back to normal 

    Whatever normal is, that is.  

    I am still tired.  I slept 11 hours last night, down from the 12  the night before.

    And I did a couple of small tasks today.  I moved a bookcase from the dining room to the den and I also moved my recliner back to the den.  

    Jackie then suggested we go through some of the tubs that were in the closet.  We went through three of them, and I threw out a few odds and ends.  But I don't know if I should throw out the broken camera or recycle it.  And the hundreds of cords and plugs confuse me.  

    I think I need help, especially with the electronic stuff.

    We get monthly statements detailing prescription costs, medical costs, IRA status, and other papers I have no idea what to do with.  I put them into notebooks.

    But.....why?  All I really have to do is look at the statements, see if they make sense, then get rid of them!   I have 9 notebooks full of statements!  

    So, when I can get to the tub I will be dumping all but end of year reports.  No more saving monthly drug info from insurance.  I just don't think I need to.

    But.....if anyone has a differing opinion, please let me know.

    I think it's my bedtime.

Peace and Love

random thoughts

 I have several random, unrelated thoughts about Switzerland

    I had no idea the power of QR codes.  Now I do.  I have two!  One got me on the airplane to Switzerland, the other got me a seat in a restaurant.

    When we entered a restaurant, I had to show my code and a photo ID.  Then we were allowed to be seated.  No code?  No dine in, although you can sit outside to eat.  I even had to show my code at Starbucks in Vevey.

    Everybdy wears a mask on the bus, tram, train, plane and in stores.  No complaints, no arguments.  They just do.

    Julia pays 1.91  franc a liter for gas.  There are 4.4 liters to a gallon.  So, she is paying 8.40 franc a gallon.  That works out to a little over $9 a gallon.

    Graffiti seems to be everywhere in the cities.

    Julia has to buy garbage bags from the government.  These are "official" bags and the trucks will not pick up garbage unless it is in the official bag.  If someone does dump trash in an unofficial bag, authories may go thru the bag in an effort to find out who dumped it and levy a fine.

    Why?  They want people to recycle.  If you recycle, you have less garbage, and use less bags. 

    Switzerland residents seem very happy and content.

    The Swiss monetary system has too many coins.

    Switzerland has to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  Lots of beauty in a space one fourth the size of Illinois.

    Too many people ride electric scooters.

    Speed cameras are everywhere.  

    When you move from one area to another, you have to get a letter saying you have paid all your bills and fees  at the previous address.

    Renters have to hire professional cleaners to clean the apartment when they move.

    When you register with the government, you declare your religion.  The goverment then gives a portion of your tax money to the religion you designated.  People still give money to the church, but hey don't have to because their tax money is already supporting the church.  You can  also declare no religion, but no one seemed to be able to tell me if that meant you paid less taxes.

  I will miss going there.  It has been our vacation spot for almost 20 years.  

Peace and Love

yawn

 I think I have jet lag

    Or maybe I had a stroke.  I am not sure.

    I have forgotten words today, and made other mistakes.  For example, we had pizza tonight.  I got a plate out for Jackie, picked up her tray, and started to put the pizza directly on the tray, not on her plate!

    I had a load of laundry to do that I just remembered.

    I unpacked suitcases, but I have stuff scattered all over the house.  I hope to put it all away ..... hope.  Not today.

    Anyway, I slept about 12 hours last night....but did not take a nap today.  

    So I plan to get to bed early again tonight and hope I have a great sleep.

Peace and Love

home again, home again, jiggity jig

 Well, this was a pretty good two weeks

    Flight home was great.  Business class has its perks!

    I brought 3 suitcases.  One purple, one black, and one grey.  When I went to pick up luggage, the black and purple one came quickly, but not he grey.  I waited for the rest of the luggage to hit the conveyor.  They I waited.  And waited.  

    Eventually there were only two suitcases still going round, neither one was mine!

    I looked across the conveyor and saw a grey suitcase, sitting all by itself,  not even close to the conveyor.  I went over, and sure enough, it was the missing one.

    How it got there, I do not know.

    But if someone picked it up by accident, why then didn't they put it back on the belt?

    Oh well.

    Here's my mental state.  I woke up at what would be 10:30 p.m. last night (5:30 a.m. Swiss time) and am pretty tired.  I am ready for bed.  Now to get Jackie to go to bed a little earlier tonight so I can catch up.

Peace and Love