Therapy

There is no better therapy than a walk with Polar. It has been a stressful week. We are updating the store software so I have been rebuilding databases under a time crunch. The longer I am fussing with them the more out of sync the one they are using will be, and the more data entry I will have to do after... No one at the store is fond of change either, so there is a little (or a lot of) pressure there. So I have to get the databases updated, the new software installed, learn how to use it, then show others how to use it in less than a week! I did hire a computer guy to help, but he just helps with the actual make computer a get along with computer b and the software stuff. The really fun part comes after the install, though. Quickbooks, in it's infinite wisdom did not give any way to export open layaways (we probably have 150 of those). So I get to re-enter ALL of them manually. Then we have to figure out the dollar amounts, and inventory amounts so that isn't all screwed up. The inventory scares the bejeezus out of me. Ever since our computer guy extracted the database items sold have not been recorded. This with all the duplicate products I will be "pulling" from inventory when I have to re-enter makes me wonder if I should just lose my mind now! Plus setting up a computer for the town offices and getting all of those files sorted out and entered in so that I can get my reports done the first week in September. So, last night after nine or so hours pouring over the inventory database I let Art take over while I grabbed the dog and headed up the hill. Polar is always ready to go for a walk. He takes his time initially, sniffing each bush and twig by the side of the road, and marking his territory as needed. A couple of horse riders passed us and stopped to say 'hi' and let Polar sniff the ponies. Then the first part of the hill we move at a good clip. It is a fairly steep grade so by half way up he can certainly go more quickly than I. The last quarter of the hill he was tugging so hard I jogged the rest of the way with him. It's about a mile up to the junction in the road. Go right, and check out the Beaver pond in a quarter mile, go straight a half mile to the end of the road, or go to the end of the road and hang a right for a one mile path up to the ledges. It was getting dark, so we went with Beaver pond. No Beavers today, but we did note that they jammed the drainage port really full this time! By the time we headed back down the hill that little knot in the back of my shoulders had untied, and I felt more relaxed than all week. We came home and I pretty much went right up to bed... My kind of therapy! (Pic of the pond is from a different day)

Lucky Number Seven

Congratulations to the guys at our shop! We received the honor of being Harman Stove Company's seventh largest dealer in the nation. Last year was a tough year for us, so we are glad that we still did well enough to be in the top ten. Also, congrats to our sales reps Charlie and Mary Kaye, who received Manufacturer's Rep of the year.

Pear-licious

It is almost pear time. Our seckel pear tree is bursting at the seams. One more week, and they will be ready to eat! :) Here is my favorite Pear Cookie recipe since I dug it out for a bake fest I'll have next week!
Pear Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups rolled oats
1-1/2 cups flour
2 fresh, medium-sized pears
1-1/4 tsp coarsely chopped cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
granulated sugar
Cream butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in remaining ingredients except sugar. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto lightly greased baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake in 350 degree F oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. (Makes 4 1/2 dozen cookies)
Nutrients per serving (1 cookie): calories 62; protein 1.0; fat 2.1; carbohydrate 10.1; dietary fiber .6g; cholesterol 9mg; sodium 54mg.

Rising up

When we first moved in to our house the great room was actually two rooms with a loft. There was one bedroom in the front of the house, or a little hall that lead to a narrow living room with a ladder in the middle of the wall going up to the loft. Tearing that wall down was one of the first tasks. However, the ladder was literally in the middle of the room when this wall came down so it had to go. Through the years we have stored a few items up there like skiis, and suitcases so if we needed them we would have to go get the step ladder and climb up. Because of the pitch of the roof we had no idea how we were going to access this loft long term. The only space with enough headroom is in the middle. My best guess was a librarians ladder that could reside on a side wall and slide to the middle for use. Art thought building a walkway from the Bear room was the way to go, but that would mess with the vaulted ceiling look big time! Then we saw this great little Italian staircase. It can be installed as a spiral staircase or in our case a small straight pattern. Most staircases take around eight to ten feet of floor space to rise up one floor. This one accomplishes that in only four feet! The only trick is that you can only walk one way. You have to start with your left foot going up and right foot coming down. Now we just have to find a use for the space!

Life is Good!

