Dog On A Root

Prep Time: 15 min.
Cook Time: 20 min.
Total Time: 35 min.

Stuff Required
1 lb ground beef1 medium onion, chopped2 large carrots, peeled and chopped1 stalk celery, chopped1 sweet pepper, chopped1 tsp minced garlic2 tsps salt1 tsp dried oregano½ tsp paprika4 cups chicken or beef broth1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes1¾ cups dry macaroni pastaDo This
In a large pot, cook ground beef and onion over medium high heat just until browned, about 2-3 minutes.Add carrots, celery, red pepper, garlic, salt, oregano and paprika and cook until vegetables are tender, about 7-8 minutes.Add broth, crushed tomatoes and pasta and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook just until pasta is cooked, about 6-7 minutes.

- jim Young 20090225

“I love my jeans, I love my jeans. My jeans are so comfortably lovely.” - Donovan

My Shirley finally convinced me to buy a new pair of jeans. I love my old jeans and am always very reluctant to give them up no matter how tattered and torn they have become.

It’s almost like I have a relationship with my jeans.

We’ve been through a lot together; my jeans and I and I just don’t want to part with them. It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend.

It doesn’t help that most jeans cost $50 a pair. I remember paying just $20 a pair back in the 60s. Why don’t they make those ones anymore?

So when we rolled up the rim at Country Style Donuts to find a $20 certificate for Mark’s Work Wearhouse My Shirley invoked Carpe Diem to drag me shopping for new jeans.

Of course once we’re in the store, My Shirley will insist that I get 2 pair because she knows it’s going to be a long time before she can get me back there again.

But they didn’t have 2 pair of the same make in my size. In f…

- jim Young 20130318



On a hot summer day, a stray, aging mutt with no owner, lays in the cool comfort of the shade of an old tree.


About a foot from the base of the tree a small portion of a root lays exposed. But beneath the ground it extends many feet in search of water to sustain the tree, its boundaries set only by the reach of the branches above.

Somewhat intrigued, the dog paws the ground around the root, exposing it to the elements just a little bit more.

The dog has no delusions that this might be one of the many sticks that were once tossed for him to retrieve during playful interludes when he was pup and with a master.

And although he begins to gnaw at the root, neither has he mistaken it for a bone, as a disinterested passerby might assume.

Throughout the long day the dog will continue to worry the root gnawing and pawing away trying to expose it in its entirety.

This is not a quest in search of a pot of gold that one might hope to find at the end of a rainbow.

Nor is he ch…

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 36

Stuff Required
¼ cup Frank's™ RedHot™ Buffalo Wings Sauce2 tbsp butter, melted1 egg, beaten2 cups diced skinless boneless chicken2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese½ cup sliced green onions (8 medium)1 cup cup Bisquick™ mixMore Stuff for Serving
Additional Buffalo wing sauce1 cup blue cheese dressingcarrot stickscelery sticksDo This
Heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with sides with foil. Spray foil with cooking spray.In large bowl, mix ¼ cup wing sauce, melted butter and egg with a whisk; stir in chicken, cheese and onions. Sprinkle Bisquick™ mix over mixture, and use hands to fully mix in. Slightly wet hands with water for easier shaping; shape mixture into 1¼ inch balls (about 36); Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.Bake, 25 minutes or until light brown and cooked through in center. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Using a spoon, drizzle with additional wing sauce or serve the extra wing sa…

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes
Stuff Required 1 can refrigerated biscuits½ cup melted butter½ cup Frank’s Hot Sauce (optional)2 oz crumbled blue cheeseDo This Preheat oven to 400° F.Quarter each round of biscuit dough.Place biscuit pieces on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.Sprinkle crumbled blue cheese over biscuits.If using Hot Sauce mix it with the melted butter.Pour melted butter (or butter/hot sauce mix) over biscuits and blue cheese.Bake until biscuits are a golden brown, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

(Originally published in 2015)
- jim Young 201503
“I've got to get home - Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there, Say, lend me your coat - It's up to your knees out there, Baby, it’s cold outside.”             - Frank Loesser
This February Canadians seem to be complaining about the weather more than usual. I don’t get it.
The fact is the temperatures this February have only been 7 or 8 degrees (sometimes 10) below average.
That doesn’t sound too bad to me.
And on the bright side – there haven’t been many mosquitoes around.
Many people I know have been saying, “I don’t remember it ever being this cold for so long.”
That these same people are “old folks” (my age) lends some credibility to the statement.
On the other hand, perhaps it’s because they are my age that their memory is failing.
Yes it’s true that February 2015 saw an entire calendar month with temperatures below freezing. But it WAS a short month. And to suggest that’s never happened before – even in the lifetime of people say - my …

- jim Young 20190221

“Parental Control in the 50s or 60s was a flyswatter or a belt.” jy

The expression “Parental Control” when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s had nothing to do with television. In our house “Parental Control” was exercised with a fly swatter.

“Parental Control”, relative to the TV, was the “off” button which I didn’t dare touch after one of my parent’s had shut it off, for fear of invoking the other “Parental Control” - the fly swatter.

We only got 1 TV Channel in our house. Apparently it was black and white. As I have been colour blind since birth, my parents told me we had a colour TV and it wasn’t until I was 14 that I learned the truth.

I had cousins that lived in the big city (Toronto) however and they got what seemed like hundreds of TV channels to choose from.

Even so, I don't think there were any TV stations that required parental control back in those days. (Yes - that's how old I really am!)

Rob and Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke show slept in…

- jim Young 20190219

“The ghosts you chase you never catch.”
John Malkovich, London Independent, Apr. 5, 1992

Living in a small town in Northern Ontario where everyone knows and watches out for everyone else might seem an unlikely place for someone to have much need of a motion activated, night vision surveillance system.

The truth is, we don’t feel a particular need for it and for the most part our surveillance system was purchased to keep an eye on the night time critters that come to visit more so than to deter burglars.

Anxious to try it out we were somewhat disappointed with the absence of deer this year. It has been a cold, hard winter and with the ice on the ground and the depth of snow we suspect the deer are keeping more to bushy areas to feed rather than struggle through the deep snow to enjoy the treats we leave out for them.

Our local raccoons and skunks are hibernating and for reasons unknown, our fox has stopped coming by for almost a year now.

So while we anxiously await…