If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.
Busy people don’t have time to care about other shit. As important as it may be to protect your country from apathy, from corruption, from fascism, it’s not something that’s directly in front of you so it’s not something you have time to worry about.
The propaganda about working hard (to keep single people busy), about getting married and having kids, about having a good work ethic, against work-life balance, all designed to keep you as busy as possible. Companies abuse childless people because “oh, well he has kids so he has to leave early… we need this done today”.
The government keeps you busy with paying taxes, renewing drivers licenses, passports, license plates, car inspections, code violations that you have to get fixed, tiny minimum wages that force you to take 2-3 jobs.
People with spare time have time to look at what’s going on around them… they have time to organize and fight for what they want. They have time to start their own businesses instead of being wage slaves for the rich. They have time to fight big issues when they come up. This is undesirable behavior. A big uprising, which is probably coming anyway, is the last thing the elite want.
So they keep you busy, and in control. They look at history and see all of the times when this failed but they think “Yeah, but people in the past were stupid… we can make it work this time”. And they push more and more and more, until everyone gets pushed too far. But first comes being busy.
Home Improvement, 2024
After living here for twelve years and mostly limiting ourselves to making repairs, we’ve finally introduced some real improvements to make the house ours.
It’s been over a year in the making, and over a decade of informal planning.
We started out wanting a front porch. We were spoiled by our old home, which had a deep porch spanning the width of the structure. We missed it the first time we had to unlock the new house in the rain. We really missed it when we had use the the storm door to push fresh snow out of the way before we could even start shoveling.
The final straw, spurring us into action, was the chimney.
Our house came with a fireplace and chimney on the outside wall facing the driveway.
What seemed to be a charming accoutrement quickly became a white elephant. Fireplaces are always difficult to place furniture around, and this one was inconveniently located. By making a wall without windows, the room containing it was very dark, even on the brightest days.
We never used it. It sucked more heat out of the room than it generated and made the house smokey, and even when not in use it conducted heat to the outside. Minor leaks over the years had rusted the fascia.
The chimney wasn’t in great shape when we moved in, and suffered ongoing neglect. It was becoming a real problem but I didn’t want to spend money on something we didn’t even use. When chunks of brick started landing in the driveway, we knew it was time to do something.
Meghan came up with the final piece. Our tiny front yard has always been a hassle to care for. Too small to use, hard to mow, and packed with mulch over a foot deep by previous owners. The plot was dominated by two gigantic bushes that were rather healthy but not our style. Meghan realized that hardscaping could be equally beautiful and certainly more useful. We extended the water-permeable masonry across the driveway to catch some of the water, dirt, and sand that tends to accumulate at the far end.
After a couple of false starts, thinking a contractor could handle all aspects, we hired an architect to come up with a real plan. As an aside, I’ll recommend always getting an architect now. Planning, estimating, and permitting took a lot longer than we had hoped but we found some great people to work with.
Come see the results. Click the pictures to see larger versions.
Halloween 2024
This Halloween is special because a major home-improvement project, which has been more than a year in the making, is almost complete. It will probably be done tomorrow, but it’s close enough to done that we could host trick-or-treaters!
There are two parts:
- the new front porch that replaces simple concrete steps
- hardscaping the front yard with pavers
We decided to have a little fun this year as well, by letting Consuela out for for a breath of fresh air.
The remaining part of the project involves some stone cutting to define the path leading up to the stairs, and adding some curbing along the far side of the driveway.
Above Consuela’s head is a lamp with a deep red bulb. We were going for a spooky look and I think we achieved it. Our younger trick-or-treaters declined the delicious full-sized candy bars. She really creeped them out!
It didn’t help that Beta child hung out on the other side of the window with a small “screamer” that she would set off whenever an older child approached Consuela’s dais.
Aurora Borealis
Megh and I enjoyed a collective life goal tonight: seeing the Aurora Borealis with our own eyes. I’ve wanted to see this for nearly my entire life, ever since I saw the movie Antarctica.
The sun is at a peak of the current solar cycle. A CME was detected the other day, and it’s arrival tonight was predicted by the Space Weather Prediction Center.
Megh, Beta, and I found a dark spot near Rockport, arrived as dusk approached, and waited for the fireworks. Nature did not disappoint.
