Ambergris

July 31, 2023

July 31, 2023

Free today: https://www.amazon.com/Womans-Institute-Library-Cookery-Essentials-ebook/dp/B00847SA6C

July 30, 2023

That part of the hill is too steep and rough and overgrown for me. Part of it is maybe a seventy degree angle. Or maybe it's just close to sixty degrees, because those angles would be all the same to me. The street below is a good three stories down, maybe more. What goes down is just gone. Housekeeper has tied some of his chew toys to trees to keep them in reach, but only one has not been removed (or destroyed) already. The tennis ball was destroyed (skinned and torn in half) in a few days.

July 30, 2023

I'm using a magnifying glass with my distance glasses and typing one-handed. My reading glasses, which are what--two months old? a month and a half? have disappeared. They were the last thing I took off before bed. I know because I went to bed early with my phone in my hand, talking to a friend, and put them on the chair/table beside the bed, then had to take my shoes away from the puppy and put those on the same bed, then put the phone on top of the shoes and worried about the glasses getting knocked off in the shuffle. Well, the shoes and phone were there this morning. Glasses, not. Housekeeper spent an hour and a half combing the house from one end to the other, including moving every item of furniture in the living room and emptying my purse and both backpacks, but --nada.

Current theory is that the puppy took them, and they went down the hill like her toys tend to do.

She's a baby, after all.

July 30, 2023

In older times, leprosy was an umbrella term for several things, including hidradenitis suppurativa (do NOT look this up--you will regret it) which to this day is only partly and/or barely controlled with the most complex medical regimens. It's hereditary, but at least isn't contagious. However, if it's uncontrolled, the victim carries any number of secondary infections that are contagious.

July 30, 2023

Speaking of which:

Leprosy cases in central Florida account for nearly 20% of national cases. What to know
Brandon Girod, Pensacola News Journal
Updated Fri, July 28, 2023 at 9:10 AM GMT-5
Rising evidence is pointing to the possibility that leprosy has become endemic in the southeastern U.S. with Florida being named among the top reported states.

In a recently published research letter regarding emerging infectious diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that Florida is witnessing an increase in leprosy cases lacking traditional risk factors and recommending that travel to Florida be considered when conducting leprosy contact tracing in any state.

Leprosy, which is scientifically known as Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease that primarily affects the skin and peripheral nervous system.

Malaria in Florida: Though malaria cases are waning, you should still take precautions, Sarasota County says

The number of reported leprosy cases across the country has doubled over the past decade, according to the CDC. Citing data from the National Hansen’s Disease Program, the CDC says there were 159 new cases reported in the U.S. in 2020. Nearly 70% of these new cases were reported in Florida, California, Louisiana, Hawaii, New York and Texas.

Florida stands out in the report for two reasons: Central Florida alone accounted for nearly 20% of the total number of cases reported nationally and several new-case patients in central Florida demonstrated no clear evidence of zoonotic exposure or traditionally known risk factors.

July 29, 2023

I've been reading a lot of poetry, mostly humorous, like Nicole Sealey's "Clue" parodies.

July 29, 2023

Some of the seeds didn't come up, so Housekeeper showed up with a jar full of sprouted flat beans to plant instead. I believe they are favas, meaning that things might get complicated. I don't know whether I have the fava-allergy gene, as I have scrupulously avoided them so far. But food is food. What I don't eat, I can trade, one way or another. I also planted marigolds among them.

This means, of course, that I will need to try favas a few times before the crop comes in (assuming a crop comes in).

July 29, 2023

I've always grown kumquats. I remember when we used to explore abandoned farms when I was a kid, my mother would break off branches of kumquats for us to eat in the car as we left. We also often found sand pears, and the other pears (the others being the ones that were rotten on the bottom before they were good on top) (but you could pick the non-rotten ones and ripen them in bags on the counter), and quince, which had to be cooked before becoming edible, wild persimmon, which had to be frost-struck or frozen in the freezer before anything short of a possum could eat them, figs of various colors and sizes and flavors, elderberries or elderflower, and of course bramble berries of various kinds--dewberries in May, blackberries in July. The squirrels usually would have bitten into the pecans, but the black walnuts stayed perfectly disguised in their rotten-fruit padding.

