respublica

Channel 5 at The Old Herald

Update: here is the video from Channel 5 on the Old Herald

 

KSDK Channel 5 in St. Louis had a really nice segment on Collinsville's Old Herald Brewery and Restaurant this morning. It's great to see a local place get some regional recognition since it is fairly rare. Most times we see St. Louis places.

I'm waiting for this to be linked somewhere and I'll add it to this post. The Old Herald has done so many things right, from the beers and spirits they create to the awesome food. During the height of the pandemic shut downs they got creative and added pick-ups, an outdoor space, and a wonderful Christmas bazaar for Saturdays which featured so many cool things. They began making their own smoked catsup which is awesome along with  bacon popcorn and spirits. Being community supporters they also had many Collinsville items.

We called in and picked up any number of dinners from then the last year. This is a link to their actual website.

Coca Cola what can't it do

This seems kind of gross, but it is what it is. There is a belief out there in house keeping country that using Coca Cola to clean you toilet is amazing. I just wonder if they use the regular, every day Coke, or the Mexican Coke. I would not waste Mexican Coke on my toilet.

But, here goes. Some believe this is amazing.

"Simply pour some Coke around the rims of your toilet and watch it fill up with all that carbonated fizz. Then, let it sit overnight, Today advises. When you go back in the morning, give the toilet a good flush to wash the fizz away and you will see the Coke also washed away the dirt and grime in your toilet bowl".

I don't know if Dr. Pepper or Pepsi would work the same because Coke is the Real Thing.

 

How to best dice an onion

I dice a lot of onions around here for various meals and it's usually no fun. It isn't the easiest job in the world and it isn't long before my eyes are watering. I've tried various gadgets which claimed to make quick and good work for this onion dicing, but nothing really did a better job than a sharp chef's knife. So this little bit of information has me curious.

Some guy on TikTok put up a short video explanation of what he's found to be the best and easiest way to chop an onion. you can see him do this at this link. But the basic instructions are like this:

To dice an onion without a knife, you’ll need:

• 1 small resealable plastic bag
• 1 large resealable plastic bag
• Meat tenderizer

The first thing you’ll need to do is place your onion—whole and unpeeled—in the smaller zip-top plastic bag, but don’t seal it. Then, place it into the large zip-top bag, and don’t seal that either—you don’t want to trap air inside risking a loud pop.

With the onion and both bags in place, grab your meat tenderizer and start smashing the onion into pieces. After a few minutes, the skin of the onion will separate in large pieces that you can simply remove from the bag, and you’ll be left with a perfectly diced onion.

Now I have a meat tenderizer hammer, but it is much older and not as nice as his so I hope mine will work.

Ponderding the Discovery

We've all been bombarded with the ads for Discovery Plus. This new streaming arm of the Discovery network is working really hard to get us all on board. Their programs include some, but not all, taken from networks like HGTV, Food Network, Animal Planet, OWN, Lifetime, and ID. I don't know what the ID network is. I like the idea of seeing the Pioneer Woman, Chip and Joanna Gaines. I have no desire to see more of the touted Property Brothers, two guys who seemed to be on every hour of the day. It seems Discovery has taken some popular programs from these networks so we can't watch them without it.

Discovery won't have every program from these networks, but they are monkeying around with others keeping us from watching even re-runs. For example, on our Roku, we could watch old episodes of House Hunters. Now they are very sparse. And, I was watching a program on our main TV without Roku one night and decided to finish it upstairs in the bedroom on our Roku TV. We've always been able to watch "live" shows there, but suddenly a message came that we needed to have Discovery to do this.

If anyone has Discover I'd be interested in knowing just how worth it is. It seems like viewers have been robbed in some fashion, but there are shows I'd like to watch.

Kitchen appliances just keep getting bigger and bigger

At one time or another something comes along which makes cooking or baking easier or more interesting. The Kitchen Aid mixer probably started it all back in the day. Now these things are so heavy they almost have to sit on the counter or your knees and back would crack trying to move it for use. They not only mix but puree, cream, slice shred and chop, whip and make pasta.

