RenegadeRider

I wish everyone the most Merry Christmas ever.

I've tried to keep this a secret for all these years, but now it's out.  I Guess you never knew about my other life. It's kind of like the story about Herbert Philbrick .  But, I was only on the side of good and not evil. I just came across this/these novels about Judge Donald Robak in Indiana.  I must admit that even though I am the principal character, I have not read any of the books.  Let me know what the story is about.  I might even read them. Robak in Black .

A few short weeks ago Steve Jobs succumbed to pancreatic cancer and left this plane.  Now pancreatic cancer has claimed another Steve.  Our dear friend, Steve Adamson will surely be missed.  Godspeed, Steve, and RIP.

The Reno Corvettes drove in the parade for the Truckee High School Homecoming.  Seven Corvettes participated.  We carried the Homecoming King and Queen and members or the Court. Sophomore Prince & Princess, My Passengers   My charge was the Sophomores.  The Sophomores float theme was Alice in wonderland.  I'm not sure of the themes for the other grades because once I received my asignment I no longer had the lluxury off exploration.  Soph's Alice in Wonderland Float Now, every adventure requires something going wrong and this was no different.  The kids had a music CD to  entertain us along the parade route.  The problem was that mine would not play.  In case you should wonder, I had never played a CD in the entire time we owned the car.  I had no idea if the system worked or not.   We tried every possible combination and then I turned it over to the "engineers".  They eventually settled on plan "B". ...

While returning home last evening from visiting my sister in Oregon we passed through the town of Lakeview, OR.  We noticed a group of people working on a display project to remember the attacks on our nation ten years earlier.  We stopped and visited with  them and commended them for their spirit. It was fairly late in the day so the photo doesn't quite do the scene justice, but I'll try to explain what we saw.  As you can see, they had reproduced the twin towers.  The flag displayed from the top of the towers honors the heroes of flight 93.  The chains surrounding the boundary of the display was composed of paper links glued together, much like we may have made back in grade school to hand on the Christmas tree.  Each link bore the name of someone that had perished in the attack.  Every one of the victims was included.  They told us of the ceremonies planned for the next day, including having the town fire truck displaying a huge Ame...

It's that time of the year.  A local supermarket had a promotion selling Hatch chili peppers .  And for anyone that would buy an entire 35 pound sack, they would roast it at no additional cost.   35 pounds is more than we thought we could use so we had to scramble to find some one to share the treasure with.  Dianne planned to be near the store so she was sent on the mission. The product was available in three different grades, hot, medium and mild.  I knew Dianne was a lightweight so I requested medium.  I think mild would have been boring. While they roasted the peppers, we still had to peel them.  For anyone not familiar, roasting tends to burn an outer layer of skin that you might not notice without the roasting.  After roasting, this burnt skin needs to be peeled away and discarded.  It's amazing how much was discarded during cleaning.. I might not know the best method to remove the skin, but an entire 35 pound sack takes a da...

I managed to score a large bag of spent grain from a local brew pub.  It was fresh out of the brew kettle and was very wet.  The brewer recommended that I dry it promptly or it would spoil quickly.  I used baking pans with the oven set at about 225 degrees.  Other methods for preserving the grain include freezing and refrigeration. My basic recipe was the same as the no-knead process that was mentioned earlier here.  In my case I used one pound of flour and one ounce of the dried grain. Otherwise the process was identical. The bread was fantastic and was even made better by toasting.

Bring your attention to the plog (Photo Blog.  Yeah, the term was new to me too.) from the Denver post.  The images are from a book by French photographers, Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, The Ruins of Detroit.  This is a perfect illustration of what happens when Democrats are put in power. http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/02/07/captured-the-ruins-of-detroit/2672/

Can you even imagine a better prayer?

Do you ever get tired of the 'This is real cute' emails? Well apparently Al did too.

We watched the fireworks last night at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks.  As usual, it was a magnificent display.  Here is a small portion. Enjoy.

Happy Independence Day 2011.

The year is 2016 and the United States has just elected the first woman president, who happens to be from Wisconsin . A few days after the election the president-elect, whose name is Susan, calls her Father and says, 'So, Dad, I assume you will be coming to my inauguration?' 'I don't think so. It's an 18 hour drive." 'Don't worry about it Dad, I'll send Air Force One. And a limousine will pick you up at your door.' 'I don't know. Everybody will be so fancy. What would your mother wear?' Oh Dad," replies Susan, 'I'll make sure she has a wonderful gown custom-made by the best designer in Washington ..' 'Honey,' Dad complains, 'you know I can't eat those rich foods you eat.' Do they serve tap beer ???? The President-to-be responds, 'Don't worry Dad. The entire affair will be handled by the best caterer in Washington , I'll ensure your meals are salt free. You and mom just ha...

I began baking about two years ago when my friend, Steve pointed me to a video by New York Times reporter, Mark Bittman about baking no knead bread. The recipe called for using a Dutch oven and I just happened to have one readily available, so I tried the recipe and, surprise, the bread was not bad at all. With subsequent tries I tested various modifications and mostly, it was about the relative amount of water added into the dough. I finally settled on my perception of the consistency of the dough when I first prepare it. I weigh the flour and usually use 450 grams. I then add water until I think it is right. It usually happens to be about 1 2/3 cups. Sometimes I make it using as much as half whole wheat flour. I've even tried using equal parts white, whole wheat and rye flours. I have also baked a loaf with cheddar cheese and another with Parmesan cheese and black olives. Sometime I have trouble with the dough sticking to the towel. My current theory for t...

I've been baking the no knead bread on a regular basis. It seems to be about two loaves a week, more or less. I recently tried a loaf with about 150 g of sharp cheddar cheese. It was amazing - even better toasted. This video shows me slicing the first slice. Wow!

A camera mounted on a peregrine falcon and on a gos hawk show some amazing flying. I recall seeing a video showing owls flying through dense woods in pitch darkness.  This is still amazing. Enjoy.