We very rarely ran across apples, and those usually were very ugly and yellow/brown, but they tasted good when cooked down like pears.

I guess the trick was to know what you were looking at, when to collect it and when to leave it for later, and what to do with it.

July 29, 2023

I spent several weeks at a time as a kid with the only store input being "sweet milk," buttermilk, and maybe light-bread and/or ice cream. In some years, also lunchmeat and potato chips. Lunchmeat, potato chips, and light bread generally were reserved for Sunday lunch after church. Everything else came from the cupboards, the freezers, the gardens, or the fields. The water came from wells, which sometimes needed work, for which I might be called on to hold a flashlight.

Later, after hurricanes, my kids and I could and did live off the food we had for two or three weeks, but we had to go out for water a lot sooner.

Now, I'm having a pretty steep learning curve trying to get a functional garden in this new soil, new sunlight, new climate, new wind pattern. What I buy is augmented nicely by the eggs, fruit, herbs, and all from the yard, but eggs, parsley, and a tomato or two a week would not be great to live on. It might elevate a bucket of rice from famine fare, but I'd like to have reliable access to more than that.

July 27, 2023

I love this!

Such vivid details.

July 27, 2023

https://www.yahoo.com/news/colorado-family-members-die-trying-021320552.html

And the alternative... :sigh:

July 25, 2023

I am working hard on not wishing I had my old bookshelf to hand. Grr. The world can turn without me spinning it...

July 24, 2023

I am a great fan of https://www.youtube.com/@townsends and also have owned hardback and ebook copies of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. Have you looked into those for some of your answers?

July 23, 2023

Tromboncino is a moschata, one of my favorite garden plants, and I love the tromboncino because it can be eaten as summer squash or winter squash. (Most moschatas can, but that one is bred for it.) My first mother in law, who taught me so much about keeping food, would set winter squash (usually mixed moschatas) carefully on the floor of her smoking room and check them frequently for any bruise or other imperfection that would lead to rot. The dinged fruit got eaten quickly, while the others routinely lasted until a new crop was blooming, if not ripening, in the yard.

I never heard of a cut one lasting, though I could see it happening with a particularly dry-fleshed one.

Oh, and zucchini flour!

July 20, 2023

Pulled a half a pot of soup out of the fridge and a couple of plates of leftovers out of the freezer, cut things up, combined them all, and put them to simmer.

Now I'm watching the puppy and escorting her out the door to walk on the rain-wet ground...often. Today has been basically devoted to that. She has still puddled the ceramic twice. So long as she stays off the unsealed wooden floorboards in the bedrooms, we'll be ahead of the game. (Don't want to shut off the bedrooms because cats nap and hide in them.) I had thought this would be a flea-bath day, but it's a little chilly so far.

July 19, 2023

The Canadian Press
Tue, July 18, 2023 at 7:13 p.m. ECT
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — A southwest Florida county has document a seventh case of malaria, state authorities said.

The Florida Department of Health reported a new locally acquired case of malaria in Sarasota County during the week of July 9-15. That's in addition to five cases last month and one case in May.

Sarasota County and Manatee County directly to the north have been under a mosquito-borne illness alert for nearly a month. The area is located on the Gulf of Mexico, just south of Tampa Bay.

July 18, 2023

If the material is particle board, no. That stuff is not durable and begins crumbling shortly after being moved.

July 17, 2023

I've had some orange mints that didn't do much for me, and others that were delightful. I just pulled out the weak ones (mostly) for today's tea or fish or whatever and encouraged the strong ones. I kept buying new ones when I'd pinch one at a nursery and find a great, strong scent. The plants would grow wild through my yard and get weaker or stronger here and there. The only mints I've found locally are what was called apple-mint, which didn't have much of a minty or apple aroma for me, and another spearmint and a peppermint, the last two of which I was given starts of but accidentally gave to PM when I thought I was giving her half--and she gave them to someone else. Oh well.

