Red reverie and jelly filled donuts in history

I don't know the name of this cultivar shrub, it was here when we bought this place, but I love its red, brilliance that we have not seen in such abundance for several years.  Actually it has been about six years since it displayed such glorious color.  All over town these bushes are showing bright red providing refuge for cardinals.  We think it must have liked the hot summer which we did not or perhaps the dryness, also not so good, as we are below normal rainfall.  Not knowing what it  likes and doesn't like makes it an easy keeper, it gets only a delicate pruning which I do to keep it from overgrowing its space and towering above the back deck rail and hiding our view of bird feeders from our kitchen windows.  Several years ago Jerry pruned it too heavily I thought and it pouted that year with barren limbs and then cherishing its leaves through autumn with not a flicker of  red and then barren for winter.  I have made it my bottle bush for a few years and you can see some still reside there, awaiting removal for the winter. 

Some sunny mornings and especially  later afternoons, the glow from the shrub combines with the reflection from the sun light on the red deck red and the result is pure radiation of a warming scarlet glow that makes me smile from the window and feel that all is right with the world.  I have one photo here to show that red deck although I could not capture the glow, the warm fuzzy feeling it gives.  This deck was once a  dark stately brown, but when Jerry was repainting  he asked, "what color?" and I chose red, to go with the new back door.  I love a splash of red here and there, outside is not immune to my favorite accent color that I do not relegate to only Valentines or Christmas.  I don't know when my red choice started but as far as I can remember I have always liked a flash of red, a vibrant alive color, stimulating and tantalizing and busy maybe.   

This morning after church, on my way home, I stopped to pick up some bananas and there nearby were the Sunday morning donuts.  Well this was our anniversary weekend, 45 years yesterday, and Jerry likes donuts now and then, so I thought I should pick up some for him.  I am not  a donut person, preferring pastries or cinnamon rolls (no icing please) for my infrequent indulgence in too many calorie land.   But there  adjacent to the donuts this morning were one of what I consider life's little pleasures, that which must be denied lest no clothes fit, the smell of freshly baked and generously  iced red jelly filled donuts.  I could not resist.  while Jerry enjoys the old fashioned style donut, I can avoid those easily.  But how long has it been since I have  enjoyed a real jelly donut, at least a year, maybe two?  Not today, this would mark a celebration weekend,  and so these fresh, still warm creatures went home with me along with his donuts and oh yes, those bananas for my yogurt. 

This scrumptious ooey gooey treat which dripped jam down my hand would be my lunch along with a good cup of coffee; vowing to work off the calories outside, I savored each bite. Jerry does not like jelly donuts and thinks it is gross to have jam on hands, but he was not me as a kid and he did not have my polish grandmother.  It took me back to childhood, and my grandma, Rose,  who loved her pastries and who made those wonderful polish jelly filled donuts, paczki only on special holidays, Easter and  very special celebrations. I thought back to how happy I was when she was baking and would let me taste first, while teasing my granpap that I got the first bite.I thrived from such loving grandparents, doting really, but none the less adding to my security that life was good and the world was mine however I chose to meet it.  I felt that way today eating that jelly donut or at least that life is often how we meet whatever ringers come our way. 

I was curious about jelly filled donuts because I know several eastern Europeans claim them, so when I googled before staring this piece I was not surprised to see that indeed there is a rich history to this delicacy.   Although Germany is given credit for  their invention, we know that Germany encompassed many lands through history so it is understandable that poles, russias and others would have their versions.  In 1485, the cookbook Kuchenmeisterei (Mastery of the Kitchen) was published in Nuremberg, Germany. In 1532, it was translated into Polish as Kuchmistrzostwo. Besides serving as a resource for post medieval central European cooking and being one of the first cookbooks to be run off Johannes Gutenberg‘s revolutionary printing press, this tome contained what was then a revolutionary recipe: the first record of a jelly doughnut, “Gefüllte Krapfen.” This early version consisted of a bit of jam sandwiched between two rounds of yeast bread dough and deep-fried in lard. (My grandma friend hers in ht lard too!) Whether the anonymous author actually invented the idea or recounted a new practice, the concept of filling a doughnut with jam spread across the globe.  How about that, the jelly filled donut is ancient.  Something that has endured this long cannot be that bad regardless of a calorie count ranging  from 260 to 320!  That's a lot of steam to work off, but I did so today.

