Security, Security, Security

Because of 911 and heightened security your small town bank now has to ask for identification before they will open an account or add a name to an existing account. I don't know the exact details but our bank asks for a photo ID and a copy of a recent utility bill. And to add a son or daughter or other family member to a savings account or CD, the bank now asks for their address and social security number.

I can understand that. They don't want some terrorist setting up business in town.

Yesterday I drove to the city and left my wallet home. I had intended to spend three hours shopping, but no billfold, no cash, no credit cards, no driver's license. Nada. I needed money. Moolah! Dinero!

Our bank has a branch in that area so I thought I could ask them to call my hometown bank. Surely our banker would verify my voice, especially if I made a couple small chit-chat remarks so she would know that it was indeed me!

Didn't have to make the phone call. Just asked the teller for cash, told her whose names were on the account (mine and the guy who is trying to get me to bake him a lemon meringue pie) and gave her the date and amount of the last deposit. She did verify our mailing address by reading it to me and watching me nod my head! (Go figure!)

I walked out with $300 cash. I realize that there were probably multiple security cameras in the place and if I had been a crook they would have plastered my face all over the local news channels.

But still...wasn't that just a little bizarre!?

Snow, Inventions, Betty Crocker, and KAMUT

It snowed last night. A quiet 3 to 5 inches of snow. The air was still enough that the storm left a smooth surface. Very few drifts.

Our small snowblower did a nice job of clearing our drive...then the two of us lifted it into the back of the pickup to go do two more on the other side of town. We made several observations this morning...

1) The lady who drove straight through the intersection in front of us without looking to the left or right, must have been thinking "if I don't look, I won't feel the pain when some car slams into me crosswise". Driver denial.

2) When I call a side street a "main street" I mean that it is a "direct route" to some main area of town. Being a native I know, for instance, that even though Diamond Street is a "side street", it is nevertheless the main thoroughfare from the southeast end of town to the center of town. Spouse, being a relative newcomer (having lived here a mere fourteen years), still arrives at intersections expecting the person to the right to have the right-of-way. It doesn't compute with him that drivers on Diamond have the right-of-way regardless of whether they are on the right or the left of the other car. It's local custom. It has nothing to do with legality. You just know that they see themselves as being on the main drag and you, on the other hand, are on a "side street" so to speak. So you'd best pay attention and keep out of their way.

3) Someone could make a fortune with my new "invention". Today I dreamed of a mechanism that would make sweeping/scooping snow from a deck obsolete. Think venetian blinds...the deck boards could be rotated sideways to dump the snow underneath the deck. Or they could rotate a full 180 degrees to place the snow/icy surface underneath and the dry surface atop. All this of course would require a sturdy mechanism to do the rotating and to properly support and lock the boards in place. (This is MY invention and if someone develops it and sells it to rich folk -- of which there aren't too many right now -- I expect a ten percent cut of the profit. I can dream, can't I?)

4) Pancakes for breakfast are a good followup to shoveling snow. Especially Kamut Pancakes. And here's the recipe!

KAMUT PANCAKES (adapted from my almost antique Betty Crocker cookbook)
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (use 1 cup milk and 1 T lemon juice or vinegar)
1 T oil
1 cup Kamut flour (or use regular white or whole wheat flour)
1 T sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In a medium bowl, Slightly beat egg, milk, oil.
In a separate bowl stir together the dry ingredients. Then add to the liquid. Stir only until mixed together. A few lumps is good. Over-stirring is not good.

Pour an appropriate amount of batter into a heated skillet that has been sprayed with veggie spray. Or swipe with a bit of butter. Turn when pancakes are puffed and full of bubbles but before the bubbles break. Flip and cook other side. If you're an old hand at pancakes, you can skip this last paragraph. If you're new, you'll soon get the hang of having the skillet at just the right temp.. Too cool and the pancakes will be pale. Too hot, and they'll burn.

This recipe makes a very small batch...enough for the two of us with no leftovers. If we have a hungry grandson in the house, I always double the recipe.

Serve with butter, syrup, applesauce or other fruit.

