More Offerings From Les Portes De Bordeaux

Our local Trader Joes began carrying not just the excellent "Les Port De Bordeaux, Bordeaux" (for less than $8 a bottle) that I've appreciated here previously, but now a Fronsac version as well!  A true "Grande Vin De Bordeaux" from the Fronsac region within Bordeaux, and it too, was less than $8 a bottle. Wonderful!

I try to keep at least one or two bottles of these inexpensive gems in my wine rack, so that I can introduce my house guests to excellent inexpensive Bordeaux wines.  If you come over to visit or have dinner, don't be surprised if you're offered this selection.  =)

What Makes A Goodman?

This song has been going through my head for the last week.  I told Dr Desert Flower I wanted to make a customized video, and upload it onto Youtube, but I didn't know how to do it.  Yesterday, I played with "iMovie" for the first time, and this morning I got it to work.  iMovie is kind of a quirky interface, but it was not too bad.   I hope everyone enjoys the video.

Credit to The Heavy for their awesome song "What makes a good man?" and for being not only amazing musicians but also incredibly nice guys who are a pleasure to share a drink with and hang-out with after the show.  Really excellent human beings.

Circle The Cat Time Waster

If you're looking for a mindless electronic diversion, visit the "Infinite Cat Game" (link here).  My Godfather sent me the link back in September, and I played it a few times, losing 80% of the time while the cat escaped.   Then I studied the programming, and have my win percentage up to about 75% win, 25% loss.

http://www.infinitecat.com/games/cat-box.html

Since the dark dots at the beginning are randomly scattered, leveraging them to help "block" the cat takes some practice.

The Very First time you win the game, and circle the cat, it's a good feeling.  Then, when you win 4 out or 5 games after practicing, it loses it's attraction... but it is still a fun 3 to 4 minute time waster, every-now-and-then.

Blue Diamond Smoked Delicious Evil

Earlier this year, at a neighbor's home in Laguna Niguel, we were introduced to the smoked delicious evil that are Blue Diamond smoked almonds.  We were having drinks at our neighbors' home when one of them innocently opened a can of these addictive nuts.  Though I'd eaten dinner a few hours earlier, I Devoured the nuts, voraciously... or as my buddy Matt would say "we could get you a feed bag if that would be better Joe".  Picture a more mannered "Cookie Monster" and you can easily see where I was going with the nuts.

A few days later,  Dr Desert Flower and I were out shopping at a local grocery store, and we came across this large 1 pound bag of Blue Diamond "smokehouse" almonds.  We bought it, ate it all in one weekend, and then bought some more.  They're delicious, addictive, but Terrible for you.  Yes, almonds are a rather "healthy nut" and have a pretty good PUFA ratio to them, and are a healthy snack when eaten in moderation.  But take an almond, cover it in HFCS, salt, polyunsaturated oils to make things stick to it, and "smoke flavor" and you've engineered a mouth watering, hypothalamus targeting, finger-licking-good treat that clogs the veins and arteries while flushing out the lower GI tract with all that synthetic oil.

"Irresistible Snacking!" - certainly
"Smart Eating" - not if you have more than a very small handful of these...  no
"2g net carbs" - well...  with the amount of synthetic oils and additives, carbs are the least of your concerns

They are amazingly tasty, but I'm making a conscious & conscience effort to not buy them anymore.  And if I am at a holiday party where they are being served, to avoid devouring them like a Cookie Monster in a cookie factory.

Brother Thelonious

My local COSTCO started carrying Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale.  Brewed by North Coast Brewery, Fort Bragg CA (yes, I didn't know there was a Fort Bragg outside of North Carolina, but Google Maps showed me there is), this is a delicious craft beer (er, craft Ale).  I found it drinkable, full bodied, and quite pleasant.  And a 22 ounce bottle at just $6 COSTCO price, affordable.  WholePaycheck sells 12 ounce 4 packs of Brother Thelonious as well, but I've not tried those yet.

Harthill Farms Cabernet Sauvignon

WholePaycheck had a pallet of Harthill Farms Cabernet Sauvignon wine strategically placed between butcher shop beer cooler.  It was < $8 a bottle, and I thought to myself "I'll try it, why not".  It was fine.  Not bad.  Not remarkable, but for less than ten dollars a bottle, my expectations were reasonable.

There was a Chardonnay as well, but we don't like to drink "grassy wines", and Dr Desert Flower detests most Chardonnays so I can't comment on that, but the Cabernet Sauvignon was OK.