More  information about my treat led me to President John F Kennedy.  Even today's newspaper had a front page article about the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy's challenge and our brink of nuclear war with Russia.   I have just finished reading O'Reilly's "Killing Kennedy" which I will review in my other blog. (Loved that book by the way, loved that president too who was my first political hero.)   But read on to what else I learned today about jelly filled donuts and see if you remember JFK calling himself one.  

Today most versions of  jelly doughnuts have a sweet interior, but  the original filled doughnuts were  packed with meat, fish, mushrooms, cheese, or other mixtures. At that time, sugar was still very expensive and rare in Germany, so savory dishes were much more practical. In the sixteenth century, the price of sugar fell with the introduction of Caribbean sugar plantations. Soon sugar and, in turn, fruit preserves proliferated in Europe. Within a century of the jelly doughnut’s initial appearance in Germany, every northern European country from Denmark to Russia adopted the pastry, although it was still a rare treat generally associated with specific holidays. In my Polish family paczki were made for  Easter and  holidays, special times only...Much later, someone in Germany invented a metal pastry syringe with which to inject jelly into already fried doughnuts, making the treat much easier and neater, and in the twentieth century, machines were developed to inject doughnuts in mass production.

Since at least the early 1800s, Germans had called jelly doughnuts "Berliners". According to a German anecdote, in 1756 a patriotic baker from Berlin was turned down as unfit for Prussian military service, but allowed to remain as a field baker for the regiment. Because armies in the field had no access to ovens, he began frying doughnuts over an open fire, which the soldiers began calling after the baker’s home, Berliners. The term soon became narrowed to denote only filled krapfen. Thus technically John F. Kennedy’s famous declaration at the Berlin Wall, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” means “I am a jelly doughnut.”

By the end of the century, jelly doughnuts were also called Bismarcken, after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck Due to the large number of central European immigrants, jelly doughnuts are known as bismarcks in parts of the American Upper Midwest, in Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada, and even in Boston, Massachusetts. In Manitoba, they are called jam busters. In Britain, they became jam doughnuts. And in general American parlance, they are jelly doughnuts. Poles named jelly doughnuts paczki (flower buds). Polish Jews fried these doughnuts in schmaltz or oil instead of lard and called them ponchiks. In certain areas of Poland, they became the favorite Hanukkah dessert. A doughnut without a filling in Yiddish is a donat. Some Australian Jews, many of whom emigrated from Poland, still refer to jelly doughnuts as ponchiks. Polish immigrants brought ponchiks to Israel, along with the custom of eating them on Hanukkah.

    So this very special treat today took me back to childhood  and then back through medieval times; now that is a scrumptious bit with a history as rich as its calorie count.   I wish you a special treat that brings as much pleasure as today's jelly filled gave me.   A special thanks to the website which provided The History of the Jelly Doughnut, Sufganiyah, Leite's Culinaria  

Unblooming mums

We are at home this fall, the first time in several years, so I wanted some of those gorgeous huge over the top mums for the front entry.  You know the kind, the gorgeous blooms that set alongside the pumpkins...So a week or so ago amidst my hacking I went to Bauer's, our local nursery and purchased  a magnificent specimen.  It was still balmy and the instructions were to water it daily.  I chose the right  tightest buds I could find so that the blooms would last longer once open.  And that seems to be where my planning went askew. 

I do not mess with potted plants generally, if it doesn't go into the ground I don"t want it.  That's a hangover from my CA days and belief that potted plants are for city dwellers and or old folks who can do no better.  Anyway, $20 for this dandy pot of multiple yellow mums.  Yes they would be cheaper at Home Depot or the like but that is across the river and I like to support the locals.  I envisioned this in full bloom alongside the electric pumpkins that I dug out of the closet for the front entry.  These mums would be golden in the glow.  And I am not putting them into ground anywhere, when they are done they will hit the debris pile., a disposable potted plant.

