Monday, December 31, 2012
The End
2012 was not the end of life as we know it based on the Mayan prediction on a stone calendar. For 2013, we may slide or fall off the fiscal cliff, but I resolve to blog on a more regular basis. Happy Healthy New Year to all my friends and family. Great experiences, good wines and kind thanks for your patience.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Groaners
Groaner: Retiring Cop A detective who spent his entire career in plain clothes quit the police force and bought a farm. "What kind of crops do you plan to grow?" the police chief asked the farmer-to-be. "Carrots and potatoes," the man replied. "Why carrots and potatoes?" asked the chief. "Because," answered the ex-detective, "I'm very fond of undercover crops."
Growing up, our family physician was also a family friend. His wife was very buxom, which was the word used for a woman with well-endowed mammary tissue.
The joke she told us all one night at a dinner party painted a vivid picture of her on my memory. There had been a man, reported in our small town, who walked up behind women and 'goosed' them and then got away quickly without being caught or identified.
Well, Dorothea Donoho, trapped him. She recounted that upon feeling his hand sliding up under her skirt, she waited just long enough for him to start 'goosing', when she "tightened up her buttocks and proceeded to march him right down to the police station." She retold the tale with complete animation of the event, showing how she walked with her prisoner entrapped behind her. With a wiggle accentuating her slender waist, all the tissue above her belt bounced most vigorously, while her lower half was intensely rigid in purpose to not let go.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday Good Humor
Remembering Jokes that make me laugh:
My father's favorite DuPont story -> "Better Living Through Chemistry" - Mrs. DuPont and Mrs. Scott of 'Scott Paper Company' had a running rivalry regarding their husband's corporate creations. One day during a bridge luncheon they both attended regularly, Mrs. Scott told Mrs. DuPont that her husband's company had just created a toilet paper that was so soft and so efficient at cleansing that it would be the customers' favorite choice. Never to be 'out done', Mrs. DuPont exclaimed that once her husband's R & D Chemical and Pharmaceutical engineer's product hit the markets, the need for toilet paper would be greatly diminished!
Mrs. Scott replied that she was delusional with her fantasy. Au contraire, said Mrs. DuPont. With one daily capsule, the solids that were to be eliminated would leave the body wrapped neatly in cellophane. !!!!
Dr. AM's rhyming timing:
The Farmer's Daughters. Once a farmer had 4 teen-aged daughters that he fiercely kept from dating. On one Saturday, all 4 pleaded with their father, saying they had each met someone nice they would like to go out with and he could meet the boys with his shotgun as they came over for their pre-arranged dates.
That evening, the farmer sat in his rocker next to the front door, with his shotgun across his lap.
The first boy approached him and said: "Hello Sir, My name is Eddy and I'm here to date Betty. We are going out for Spaghetti. Is she ready? " Father farmer yelled in the house for Betty to come out side and he allowed them to leave together to go get spaghetti.
The second boy drove up to the house and approached the farmer. "Hello Sir, My name is Lance. I'm here to take Nancy to a square dance. Has she dressed fancy and remembered her petty-pants?"
Father farmer yelled for Nancy to come out side and be sure to wear her long petty-pants - and he allowed them to drive off to the dance.
The third boy arrived on a bicycle built for two and introduced himself: "Good evening Sir, my name is Joe.
I'm here to date Flo. We're going to the picture show. Is she ready to go?"
Father farmer yelled inside for Flo and let her go on the bicycle with Joe to the picture show.
The fourth boy arrived and greeted Father farmer: Howdy Mister, My name is Chuck.
With that, the farmer aimed the shotgun at him and fired.
My father's favorite DuPont story -> "Better Living Through Chemistry" - Mrs. DuPont and Mrs. Scott of 'Scott Paper Company' had a running rivalry regarding their husband's corporate creations. One day during a bridge luncheon they both attended regularly, Mrs. Scott told Mrs. DuPont that her husband's company had just created a toilet paper that was so soft and so efficient at cleansing that it would be the customers' favorite choice. Never to be 'out done', Mrs. DuPont exclaimed that once her husband's R & D Chemical and Pharmaceutical engineer's product hit the markets, the need for toilet paper would be greatly diminished!