Dryer Duct Squeezing

Our new home has a built-in geometric challenge, that we did not notice when we put an offer down on it, had it inspected, closed, and then moved in last month.  We call this challenge "the laundry canyon". You see, the house was built long before front loading washer & driers were common-place consumer appliances.  30 years ago, most houses (if they had built in laundry rooms) had top loading washers and driers.

We figured out Just How Tight the appliances barely fit in the allotted space, when the movers tried to wedge the appliances into their spaces, last, after all the other household goods were unloaded and put into the house.  Front loading washers and driers are deeper than their top loading counter parts.  The additional depth means they "stick out" farther, and in sticking out they block the door to the garage.

As an engineer, I knew that 'proper ventilation' of the exhaust duct is essential.  Decrease or "neck down" the duct cross section, and you're wasting energy, taking longer to dry your clothes, and damaging the dryer over-all.  I knew there were dryer duct conversion kits commercially available, but of course they are Very Slow moving inventory, so retail stores don't carry them.  Lowes online, and Home Depot online did have them.  I wanted to get a reel lawn mower  - human powered instead of gasoline powered - and if I bought both together there would be free shipping, so I got the 28 inch "Spacer Saver Aluminum Duct" Model #UD38S, SKU 202449700 from Home Depot online for $20  (along with an awesome Fiskars Stay Sharp 18 inch push reel lawn mower, but more on that later).  A week later, it arrived.

I had to climb Over the dryer, and lower myself down behind it.  Installed the duct, piped it to the flex tube on the wall, and climb back out, but it saved me 2 critical inches of door clearance, so that the door  to the garage can now open nearly 100% - vs the previous 75% swing prior to installation of the duct.

It was high quality, sturdy gauge aluminum construction.  Well tolerances, easy to install.  I am a happy consumer.

Rabbit Ridge, "Allure de Robles" 2012

Rabbit Ridge "Allure de Robles" 2012 was a less than $10 purchase from Trader Joes, purchased in part because we learned that the "dead looking" vines on an arched arbor outside of our family room window are actually living Syrah grape vines from Paso Robles Califonia.  Not being familiar with Paso Robles wines, I bought this Syrah to begin some extensive sampling.

It was not a bad wine.  A little bit fruity, but not overly sweet, both Dr Desert Flower and I enjoyed it.  I'll likely buy it again if I see it at the store.  And I am looking forward to harvesting the grapes growing on the arched arbor.  The former owners said that the arch used to be thick with grape wines and heavily laden with fruit.  An apple tree growing nearby still has evidence of the vine's tendrils having "reached out" to "grasp" several of the apple tree branches in previous growing seasons.

But no, I am Not going to "make my own wine".  The equipment, patience, cost, and quality needed to make delicious wine is best left to those countries and regions who have refined their techniques over the centuries and whose governments assure and control the best quality (France, Italy, Spain, for example, and Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Portugal, and the Republic of California as well).

Don't Forget Your Flair

http://tactical-facepalm.tumblr.com/post/67396218214/http-tactical-facepalm-tumblr-com

"Don't forget your Flair"

Creepy.

Stephen Colbert Thanksgiving Dinner

This is a new classic.  (link here)

This hits all the high points of a dysfunctional family gathering.  Too funny.  "No girl friend, you ride a bike, and you brought quinoa."  

Zevia

Back in September, I saw a conveniently placed stand of Zevia canned beverages at my local Whole
Paycheck store, near the cash register check-out aisle.  Intrigued, I put on my reading glasses, and reviewed the label.  No sugar, no aspartame, no artificial sweeteners at all, just Stevia.  They had Cola, Ginger Ale, and a lemon-lime flavor, in canned six packs.  $5 a six pack seemed rather steep, but I wanted to try it, so we got a Ginger Ale six pack.

I had some on ice.  I had some with whiskey.  I had some with a vodka drink.  I added some to a banana rum drink.  It was quite tasty.  If I see Zevia out at a store or restaurant, I will likely purchase it again - I won't go out-of-my-way to find it, but if I stumble across it, why not have some zero calorie, tasty bubbly soda?

Scattered, Unadapted, And Forgotten

When I first heard about Annalee Newitz's book "Scatter, Adapt, And Remember, How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction" I thought to myself "this sounds like a really cool book, I want to read this!" I had a Barnes & Nobel gift certificate, so I headed down to Aliso Viejo's B&N and bought myself a hard back copy.

I read it in August and September, intermittently at the beach, while watching the sunset, or absorbing UV and making vitamin D.  Chapter after chapter I kept hoping it would get better, or "pull itself together" into a unified cohesive theory.  Instead it devolved into a seemingly never ending series of disconnected interviews with academics.  I was sorely disappointed.