Well it is now over a week later, our weather turned to downright frosty some overnights, a cold nip in windy air, some badly needed rain and almost daily sunshine.  But my potted mum is either saving itself up for my birthday or is a stubborn pouty specimen.  Yesterday I thought maybe the back deck would be preferable for more sunshine through the day and to gain warmth being closer to the house.  I have not only watered when it does not rain, I have fed it with Miracle Grow each time to encourage the blooms. But as of this morning, here she sits, not much opened, the buds remain tight....Did I get a dud?  How can I get this potted mum to open into bloom, or is she holding off for a birthday surprise?

She likely senses my aversion to potted things, but I did make an allowance for her.  Now?  Wait, something else to wait for, like the closing date on the sale of the PA house.  Yesterday was an exercise in activity and phone calls.  There will be more as we move along.  Oh, for the final papers when we no longer have the responsibility of the house...maybe the mum will bloom at the same time?  A golden  celebration?   

Windy fall days and Brandy apple pie

Back toward bird feeders

Windy autumn days mean almost daily leaf patrol  activity here .  Jerry wishes he had a cord to pull to release at once all the leaves that will fall from all our trees so leaf patrol would be a one time thing.   Several of the ash trees have shed nearly all their leaves from  the gusty  winds we've had the  last few days.  That's the blanket of gold you see covering the lawn.  He was out there soon after I took this photo with the gas leaf blower  and then  riding mower mulcher, chopping these up so that they go back into the soil.  And then within a few more hours there will be more, by the next day it will look as though nothing was done and the task will be repeated.  Repetition a frequent activity at this time of year.   Our balmy autumn has been replaced with a nip in the air and the winds of fall. 



From the  side back toward the neighbors..golden carpets



These winds complicate our recovery from with these lingering coughs, tickles at the throat as the weeks roll along making nearly  my 3rd week of this PA cold bug.  We  both visited our MD who checked our lungs, and is satisfied this is likely the cold virus that is making its way around the Midwest.  That being said, PA was ahead of it all and viruses can take their  good old time to depart.  Each day I think, "aha, better today"  and that is kind of accurate, but by evening there is a bit of tickly throat and some drainage.  Our MD said antibiotics were not necessary since we were showing no signs of infection nor running fevers.  Just tough it out, take it easy, lots of liquids, etc.  We both got our flu shots too, which surprised me.  I thought we might have to wait, but our MD assured us no fever, no problem.  There is again a nasty flu strain expected and with our resistance down it is best to get the shot sooner than later.  So we muddle and hack along.  The other night I had the best night's  sleep with no coughing and no congestion, but  last  night returned a bit more tickly at night, clearing the throat and disrupting my sleep.   This too shall pass. 

Apple Brandy lattice top pie

I decided the nip in the air made yesterday a good day to bake my favorite apple brandy pie.  Each year I dread my first pies because I almost lose my touch  to crusts when pie baking time returns.  I don't make pie crusts all summer and the right technique doesn't always show up on my first try.  But yesterday after a quick trip to Leidel's for baking apples, Harelson's as recommended by Mitch, I kept busy in my kitchen pie making.  I was proud of the results you see in this photo; victory the first time, While my grandma could whip up a pie crust at the drop of a pencil, I struggle, but yesterday it worked.  I prefer to make my own crusts, I cannot resort to the prepackaged store bought types, which would be easier but not flavorful, not flaky; to me the crust is an important part of the pie, bad crust= bad pie.  For my crusts I use a mixture of flours white and whole wheat along with Crisco (Baba Rose used lard), butter, vinegar, salt, sugar and ice cold water. Mix it up till crumbly and then add ice water drops at a time, roll out and put into pie pan.  I do not chill my crusts before rolling.   This brandy pie is a modification of a Martha Stewart winner and because I never follow a recipe  I share here my general directions of what goes in.  Slice apples and pour lemon juice and some brandy over them while making the crust.  I used 8 big Harelson apples for this pie sliced thin. My aunt believed only Granny Smith Green apples were fitting for an apple pie, but she never had MN Harelsons.   For the filling mix  1/4 cup flour, 3/4cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1-2 Tablespoons of cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon vanilla, , 1/4 cup brandy, 1 Tablespoon each of cinnamon, allspice and honey, 1/4 teaspoon  each of cloves, pumpkin pie spice, and  nutmeg and a dash of mace, 2-3 Tablespoons of butter.  Mix it all together.   Drain the apples.  Sprinkle the bottom of the unbaked pie crust with sugar then begin to fill with apples that have been rolled and coated with the filling.  All the filling should be used with all the apples and  I have found it works best to do this in layers rather than  trying to mix the apples into the filling and pour them into the pie shell.  Put either a top crust or lattice crust over all and dot with slivers of butter.  Place the pie on a cookie sheet because it will boil over (I have never baked this pie when it did not.)  I use a big deep Longaberger pie dish that is almost 11 inches across or sometimes I might use a 12 inch pie pan.  I like to make big pies. Jerry can eat a quarter of a pie at a time, so making a dinky 8 inch pie means it is gone in two days.  He is also known to have a slice of pie midday.  He likes pies.  Bake at 400 degrees for one hour covering the pie very loosely  with parchment paper and foil; decrease the temperature to 375 and bake for another hour.  In the last 10-15 minutes remove the foil and parchment paper and let the top brown.   This is delicious warm or cold but we especially like it warm with a dollop of good vanilla ice cream.  Ummmm, nothing much better than this.  This is a pie for responsible adults, and would not be advisable for those who must not imbibe alcohol, or for children, but having none of those in our home, we are set.   The alcohol bakes out, but those who have issues must resist.