It started before the sky was completely dark, and initially appeared to be a whitish haze across the northern part of the sky. We started to despair that high clouds were going to interfere, until we realized… the show had actually started.
These photos are color-accurate, but a little brighter than what we actually saw.
Silver Lake in Autumn
Sleepy Gerbils
Just a couple of happy gerbils in their little hut.
They generally head below to the main part of the enclosure to nap, but this time they decided to stay up above, and have a siesta together in the remains of their “house”.
Their eyes may be open, but they were definitely in low power mode.
Beta child had just cleaned their enclosure an hour before. It’s amazing how fast they can litter up the place. It must be tiring.
Sleepy Bee
The Crux of the Matter
“The unborn” are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they don’t resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don’t ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don’t need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don’t bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any work at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them, because they cease to be unborn. You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone. They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus, but actually dislike people who breathe. Prisoners? Immigrants? The sick? The poor? Widows? Orphans? All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible? They all get thrown under the bus for the unborn.
– Methodist Pastor David Barnhart
Meatball Marsala
To make a complete menu: start with my meatball recipe, make some mashed potatoes, then top with this Marsala.
Meatball Marsala
A classic meatball marsala, just add meatballs
Equipment
- 1 cast iron pan, 15"
- 1 measuring cup
Ingredients
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 tbsp butter salted
- 16 oz sliced mushrooms
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup Marsala wine
- 1 pinch black pepper optional
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat
- Toss in the mushrooms, flip around to coat with butter
- Cook the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until they soften and start to brown, about 10 minutes
- Sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat the mushrooms
- Stir in the Marsala wine, and bring back to a boil
- Stir in the chicken broth, and bring back to a boil.
- Turn down the heat and simmer until the sauce starts to thicken, 5-10 minutes.
- Add the cooked meatballs, stir to coat the meatballs, remove from heat, and serve
Adapted from food.com.
Stew Beef and Egg Noodles
This is a family favorite. It’s delicious, but it’s not healthy. Each serving takes about six months off your life expectancy.
We frequently pair it with glazed carrots, but it also goes well with buttered peas or a green salad.
Stew Beef and Egg Noodles
Pan-fried stew beef served over buttered egg noodles
Equipment
- 1 pan, large I generally use a 15" cast iron pan
- 1 stock pot
- 1 bowl medium-sized for dredging beef
- 1 wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 1 lb stew beef
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp butter divided
- 4-8 tbsp olive oil
- 12 oz egg noodles 12 oz = 1 standard bag
Instructions
- Prepare the stew beef by cutting it into bite-sized pieces (about 1 inch cubes)
- Put on a pot of water to boil
- Mix flour, pepper, and garlic power together in a bowl
- Dredge the cut-up stew beef through the flour mixture until all pieces are well coated
- Heat pan at medium heat with a tbsp of butter and a tbsp olive oil
- Once butter is melted and oil starts to shimmer, you're ready to start cooking the beef.
Cook the beef in batches
- add beef one piece at a time
- Let each side brown for about a minute, flip to brown next side, repeat until all sides are brown, and then push to the side of the pan.You can generally add about 10-20 pieces at a time before it's time to flip the first piece. Flip everything until all sides are brown, then push to the side and start the next batch.
- Add more oil as needed to keep the "landing area" for new beef coated in a thin layer of oil.The flour will tend to soak up the oil. You don't want the pan to get dry, or the new pieces won't brown properly.
- Once all pieces are browned, spread evenly across the pan and allow to cook for 10 more minutes or until pieces are cooked through.
Make the Egg Noodles
- Cook according to package directions, drain, then return to the pot and add a tbsp of butter. Mix to coat noodles with butter.
Serve
- Spoon noodles onto plates and top with beef.Scrape the bottom of the pan to get the cooked-on bits unstuck, and divide among your servings. (they carry a lot of flavor.)
Notes
This recipe scales very well. Increase ingredients proportionally. I've made it with just over two pounds of meat; much more and I would have needed a larger pan, or a second pan.
Every time I make this recipe I can’t help but wonder when egg noodle companies cut their bag weight from an even pound of noodles to 12 oz.