Perhaps my expectations were set far too high?  Maybe Newitz's writing style and my reading style are just not compatible in any sort of copacetic way? But I think it was her disclaimer in the first chapter that the book was NOT going to be an actual survival guide or manual for survivalists, but rather a commentary about what might, eventually happen, and how humans might try to cope with it future mass extinction events as a united "one big happy planet"could attempt.  And that kumbaya unification sounds so non-sensical and impossibly imagined in today's fractured and subdivided world that I found the theories put forth in the book laughably impossible.

This is the first book I've ever bought, and then given away to charity, without offering it up to my other family members or friends to also read & enjoy.  If you're looking for my copy, contact the Salvation Army of Orange County.

Bere Toscana

The bottle of Bere Toscana wine we had earlier this Fall was OK.  It was much less than $10 a bottle (though it was so long ago, I can't recall exactly how much it was), drinkable, pleasant table wine.  You could do worse.  I know this is not a ringing endorsement, but it didn't leave a strong impression.  Toscana geographica tipicia 2009.  

Time Spent

So true...

http://tactical-facepalm.tumblr.com/post/67494099245/http-tactical-facepalm-tumblr-com

I Hope There's No Season 9

I just wish they'd all get eaten...   except for Daryl.  And Michonne.  They're the two redeeming characters.

I really hope there's not many seasons left.  End it, please.  There's been far too many bad decisions made by characters and writers.  Fast forwarding through DVR'ed episodes (especially ones heavily involved with "The Governor") take me less than 10 minutes now.

http://tactical-facepalm.tumblr.com/post/67516090793/http-tactical-facepalm-tumblr-com

Beauty & Brutality in OC

I was walking through a park at the top of a hill just a few blocks from my home here in Orange County on Monday evening at sunset, when I took this picture with my phone:

It was a lovely sunset on a cool evening, in the lower 60s, with almost no breeze.  I'd just finishing talking to my best friend Ryan on the phone who I've known for almost 35 years as I walked around the neighborhood.  We spoke about our mutual distaste for country music, why all proper dragons should have 4 legs while wyverns have just 2 (take note, Peter Jackson!), and then he had to bathe his adorable baby daughter before bed, and we said goodbye, when I clicked "end", and then took this image.  As I hit "SEND" to show Dr Desert Flower (who was still at work, down in the valley below) the sunset from the park near our new home, and finished "add from recent calls" I heard a vicious GRRRROWLING and RRRRREEEAR-HISSSSing over my right shoulder.

I usually walk with a quarter staff (actually, it's a buck a quarter quarterstaff, but I'm not telling him that!) to fend off any stray dogs, rabid raccoons, gang members or hooligans (when we were in Arizona) that I might encounter during a walk.  But Monday night I headed out sans-staff, so I was caught "off guard" and unarmed.  Through the dwindling twilight of dusk, I saw what looked like a big German Shepherd sized dog, attacking a black cat who was trying to climb a very large trunked tree.  The cat was putting up a Big Fight, but the "dog" had gotten ahold of at least one leg and shook it off the tree.  "Hey! Is That Really Necessary!?!" I shouted towards them, and began walking the 40 or so yards that separated me & the park bench from the vicious battle I was witnessing.  The cat broke free and headed rapidly towards me... 'probably a domestic house cat' I thought, 'who is seeking the protection of a human against its attacker'.  But it was too late.  The attacker pounced, grabbed the black & white cat by the spine, and SHOOK it violently side to side, the whole time the cat's crying out pitifully, now 20 yards from me.

'I could kick it, if I got close enough, but what if one of them is rabid and attacks me?' Rabies shots suck... but I had broken out into run towards the melee.  I'd seen my buddy Matt's German Shepherd mix dog named Spapoop ("doodads", upside down) shake a squirrel to death 20 years earlier as I looked on from his apartment balcony, and didn't want to see this cat suffer the same fate.  Then I noticed the "dog's" white tipped tail, its Really Big ears, and the grayness of its coat. This was a hungry coyote.  The coyote noticed me too, and having stunned its feline prey sufficiently by the violent shaking, it turned, cat-in-mouth, and bounded away from the approaching human (me) and down the steep hill, undoubtedly to its den to feed its cubs.  Sadly, I could hear the pathetic moaning cries of the doomed cat fading into the rustle of the leaves as the coyote dashed down the hill.  Having recently lost a 17 year old feline member of our family just a few weeks before, seeing this made me very sad at first.   Then I remembered naturalist Rudy Mancke from South Carolina, and how when he would see predator successfully take down prey, he would comment in his South Carolina accent "well there she goes, turning domestic house cat into coyote, it's how the food chain works".