Since my 2020 illnesses (that my medical records say was not Covid) although much of my sense of smell is back, it's not evenly back. The dog poop smell that turned my housekeeper's stomach is something I only noticed when she mentioned it, and I barely caught any raw-meat aroma around the pig yesterday. People sometimes exclaim over mint aromas that I find quite vague. I used to have one of those "extra" senses of smell, so I don't know what to say anymore.

I have made a lot of sun tea and will again when I get the right jar for it, but here I mostly either simmer a potful of ingredients until the aroma is right (for me, which is different now) and filter it into a heat-safe little pitcher or for leaves and blossoms I bring the kettle to boil and pour it over, then steep that until I remember and circle back to check the color and all for intensity. I don't worry about keeping it hot. Once it's steeped enough, I can add hot water to bring it up to drinking temperature.

July 16, 2023

I always dried mint in hanging bundles on the back porch, or on paper plates in the attic crawlspace. Does any chocolate flavor actually come through for you? It always disappointed me--unlike orange mint.

July 16, 2023

Hope the stone is gone.

Today was a pig-cook that started at 7 (when they slit the pig's throat). I left after it had been going for ten hours and only about ten people were still hanging out.

Today was also the blessing of vehicles day at the church, and the priest was nice enough to come by after mass and bless the housekeeper's car, her son in law's truck (both magnets for trouble) and a relative's car even though these were all people who skipped the mass to eat pig and drink traditional beverages. The blessing included opening the hood to sprinkle the engine, although I was not close enough to hear what was said. A large chunk of cake was sent out to the priest, which he divided between his two altar girls.

July 15, 2023

Found the phone. Then went to a three hour, forty-five minute high mass in which some thirty-five or forty tenth graders renounced Satan and all his works and otherwise confirmed their baptismal vows, with their godparents flanking them. I sat in the back with the bioparents, who were basically along for the ride. It was interesting, as the guy on one side of me was responding in Spanish, the great-grandmother on the other side was responding in Latin (loudly--I think she was making a point) and I was going from English to Latin to Spanish depending on how off-guard the need to talk caught me, and one of us (I pray not me) smelled strongly of cat urine. This is the first mass I've seen where the offerings included bread, in the form of a loaf (possibly a "chonta" loaf and what looked like cookies, carried up the aisle by one couple, followed by another couple carrying a bottle of wine and a basket of fat purple grapes, then another couple carrying a large basket of local tropical fruits, then another couple carrying "viveras" or "vivendas" which appeared to be boxed groceries or dry goods in a laundry basket, then another couple carrying another kind of food I forget. I was wondering if these go to the priest or the visiting priest, or if there would be a raffle later (not that I saw) or if they would be distributed to the poor. It's still a mystery. I was interested to see that the passing of the plate in this case consisted of the passing of a deep cloth bag (held open by a wire hoop) so that no one could see what anyone else dropped in. This pleased me, especially in a congregation where some people seemed to be wearing the only clothes they had and others were rather comfortably off.

And the place was packed.

July 15, 2023

I put my phone down somewhere other than its "place" and am waiting for someone to call me--hopefully before the battery dies.

July 15, 2023

I have wanted one of the electric pressure canners since I saw it on Rose Red, partly because it has the smaller capacity. I figured I might be able to lift and maneuver it without help, while I need a helper to use a manual canner--unless I want a big chance of damaging my back and shoulders, and probably dropping the thing.

July 13, 2023

I have a puppy. He's ten weeks old. His mama is pretty much a redbone hound, and his papa must be something with a thick coat of curly black hair and maybe a white face and chest star. He's going to be a reasonably good size for a guard dog. The landlord gave him to me today. He has some respect for chickens, but needs to learn not to mess with them at all. Pics to come after daylight.

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