Another fabulous day. We spent the day out on the coast with Art's folks and sister Karyn. We met up at 10am to head over to the beach. Karyn had found this gorgeous little island park in Newcastle. You would watch the boats come in and out of Portsmouth, and it was a perfect sailing day so there were many of them about. The temperature was perfect- light breeze, little sun. We were able to park about 30 feet from our spot so it was a breeze with Mom. There were quite a few people at the park, but it was not crowded at all. There was a beach area, a great field with picnic tables, volleyball courts, and we even saw someone with their croquet set. Then all along the shore they had shade trees, benches, and great spots to roam around and enjoy the view. Then Dad asked what we wanted to do for lunch. We turned it back to him. He said either Newicks (seafood) with their paper plates, or Wentworth by the Sea (a fabulous resort's restaurant that they took us to for their 50th wedding anniversary). Wow! We would've been happy with either, but he ultimately chose Wentworth by the Sea. They made it very simple for Mom, and even set up a table that was just a little higher so her chair could slide in easily. The menu was extraordinary. The setting is pretty nice as well. Beautiful crown mouldings, artwork, and fireplaces with a wrap around deck through the seaside view floor to ceiling windows in this renovated beauty. Presentation was half the experience. With elegant service and meal presentation. The wait staff would file out in harmony carrying everyones plates. After lining up behind their respective client they would in one motion present the plates. Bud had a lobster pie that had huge chunks of lobster meat, and topped with curls of puffed pastry. June had fish and chips that looked pretty amazing. Karyn had a panini that looked tasty enough-but her pickle won the day. He had a lettuce jacket with a folded down collar. It was tied in front with a carrot string. Art had a champagne butter and crab stuffed filet of sole that looked elegant and tasted incredible. I had a warm gorgonzola and steak salad. I had never had a steak salad this fabulous! They had topped it with lightly toasted onions, delicate cuts of meat that I cut with my butter knife, and a shallot vinaigrette. Delightful and delicious! We then headed back to their house to relax for the rest of the afternoon. Bud regaled us with stories of going on his Brother-in-law Ray's lobster boat way back when. I guess there is a show on Discovery now called Lobster Wars that his grandson Mike Polumbo is featured in. What a tough business that was/is. Coming home we passed (the usual) 9 cop cars, I was glad that the Porsche didn't feel the need to zoom quite so fast today :)

Wood Energy Day

We had a great day out at our pellet manufacturer's open house yesterday. Our newly blonde employee Mark brought over some grills and had a great time. They fed over 500 people and the food was gone by the time we got there at 1:00. He also did a plug for our store with the remote radio crew. It is very exciting to see the growth and changes of this pellet mill. I still remember seeing our friend Steve's first mill out in his garage. Now his board includes people like Dean Kaymen (Segway), Craig Benson (NH former governor), and Charlie Bass (former NH congressman). They also recently partnered with a biomass energy company out of Texas called Zihlka. They are responsible for the latest addition at the plant. A Co-gen facility. The pellet mill added a sawdust dryer a few years back. This opened up a whole new category of wood product to be used. However, it takes a lot of energy to dry the sawdust. They spend over a million dollars a year in electricity alone. The co-gen is a steam powered jet turbine engine (just like a plane engine) that is powered by wood chip. The engine produces electricity, and the really innovative part is that the heat waste generated by this process is pumped into the dryer to dry the sawdust to make the pellets. They should be able to generate enough power to dry the pellets and have some left to sell back to the grid. It will be the first net metered facility in NH, which (Public Service) generally discourages such competition. Power created on site will be much more efficient than that supplied by the grid. The amount of loss over the grid is outrageous. For every one unit of electricity we use, four must be created. 75% loss! Crazy. The less it travels the less loss there is, so the new co-gen is about 50 feet from the dryer- Can't get much closer than that!

Jet Turbine Engine for Co-Gen

Pass The Butter

This is interesting . . Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.
How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings. DO YOU KNOW...the difference between margarine and butter?
Read on to the end...gets very interesting!
Both have the same amount of calories.
Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.
Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.
And now, for Margarine...
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
Very high in trans fatty acids.
Triple risk of coronary heart disease.
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)
Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.
Lowers quality of breast milk.
Decreases immune response.
Decreases insulin response.
And here's the most disturbing fact....
Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC...

Experiment:You can try this yourself: Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:* No flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)* It does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value* Nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weenie microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?Share This With Your Friends..... (If you want to "butter them up")! . .

Baby? Not us...

Here are a few snippets from a great thought provoking link from a gal in my child free group.
So many of my friends are expecting kids lately. Congratulations and I will always wish the best for all of my friends, but, I wonder... Would so many people procreate if they had time to think about the implications and were able to experience the realities, not even getting into the environmental/global impact??

The chart entitled: Why Breed?

Reasons given-I can't help it, it's a biological urge.
Real reasons-Unexamined motivations.
Suggested alternatives-Institutions await those who can't control their biological urges.

Reasons given- I have superior human genes.
Real reasons-Doesn't recognize an oxymoron.Megalomania.
Suggested alternatives-Do great things with your genes, rather than expecting the next cultured batch to do it.

Reasons given-Need help on farm or in family business.
Real reasons-Too cheap to hire help.Child labor laws inconvenient.
Suggested alternatives-Mechanization gives faster return on investment.

Reasons given-I love babies.
Real reasons-Short-sighted view of reality.
Suggested alternatives-Babies soon turn into children, then adults. Infant care work is available.

Reasons given-My child could find a way to save the world.
Real reasons-"Mother of God" complex. (Also applies to men).
Suggested alternatives-If you want something done right, do it yourself.

Here is a link to the full page:
http://www.vhemt.org/biobreed.htm#babies