Activity and then some

After our trip to PA for my  class reunion and to Indiana to reunite with CA friends, 1827 total miles, $883 poorer for 218 gallons of diesel for the motor home and a much shorter trip than we  had planned, we came home.  It is not worth being ill  and in my case cranky away from home; I am not a good sick person, in fact I am downright miserable. Halloween approaches, but I could get my witch on early. 

We arrived home  September 25, over a week ago bringing along our remnants of the  crappy "cold bug"  from PA courtesy of the typhoid Mary at the reunion who spread germs amongst all.  Yes the reunion was wonderful and yes it was a superb time.  I loved reuniting with classmates, most of whom I'd not seen in 40 years since the  10th and some 50 years since we graduated.   First Jerry  caught this bug and then a week or so later me, but I amplify everything.  After two weeks now I did check in with my local doc who advised me that my body is doing its job expertly fighting this nasty thing.  Give it a few more days and if it  is not  better, then fill the RX for antibiotics which he wrote.  Jerry went last week and got heavy antibiotics which he is taking. He no longer coughs at night, I still do.  I am fine except for the night time cough that  interrupts sleep and leaves me feeling tired through the day, but neither of us  have  fevers and what I am left with is sinus drainage.  This is one nasty bugger.  Colds are supposed to take a week, well this one did not get the memo.  That said, here  we are enjoying wonderful balmy autumnal weather, the colors are changing all along the river and bluffs, reflecting a golden, orange reddish glow in the sunshine.  And with that I have tried to get in a little bit of outside trimming, weeding, etc as the days go along.  I will be much happier when I get back to my own level of physical activity and  walks and the like.   As it is I savor my strength for spurts of activity and hold those in check.

Here's good news regarding sale of my uncle's home which is  the last part to settle the estate.  And for my Catholic friends, know that St. Joseph is at work.  Nonbelievers will not comprehend this, but Catholics who trust in the power of intercessory prayer of saints will applaud.  I was getting despondent  as the home has been on the market for a year and nary a looker.  Yes it is small but it is a grand old house with a massive lot.  The area  has regressed to what it was when so many of us fled in the sixties, just poor economy and people are not buying homes despite the "buyer's market."  Well people just cannot get the loans and maybe that indicates their lack of credit worthiness and the rightful tightening of financial markets. 

This trip I took a St. Joseph statue along, as urged by several, and placed him on the shelf in the kitchen  with instructions to do the right thing and bring a right buyer and proceeded  with prayers.   After all, my uncle's middle name was Joseph and so what did I have to lose?  Viola on Saturday, September 29 my realtor called with an offer.  Actually the day after I placed St. Joseph in the home in September, a realtor who had shown the home previously called my realtor and asked if it were still listed.  That was a glimmer of hope. Thank you St. Joseph and "my people" the plethora of them who have gone on ahead and whom I  talk to from time to time. My own realtor asked me if I had buried St. Joseph as the legend calls for, face down  away from the front door.  No, I did it my way. 