Sourdough Bread - You're Gonna Love This!

A while back I posted about my new adventure with baking sourdough bread. You can read about it here. And tonight I'm sharing more about this experience. (If the internet had a 'scratch and sniff' test, you would take one whiff and be right over, begging for a slice topped with butter!)

Even though I've been baking bread for 25 years or more, there's a lot I don't know about making Sourdough. You can google yourself (No, I mean google 'sourdough', not 'yourself', although that might bring up some surprising results as well!) and find numerous sourdough blogs or websites. Some sourdough bakers are a mite more specific than I when measuring, kneading, baking, etc., but I'm finding that sourdough is pretty sturdy stuff and allows me to be a little more layed back than those folk. The idea is to bake a great loaf of bread, not win a prize at the State Fair, so relax a bit, okay?

Since my previous post, I've learned that you can take a dollop (a cup or so) of the sourdough starter, stir in a bit of water and a larger bit of flour to form a thick battery 'sponge'. Let this sponge sit overnight to get it a-growin'. You can see what it looks like in this photo. (Don't forget, you can click for a closer view.) I'm not guaranteeing that I used the correct proportions...but the stuff worked. That's good enough for me.

When it came time to bake bread, I added one egg, 5/8 cup milk, 1 tsp salt, 2 tablespoons honey, 3 tablespoons of butter, 1 teaspoon of yeast and enough regular white flour to knead up nicely in my breadmaker. (Remember from my previous post that I use the breadmaker to knead, but not to bake. Once kneaded, I let it rise once, then punch down, and place in a pan, and bake in the oven.) It's rather a hit-and-miss guess on how much flour. Somewhere between 2 and 3 cups. I just check the machine every minute or so to make sure the dough is not too dry, not too wet.

Some extra thoughts...

1. The dough will be a bit more wet than regular bread dough. The more moisture, the larger the holes in the crumb.
2. REAL sourdough probably doesn't use eggs. I'm not a purist about a lot of things and certainly not about bread. (I hope none of those REAL sourdough specialists read this!)
3. Allowing the sponge to ferment about twelve hours helps the bread develop a very, very good flavor. (This is gonna be a YUM-YUM experience!)
   
4. When you are ready to place the loaf in the oven, cut slashes in the top with either a sharp knife or kitchen shears. This allows the bread to rise a bit more in the oven without ripping itself apart. I could have done a better job here.
   
5. A thermometer helps determine the optimum baking time. I wait until the bread has baked about 23 minutes in a 400 degree oven before putting in the thermometer and completing the baking until the interior temp is 200 degrees.
6. I eat more bread now. That may not a good thing.

You can read here about using sourdough for sweet rolls.

Words and Hometown Headlines

A couple days ago I read a blog where the writer complained bitterly about sister and parents. And I've recently read blogs where complaints and criticisms were aimed at spouses or other family members.

I'd like to make this suggestion to help you avoid embarrassment just in case your family members, friends or coworkers know where to find you on the web. (You can call it a "rule" if you want to...but some folks rebel against "rules", so let's call it a suggestion instead. You can take it or leave it, makes no matter to me.)

Here it is...

Think Twice before making nasty or critical comments about friends, or family or fellow employees on your blog. You are not quite as anonymous behind your computer screen as you might think and words cast out into the wild beyond may come back to haunt you.

To adapt an old adage our grandmothers used to use, "If you wouldn't want to see your words on the front page of the local newspaper, don't post it on the web." (That applies also to those unmentionable photos of yourself that you really wouldn't want your grandmother to see....just moments before she's taken to the hospital with a heart attack!)

Sure, most of us need to vent now and then. And perhaps you have someone about whom you really, really need to unload before you explode. So if that is the case, pull up a new word doc on your PC, type out all your anger, your angst, your anguish. Read it through twice (or thrice if you're really steaming).

Then hit Delete.

You will not be sorry.

The Charlie Brown Tree

I'm a yard sale aficionado (I had to go to the dictionary for that one!). It means I have an "affection" for yard sales. Yard sales are good. They sell. I buy. Everyone goes away happy.

