happy birthday to smokey bear! 29 years!!!

Happy birthday smoopy poo. Thanks for being my bestest buddy in the whole world. I hope the Yankees win tonight.

i usually wash my hair every three days.

Yes, its true. A little tip I picked up from celebrity gossip radio (aka the news) on the way to work. But this week I had to wash my hair two nights in a row. I am really sensitive to smells and I hate it when my hair smells like fire. So after the sesame seeds I was toasting in the oven lit on fire tuesday night......I had to wash my hair. Good thing I had about 2 pounds of extra sesame seeds in the freezer to finish my recipe (thank you amy's friend!).

While I was freaking out in the kitchen, richard ran back to the computer room. He needed to ask google whether it was baking soda or baking powder you are supposed to put on grease fires. (we have a kitchen fire extinguisher....but we didn't want to clean up that mess....real logical huh?) This is what he came up with while smoke was pooring out of the oven vent and filling up the kitchen.

From ehow.com: how to stop an oven fire

1. Close the oven door to cut off the oxygen supply.

2. turn off the oven

3. leave the house immediately

4. call 911 if you cannot put out the fire

Our question was: If you are outside of the house, how do you know if you put out the fire?

It is unfortunate that when I made pumpkin muffins this morning they made the house smell like burnt sesame seeds instead of pumpkin pie ): Another bad smell to add to the house.

The Juno Of my Suburb

Since I was about 12, I have often been accused of being a tree hugger and hippie. Im not too sure why because I really am a city girl (suburb to be specific) and I'm totally afraid of spiders. But I do love trees. I get it from my dad (the man grinning ear to ear in the picture below). Actually, when reading the natn'l geographic this month, I was thinking of my dad quite often, esp when I saw this pic .



But this post isn't about me or my tree loving dad. Its about something that has been looming over my head since the trees started blushing: the tulip poplar in our front yard. As you can see from the picture below, it is a very large tree with way too many leaves (especially when juxtaposed with red flushed baby dogwood next to it). Because it hasn't changed yet, I'm worried that we arent going to be able to get rid of all those leaves....am I supposed to clean up the leaves that float to my neighbors yard from my tree? Oh so much to worry about.

If I'm so worried, then why don't we cut it down? Well, because I love it. This tree and the dogwood were 2 of the deciding factors on the house. Tulip poplars aren't common in Utah - so let me give a little ditty on how awesome this tree is.

Its actually in the magnolia family (which also isn't common in utah) - so it has flowers on it in the spring. The flowers look like this (see the tulip resemblance):

The leaves look like this (taken from THIS cool blog post on tulip poplars)

Kind of annoying, but funny - the tree makes slime (actually nectar) in the early summer for several months. i found out today that you can buy tulip poplar honey online.


They get really big - the largest registered Tulip Poplar is 118 feet high and has an 83 feet spread (see the National Register of Big Trees for more information). However, there are big poplar guys I walk past on my way to work that are much larger than that - and probably close to the age of the oldest tulip poplar (225 years).

Charles Frazier apparently loved the tulip poplar- it is the main tree mentioned in the book cold mountain. I agree with this line from the book: He thought on homeland, the big timber, the air thin and chill all year long. Tulip poplars so big through the trunk they put you in mind of locomotives set on end.

Best of all, President Thomas Jefferson loved the tulip poplar so much he planted them next to Monticello. He called them the "juno of our groves" according to the Thomas Jefferson encyclopedia. The old tulip poplar next to Monticello was treated like a queen until it was finally removed last summer. See this article for more information and the pic's source.



So anyways, I love this tree - its going to make alot of leaves - and it looks like I really am a tree hugger.

millk....it does a body good....or not

So I get this email every day from the ADA-- no, not American dental association, or American diabetes association....but the American DIETETIC association-- and today, one of the links was to this article on people wanting to buy RAW MILK for health benefits.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-10-15-raw-milk_N.htm

It reminded me of my friend rachel - who's parents had a cow and always brought her raw milk in mason jars. She tried to convince me to drink it all the time - to no avail - because I don't want campylobacter jejuni (food poisining that can come from milk). There have been several cases where people have died from drinking raw milk. If you grow up drinking it - fine, you're pretty much immune - but I don't think mass distribution of raw milk is ever a good idea- mostly because if a farmer is selling alot of milk, its not likely that his cows are going to be in tip top shape. Unless of course he is charging 10$ a gallon......which would be crazy for rich and I since we just polished off our 4th gallon of milk this week......

Dont believe me? See what the CDC has to say: http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/campylobacter_gi.html (read the section:How do people get infected with this germ?)

not that anyone I know cares enough about their milk to buy it for 10$ a gallon - but hey, just in case you have crazy friends who think this is a good idea (amy)

happy happy birthday bryan dear

happy days will come to you all year. If i had a wish then it would be..........another backpacking trip that's just you and me! (or a GIGANTUAR apple fritter/maple bar for us to share) love you!

New [York] Yankee Workshop

Richard also looks like another celebrity. Norm Abram from the New Yankee Workshop on PBS. Like Norm, Richard now has his own workshop for which he just built his very own workbench. But instead of being a New Yankee - Rich is a New York Yankees fan. While puttering away out there he's been listening to the Yankees win their past few games (i think they did anyways.....that sports stuff is beyond me). Nice Job babe! I'm so glad I could finally organize your tools.......now if only he had a bit of martha stuart to make them stay organized......