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Showing posts from September, 2020

If Trump Was Alone In The Forest, Would He Still Sound Like An Idiot?

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This is how a world leader explains to a crowd of thousands? how trees fall down, explode and create forest fires.

Published in The Great North Arrow, October 2019: Why Do You Do That, When You Do, Do That?

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(He said ‘Doo-doo’) - jim Young  In some ways, siblings, and especially sisters, are more influential in your childhood than your parents. - Deborah Tannen We are all creatures of habit. We often do the things we do without ever really knowing why we do them or where we learned them in the first place. When asked “why do you do that when you do, do that?” the answer will likely be something like, “It’s just the way I’ve always done it.” But that doesn’t really answer the question “why?” Some people will put both of their socks on and then put both of their shoes on while others will put one sock on followed by the accompanying shoe before moving to the other foot. Whichever way you do that, you probably don’t know why you do, do that. I always check to see how others eat their corn on the cob. Some people eat their corn right to left with no regard as to whether the tapered end is facing left or right. Others will take their bites randomly at any spot on the cob, jumping all over the p

Breakfast Sausage Casserole

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- jim Young This is a great recipe to make ahead when you're having overnight guests. Prepare it in the morning before they arrive, then let it sit overnight in the fridge. The next morning just pop this in the oven and an hour later breakfast is made. No fuss, no muss. Note: If you don't have enough room in your fridge and the evenings are cool enough, you can also store it overnight in the trunk of your car. Prep Time: 20 min. Ready to pop in the oven! Set Time:   2 hours to overnight Cook Time: 1 hour Total Time: 3 hours 20 min - 15 hours 20 min. Serves: 6-8 Stuff Required: 1 lb sausage meat 1 bell pepper, chopped 3 large green onions, chopped 10 eggs, beaten 2 cups milk 1 tbsp ground mustard 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 2 cups shredded cheese, divided ½ tsp basil 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 10 slices of bread torn into small pieces 1 tomato, thinly sliced (optional) Do This: Use a large frying pan to cook the sausage meat, breaking it up as it cooks. When the sausage begins

Good Fences Make Good Neighbours

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- jim Young  “Good fences make good neighbors.” - from “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost Good fences make good neighbours. Living next door to the U.S. has been kind of like living next door to a pretty nice family. New families come and go every few years but they’ve all been pretty nice. Until a few years ago. Oh, the family is still really nice but the dad is a bit wonky. He lies all the time and cheats on his wife as well as all his business associates. The dad’s a bully and a fraud and prone to temper tantrums. He doesn’t have any respect for anyone, not even himself. Some of his family are willing to overlook his faults when he fools them into thinking he’s doing it all for the good of his family.  We don’t agree with how he treats his family a lot of the time but for the most part, that’s not really our business. He’s pretty rude to most of our neighbours though and sometimes even us and when he crosses those lines, it does become our business.  A few years ago some of his family t

Jambalaya sans Shrimp

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- jim Young When offered a serving of Jambalaya you'd likely be expecting it to include crawfish or shrimp, as at least one of those is a main ingredient most often associated with Jambalaya. This recipe however is for people (like My Shirley) who just don't care for seafood but don't want to miss out on this otherwise tasty delight.  If you're more of a traditionalist, feel free to add some crawfish or shrimp when you make it. Serves: 10 Stuff Required: 1 lb chicken breast, boneless, skinless 1 ½ tbsp paprika 3 tbsp cooking oil 1 cup onion, chopped 1 cup sweet pepper, chopped 3 stalks celery chopped 1 tsp minced garlic 1 can tomatoes, crushed (28 oz/795 ml) 3 bay leaves 3 ¼ cups chicken broth 2 cups rice, brown, long grain 2 tsp thyme, ground 1 ½ tsp salt ½ tsp pepper ½ tsp Tabasco® sauce 1 lb sausage (mild, medium or hot) cut into small bite-sized pieces Do This: Wash chicken and pat dry with a paper towel.  Rub chicken with paprika. Cut up chicken into small, bite-s

Breaded Fried Cucumbers

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- jim Young This year we had an exceptionally good harvest of cucumbers. Normally we don't eat that many cucumbers so we started giving some away. We even considered putting a small table at the end of our laneway and offering them for sale. However it seems all our neighbours had a good cucumber harvest as well and there were no shortage of them for others to purchase. It seemed that every time we visited our garden a new cucumber had sprouted up out of nowhere and was ready to be picked. We don't like to waste food but we don't consider feeding it to the wildlife as a waste. The problem is deer and squirrels are about the only animals that seem to like cucumbers. We don't like to encourage the red squirrels that live on our property, however and the deer probably won't be around until the Mountain Ash Berries are a little more ripe. My Shirley was already feeding me cucumber slices with dip for breakfast but our supply continued to grow. Finally I came up with thi

Horseradish Sauce

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- jim Young This recipe calls for mild prepared horseradish but of course you can use a hotter horseradish or add some extra Tabasco sauce if you like your sauces spicy. Use this as a dip for raw vegetables such as carrot or celery sticks, cucumber slices and pieces of sweet pepper. It makes a great topping for baked potatoes and salads and a nice side serving for scrambled eggs or a roast beef dinner.  I use it for my Breaded Fried Cucumbers that you'll also find in the recipe section at Dog On A Root. Total Time:  10 min. Yield: 1 cup Stuff Required: ½  cup drained horseradish (mild) ¼ cup sour cream ¼ cup mayonnaise 1 tbsp lemon juice ½ tsp kosher salt ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce A few drops of Tabasco sauce Do This: Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Time To Put Up Or Shut Up!

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 - jim Young "Not only must justice be done; it must also be seen to be done." - Vincent Bugliosi, “Till Death Do Us Part: A True Murder Mystery”  A few years ago when running for the presidency, Donald Trump called Senator John McCain a “loser” and suggested McCain was a war hero only because he was captured. Trump added that he didn’t like people who were captured. Trump can’t deny that. Well, actually he can and often does, but who’s going to believe him? There’s an old adage that says if you tell a lie often enough, people will eventually believe you. Of course that theory was developed long before almost everything we do and say could be captured on video. So here’s the video clip that proves Trump called McCain a loser and denied McCain’s status as a war hero. More recently, The Atlantic has accused Trump of calling fallen American World War I veterans “losers” and “suckers”.  In 2018 after cancelling a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris, Trump was al

My Covid-19 Test

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- jim Young  “The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat.” - Confucius Last week I underwent my first test for Covid-19. I had no reason to believe I had been infected, however a prospective employer for a one-day contract job required the testing be done to protect them against any liability. Calling the North Bay Regional Centre on Monday I was pleased to learn I could make an appointment to have the testing done the next morning at 9:00 am. The job I had been hired for was just 3 days later. However, I was advised that the results from my test would not be available for 2 - 6 business days. My employer was not concerned. She was confident that should my results be positive, I would be notified much earlier. She further speculated the extra time was required just to update the website where my results would be available. The drive-through testing option seemed like the best choice for me. Not only was it more convenient, the advantag