Mrs. Scott replied that she was delusional with her fantasy. Au contraire, said Mrs. DuPont. With one daily capsule, the solids that were to be eliminated would leave the body wrapped neatly in cellophane. !!!!
Dr. AM's rhyming timing:
The Farmer's Daughters. Once a farmer had 4 teen-aged daughters that he fiercely kept from dating. On one Saturday, all 4 pleaded with their father, saying they had each met someone nice they would like to go out with and he could meet the boys with his shotgun as they came over for their pre-arranged dates.
That evening, the farmer sat in his rocker next to the front door, with his shotgun across his lap.
The first boy approached him and said: "Hello Sir, My name is Eddy and I'm here to date Betty. We are going out for Spaghetti. Is she ready? " Father farmer yelled in the house for Betty to come out side and he allowed them to leave together to go get spaghetti.
The second boy drove up to the house and approached the farmer. "Hello Sir, My name is Lance. I'm here to take Nancy to a square dance. Has she dressed fancy and remembered her petty-pants?"
Father farmer yelled for Nancy to come out side and be sure to wear her long petty-pants - and he allowed them to drive off to the dance.
The third boy arrived on a bicycle built for two and introduced himself: "Good evening Sir, my name is Joe.
I'm here to date Flo. We're going to the picture show. Is she ready to go?"
Father farmer yelled inside for Flo and let her go on the bicycle with Joe to the picture show.
The fourth boy arrived and greeted Father farmer: Howdy Mister, My name is Chuck.
With that, the farmer aimed the shotgun at him and fired.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Robin's "Architectural Cold Eggs Benedict Salad"
Drinking fruit flavored water - fresh pineapple chunks and orange slices in water with mint leaves. No sweetener other than the fruit. I want to try the Raspberry / Lime, Watermelon/Rosemary and Blackberry/Sage waters too. Have had cucumber/lemon slices in water lots - very refreshing and natural. Can always use no-cal sparkling water instead of plain water. Of course we do keep Schweppes Tonic water on hand to mix with gin for keeping Malaria away!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
BOMBE MAKING INSTRUCTIONS
I got a 'bee in my bonnet' to make an ice cream bombe this week. Much more fun than the other kinds of bombs and a unique dessert for this hot weather. Gelato comes in many colors and flavors. That was the hard part. Next year I may make a gay pride rainbow bombe since I missed the celebration this year. Approximating a watermelon appearance, I chose yellow pineapple for the outer layer, french vanilla for the mid-rind and mixed berry for the center with chocolate wafer cookie chips to simulate seeds.
Line a round 6-8 cup stainless steel bowl with plastic wrap and chill it for at least 30 minutes. One pint of each flavor of gelato. 3 pints serve 6-8 people. Soften the outer flavor [pineapple, but something green like pistachio would make for better contrast] and spoon it into the chilled bowl, coating the sides with a firm rubber spatula. Return the bowl to the freezer with another piece of plastic wrap over the first layer with a smaller SS bowl pressed into it.
Chill at least 30 minutes.
Soften and spread the next flavor - vanilla - directly on top of the first flavor, then replace the plastic wrap and inner bowl and freeze for another 30 minutes.
For the last flavor - a deep colored berry - sorbet or ice cream would work as well, fill the center and push some small pieces of chocolate wafer cookie into the softened filling. Cut some angel food cake slices - which becomes the base of your bombe and helps to absorb any melting liquid - to cover the ice cream and replace the plastic wrap sealing your bombe and re-freeze the entire bombe until ready to serve.
To serve - remove plastic wrap, unmold the bombe onto a serving plate by turning the bowl over the plate, peel off the inner plastic wrap. Optionally, decorate with piped whipped cream, berries and or mint leaves. Slice as you would a pie - in wedges - using a serrated knife dipped in warm water between slices. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Robin's Baskets
Here are some baskets that Robin has made in the past. We still use most of them. They were well maid.
