Reusing

I got an email from Amazon earlier; once you look at something and are signed up for their email alerts, they practically bombard you with suggestions of that item. I've received at least one mailing a week since I looked at cell phones.

A few weeks ago I was checking into the price of peanut oil, having heard of its high smoke point and health benefits. As I often do on Amazon, I then went on to look at other related items, mostly outdoor deep fryers.

After looking at a few of the suggestions on Amazon, I started wondering if peanut oil can be reused. Before we were married, my ex managed a seafood restaurant that had daily specials on many menu items with both fried catfish and shrimp being the most popular. After a few days of use, they "rejuvenated" their oil with a nifty filter machine; you drained the oil into the machine, then it was filtered and pumped back into the deep fryer.

As I was typing in "reusing cooking oil" into Google, the auto-complete gave me suggestions. I've seen quite a few humorous screen shots of those in various websites, some laugh-out-loud funny and others making me shake my head. This time was a little bit of both.

I know about reusing things - mostly because I try to make it a habit, both from an ecological standpoint but also from an economic one. I've read about some of the suggestions Google was giving me; from my homesteading and survival Facebook groups, I've seen quite a few ways to reuse old wood pallets, from making furniture to filling them full of potting soil and making small herb gardens. One of the best uses I've seen for them was sinking them in a pond for what I call "minnow motels" - minnows lay their eggs on the underside of wood and the relatively small openings in the pallet keeps the larger predator fish out.

I've also seen a bunch of different ways to reuse plastic bottles;  just the other day I saw a photo of a raft someone had built out of 2L bottles.  Not sure if I would want to cross the ocean on one, but....  I have been known to reuse a tea bag, but it's certainly a weaker "cuppa" the second time.  I've read that earthworms love old tea bags and they also degrade well in compost heaps.  I've also read that they're good to mulch into the soil under acid-loving plants such as blueberry bushes.

I also belong to a canning group on Facebook and the general consensus there and elsewhere is that one should NOT reuse canning lids.  The rings, yes, but new lids should be used.

It was the third entry in the auto-complete form that really threw me for a loop.  I'm sure that, if refrigerated, it would last for a day or two, but how the heck can you reuse it?

Only When Food is Involved

Do I have a big mouth.

You Don't Have a Big Mouth

In fact, you like to keep your life very private. You figure that your personal life is no one's business. And if people try to pry, they'll end up unsuccessful. You're a big mystery to people - and that's fine by you!

Do You Have a Big Mouth?

Blogthings: Discover the Parts of Your Personality that Have Been Hiding

The Letter - The Box Tops

I don't normally post so many videos in a row, but I needed to send a message to *someone* and thought this old tune was the most appropriate.

Are You - Bob Seger

Every now and then a song comes along that makes a profound impression upon me.  To me, the lyrics of "Are You" speak about our society's out-of-control commercialism and how we value "things" over everything else.  I also think it makes a subtle mention of how our government lies to us.

From the 2006 album "Face the Promise":

Most of what we want is just illusion
Most of what we buy won't change a thing
Most of what we're told is misdirection
Offered up to ease our suffering

"Are You" lyrics

Bite Me!

At first it started buzzing around my head, but I was engrossed in something on the 'net so I just waved my hand and shooed it away.  When it started flying close to my eyes, I stopped what I was doing, picked up a flyswatter and waited for it to land so I could get my revenge.  It landed my my bare thigh and I saw it wasn't a fly, but a huge mosquito.

When I raised the swatter to whack it, it flew off.  I still wanted to kill it, especially with the recent West Nile cases in Texas.  I waited for the mosquito to land again and it did, very near to where it had landed before on my leg.  I slowly raised the swatter but it took off again.  It didn't fly but a few inches when it landed again on my leg.  I lowered the swatter and watched.

It kept taking off and landing, looking as though it was testing the best place to stick me.  It tried at least a dozen times until I finally swatted it with the flat of my hand.  It was just a smashed piece of flesh on my palm, but there was no blood in it, so I must have not been bitten. 

I got to thinking that it was the first mosquito I had seen this year and then started remembering all the times over the last few years when I was with people who complained of being bitten but I never was bothered. I recalled a time when I stopped by the side of the road to take a photo of a horse in a nearby pasture.  To get to the fence, I had to go through a damp ditch with knee high grass and swarms of mosquitoes making a cloud around me...but not being bitten. (I was more concerned with a rattlesnake in the high grass, to be honest)

I haven't been bitten by a mosquito in years and years and I don't think it's a coincidence that the last time I suffered mosquito bites was before I developed diabetes.  A quick Google search shows plenty of folks with diabetes complaining they are bitten more than their non-diabetic friends, so that's probably not it.  Still, there's got to be some reason.

Maybe I'm TOO sweet for the skeeters, both literally and figuratively.   Nah, that can't be it.  The mosquitoes probably avoid me because of my sour disposition.

Clip art courtesy of DailyClipArt.net

Hitchcock Cameos

A compilation of (most of) Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appearances.

The music gets a little tiring after a couple of minutes, but there's always the mute button.