What About Dessert?

I saw that my second cousin who lives 80 miles away had quail and pheasants, day old birds, for sale. They raise game birds for commercial hunting facilities.

I sent her a note in FB, asking, "How many pheasants would it take for a large batch of soup?"

Her reply, "Funny........cuz....  you need the grown birds not the chicks."

My response: "I was just guessing, thinking if I had one gallon of soup, and each pheasant ate 1 fl oz of soup, then I could throw a dinner party for 128 baby pheasants. My neXt question is what do baby pheasants like to have for dessert - ice cream? Pie? Cake?"

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I could see Trump building a solar wall on the Mexican-USA border, and then the Mexican government responding by planting shade trees to render it useless.

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If you reaLLy want a measure of just how slow the federal government is, consider that the Supreme Court is finally going to hear a case regarding the nefarious practice of gerrymandering, and it was a word invented in March 1812. So, it only took 205 years and 3 months, thats all.

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My first batch of mead production is underway. It started on June 12. I have been chartng the yeast activity by measuring the burps in the airlock. It appears that two weeks might be a good time to make a transfer from primary fermentation to secondary, then recharge the primary.

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Hopper (right) at Day 68 with his best dog buddy Pepper. Hopper is much smaller than Pepper, the camera position distorts their size.

Cake Plus Cake Equals More Cake

I am in the process of making a German chocolate cake for a charity event when I remember that I haven't got around to making my own birthday cake yet this year. I think I have made about six cakes in 2017 so far, so this should be my highest year to date. 

My new toys for the kitchen are springform pans for making beautifully round layered cakes. I got two set of 8, 9, and 10 inch pans.

My next thought was, "Did I get any birthday presents from anyone?" Then I remembered that the owner of the local diner bought my cup of coffee as a distinct birthday gift. Just the coffee, not the cup.

I bought myself some things for a new venture in alcohol. I am going to make mead. Have yeast, will make bubbles.

I did figure out that one of my dearest friends from childhood has her birthday only a few days from mine, so I now know someone almost the exact same age as me.

On my birthday I am sitting with my wife outside a hospital waiting on a relative to show up so we can give them instructions for their medical testing, then we are leaving town in order to go to Red Lobster. While waiting I see a memorial bench nearby made from stone that has a person's name, and then their date of birth and death. I do the math and realize that this person, who died a few years ago, lived exactly one day less than what I am on my birthday right that moment. 

I did get a really cool birthday card from my mother. It has two people laying on the floor yet holding a mug of beer straight up in the air. My mother wrote my name by the feet of one of the horizontal humans and my cousin L's name by the other one. The low angle above the floor for the perspective at which the art work in drawn makes it so you can't completely see the heads of the people, BUT on the third time I read the card I noticed that one of the human figures was male and the other female based on the pair of triangular shapes for breasts! Now, understand that the two human figures are clothed wearing the same type clothing, so my mother didn't realize she was writing my male cousin's name by the feet of the female in the picture. My cousin and I laughed about this together. Now I don't remember if I told my mother about this. I will call her right now. No answer. Cell phone service is extremely lousy where she lives in a rural setting.

My mother, a non-beer person, felt the need to include the "to certain people". I must be a certain.

Update: Someone paid (in a bidding war) $31 for my cake that cost me around $5 in supplies. But my best friend Susie brought TWO pies to the same event, and wound up having her first pie go for $40. The funny part is that Susie bought BOTH of her pies back!!!