 Now, it seems we may have a buyer, if all goes well, loan and FHA home inspection.  The price is way lower than originally listed and is a steal for the buyer, but after continuous payment of PA  real estate and school taxes, utilities, lawn maintenance, and the exorbitant insurance for vacant homes, I can accept a  low bid to be done with this  major concern.  Sure I could hold on and wait, but what for?  Someone needs to live there and keep the home going.  Someone with ability to update and tinker.  Someone, well, you get it a good buyer.  This will be such a weight off our shoulders to no longer be absentee owners.  So now we are in the midst of emailing and faxing and signing millions of real estate papers.  This is why I dislike realtors, with them comes  tons of paperwork, tree killing at its finest. I ask again of the realtor, "can't you initial all these documents for me with my permission?"  "oh no, indeed not, I'd go to Realtor Prison."  Well thankfully I have ability to email and print and fax....tomorrow it is faxing  35 pages which I printed from the email, each one initialed by me as executrix and this is only the  beginning.  There will be more, ever more as this buyer is  getting an FHA loan, more and more paper.  

There is more coincidence here, the potential buyer is a niece of a PA friend of mine. My friend was not aware of the circumstance, knew they were looking but did not know it was my house.  It is a small world indeed back there and so we look ahead to moving this last bit of estate work along. 

All things concerned have kept me from blogging.  But I have been on Facebook daily, posting reunion photos and  tracking and talking online.  As I hit time crunch I will likely have to avoid that too.   I am anticipating one less big issue to handle and the carefree ability to plan trips to other areas.  We will still return to PA, I have friends and a cemetery to visit.  But the visits will be leisurely and with out pressure to do anything over at the house.   You can only imagine how I am looking forward to being less concerned.  Whew I might even have time to blog creatively once again.

Simple reset and all is well.....hmmm

Sky at Mt. Top Tarentum night before

All is well with my electronic  gadgets once again.  A quick trip to the local Verizon store with a simple reset there got the tablet to running easily, perhaps I shoulda' tried that instead of the dirty words I used.  Really I did not know about that, as most of you know electronic devices no longer come with instructions printed, they are all online.  Yes, well when you cannot  get them online to access the directions you are up the old creek without a paddle and/or even without a boat!
We had a rainy day yesterday here in PA, what else is new, when we are here we ususally have rain.

Jerry has a sore throat, he says no big deal, but I flash back to last October on our southern trip where he ended up with  almost pneumonia.  So he will stay put at the motor home today while I am out and about with friends. 

Here we are at Beermuda,  left to right around the table
Linda, Pam, Carlie, Jerry, me and Peggy

We had a fun gathering yesterday despite the rain at a new place to us, Beermuda, local on Freeport Road.  What a great place to eat and sample all sorts of beers.  I enjoyed a pumpkin ale and then a framboise...even sampled the banana brew.  Jerry being a purist stuck with Budweiser. Their drafts change all the time and well, you just have to go there to see for yourself.   All the food was overly plentiful, and the amazing thing, nothing not even the delicious french fries that some had on their salads were deep fried,  a healthy choice, baked and no one complained.  I downed a half steak hoagie ala Philly style but with a blue cheese dressing ummmmm.  Jerry's pulled pork was a mound too high to even try to bite down as a sandwich but he worked it with fork.    I bought a personally selected and mixed up 6 pack to take home including a brand "Wild Bitch."  We all agreed this is a great place to meet.  Linda says they go there frequently; Dayna could not join us as she had a leak in her  kitchen with the rain and that required sitting and waiting.

In the sunshine interim yesterday afternoon, we went to Greenwood cemetery to see all my people.  Then we went over to St. Mary's where I tried to find other older family graves, there was no one at the site  but roaming I did find a few by accident, however not the ones I wanted.  Oh well, another trip, those folks aren't going anywhere.  

Traveling and newer devices not working consistently

Who"d have thunk it....me with Carole Krasinski
Both in the same top Friday night,
hers from PA  and mine from MN.

We will seldom show up here, go on over to FB or to my GMail.  My new Samsung Tablet is a dog, taking it to a local Verizon store here in PA.  But actually, not minding  being off line because I have no time to get there anyway. 

We have been so busy here in PA with reunion (a 2 nite event) and recovery from which was a one  entire day for me--I can no longer dance all night without recovering the next day!  The reunion was the best event and the most fun ever for all of us.  Those who did not attend really missed out.  The memory books are so nice and those who did not submit their questionnaires or were too late, oh well, so  sorry for you.   Those of us who were there really celebrated.  The band rocked Saturday night and so did I!  Some only came on Friday some only Saturday and some missed everything with myriads of reasons.  There will never again be such an event for ourselves. 