I took a deep breath, and headed for home to go pet our 19 year old surviving cat.  Along the way I encountered a lady in her 50s walking a Very Alert, smooth & shiny coated, leashed German Shepherd down the path.  I asked her "do you see many coyotes here?".  She patted her dog and said "She's been telling me the whole walk up here that there's a coyote nearby."  I leaned down and petted the well behaved canine and let the dog sniff my hand.  The lady added "Usually right around this area we see a black and white cat..." ...I cut her off "Not anymore. That cat is being turned into coyote now, down the hill" and I pointed to where the coyote fled.  When I got home, I petted my elderly cat for a solid 10 minutes and let her bask in the attention.  We'll be keeping her inside.

Dr Desert Flower: Home Electronics Specialist

When we moved from Arizona to California on a "corporate move", the packers took all the TV and stereo wires, put them in a big dish pack box, and DUMPED them in a Huge Pile in our living room when we got to California.  I said "you're going to plug all those  back in..  right?"  and the United Van Lines movers said "no, that's not our job".  It was disappointing and aggravating.  When a "corporate minder" called to see how the move was going, I unloaded on her, saying how upset I was that I'd have to waste an entire day untangling the wires, and then figuring out where the heck they all re-connected to which device.  "I can send someone to hook it up, professionally" the minder quickly stated "included in the price of the move" - "certainly, can they come today?" "This afternoon, after 2pm". "Great!"  

A few hours later, a professional electronics installer arrived.  He was an ex-Direct TV installer, ex-Time Warner cable installer, part-time DJ who was very perfectionistic.  He wire tied all the cables, hiding them from site with cable ties, and made "just the right length" connections.  My stereo system had never been so expertly installed.

Then we moved ourselves from the rental house to the bought house, in October.  Non-corporate.  We're paying for it directly out of our pockets, not a corporate move.  So I took pictures of the connections, to remind me what was connected where.  And then I intended to reverse engineer from the photos, and re-establish the connections once we were in the new house.

One thing lead to another, and I put "functioning stereo" low down on my list of things to do at move-in, after "get garage clean enough to park cars in it" and "adjust sprinklers so that they do not soak the entire pool deck and furniture rendering pool deck uselessly wet" and "unpack my office so that I can work the next Monday morning" (we moved on a Friday).  

Dr Desert Flower Really does not like to work around the house in silence.  She craves, she needs, a musical soundtrack to keep her moving, make her feet want to dance, liven the mood.  So while I was occupied elsewhere doing many other things, she took the pictures here, and single-handedly re-connected the entire stereo system herself.  This was no small task, in that the home we bought has "surround sound" in the walls of the family room, and speakers attached to the outside walls pointing at the pool.  She got it all to work, using just her wits, patience and these photos, and saved me a good 4 to 6 hours of my day, with lots and lots of frustration in trying to do it myself.  I did not know my wife had it in her to be so adept at electronic connections, but I am happy to see she could and she did.  I am a lucky man.

Dawn, on the Laguna Hills non-Plain

When I was a kid, Mutual of Omaha used to run shows on Sunday night that I watched whenever I was visiting my grandparents in Calumet City.  There was an episode "Dawn, on the Serengeti Plain" that I can recall vividly, even 40 years later.  Even as a small kid, it gave me an appreciation for the beauty of what a dawn could be.

In our previously rented house, my home office was behind the garage, next to the garbage dumpsters (and their smell), with a view of the neighbor's house about 3 meters away.  Dawn came everyday, and I saw light filtering through the blinds, but I never saw the actual sky, or had anything resembling a "scenic view".  Then we moved to Laguna Hills.

This was what greeted me Tuesday morning.  I call it a "furnace sky" in that I've seen many a steel mill, forge house, heat treater's furnace, kiln, and smelter…  and the sky, when it gets an orange / pink / yellow hue, reminds me of an industrial furnace heated up to neat 2000 F. 

I'd say the office and view are a "significant upgrade".  It gives me an appreciation for the beauty of the natural world, and I am delighted to be able to share it with you, the visitors to JustJoeP.

Nightstand Face-plant

When you move into a new house, make sure you put the night stand EXACTLY as far away from the bed as it was in the previous house.  That is, far enough away, that when you roll over at night, and out of bed, during a dream sequence where you are scaling a wall and climbing over the top of it, when you LAN on the "other side" of the wall, it doesn't involve face planting your eye into the corner of the night stand.

