A U.S. Citizen's Prayer

This post is about the 45th president of the United States of America, Donald John Trump. He is the most controversial president you've ever had. According to a Washington Post article, just in the first 9 months of his presidency he averaged 5 falsehoods or misleading statements per day! Apparently, he worked hard on his presidency because in the seven weeks leading up the midterm elections, he averaged 30 per day! Way to go Donald! New York Times published an article on July 10, 2018, listing the names of people that Trump has insulted on Twitter, what an impressive list. Way to go Donald! Go to PolitiFact site to check on the president's truths, lies, and falsehoods.

The most astounding fact, though, is that he still has plenty of followers who think that he is doing a good job and believe that he needs to be left alone in order to do what he does best, make deals and save the United States of America. Oy vey!

But this post is of religious nature and I offer the following prayer.

Dear God,
forgive our president, Donald John Trump (Πάτερ άφες αυτοίς),
because he really doesn't know what he is doing, (ου γάρ οίδασι τί ποιούσι)
permit him to be truthful, honest and good for just one day,
and on that day may all people rejoice in harmony.

May this be your will.
Amen!

My Four Compost Bins

This year I have built several raised beds and also grew potatoes in 5-gallon plastic buckets. In the process I realized that not only you need lots of dirt, but you also need organically rich dirt. Right away I knew I needed to create a one-dimensional array of compost piles. I figured I needed at least three of them. 

We have a nice house built on about a 1/4 of an acre in Orange County, NY. We had a beautiful 100 year-old pin oak tree in the backyard that we had to cut it down because during a storm the root system was compromised and we were forced to cut it. A separate post will follow on that. We also have two dogwood trees, white and pink. We do have some leaves that we get every fall from each dogwood, but that's not enough for my raised beds. Unfortunately, nowadays the lawn mowers cut the grass very finely and that mulches the grass. Well, that doesn't help me with my predicament, the need for organic matter. 

We decided to build the compost piles at the end of the property that is NE. Composts require organic matter, and air. You can dump leaves and do nothing to them, just leave them there and a year later you will have beautiful dirt waiting for you. Of course you can add eggshells, vegetable clippings and coffee grounds, tea bags and maybe even mix it up a little and you will have even better results. 

Where do you get coffee grounds and tea bags? Really? Do I have to write about this? This is what I do. On the kitchen counter I have a plastic container (from takeout) and I add things that can be mulched. Then, the next morning I add them to the mulch pile. About every three weeks I turn the mulch using a pitch fork. If we have coffee, I add the used coffee grounds in the container. BUT, it really helps if you develop a relationship with a local coffee house, luncheonette in your neighborhood. In our village we have a bagel shop where I drop off a large aluminum pan and two plastic bags and a few days later I go and I pick up several pounds of used coffee grounds. Of course, remember that tipping is necessary and totally appropriate. 

We have a fence (mostly for the deer) and in the from of the fence we have planted several forsythia bushes and the compost areas would go in between the fence and the forsythias. 

Why Space Force is a Failure from the Get-Go

In simple terms, the U.S. Armed Forces are made up of the five armed service branches: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy.

The United States Space Force, USSF, is a proposed branch of the United States Armed Forces, which is intended to have control over military operations in outer space.

President Donald Trump first suggested a Space Force during a speech in March 2018: "We're doing a tremendous amount of work in space – I said, maybe we need a new force. We'll call it the Space Force."

In simple terms, I'm thinking about the effort needed to convert the Pentagon to a Hexagon. I would think they would have to demolish the existing building as well the surrounding buildings and then build a new hexagonal building.

I do have a proposal to make, though. They could build a pyramid in the middle of the existing pentagonal structure. In geometry, a pentagonal pyramid is a pyramid with a pentagonal base upon which are erected five triangular faces that meet at a point (the vertex). I think this will be the most efficient way to tackle the addition of the new force.

Another issue that needs to be resolved is the one that has to do with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Wille the chief of the Space Force be included or will it go under the department of Homeland Security like the Coast Guard?

Who is the wizard that designed this laptop bag?

I know, I know, and please forgive me for posting this on a cooking blog but I I got to tell you, I need to vent somewhere.

Recently I realized that I was missing a variety of small objects: several pens and pencils, small notepads, post-it notes, and a few other miscellaneous objects. Usually I would realize these objects were missing after a trip somewhere with my laptop.

It didn't take me long to figure it out, though. IT WAS MY LAPTOP BAG!!!

This bag had a pocket that had two separate zippers, one on top and the other on the bottom. The bottom zipper was not closed 100% and that caused stuff to disappear. Who new!

I would get ready to go to a customer's office and I would get all ready with whatever I could possibly need: pens, pencils, post-it notes, etc. Then, I would arrive at the meeting location and almost always I would be missing something.

I searched and found out that the reason for the double zipper is that if you board a plane and place you laptop bag in an overhead bin, you would be able to access the contents of the pocket by unzipping the bottom zipper, thus not having to remove the bag from the bin.

Oy vey!

Needless to say, this laptop bag is not anywhere near me.

Kitchen Basics Unsalted Vegetable Stock

Ahhhhh, Kitchen Basics (parent company is McCormick), don't you love this brand?  Unsalted Vegetable Stock is one of the many products they sell . Now, when you go to the supermarket and see this product you would think that "unsalted" means NO SALT! Am I right or am I right?

But wait, there's more. 

Take a look at the ingredients listed below: carrot, mushroom, tomato, onion, celery, and several others. As a consumer shopping at a supermarket, I would think that this product is wholesome.