Ray aka Finch and me.  40 years since we have seen each other
I think he has finally gotten over my putting mud pies into his new wagon.
He lived across the alley from us.  I recall he was short, how is he
taller than me?  I suppose he always was.

Most photos will not post here until after we return home because the Disk on a bigger camera does not download to the laptop nor dog tablet.  You can get the message, I am unhappy with the Samsung 7.0 tablet, boo hiss, boo. 

Murphy, that rascal, returns

  You might wonder what that poster has to do with Murphy, well read on my friend.  It has been exactly one week ago that we experienced  our main sewer line clogging and this morning as Jerry showered I heard the downstairs toilet gurgling.  Sure enough, new week, same problem.  The plumber says he can be here about 2 o"clock so we wait and wonder.  Last week we toughed it out on Sunday and waited until Monday afternoon for a plumber;  Jerry rented a snake from the hardware store and used drain unclogger chemicals to no avail  and just when it seemed like the plumber could find nothing in our over 100 foot sewer drain, paydirt (or dirt of another kind.)

We have 2 sewer drains on this house, and the biggest is clogging. We remain suspicious that this is a result  from our recent company who may have  flushed things  that we do not....think 13 year old girl for one and you can figure the rest out.    Apparently the  original culprit was not all cleared.  But we can use the downstairs shower and sink and we have the motor home for potty needs (ala an outhouse run!).  Having never had these troubles in the  7 years we have lived here, it is frustrating. 

While at the computer,  I heard gurgling, which was the backing up, shower water was backing into that downstairs toilet and I bailed.   It can always be worse and we will manage.  As we said last night with friends, while on this side of the grass, what's to complain? 

I had intended to spend today reconfiguring our wifi and really learning my new Samsung III smart phone and tablet...but Murphy said, "not so very fast there pardner'...not so fast.... If you don't know Murphy, consider yourself lucky.  Murphy even has a website for all Murphy's laws in one place   http://www.murphys-laws.com/     His law, and I maintain Murphy is/was a he, is usually stated as: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".  And so given that we can expect the unexpected to occur,  or it's always something as Roseanne Anna Danna wailed.    

Wikipedia has quite a bit of information about Murphy.  According to the book A History of Murphy's Law by author Nick T. Spark, differing recollections years later by various participants make it impossible to pinpoint who first coined the saying Murphy's law. The law's name supposedly stems from an attempt to use new measurement devices developed by the eponymous Edward Murphy.  Edward Aloysius Murphy, Jr. (January 11, 1918 – July 17, 1990) was an American aerospace engineer who worked on safety-critical systems. The phrase was coined in adverse reaction to something Murphy said when his devices failed to perform and was eventually cast into its present form prior to a press conference some months later — the first ever (of many) conferences given by Dr. John Stapp, a U.S. Air Force colonel and Flight Surgeon in the 1950s. The phrase first received public attention when Stapp was asked how it was that nobody had been severely injured during the rocket sled tests. Stapp replied that it was because they always took Murphy's Law under consideration; he then summarized the law and said that in general, it meant that it was important to consider all the possibilities (possible things that could go wrong) before doing a test and act to counter them."  And we thought engineers had no sense of humor!

I intend to master my new techie toys prior to our journey to PA for my 50th high school reunion, a master event for which planning  has been underway most of this year.  It is a two night event, casual Friday with pizza and  banquet dinner and music Saturday evening.  I am excited as we are going to celebrate ourselves, survivors, we have made it.  While I  am disappointed that so many of my friends from elementary grades are opting out, that will be their loss.  I do not understand  disinterest from the locals who have no cost to travel etc.  Well, some people just don"t see the significance of  celebrating milestones.  Some people complain about the cost, but they have had plenty of time to set aside some money for this, and some people simply are not interested, I suppose.  The curiosity would lure me if nothing else if I lived there and as it is, this is my first reunion since the 10th, the only other one I made.  There are even those who did not graduate with us who are attending, either they moved or they are wanna bes of our Ken Hi class of 62. 