This resulted in a 330am trip to the emergency room, which cost me out-of-pocket (even with corporate insurance) a $1000, plus another $150 to have the stitches taken out 6 days later.  Dr Desert Flower was nice enough to drive me, calmly, to the ER, 2 miles away.  I am glad I did not lose my right eye.  There was enough blood pooling initially in my hand and the corner of my eye, that I'd thought I'd lost the use of the eye.  Luckily, that was not the case.

So if you have night stands with sharp corners, and you move, make sure you place the night stands SO CLOSE to the bed your head can't fit between the edge and the mattress, or, far enough away that when you clumsily roll out of bed, you miss impacting the night stand all together.

Laguna Rainbow - Post Closing

The day after we closed on our home in early October, I saw this rainbow when I walked out of Home Depot

It was a lovely sight.  No rain at all on my car, but it was raining between me and Saddleback Mountain, where the clouds and rainbow occurred.  Very cool.

And below the rainbow, in the foreground, is the first, and only "In and Out Burger" where DDF and I have ever eaten.  We went in on a Saturday or Sunday, some time in early October, after hearing every one RAVE about how AWESOME In-and-Out-Burger was.  The parking lot was jam packed.  The drive through crawled around the building.  We went in, and found the place to be standing room only, every seat taken.  Placed out $7 order (for two burgers) in less than 2 minutes, and then waited for nearly 20 minutes for the platoon of high school student fry cooks to prepare our order.  There as a Boy Scout troop, several sports teams, and a bus of developmentally disabled people there all at the same time, which I am sure slowed down our food prep time...  but...  the burgers were not exceptional, and we don't understand the devoted loyalty people have to In-and-Out.  It was "OK" at best.  The rainbow was far better.

Feline Familiar Frailty

So much has transpired chez nous since my last blog posting back in October, with moving into our new home (well, it's older than son, but it is new to us) and unpacking and fixing up the place.  It's been keeping us extremely busy, and going to bed very tired, but it's a good tired.

Our 17 year old cat Natasha succumbed to what was very likely pancreatic cancer that had metastasized  into her brain, the day before Halloween.  This image is the last time she actually ate, on October 28th - I was so delighted to see her eating something, that I photographed her.  At one point, when DDF was doing her doctoral thesis, she referred to Natasha as the "leptin deficient" cat who had ballooned up to 16 lbs in her middle age.

When we tearfully took her to the vet to be put to sleep on the night of the 30th, she weighed barely 4 lbs - down from 6 lbs back in July.  She was just skin and bones, and no longer leading an active life, or any semblance of her former life.  It was a very sad night, the night before Halloween here.

Meanwhile her 19 year old older sister is as active and spry as she was 10 years ago.  She patrolled the house for a week in November looking for her absent sister, who had been a part of our home for 17 years, but now older sister has forgotten about Natasha, and lounges leisurely on the futon in my office while I work each day, a very happy familiar.  The American Domestic House Cat, when kept indoors and away from pathogens, is living to be 20 to 22 years on average, I read earlier this year in a Pet magazine.  I think our 19 year old will be with us for another presidential election or two.  Her gentle snoring is adorable, and even though I am allergic to her, I know I'll miss her tremendously when she's no longer around.

Peregrine In Our Park

In the park at the edge of the neighborhood, overlooking Laguna Hills, there's an ancient species of conifer that is a good 30 feet tall.  It rises above houses and surrounding landscape, and makes a perfect perch for a bird of prey to survey the buffet of food sources.  It is one of Dr Desert Flower's favorite trees.   One morning last week, DDF noticed this raptor on the top of the tree, and tried to take a picture of it first with her iphone, and then a few minutes later, excitedly with our Sony 7 megapixel (with Zeiss lenses and autofocus).

It was the right size, shape, and coloring for a peregrine, but it didn't flap its wings or fly away so it was difficult to definitively identify.  There are "so many birds" during DDF's morning walks...  and that's a very cool thing.

The Inexperience Of Youth

I was going to title this "The guy's nuts! Grab'em!" ... but you know, I betcha this squirrel fellow was somewhat inexperienced, and thought to himself: "I can reach that feeder, np!"  ...where more experienced / wily / savvy older squirrels would be like "no way man, you might get your sack caught holding on by just your back legs to reach out to the feeder...  too risky... and then what, you'll be hanging there upside down, suspended by the boys, waiting for a hawk to come eat all of you except for your trapped sack? No thanks. You go for it, and show me how it's done, young feller."

Besides, "The guy's nuts! Grab'em" might be trade marked by my friend Matt in Reno...   =)

It is sort of ironic that in an effort to get to the nuts (seeds), he's caught by the nuts.

