Lip balm desires...

I was looking through my logs and realized that, according to Google, I am the number one authority on Chapstick Addiction. If you're curious here is the original blog entry.

How's that for weird?

Another day in court...

Got called for jury duty again, see that story here and here. Second time in a year. Damnit. I went to the county courthouse all the way over in Georgetown for jury selection. It was standing room only, just like last year. The clerk started into her schpiel about responsibilities of jurors and then swore us all in. She then went over the list of exemptions. One of those was you are exempt if you've served on a jury in the last 24 months. Woohoo! says I. And lookie there, it says that very thing right on the summons. The clerk said anyone who was exempt could leave after collecting their pay. I went forward, got my $6, yes, that's six dollars, and got outta there. I was out in less than 15 minutes and got the full $6 for a day of jury duty.

Six dollars a day. 600 pennies. That's what the county thinks is fair pay for a juror. What the hell is up with that? I spent nearly that in gas to drive halfway across the county and back. This might have been a days wages 75 years ago but this is 2003 and I earn over 40 times that. That doesn't even buy a decent lunch. I think people would be less upset about doing their civic duty if it didn't cost them money to do so. Let's start paying these folks for their time. If I ever have to go before a jury I'd be happier if it was a jury of my peers who aren't upset because of the money it's costing them in lost wages to be there. I'd also prefer it to be a jury of peers, not of the unemployed or stupid. The ones that couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to get out of it. I think it is our responsibility do do jury service but let's not make it a hardship.

I didn't even have to show up because I was exempt.

Moral: Read all the way through the documents sent to you.

: Hands Around My Throat from the album "The Animatrix OST" by Death In Vegas

Jammin' with the family...

Ok, it isn't jam, it's jelly.

Last night we spent a few hours and made Prickly Pear Jelly. On Thursday we went out to the ranch and did a little offroading and decided to pick some of the ripe prickly pears. When they're ripe I'll occasionally pick one for a quick snack. I had always wanted to make it into jelly so we ended up filling a 3 gallon bucket with the ripe fruit. Making the jelly isn't a tough process it's just time and labor intensive. We found a few recipes on the net and hacked together our own from a few that sounded good.

First we took all the "tuna", as the fruit is called, and soaked them in the the sink with a 1/4 cup of bleach to clean them. After a 5 minute soak Shannon and Dakota scrubbed and cleaned them to remove dirt and spines. The spines are very small and one they get in your skin they are nearly impossible to get out so it's a delicate process. I cut them in half and threw them in the pot. Once that was done we had nearly a 16qt. pot full of fruit. We added water until we could just barely see the water under the fruit and put in on to cook down. We let them cook for about an hour stirring often. By the time we were done with that we had a nice deep magenta pot of juice.

Then began the fun. We strained the juice through cloth to remove seeds and any spines we missed. We took the strained juice added lemon juice, pectin(to help it gel), and sugar. We also added the secret ingredient, red hots. Yes, the candy. It adds a bit of kick to the jelly and gives it a nice all around taste.

Once everything had dissolved and cooked for a few minutes we poured it into another bowl to cool for 45 minutes. Once it's cooled for a while we scrapped the foam and gel off the top and poured into sterilized jelly jars. Sealed the jars and we were done.

The next morning after the jelly had cooled and set we tried some. It is delicious. Perfect for a PB&J or on a bagel with cream cheese. We made about 35 jars of jelly this way. They will make great Christmas gifts. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more ripe fruit when I'm out at the ranch so we can make more.

Here is the recipe we hacked together.

---------
3 3/4 cups of strained Prickly Pear juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
18 red hots
2 boxes of powdered pectin

Stir until it reaches a rolling boil. DO NOT let it foam. Once it reaches a boil add

6 cups sugar

Stir for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 45 minutes. Pour into sterilized jelly jars and seal.

Health warning and tips...

This story disappeared quickly from CNN's main website but I managed to find a link buried deep in their site. It tells how you can reduce your risk of breast cancer by up to 40 percent. They seem to want to hide this information from you. I think it's a conspiracy.

Women, take this to heart. It's for your own good. If you need help with your daily health regimen please let your loved ones know and I'm sure they'll sacrifice the time to help.

Beemer 1990-2003

Our long time friend and companion, Beemer, is no longer with us. She was just shy of 14 years old. I gave her to Shannon as a wedding present. It was a long hard decision to let her go. She was just too uncomfortable all the time. She was always plagued with ear problems and they were getting bad again. She wouldn't have survived a 7th surgery. The doc said he was amazed at how long she lived because dogs of her breed and size don't generally live past 10-11.

She lived a good life and will always bring a smile to our family's faces. The hours and hours spent playing in the surf at Dog Beach when she was a pup. Playing in the snow at our place on Palomar Mountain. Fetching her off the roof of the neighbors house that was buried in a snow drift and getting stuck myself in the process. The way she would watch the road as we drove and would lean into the corners a split second before we started the turn.

She will be missed more than I can say...