This year's Christmas tree is a yard sale find. When I brought it up from the basement this week, I was a wee bit surprised at the $5 sticker that was still attached! Me! Spend $5 on a rather smallish, Charlie Brown kinda tree? My affionadoness must have affected my frugalness that day!

This tree is too small even for lights! It would look really dorky with green wires wrapped here and there. So....No Lights This Year. Still...it's kinda cute and has its merits.

The snowmen arrived via another yard sale. The magenta glass beads are from an old necklace. They're tied on with green thread. The white garland is made up of strands of white seed beads from another yard sale necklace.
The tree itself looked a bit lonesome until the fun-loving snowmen arrived on the scene. They're ready for winter fun but I hope they take time Christmas Eve to read Luke 1:32,33 and Luke 2:7 and Luke 2:11,12 and Luke 2:13,14 and a whole bunch more! Christmas is not Christmas if one does not remember the Christ, the Savior, the One who loves us and gives us Life in Him. (You can point your cursor at the scriptures and read them yourself!)

I'm still searching the house for more glass beads. But if I can't find any, the tree looks pretty good as is.

Last Night There Was a Sad Face in the Sky

Last night (or was it the night before?) we had a sad face in the sky. Shortly after sunset the crescent moon and Venus and Jupiter appeared in the sky positioned close enough together (visually, that is) to make what looked like a rather wonky upside-down sad-face. (you can click on the photos for a slightly better view.)

In Australia, however, folks saw a smiley face. And I know the reason why. In Australia it is springtime. They have a lot to smile about in Australia for the best time of the year is on the scene. Flowers are blooming. Veggies are being planted. Birds are singing. The grass needs cutting.

Here it was 19 degrees today and we're heading deeper into winter. The perennials are down for the count. Fresh veggies are to be found only at the grocery store. The birds have flown south (undoubtedly to Australia!), and a sprinkle of snow covered our driveway this morning. Winter is upon us.

This is no smiling matter! (she said with a smile)

Tonight's Topic

An email buddy reminded me that I am a "petunia in the onion patch". She was commenting on my having grown up in the midst of four brothers and she maintains this contributed greatly to my (slightly quirky) personality. I like her blame of my brothers...takes the responsibility off my own shoulders. heh-heh

It is more probably, however, that genetics play the major role. I remember my paternal aunts and I've met other members of my father's family and I recognize myself in them. Genes. My conclusion is if I'm a Petunia it's because there were a lot of Petunias on my dad's side of the family. (My brothers are still onions, though!)

Seriously...today's post is not about genes, or brothers, or onions. It's about word definition. And today's word is IMPUTATION. So if you came here looking for a quilt lesson, or a post on how to make sourdough bread or kamut pancakes, forget it. Today's post is deeper than that.

I'm putting together a lesson on "imputation" for my ladies. I call them 'my ladies' for they constitute the ever-rotating class that a friend and I teach in a nearby jail. I call them 'my' because I have great affection for them. And I call them 'ladies' again because of my affection for them. My Ladies.

The class rotates. That means we have new women every week. Some are with us for only a couple sessions. Some are with us for months. So we struggle to be able to aim the study time towards both. We want to be able to present the Gospel itself as clearly as possible (Gospel/good news -- God sent Jesus to redeem the lost - Colossians 1:13). And we want to be able to present deeper truths as well. Some have some Bible background. Others have never opened a Bible and have no clue as to who is Moses? Abraham? Isaac? Jacob? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul? Do you see our dilemna in selecting a class topic?

Tonight...IMPUTATION is the topic. You can read a short definition with scriptural references with Part One here and Part Two here.

Basically, that article states this...

The Biblical doctrine of imputation is threefold.
1) The sin of Adam was imputed to all his race.
2) The sin of God's elect was imputed to Christ.
3) The righteousness of Christ is imputed to believers in Him
Romans 5:12-21; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 4:5-8

Imputation is a basic doctrine, a basic truth of the Bible. And as a basic doctrine, it is indeed understandable, even to women who are new to scripture.

That's Good News! That's the Gospel! (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) (Romans 10:13)