Other appropriate titles:
- What a total nut job!
- Slippery When Wet
- Instead of trying to do it all by yourself, next time, ask your wife to help
- Colbert would be impressed
- "I got 1/2  of the metal hanger free, and almost knocked it to the ground, when I suddenly felt this terrible pain in my taint..."
- "Hello, is this James Franco? I'm sorta stuck here James, what do I do now?"
- The next time someone says "you don't have the balls to do that", they're going to be right.
- "das kleine Eichhörnchen" ... who said 'squirrel' was neuter gender?!? (das, as opposed to der [m] or die [f])
- the boys back in the will never stop chiding me about storing my nuts for Winter now
- "It only happens when it rains"

Goodwill of Guava

We are moved into our new home, further inland / farther from the beach, but closer to Dr Desert Flower's work, and no longer renting, but have bought a house instead (not sure how I'll handle the last 10 years of the mortgage if the place doesn't appreciate... as old as I am... but I digress).  We met the former owners who showed us how several things worked, why several 'unique' things were configured the way we bought them, and what the different fruit trees were in the yard.  They were the original owners from when the home was built (back before my son was born) and wanted to make sure they could answer any questions we had.  It was an amicable sale & meeting, with real estate agents in attendance for the final walk-through.

In the back corner of the yard is a Massive guava tree, at least 2 dozen years old.  Next to the garage is another smaller guava tree, an apple tree, and an apricot tree that is dormant this year (on a 3 year cycle, so the previous owner said).  The Massive guava tree is producing a bucket of fruit each day, some of it so ripe, it is falling off.  DDF and I do not have a fondness for guava, so she's been taking it to work and I've been Fedexing it to my corporate HQ office where my office administrator loves it.

When I went to the Fedex store today to ship package #2 of guava this week, I took a hummus-sized container or RIPE guava with me, waited in line to drop it off, and then offered the desk clerk the guava as she gave me the receipt.   She was delighted, and thanked me.  When I asked her if she had more Fedex padded envelopes (good for cushioning guava) she said "I get only one shipment in each month of them, and I have only a handful left".  "Can I get two, please?"  She looked at the guava, looked at the 4 remaining she had, and gave me 1/2 of them.

It seems that the goodwill of guava is quite popular, and it appeared to "make her day".  If you'd like some guava too, send me a Fedex account number, and a shipping address, and I'll send you some before the tree runs out.

Come Closer Together

It's been a while since I posted anything musical.  Thanks to my friend Ryan for the head's up on this NIN / Beatles mashup.
 
Very cool...
 
NOT TO BE LISTENED TO with children's ears within listening range... unless you want to try and tell them Trent is really saying "pet you over me" (as we often sang along with our son, in the car, when he was in a toddler seat  to "pet you like an animal!")

Now I am off to meet a chimney sweep...

I've Stopped Poisoning My Hummingbirds

As anyone who has visited JustJoeP in the past knows, I am a big fan of hummingbirds.  We had them in Phoenix.  We have even more species and individual humming birds who visit out yard here in Southern California.  I've doubled the number of feeders, and have enjoyed many a moment watching these tiny aerobatic creatures drinking just a few feet away from me.  Some would say I post so much stuff about hummingbirds sometimes that it is aggravating (but it's my blog, and I'll post what I want to).

So when I was in Target back in August, and I saw lots and lots of hummingbird food on clearance, I snatched it up.  I had been looking for a refillable hummingbird bottle to keep in the fridge, so that I would not have to waste a partial batch when refilling the feeders, and I was out of the dry crystals.  I bought a box of the concentrated bags, a large plastic container of premixed, and a moderately sized container of concentrate, thinking "this will last me about a month, at the rate we're burning through it currently".  Then I started to read about red dye toxicity, and some friends of DDF and I have a child who had been suffering from severe allergies until red dye was removed from their son's diet, and viola, he improved immensely.

Being the engineer husband of a human geneticist, I've learned to trust peer reviewed scientific literature.  NCBI is my portal into the world of scientific studies that are sometimes so complicated that it takes me 2 or 3 re-reads to understand what the paper is trying to say.  So before I dove into NCBI, I checked Cornell University's hummingbird page.  Cornell has a wealth of bird knowledge online, including graphic descriptions of many species, bird call wav files, and other ornithological reference material.  Cornell said (politically correctly) "Never add red food color to sugar water, and never use commercial mixes that have red dyes. Nectar in flowers is clear, and red food coloring may be harmful for hummingbirds."

hmmmm...  "Never".  Ok.  I began to suspect there's a reason to dig deeper.   So I began googling.

