respublica

A great time of year for food

This is ground zero month for mountains of fresh fruit and vegetables. Tomatoes are abundant, as are peppers, sweet corn and most everything else including the new peach crop. The local produce can't be beat at this time of year.

Safety First on the Fourth?

The 4th of July always brings news story warnings on the danger of home fireworks. These warnings never seem to stop people from heading over to Missouri or another state and buying carloads of explosives which they shoot off in their backyards. At least they do in any neighborhood we've lived in. Some even shoot in the front yard.

We've learned there is nothing we can do about this except wait them out, but one item bothers me this year. Growing up we always got to do sparklers, it was tradition and we were never hurt of injured by them. Which brings me to 2021. I got into a sentimental mood the other day and while in Schnucks, picked up a box of sparklers for tonight. For old times sake.

What appalled me when I opened the box was how incredibly small these sparklers are. With all the warnings about getting burned or worst, every local store is selling these tiny sparklers made for kids. I will not light them, the sparks will be right at my fingers. Why are these things ok especially when they are going to be put into kids hands?

I decided to go over to the front parking lot of Rural King this afternoon where there is always a fireworks stand this time of year. I wanted to see what they were selling in the sparkler line. They had a couple boxes of what I'd bought, but most of the sparklers were much bigger and I'd have to assume safer. One type was 3 feet long, another 14 inches. Aside from that the end sticks to hold onto were much longer than the 6 inch sparkler i originally bought.

This is the original sold at Schnucks and Walmart. It's hardly longer that a package of bean seeds. the burn part not even that long and the stem is so flimsy. Below is the thing on Dale's hand.

Who wants to light this little thing?

Here they are with the other two types.

Each of those is longer than my cutting board.

What weather does

I have to say, this year's spring weather has worked marvelous things in our garden. The vegetables have grown enormously and are bearing wonderfully. The flowers in other beds have been lush. We haven't had prolonged hot and dry periods which is unusual for this area. We've gotten rain when needed, although like yesterday maybe a bit too much. All in all this has been a good year for gardeners...so far.

And today! Kellers Farm stand opens for the sweet corn season! The absolute best and I am very anxious to get over there.

Green dust

I don't know about anyone else, but, boy does our outside area have green dust. I'm guessing it's all the pollen from trees. We had a mess of Oak tree seed strings a week or two ago. I raked up bags of those darn things. But their dust still lays on our porch chairs and everything else.

Google came right up with a pollen issue for Collinsville. VERY HIGH. And it is tree pollen. I'm not one who gets an extreme allergic reaction to all this pollen, but I feel it nonetheless. And it's just dirty. I took my truck to the car wash get most of it off and now I'm looking at a neighbor's truck and it is just green with this dust.

Spring has been gorgeous this year, but all those flowers and seed pods are releasing a lot of stuff.

Wouldn't you just figure it would be males causing this?

Pollen is a powdery substance consisting of pollen grains which are male microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce male gametes. 

Keeping bugs out of your yard

It's that time again. Plants beginning to rise, grass is growing, leaves are popping out on trees, birds are singing like crazy and, of course, bugs are back. We've seen certain insects flying around, but so far not mosquitoes. Thankfully.

Just in time comes some advice on what to plant in the yard to help keep those darn biting mosquitoes at bay. Since we've begun planting lots of edible things I found this interesting and we still have room to add some of these.

A number of these seem to deter mosquitoes because they don't like the scent. Citronella is the first on the list. Dale and I were talking about this and we both wondered just what a Citronella plant is and turns out it is most commonly known as Lemon Grass. This should be fairly easy to find. Also on the list are Lavender, Marigolds, Rosemary, Mint and Sage. Most if these are probably found in the herbs area. All have scents that appear to discourage mosquitoes.

I'd like to go out today and find a couple of these and hope garden centers are now getting some of them in. Then we'll learn if they actually work.

One of the worst biting insects is that May/June tiny gnat. They swarm you when outside and their bites are awful and itch for days. A couple of years ago a Springfield carillonneur was visiting the seminary campus and we got to talking about those biting gnats. He had the same issue in his area and learned that Vanilla Body Spray really helps keep them from biting. We tried it and it did help tremendously. Lots of places have this. It has to be Vanilla.

Yellow capped Coke is the real, real thing

Passover for our Jewish friends begins at sundown on the 27th and ends on April 4. With this comes many Kosher foods in grocery stores especially over on the St. Louis side of the metro area. I rarely see any here, but did when we lived over on the seminary campus. Actually passover items have been in a number of St. Louis Dierbergs and Schnucks's for some time in recent weeks.