Which brings me to the awesome beginning of the Air Fryer. My guess is so many of us now have one of these (I love it) that the market for selling them has dropped. So what do these companies do? They add more and more things to a basic fryer to get more buyers. Now air fryers are also instapots, dehydrators, roasters, grillers and rotisseries.

The one kitchen thing which hasn't evolved too much is the electric can opener. Some, though, add a knife sharpener, bottle opener or magnetic lid lifter.

It gets to be too much.

Political Memes

It does not take long for clever people to create humorous photo memes from a normal photo. Remember the inauguration when a photo of Bernie Sanders sitting a long way up in the stands, all bundled up, took off. People all over photo shopped that photo into all kinds of different situations. Our daughter even did this to a picture of me and our grandson Connor.

Yesterday a photo appeared on many news outlets showing the Bidens with the Carters. That original image gave the impression that the two Bidens were giants. Of course that got all the clever photo shoppers to work creating memes. Some people are pretty clever.

First the original from the news

Then the take-offs

Pot potatoes doing well

I mentioned some time ago that I was planting potatoes in the ground and in big pots. The idea for pots is to plant the potatoes on about two inches of soil at the bottom and as they grow, add more soil around the plants. When the soil is about two inches from the top, you can stop adding more. Then it's a waiting game until harvest. When they are ready all I have to do, supposedly, is dump over the pots and there will be potatoes. I hope they are right because lugging around those soil bags and filling more into the pots every so often is hard. Potatoes grow up the stems so they need soil as the stems grow.

In the back, the potatoes are doing really well also. I've periodically gone out and mounded up more soil around their stems. Those will have to be gently dug out.

Here are our two pots of potato plants.

A pot of lemon grass is in front to hopefully keep bugs away.

What we're missing here in the Metro East

It's surprising to me that there are some very popular stores found on the St. Louis side of the Metro area, but not here on the Illinois side. I mean, we over here shop and like the same things people like over in Missouri. So why are these stores avoiding us?

Costco. Everyone around here wants a Costco. Surely that company sees how people pack the Sam's Clubs in Edwardsville and O'Fallon. A Costco would be very profitable.

Whole Foods. I mean why not?

World Market. That company left O'Fallon some time back but we miss it and there are some things very great to buy in that store. So we drive out to the Brentwood Promenade.

I was happy when Total Wine and More went to Fairview Heights. I'd gone to the one in Brentwood often when living over there. They have so much more wine, spirits, beer, selections than anyone and I hope they make it.

We can't get Jeni's ice cream here on the Illinois side. Truth be known, though, it's even hard to find in St. Louis. It's sold in Straub's and Whole Foods but so worth the effort to get it. Just the best.

Life Hacks

I waste too much time early in the morning reading posts on the Smart News app. Some things catch my eye, especially things having to do with cleaning or gardening or decorating. Maybe this is because after moving back to Collinsville we had the whole house redone except for the basement and Dale is doing way too much down there. However some things I've read seem doable and actually worthwhile. Take this for instance:

Rubbing alcohol will remove paint from clothes. It will also get rid of chewing gum that somehow gets onto things like shoes. Rubbing alcohol became hard to get in the early days of the pandemic when we all went searching for anything that would be an anti-bacterial. It's readily available now.

Also this morning: chopping onions with a wet knife will stop the tears. And, vinegar in a plastic bag tied around the end of faucets will dissolve hard water deposits. I am going to try this.

Some are just silly. "Yell at your vacuum cleaner to get the dog to stop barking at it."

Tangy Chicken

I often check out the Clean Food Crush website or Facebook page because so often this site has some very good recipes for not only eating well, but tasty. I found this Tangy Chicken recipe yesterday and will try it tonight. The best part seems to be how versatile it is and usable in any number of ways.