The hummingbird food manufacturers (like Perky Pet) have an all-out media blitz to say that there's 'no scientific proof that red dye hurts hummingbirds' ... and legally, they're correct.  No researcher has taken the time to do a longitudinal study on the 1-to-5 year lives of hummingbirds who consume a diet high in red dyed human-provided nectar, vs hummingbirds who drink only from flowers to get their carbohydrates.  First of all, it would be very difficult to do, and secondly, there's large corporate interests (Perky Pet / Woodstream, et al) who do not want bird enthusiasts simply making their own inexpensive sugar water (1/4 cup of sugar to one cup of water) when they could be buying it from a corporation.

An example of the "friendly reply" you get from Perky Pet's ROn O'Kane is here (link):
http://www.hummingbirds.net/dye.html
The editorial response to the PP reply is somewhat emotional...  logical and factual, yes, but also a little emotional, so I looked up more studies and factual websites, here (Wild Birds Unlimited), here (gentle world), here (National Geo), and here (snopes).  The more I looked, the more saddened I became... it was becoming increasingly obvious that I was not helping my little feathered friends by providing them with needlessly red dyed nectar, and I was probably poisoning them.  NCBI drove the final nails into red dye's coffin:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6636206

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6314928

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6132603

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22996819

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22482698

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20667460

Yes, those were rats or flies, and yes, the they were fed enormous amounts (up to 10% of their total diet) of synthetic red dyes, and they suffered from all sorts of metabolic and reproductive issues... but the "natural red dyes" like carmine are also used by the little creatures who make it to ward off predators and make themselves distasteful to predators.  So why lace it into hummingbird nectar when the hummingbirds don't need it, are not attracted to the nectar (they're drinking from the red "blossom", not the bottle with red in it that the humans fill), and other creatures (rats and humans) tend to not do so well when they ingest large quantities of the stuff?

With a heavy heart, I threw out all my hummingbird food, and poured the liquid down the drain.   I will use the empty containers (well washed out) to store refrigerated batches for short amounts of time between refills of homemade nectar.  But I will no longer be buying corporately made hummingbird food.  Instead I will be making my own.  Per Cornell University:  1/4 of a cup of sugar to one cup of water. No red dye.

My apologies to all the Rufous, Anna's, Costa's, Black Chinned, Allen's, Broad Tailed, and Lucifer hummingbirds whose tiny families I may have adversely affected in the past.  In the new house where we are moving next week, there are a wide variety of flowering plants, and a 6-blossom hummingbird feeder in the yard, to which my six other four-blossom feeders will be added.  Only clear sugar water will be used, going forward.  No more amaranth or carmine, or their synthetic variants.

Terralsole Brunello DI Montalcino 2004

Dr Desert Flower splurged and got this $28 Italian red at Total Wine, Terralsole Brunello DI Montalcino 2004, before some friends came over from Phoenix to visit us here in California.  Bottled by Mariobollag, and imported by Saranty Imports, White Plains NY for Total Wine.

As you can see it is an Alfio Moriconi selection, and Mr Moriconi has shown his tastes are good, repeatedly.  As this bottle showed, Moriconi picks both inexpensive and moderately expensive wines.

The wine maker actually signed the bottle in silver ink, but since we'll be moving soon, I am not savings it.

If you're looking for a good wine to share with friends under $30, and you're going to have pasta or some other Italian food, this would not be a bad option.

Saint-Esprit, Cotes Du Rhone, Delas 2010

Saint-Esprit, Cotes Du Rhone (appellation Cotes du Rhone Controlee), Delas 2010.  Raised and Bottled by the Delas brothers in Tournon Sur Rhone, France, this was a delicious wine.   Dr Desert Flower got it at Total Wine for less than $12, and we enjoyed it at home over dinner last month.

I've actually had dinner in Tournon many years ago, when I visited a small satellite factory from a French supplier that was making excellent quality parts for my employer.  We had a great bottle of wine with that dinner - it was a Rhone wine from the region, as I recall, and it was the advent of my wine awakening.

Tormaresca Neprica Puglia

Tormaresca Neprica Puglia 2009.  This bottle of delicious and inexpensive Italian Puglia wine was enjoyed for less than $8 a bottle with a grilled steak in August here.   We got it at Trader Joe's.

Estate grown & bottled by Tormaresca SRL San Pietro Vernotico, Italia.  It is 40% Negroamaro, 30% Primitivo, and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon.  "Tormaresca" is a "tower by the sea" (in English, we'd call it a 'light house' or other type of nautical beacon).  Regardless, the wine was good, fine quality, drinkable, and I highly recommend it.