Some pine needle baskets.
Yucca Leaf Basket and Cork Board Trivet.
Colored Bands In Reed Basket.
White Oak Bread Basket.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Stories
We were visiting Neil Glancey, winemaker at Wood River Cellars and met Dave Buich, owner from the Bay Area who's family has owned the Tadich Grill in San Francisco. He loves Idaho for raising his family. Brad Warner, winemaker/consultant who was visiting, had worked at Mondavi for 30 years. We shared tales of the early 70's and got around to the stories recounted by SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen.
I told them the story of my grandmother's exchange with JR Simplot. He must have been about 6 years old when my grandmother age 20, met him at Blue Lakes Ranch around 1915. His family came to the fruit ranch each fall to glean apples in the orchards. Gleaning is an old term used to describe people who come after the official harvest to pick fruit, vegetables or grains left on the trees, vines, bushes or on the ground to add to their personal larder for sustenance. In later years, as JR Simplot grew his company, fortune and fame, my grandmother would tell of meeting him as a youngster with his family.
We attended a Christmas sing-a-long at the Morrison Center in Boise one year when my grandmother was in a wheel chair. The seating area for wheel chairs made a wide walkway for other attendees on their way to their seats. As Mr. and Mrs. Simplot entered through this aisle, I rose and stopped him to re-introduce him to Stella Perrine [Haight] who remembered him visiting her father's fruit ranch. He loudly boasted: "you wouldn't recognize it now, Stella, I own it all" with a wide sweep of his arms. She inquired: "Are the apples any good?" and he replied: "They might be, if I sprayed them." They wished each other Merry Christmas as he went on his way. She quietly told me: "He's grown up into quite a good looking man."
Brad said I should publish this one of many stories we shared!
I told them the story of my grandmother's exchange with JR Simplot. He must have been about 6 years old when my grandmother age 20, met him at Blue Lakes Ranch around 1915. His family came to the fruit ranch each fall to glean apples in the orchards. Gleaning is an old term used to describe people who come after the official harvest to pick fruit, vegetables or grains left on the trees, vines, bushes or on the ground to add to their personal larder for sustenance. In later years, as JR Simplot grew his company, fortune and fame, my grandmother would tell of meeting him as a youngster with his family.
We attended a Christmas sing-a-long at the Morrison Center in Boise one year when my grandmother was in a wheel chair. The seating area for wheel chairs made a wide walkway for other attendees on their way to their seats. As Mr. and Mrs. Simplot entered through this aisle, I rose and stopped him to re-introduce him to Stella Perrine [Haight] who remembered him visiting her father's fruit ranch. He loudly boasted: "you wouldn't recognize it now, Stella, I own it all" with a wide sweep of his arms. She inquired: "Are the apples any good?" and he replied: "They might be, if I sprayed them." They wished each other Merry Christmas as he went on his way. She quietly told me: "He's grown up into quite a good looking man."
Brad said I should publish this one of many stories we shared!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Interim family information
I am still trying to accumulate photos and addresses of places I have lived, but in the meanwhile, my sister Rhea asked about how our parents met each other:
JCPenney Co. started in Kemmerer, WY. Grandfather Robinson was born in John Day, OR and went to The Dalles, OR as a young man and was hired by Blaine Elliott to work at the Penney store there. Blaine was married to Doris Remington. They introduced our grandmother Edna Frances Remington to Robert Pemberton Robinson and they were married in The Dalles, OR in 1914 when Grandmother was only 16 years old. I don't know if she ever finished High School, but she wanted to get away from her family of all sisters. Grandfather Robinson was transferred after Delbert James 1917 and 3 years later mother Jeanne DeVere 1920 were born, to a store somewhere in the mid-west [Nebraska or Oklahoma?]. Then he was transferred to manage the Twin Falls store when mother was in elementary school.
When our Dad, Horton Granville Haight, b. Jan 8, 1919 was a 6'th grader, there was an influenza endemic in TF and most of the teachers were out sick. The upper grade students taught the younger grade students; dad met mother when he taught her 4'th grade class.