 

Masks are really confusing

We took a ride over to the Steelville Missouri area on Saturday to have a look around at something different. It was a nice day and good for a ride to a river area. But, what was really shocking to us happened when we stopped at a gas station on the edge of Steelville. There were lots of people standing around outside and inside the "on the run" shop inside. People by cars, people by the pumps in groups with absolutely no one wearing a mask. Inside where we'd expected this, again, no one was wearing a mask not even the workers.

I found this creepy and rather frightening. It is often reported that that part of Missouri is very low on people getting vaccinated. I'm so used to being in a place where everyone wears a mask that all I wanted to do was get out of there. I hate to say it but it seemed like walking into a horror movie with that kind of sinister laughing.

Like masks or not, it's still one of those things which is mandated or expected. This was just so weird and the hypochondriac  that I am, I kept checking myself all evening to see if I felt ok.

Dale's old milk truck ready to roll

We went over to check the progress of the restoration of Dale's old milk truck. This has been one of those things that he has absolutely loved ever since he delivered milk during summers when he was in college and seminary. These trucks are no more and they are cute as all get out. The owner of the Chester Dairy knew Dale's love for home delivery and those trucks and when he was ready to call it quits, he offered one of the old trucks to Dale. It was in pretty rough shape, but someone it was able to get to Collinsville where it was stored in a local barn for years.

It has taken 4 years for this restoration to be complete. The wonderful people at Precision Restorations on Forest Park in St. Louis knew they could take their time, there was no hurry, but boy, is this truck beautiful. This business only does antique or collectable vehicles. Yesterday was the day they were going to take it out for a test drive, Dale got to back it up. ha. They even put in some modern touches like a back up camera.

Here is what it looks like before and now. Dale had them paint the Concordia Seminary seal on it. The before is Dale with his cousin John who understand the family milk delivery history.

I have to admit this was beyond my understanding, but one thing I insisted on was that it had to have two seats. The originals only had one for the driver. But he was not about to spend all this time and money and me not be able to ride along.

Finally window treatments

In the months before we moved back to Collinsville last June we'd had all kinds of work done on the house. The one thing we did not get around to was window coverings which we put off while using those paper blinds you can get at Home Depot. Today, finally, a window guy is coming to measure ahead of getting wonderful blinds everywhere.

Let me just say, when old Mr. Krite had this home built in the 1930's he built it to last in every respect which is a huge benefit to us. However he also must have loved windows because it often seems like there are hundreds both upstairs and down as well as the basement.

I am taking photos ahead of all this so I can look back to note the difference as well as have it all dated. Here is a look at part of the downstairs, I haven't gotten around to doing the second floor

This is what we call the library in the front of the house. There are 7 windows in this room.

Part of the living room, there are 3 in there as well as sidelights on each side of the door. We aren't covering the sidelights or the other two which are stained glass.

The dining room has 3 windows

The back family room has two.

The kitchen has 3, one is not shown.

The second floor has 8 windows with two more halfway up the stairway.

The frustrating thing will be for the installation is that each area looks the same, but the sizes are all different in width.

 

Go away wasps

I'm all about the yard and garden these days. Partly because I enjoy it and partly because I have nothing else to do. We have long had wasps which somehow get into openings in our back deck rails and they buzz around constantly. I learned some years ago to get wasp spray and shoot it into whatever opening you see them around. This worked for bigger areas, but not our deck rails. They are too small and too many.

So this may help. There are certain smells they do no like and will avoid that area. Some of these are found in herbs. plants and food by-product which can be planted or set out near their revolving door opening. Mint, ground coffee and tomato stems. I've been saving coffee grounds each morning to put around my tomato plants for extra nuitrition (supposedly) so I have this.

A few drops of peppermint oil dabbed where you think their home is. This may work better than trying to spray wasp killer in there. I did try this two years ago when I had trouble with squirrels in our seminary garden. It did not work. Nothing did.

Light citronella candles.

There are other ideas but it gets to be too much. I'll try a couple of these and see if they work.

Vinegar. What can't it do?

By now we've all read the advice on using vinegar for cleaning. But now comes uses for vinegar in you garden. I hope some of these ideas actually work because I intend to try them.