Now the Coke company has created a Passover friendly Coke and you'll recognize them by their yellow caps. Keeping Kosher means avoiding Leavened foods or foods with ingredients made from barley, rye, oats, wheat, or spelt are off-limits. I have no idea what spelt is. Some Jews also avoid legumes and other grains like corn. And if you know the soft drink business, you know much of it is sweetened with corn syrup. Thus Coke bringing out products with real sugar at this time.And this is how Coke was traditionally made.

Unfortunately, this will only be a limited edition to the Coke line. Once Passover is over, it will be back to the corn syrup laden soda. But, for those who do not like the corn syrup Coke, their Mexican Coke is made with real sugar and far better. The Passover Coke will be almost exactly the same as the Mexican Coke. Problem is the Mexican Coke is hard to find except where sold in single bottles or 4 packs.

I am a Coke drinker and don't apologize. But I only seek out the real sugar variety. The typical Coke is awful to me. Too sharp and fake tasting. The Collinsville Schnucks only sells the single bottles and they are up on the highest shelf which I can't reach without the danger of knocking everything else off onto the floor. Other Schucks's have 4 packs of the Mexican Coke but often sold out. The Collinsville Walmart has the four packs and I'll make a run there when I'm out and hope the shelf is not empty.

So, if you like Mexican Coke, you'll probably like the Passover Coke and I am going to get some next time I'm in St. Louis.

It's basketball time

I'd have to confess I did not really believe the college basketball tournament would go on this year what with all the snags due to Covid. But, here we are. The games begin late this afternoon and the stadiums will only be allowed to fill  25 percent of capacity. I wonder if that number is just fan numbers or will it include all the sports media, team members etc.

What is very different this year is that every game by every team will be played in Indianapolis. That means every game from the beginning to the finals.  My first thought when I heard this was how are they going to do this logistically. I did some checking and found Indianapolis has quite a few big gyms and several nearby colleges with gyms. Many of the early games will be played in the big Lucas Oil Stadium as will the final games. Hotels for all the teams must be plentiful as well.

Here is a schedule of all the games, times, and tv broadcasts as well as what gym or stadium they will be held in.

Go Illinois!

St Patrick's Day fact and legend

This will be the second St. Patrick's Day without the traditional parades and bar parties due to the hanging on of the Covid Virus. This is disappointing to many, especially bar owners, so maybe it's the time to have a look at who Patrick was and how he became so famous.

His birth date is unknown, but he died in A.D. 461. This is astonishing to learn. This was so very long ago and the fact that history has recorded this makes Patrick's life momentous. And his life was not secured for posterity because of snakes or beer, but his work bringing Christianity to Ireland. His first church was in the town of Armagh where two cathedrals are dedicated to him. Also in Armagh, is the Down Cathedral where he was buried after his death on March 17, 461.

Many Irish blessings have sprung up over the years, some lovely, some funny.

"May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going and the insight to know when you're going too far."

"May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent."

"May those that love us, love us, and those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts, and if He can't turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles, so we know them by their limping."

Here's to a fellow who smiles
When life runs along like a song.
And here's to the lad who can smile
When everything goes dead wrong.

May the blessings of each day
Be the blessings you need most.

You’ll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures.

Actually, having Irish ancestors, I've often wished that country's food had been better. Better for me anyhow. And the fact that American food and drink people really overdo the green to the point where nothing looks appetizing. It wrote about this a few years ago and my then opinion still goes: "Actually celebrating St. Patrick's Day sounds best with an Irish beer and then any other food you really like."

It's that time again

I will confess to an unpopular opinion. I despise Daylight Saving Time. The natural order of the season is for there to be more hours of daylight without our messing around with it. That loss of an hour tonight will drag many of us down tomorrow even if we decide to go to bed an hour earlier than usual. Even though we lose an hour, tomorrow will seem endless.

I really really wish the powers that be would just pick one time and stay with it.

A Tsunami of bugs coming

This is the year of the 17 year arrival of Cicadas. They're talking billions will be climbing out of the ground and heading for our treetops. And they are loud. Very loud. This guys were hatched in 2004! Back then they were tiny and hatched in the treetops where they fell to the ground and burrowed down until this year.

For us midwesters, we may not see much, but the east coast of the US will have many.

Oddly enough as I was planting onions the other day, what was laying on top of our soil but a dead cicada.