They dated off and on while he was in High School. When he graduated in 1936 [he had skipped a grade in elementary school] he got a full scholarship to the University of Idaho. He was hired by DuPont as he graduated in Chemical Engineering in 1940 and sent to Columbia in NYC to work on his Master's and the DDT project for WWII. He rented an apartment in Rahway, New Jersey.
Mother graduated in 1938, became Miss Twin Falls and was runner-up in the first Miss Idaho competition at Sun Valley [Miss Nampa won]. Both of them worked at Sun Valley summers and winters between school terms. Mother got a full scholarship to study music at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her roommate was a 'pistol packin redhead' from a logging family in WA. When the war started in 1940, mother transferred to Linnfield College to major in secretarial studies, which she thought would be more practical than music. That is where she met Frances Cottingham [Longworth , Robbins etc.] her roommate, and life-long friend.
Mother and dad married in Twin Falls on August 30, 1941. Mother said she appreciated the fact that dad had a steady job and was not about to be killed or injured in active military.
The Robinson's were transferred from Twin Falls to Wenatchee, WA and Bobby [RPR, Jr. 1936] went to school there. Then much later in his career - probably around age 50 - Grandfather R. was transferred to Bend, OR and still kept a cabin at Lake Wenatchee, where he died of a heart attack age 65 or so - just before he was to retire - Grandmother R never forgave him for ruining their retirement plans! Bobby never forgave his mother for selling the cabin!
Mother used to entertain Mr. James Cash Penney with her piano music when he visited them as he did most of his managers. Thus, later in life, mother got the executive secretary job for JCP in NYC, because she not only had the secretarial qualifications, but also Mr. Penney had known her as a young lady.
JCPenney Co. started in Kemmerer, WY. Grandfather Robinson was born in John Day, OR and went to The Dalles, OR as a young man and was hired by Blaine Elliott to work at the Penney store there. Blaine was married to Doris Remington. They introduced our grandmother Edna Frances Remington to Robert Pemberton Robinson and they were married in The Dalles, OR in 1914 when Grandmother was only 16 years old. I don't know if she ever finished High School, but she wanted to get away from her family of all sisters. Grandfather Robinson was transferred after Delbert James 1917 and 3 years later mother Jeanne DeVere 1920 were born, to a store somewhere in the mid-west [Nebraska or Oklahoma?]. Then he was transferred to manage the Twin Falls store when mother was in elementary school.
When our Dad, Horton Granville Haight, b. Jan 8, 1919 was a 6'th grader, there was an influenza endemic in TF and most of the teachers were out sick. The upper grade students taught the younger grade students; dad met mother when he taught her 4'th grade class.
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| 1940 |
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| 1938 |
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| 1940 |
Mother graduated in 1938, became Miss Twin Falls and was runner-up in the first Miss Idaho competition at Sun Valley [Miss Nampa won]. Both of them worked at Sun Valley summers and winters between school terms. Mother got a full scholarship to study music at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her roommate was a 'pistol packin redhead' from a logging family in WA. When the war started in 1940, mother transferred to Linnfield College to major in secretarial studies, which she thought would be more practical than music. That is where she met Frances Cottingham [Longworth , Robbins etc.] her roommate, and life-long friend.
 |
| 1941 |
The Robinson's were transferred from Twin Falls to Wenatchee, WA and Bobby [RPR, Jr. 1936] went to school there. Then much later in his career - probably around age 50 - Grandfather R. was transferred to Bend, OR and still kept a cabin at Lake Wenatchee, where he died of a heart attack age 65 or so - just before he was to retire - Grandmother R never forgave him for ruining their retirement plans! Bobby never forgave his mother for selling the cabin!
Mother used to entertain Mr. James Cash Penney with her piano music when he visited them as he did most of his managers. Thus, later in life, mother got the executive secretary job for JCP in NYC, because she not only had the secretarial qualifications, but also Mr. Penney had known her as a young lady.
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| 1956 |
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