Last Week Of Vacation

   I will be taking my final week of vacation for 2019 next week, meaning, naturally, I won't be posting anything for the rest of this month.
   We don't have much planned. A trip to Regina is in the works this weekend, along with a short jaunt up the highway from Regina to Lumsden.There's a garden centre my wife likes, and she's looking for Mexican themed tiles to become part of an eventual backsplash as decorative work.
   We're also hoping to complete a long-delayed project of re-staining our porch. It needs to be done, but (no surprise here) I've been lazy. I'll potter around the kitchen, and am going to try my hand a pickling garlic. And maybe do some bread baking as well.
   You know, looking back at this post, I may have been wrong when I said we didn't have much planned. In fact, we may just run out of week before we run out of projects.
   I'll be back after Labour Day.

TTFN

Happy 92nd!

   Yesterday, the radio station I've had the pleasure of working at for the last 6 years celebrated an anniversary. It was 92 years ago, August 19, 1927, our transmitter was flipped "on", and we started broadcasting.
   In the ensuing years, management has kept a lot of the old items and displayed them in our lobby, including the original transmitter:

   For radio nerds, the transmitter is a Marconi, the stand-up broadcast board and cart machine are Gates, the reel-to-reel is Revox, the "portable" tape machine is EMI and the turntable is Technics. To say we've moved on a bit in the intervening years is an understatement.
   But just to show you how old I am, I remember only too well using the big reel to reel, cart deck and turntable. In fact, it wasn't until 1999 when I was in Regina we went digital and computerized in the newsroom, finally ditching the cart machine and old printer we had for copy.
   Sometimes, I actually miss the "olden days".

TTFN

Still Stumped

   A few months ago (March 12 "An Enigma"), I blogged about a postcard I received at work from someone I apparently knew, and worked with, in Regina.

    The full text reads: "Hi Craig. Hope you are doing well out in perogie country. I thought you'd get a laugh out of this postcard. Drop me a line if you figure out who sent this to you! Sincerely, some crazy former co-worker".
   I've been pouring over who the person might be, and wracking my brain trying to identify the handwriting. All to no avail. I still have no idea who's responsible, so I'm going to turn to good old fashioned social media and re-post on my facebook page asking whoever it was to end the mystery, and put me out of my misery.

The Things You Never Notice

   I'm talking about everyday items. You know the kind of thing, you reach into a drawer in the kitchen and pull out an item it seems you've had forever. The old, sometimes unappreciated stuff we all somehow manage to collect over the years.
   Such was my case yesterday, when I opened one of our drawers and pulled out this as I was getting ready to start supper

   As you can plainly see, it's an ordinary stainless steel spoon. I bought that something like 28 or 9 years ago when we lived in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Originally, it was used to stir wort when I brewed my own beer. But it quickly became my "go to" for cooking. I have no idea how many pots full of jambalaya, spaghetti sauce, chili or gazpacho I've stirred with it.
   The bowl of the spoon isn't as round as it was when I bought it, due to the heavy use in steel pots. It's also been discoloured from what I can only guess is exposure to heat over the years.
   For the record: I have no intention of replacing it. It's old, stained and worn down, but it still works.

TTFN
  

Who Knew

   A small Saskatchewan town is making a big splash internationally. The place, with some 18 hundred residents, is Lumsden, about 30 km north of Regina in the beautiful Qu'Appelle Valley. A video posted on Facebook by a local company has garnered more than 13 million views so far. The company in question is Last Mountain Distillery, and the product getting all the attention is this:

(Photo courtesy Last Mountain Distillery)

   Blue Vodka. It hasn't had food colouring added, but gets the tint from something called the blue pea flower, something I admit I've never heard of. And yes, it's the colour that's stirred up interest in the libation. It seems people from other markets are showing interest in the vodka, and would like to get their hands on some of it. For now, the only places you can get it are Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, although the company is hoping to expand the market.
   Have I tried it? No. Will I try it? No. Aside from having a beer every 2 months, I quit drinking 12 years ago, and have no plans to fall off the wagon.

TTFN

Football's Back!

   With apologies to the millions of fans of the North American game, I'm talking REAL football. Played with the foot and a ball. Commonly known as soccer. I've said in the past I'm not a huge fan of most sports. The big exception is European football (soccer). Specifically the Barclay's English Premier League. and the team I support is none other than

   In fact, I've been a fan of them for more than half a century, going back to the days when CBC Sports used to have "Match of the Day" every Saturday afternoon. Why United? I really can't say. I have no connection at all with Manchester. I've never even been there, although a dream that will go unfilled is to take in a United game at Old Trafford with 76 thousand others.
   United did not (for them) have a stellar 2018-19 season, ending up 5th on the table. But with a new manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, they did have a good 2nd half of the season.
   League action starts today, with the Red Devils playing their season opener Sunday against one of their arch-rivals, Chelsea.
   Go Devils!!

TTFN

Long Weekend Over

   It was almost a case of blink and you'll miss it when it came to the recently wrapped up "long" weekend. True, I didn't have to work for the past 3 days, which I'm grateful for. But I sure could've used more time off.
   Not that I got up to a whole lot, mind you. No trips anywhere, since I figured there's be enough idiots on the road already without me adding to the mix. Just stayed around home.
   I did try to bake more bread, but something went wrong, and it didn't rise much.(I think it may have been the yeast, since this is the 2nd failure in a row I've had). I'll try a yeast starter before my next attempt.
   Meantime, it's back at it for the next 2 weeks, until I get my final week of vacation for the year.

TTFN

Long Weekend

   It is the long Civic Holiday weekend, meaning I won't be posting again until next Tuesday at the earliest, since Monday's the actual holiday.
   What have I got planned? Nothing. My wife has to work Monday, so we won't be going anywhere, not that we'd planned anything anyway. So, I'll just crank up the A.C due to a heat warning, and try and stay cool. I might do more baking, but that remains to be seen.

TTFN