Front of the tshirt.

I pulled out my Pittsburghese t-shirt which I purchased many years ago on a visit home, when I wear it anywhere but PA nobody appreciates it.    It has many of the dialectic phrases I will be hearing.  I really should alter it as I prefer a scooped neck, more tailored look instead of  these men's style.  I had already shortened it because it is a rather large and long size, the only one they had.  All my tasks and  'shoulds" amuse Murphy who always brings another plan...but be of good cheer, because it came to pass not to stay and we can get through this too.  It is best to hold onto optimism and or at least humor when all else fails. 



Back of tshirt

 As my old Uncle John said, "everything will be a funny story someday so we might as well laugh now" followed by, "nobody likes a moaner anyway..." Laugh and the world laughs with you, whine and you cry alone!   And this is how Murphy, plumbing and Pittsburghese makes it to the blog today...

Spider, spider in the web..... and the threes

This AM out on yard and garden patrol I spotted a new addition to the front of the house, between the snowball and hydrangea shrubs, right over the bayberry bush.  A 6 foot by 5 foot spider web of magical symmetry and proportions.  This was a job for the bigger camera, not trusting in my smaller Nikon.  I was unsuccessful in capturing that entire web, that lacy intricacy did not show up.  But I did snap several great spidery shots and immediately posted to Facebook so that my California expert entomologist friend, Baldo would identify type of spider

Spider from belly side  with center
web criss cross to his left

I am still awaiting Baldo"s reply but I think it had to be a Steeler's fan because he definitely sported a black body with yellow pattern, his legs had a reddish tint.  Notice the past tense, because he is no more.  We watched him for quite a while and saw him move so very fast to catch the smaller bug that was caught in his sticky web and the bug was gone in an instant.  This was a very inexpensive 15 minutes of entertainment as we both stood looking.  Imagine how long this guy spent  weaving that huge web.  And how do they produce the  web netting?  There is a lot to question in this act of nature, and after I post I may do more web browsing, or Baldo may let me know more than  I can question.  This spider  was big  over an inch and a very full body and had a  very long reach with his legs, if that's what thy are called.  There is likely a entomological term, but they are legs for this post.  We considered letting him stay in place, maybe he would eat mosquitoes which are reappearing with the reappearance of our warmer temperatures again.  But when  Jerry said, "we don"t know what he is...do you want to keep him?" I knew it was curtains for the spider. 



Here he  goes head first down the web



 I am not squeamish about them, but I am very allergic to spider bites and watching this guy's actions gave me pause.  Fortunately I did not step that way to trim the snowball bush, I'd gone to the other side where I could more easily reach the back or I'd have been entangled.  It was on the return trip from mission accomplished of the offending branches into the house siding  that I caught this artistic endeavor.   

He seemed all too eager to show his belly while in the web.  In fact all I got were side and belly shots, until.....we sprayed him with spider shot from the can.  He teetered and tottered in his web and then it was all over curtain call for the spider and the web.  The web was very tacky and sticky and Jerry used  a rod to dismantle it.  Even that  caught the sticky. 

Another belly shot, a bit fuzzy in focus

We did put him on cardboard for  the viewing and that way I was able to finally capture his top side up.

Repose of the Steeler fan Arachnid

If you saw the photos on Facebook, sorry for the duplication,  but I am  posting  near the phone awaiting a call from a plumber.  This is the 2nd day of the three's.  You know how things happen in threes, or so I have heard.  Well yesterday  after I showered Jerry heard the downstairs  toilet gurgling....a quick check found it filling.  I went off to church and he said he was puzzled  but  thought he had it.  He did not.  Long story very short, we have a clog in one of  the two sewer drains from the house.  Jerry rented a snake and has dumped drain unclog to no avail.  So although we have  running water, we cannot use it.  We  figured we could move the motor home up the driveway out of the shop and  use it for toilet and running water--hah, wrong again.  It has only been a couple weeks, but for some reason  it would not start, the battery is not charging, and Jerry could not locate a relay!  Bingo  that's the third thing, the relay, and there  should end the plague of the threes. 

Well, we wanted to avoid triple time pay for a plumber on Sunday  and so we waited until Monday and we are still waiting.  The plumber who said he's be here by noon is two + hours late.  I only hope we are not started on a second phase of the three's.