1. Kill weeds. Put some vinegar in a spray bottle, no need to dilute, and spray on the leaves of weeds until wet but not dripping all over everything else.
2. Keep animals away! Boy do we need to keep raccoons away. Soak some rags in vinegar and lay them around the edges of garden areas. Supposedly animals of all types hate the smell.
3. kills slugs and snails if you spray it on them
4. Clean the garden tools by wiping them down after use with vinegar. If they have rust, soak them over night in 50/50 vinegar and water.
5. Add one cup of vinegar to a gallon of water in a watering can and use it to fertilize hydrangeas, rhododendron, gardenias, hollies, and azaleas.
6. Get rid of mold and mildew spots on plants by putting 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a gallon of water and sprinkle on affected plants.
7. Clean the bird baths with vinegar mixed with water
8. If you have bricks getting white stuff on them, clean with vinegar

Hostas!

Hostas are great in any garden. Not only do they come in a variety of leaf and flower color and size, they are perennial. When they get too big, they can be split into parts to form new plants. Once you plant a couple hostas, you won't ever have to buy them again.

This is an informative article on the benefits of having hostas. They get big enough to keep weeds out, they like shade but can tolerate sun. They are petty darn awesome and we have a number of them here in our yard in Collinsville and had scores over on the seminary campus.

About the Dutch Reach

Maybe it's the change from winter to spring, but we're seeing lots of stories about bikes and motorcycles weaving into auto traffic.  But one other thing has been happening as well and that is bicycles riding on roads close to where cars park. Often the driver of the car parks, and then starts to get out by opening his door and whacks the door right into a bike.

We could argue all day about bicycles and motorcycles sharing our roads, but the door hitting a bike always wins. So up comes a suggestion from the safety first folks and it asks anyone who parks along a road or even a parking lot, to use the Dutch Reach when opening their door to get out. This means using your right hand to open the door on the drivers side. This makes you  have to turn your head back and to the left so that you will see if there is anyone coming up along side. This practice originated in Holland, thus the Dutch terminology.

This past Sunday I could have used this idea when I headed for Creekside Gardens in Collinsville to get a few vegetable plants. It was so crowded I almost turned around and went home, but decided to get it over with. The parking lot was full and cars were parked alongside of the road way way down from the nursery. I found a spot on the road, the very last one available and started to get out. But the traffic coming from behind me was constant and it was tricky getting out of the car. I bet I did not use the Dutch reach but should have.

So far the garden

Here is how some of our raised beds look this morning. Nothing seemed to have been hurt by last week's freeze.

Yesterday I planted tomatoes and peppers in the bed on the right. Also some broccoli.

The first section we planted is doing great, we're already picking radishes.

These are potatoes and doing well. I've already begun to mound up the soil around them as the grow.

How far can you drive on empty?

The other day I had to go over to the seminary and when I got in the car I noticed the gas gauge was between one quarter and empty. I wanted to fill up in St. Louis to avoid paying 75 cents per gallon more than in Illinois so I nervously took the chance that I'd be ok and not run out.

I made it fine and so this story spoke to me this morning. The folks at "My Mechanic" took the time to test all kinds of car models to see how many miles they had left in the tank when on empty or when the car's gas warning light came on. They even put up a chart with the data they found for many models of cars.

The best pizza in American-I don't think so

I like headlines like this, I'm a sucker for clicking the link to read the story.  "THIS CITY HAS THE BEST PIZZA IN AMERICA AND IT'S NOT NEW YORK"

Turns out Trip Advisor chose this winner from Boston. I took one look at the picture of this pizza and thought, "no way, just no." Here it is.

It is described this way-"Regina Pizzeria is an institution; it opened its doors in 1926 and has been serving up brick oven pizzas with its original thin and chewy crust recipe ever since. Sauce lovers flip for the hint of spice and Romano cheese cooked in, and cheeseheads can’t go wrong with loads of whole milk mozzarella."

Sorry, but this just looks burned and awful to me.