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LET'S TOUR THE SITES AND FIND THE TREASURES! 
July 15, 2010 Our new Cambodian neighbor, Lissa, is such a sweetheart. She’s tiny – I always think it’s one of the children I’m looking at – and she has decided that Bill and I should be like grandparents to her. She wants to do nice things for us. She’s already given us some delicious banana fritters and wants to bring us other Cambodian delicacies as well. When Lissa and I were having one of our early conversations over the back fence, I could hear a power saw in the background. How nice, I thought, her husband Hai is starting a home improvement project, now that he owns his own home. But Bill and I were surprised when we learned what the project was: Hai was cutting down all his trees. Maybe he thought of it as jungle clearance, I don’t know, and I must say our neighborhood has more trees than it needs. But he’s not like the usual American homeowner, who views trees as sacred and plants more and more and more, never thinking of what his yard will be like when they’re all sixty feet tall. Hai wants to cut things down; Lissa wants to grow them – in her back yard, a doomed project if I ever heard of one. She planted tomatoes, and, when I found out, I tried to explain what it’s like to garden with hundreds of hungry little woodland creatures just over the back fence. I said that her vegetables might stand a chance in the front yard but had no chance at all in back. Her tomatoes were planted in pots, and I hoped she would then move her pots out front, but she didn’t, and soon the tomato plants were but memories. Next she showed me, with innocent enthusiasm, that she had just planted some Cambodian vegetables by her back fence. They would be so delicious! she said. Poor child. The leaves looked like melon leaves. (I later learned that they were Chinese bitter melon leaves.) And I knew they were DOOMED! DOOMED!! DOOMED!!! But what could I say? I had tried warning her. Maybe she hadn’t understood my English. Lissa’s back yard soon filled with enthusiastic deer. Wild rabbits happily hopped about and I saw the first woodchucks in quite awhile, all attracted by Lissa’s bounty. Soon the melon plants were gone. “Maybe if you had planted them in the front yard they would have lived,” I said cautiously. “Oh, really?” She seemed surprised, so I guess she hadn’t understood my English before. In any event poor Lissa has learned the hard way about gardening with a woodland out back, just as I did the first year I lived here. Janette P.S. Well, the doe came back to my front yard’s laboriously dug rose bed and had another go at my roses and strawberries. And two nights later she did it again, so she has identified it as a source of free treats. As a result I went to a local nursery and bought a deer and rabbit repellant spray I’d heard about. I should have done that months ago, and I should have told Lissa about it too. Turned out it wasn’t that expensive, and I’ve just gone out and sprayed everything the doe has been eating. With any luck, my roses will be, for the deer, simply a happy memory. P.S. #2. If you’re one of the Americans concerned about our national deficit, don’t miss item 11! You might also want to bring it to the attention of other people you know who are anxious to reduce the deficit. ----Table Of Contents---- 1. Whirl Upside-Down And Eat Fried Coca-Cola! 1. WHIRL UPSIDE-DOWN AND EAT FRIED COCA-COLA! I love GARRISON KEILLOR, the Voice of the American Midwest, but I wouldn’t say his prose usually rises to the level of great literature. But then I came across his piece on state fairs. What a delight! I read it twice right away and will probably wind up reading it again, for the fun of it and for the way Keillor nails the American psyche in general and that of Midwesterners in particular. It’s a masterpiece. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/ VIDEOS FROM THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR: http://wiki.worldflicks.org/minnesota_state 2. THE BIG PRIZEWINNING RECIPE CONTESTS The STATE FAIR RECIPES site no longer gives state fair recipes. Instead it tells about the big recipe contests (Fleischmann’s, Pillsbury, Ghirardelli, etc.) in which you can win prizes. Why did the site change its whole format? When I first visited, it had some prizewinning recipes from state fairs, but the second time I visited all of those recipes were gone. Did someone threaten them with a lawsuit? I don’t know, but I thought you might like to know about all the big prizewinning recipe contests anyway. You might win some money. http://www.statefairrecipes.com/ 3. PRIZEWINNING RECIPES FROM FAIRS Prizewinning recipes from state and county fairs are almost all gathered into books that people purchase, which is where I suspect the State Fair Recipes site above got in trouble. I have, however, scouted out a few delicious FREE prizewinning recipes for you, which you will see below. I would suggest that you copy off those recipes with some dispatch, however. They seem to be prone to disappearance. BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM and other delicious prizewinning ice creams from the OKLAHOMA COUNTY FREE FAIR: http://www.ice-cream-forum.com/showthread.php?t=1714 MISS DAISY’S PRIZEWINNING PEACH COBBLER: http://jancooks.blogspot.com/2008/07/ PRIZEWINNING CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE (and, no, the Google ads are not the prizewinning recipe): 4. BAKING CAKE WITH A FAKE CONSUMER REPORTS made cakes with six different sugar substitutes in place of sugar. The results were every bit as dismal as you might expect, except that the cake made with the special SPLENDA-sugar blend for baking resulted in a “moist and tender cake with just a slight artificial flavor” and might be something you’d consider. I use regular SPLENDA in my cereal every morning. I’ve gotten used to the artificial taste and figure it’s saved me, over the years, hundreds of calories. 5. HOW SAFE IS CHICKEN? Not very, not if it’s raw. CONSUMER REPORTS says, “Consumers still can't let down their guard. They must cook chicken to at least 165º F and prevent raw chicken or its juices from touching any other food.” This is especially important during grilling season: once chicken is cooked, do not put it back on the platter that has raw-meat juices. COOL WATER KILLS BACTERIA TOO. Doesn’t matter whether the water is hot or cold when you wash your hands; either one removes contamination. But, “taking the time to thoroughly work soap into your hands and properly rinse them off” is an important factor. http://lifehacker.com/5380415/dont-wait 6. FOOD RECALLS We got a phone call from our Wegman’s grocery store recently. Their records showed that we had purchased a bison steak that might be infected with E. coli. Would we bring it back for a replacement? My first thought was, Big Brother is even keeping track of what I buy in the grocery store? My second thought was one of utter gratitude: We could have died. So it no longer seems totally up to the consumer to keep track of the recalls, and a good thing too, as there are hundreds. If, however, you would like to be notified of all those food recalls by e-mail, just click below. If your grocery store doesn’t keep track of which products you buy, it could save your life. http://www.recalls.gov/food.html 7. PEROXIDE IS GOOD AND DANGEROUS Maybe you’ve gotten the e-mail telling about the wonderful things peroxide can do. Turns out it is really good at lightening the color of your hair – as many women have known for many years – but some other uses may be dangerous. TRUTH OR FICTION explores the truths and dangerous falsehoods: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hydrogen-peroxide.htm 8. THE FUNNIEST WEBSITE ONLINE At least it’s my candidate. I’ve used I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER before, but now it’s got hundreds of new, hilarious pictures that I sat up way too late laughing at. Okay, they’re sometimes hokey, but if you think an item ISN’T funny, you have the option of contributing a better laugh line yourself. How can you lose? http://icanhascheezburger.com/ MEAN KITTY is my former candidate for funniest site online. It’s funny in an astringent way and is also, of course, about cats. I guess I think cats are funnier than dogs. http://meankitty.com/advice.htm For lots more funny sites, click on HUMOR, ENTERTAINMENT in the lefthand column. There’s some hilarious stuff in there. 9. PHONE FIGHT! APPLE VS. GOOGLE The future of computers: they’re going to disappear. Sort of. According to this article, “Apple’s new smash-hit product, the iPad, might seem like a toy, but soon it and other mobile devices will become our primary computers, replacing laptops and even desktop machines.” http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/12/phone-fight.html 10. 7 WAYS TO PROPERLY DISPOSE OF AN OLD CELL PHONE No need to leave it sitting in a drawer. Here are seven better things you can do with it: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-ways-to-properly 11. HOW WOULD YOU CUT THE DEFICIT? Most Americans agree that the deficit must come down. But how? I was surprised to learn that many of the ideas usually put forth wouldn’t reduce it all that much. That’s because we need to save, not billions but trillions of dollars. And how much is a trillion dollars? EZRA KLEIN uses this example: “A million seconds is less than 12 days, a billion seconds is almost 32 years, and a trillion seconds is (wait for it) 32,000 years.” Start your quest with this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ And now would you like to play a little game called “Stabilize The Debt?” Find it here on the website of the nonpartisan COMMITTEE FOR A RESPONSIBLE FEDERAL BUDGET. These are not people with a political axe to grind, as you will soon see if you decide to explore the site in detail. They do let people who are serious about reducing the deficit play a game called “Stabilize The Debt.” Are you serious? Find the game here: http://crfb.org/stabilizethedebt/ 12. FIVE SIMPLE WAYS TO FIND MORE TIME Spend a few minutes as this blog entry suggests, and you should find more time for the things you care about. http://gimundo.com/blog/entry/five-simple-ways-to-find-more-time/ 13. WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE UP LETTERBOXING? State fairs are very American; letterboxing is British in origin but has recently become popular in North America. The two could not be more different. State fairing is as Garrison Keillor described it in the first item. Letterboxing? Well, think of the stout letterboxer, trudging sturdily through mist and downpour on the Scottish moors, following clues, searching for a letterbox. Which letterbox, when found, does not qualify one for the prize of a doll or teddy bear, nor does it offer financial reward. The letterbox, when you find it, basically contains a logbook and a rubber stamp. So why do thousands of people letterbox? Because it’s a treasure hunt which exercises the wits; it can be done either alone or with family or friends, and it offers the great reward of putting the letterboxer in the midst of the beauties of nature with an excuse to be puttering around out there. It is, in that respect, just like fishing, with the great advantage of not discommoding the fish. Letterboxing is benign toward every living creature except possibly you, if you get your feet wet and catch cold. It is also good exercise. Find out about letterboxing, maybe chat with some letterboxers, at: http://www.atlasquest.com/about/ And to find lots more ways to let nature touch you or wham you, click on OUTDOORS, ENVIRONMENT, EXERCISE at left to find sites related to camping, fishing, birding, hiking, and more. Whatever you’ve a mind to do on a beautiful summer’s day. 14. SHOOTING AND EDITING VIDEOS Includes “basic shooting techniques” and “seven deadly sins of camera work.” http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/essential-video-tutorials-for-shooting-editing-video/ For more hints for turning out beautiful photos and videos, click on ART & PHOTOGRAPHY at left, then on “Expert Photo Tips.” 15. MAKE QUICK, PROFESSIONAL LOOKING VIDEOS This article teaches you to make videos using WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER: And here’s part two: © Copyright 2010 Janette G. Blackwell. All rights reserved. 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