Arizona Natural Hazards

Last Friday I was listening to KJZZ online, and saw a link to this at the bottom of the screen.  Very interesting stuff, if you are a property owner in Arizona.  It lists all the fault lines, active seismic zones, potential fire prone areas, flood plains (all of Phoenix), and major earth quakes.  It also shows a little bit of Southern California as well.  Very useful stuff.   I don't know if any other states have done this, but kudos to Arizona for publishing it along with FEMA.

http://data.azgs.az.gov/hazard-viewer/   (you may have to REFRESH this a 2nd time to get it to show on your computer)

Jaguar vs Caiman

In my perspective, pound for pound, there is no other land predator species alive today (non human), who is as lethal as large feline.  This is an impressive video:

Posted September 26th, 14 million hits already. National Geographic does excellent work.

Summer of 2013 Affordable Wines

I had delusions of grandeur that I'd be posting a whole bunch of separate entries about various wines that Dr Desert Flower and I enjoyed over the summer.  Fall arrived just 2 weeks ago, and there's a formidable collection of empty bottles building up in my office. a-waiting to be blogged about.  But pragmatically, I am running out of time, and the rental house in which we are living now had a lock box on the front door and is going "to be shown" to get the next set of renters in here once we head to our new home in October.  So this morning, while our visiting son is sleeping upstairs (and before I get the bacon fat heated up in the skillet to cook everyone pasteur raised eggs) I am going to post as many of the bottles we enjoyed over the summer as possible, all in one fell swoop.  The recycling bin will be heavy with colored glass this week.

Castillo Clavijo Tempranillo was an inexpensive Spanish Rioja (D.O.C.) imported by Saranty Importers, White Plains NY.   It was a Crianza (as my one page wine summary explained years ago) and it was pretty good.   No complaints.  The Spanish, and their government regulatory & quality assurance system (as well as a brutal market place) know how to make good wines that are affordable for "everyday drinking".







 Velvet Moon Cabernet Sauvignon, 2011, California,  was a lark purchase at Trader Joe's during one of my "I love California" wine buying trips to the store.  I want to love California wines, and there are many good ones, but most are really over-priced.  The Rioja above was less than $10 (everything on this posting will be less than $10, unless otherwise noted) and it came 1/2 way around the world, was made in a country (and regulatory system) that Californian wine producers would consider "oppressive", "stifling" and "not supportive of the free market"and yes cost a dollar less a bottle to me, the end wine drinker, in California.

Velvet Moon was not bad.  It was drinkable.  Went well with a grass fed, pasteur raised steak I grilled (which cost more than the bottle of wine...  maybe I need to re-think this...) and I would recommend it as an adequate red table wine.  It's nothing to rave about, nor is it anything to criticize, trash, or pour down the sink.  It was OK. If you're in the mood for a OK Cabernet, you could do worse. I know that's not a "gushing" review, but Velvet Moon didn't knock me off my feet or leave a powerful, distinct impression. Would I buy it again?  Eh, probably...  if it was on sale.  Why not?

The Bougrier Loire Valley Anjou (Appellation Controles) 2011 from Total Wine was an Alfio Moriconi selection.  Total Wine's website calls it a "blush selection" - I called it a Rosé.  We drank it during the 2 week August "Hot Spell" when temperatures climbed over 85F here in Southern Orange County, and it's always nice to have a cool Rosé on a hot summer day.  The Total Wine site says it is $11 a bottle, but I think we got it on sale for $9.99.  It was light, refreshing, flavorful with lots of fruit while not tasting like HFCS flavored kid's grape juice. The French - much like the Spanish - also have excellent quality controls, government over-sight, and time-tested regulations on wine production that make excellent sense and help to produce excellent wines.  This Anjou selection is among them.

I explored a new selection in the Bila-Haut, Cotes Du Roussillon Villages - Appelation Cotes Du Roussillon Villages Controlee.  It's full name is "Les Vines De Bila-Haut, by Michel Chapoutier, 2011."  Mis en bouteille par M.Chapoutier (Michel is a negotiant who bottles lots of wine).  The Languedoc region is often under-appreciated both in France and in the US, but I've actually had a bad bottle of Languedoc wine.   This bottle of red was wonderful.  "Fleshy and well structured" is what the back label said...  ok...  I guess so.  I didn't notice any "fleshy" tones or tastes.  It was good.  It was drinkable, and I liked it.  If you try it, you'll probably like it too.

Chateau de Sales Pomerol was NOT under $10.  It was a DDF purchase to have a delicious (and somewhat expensive, at $28) bottle of Bordeaux on hand for a colleague of her's from Phoenix who came to visit us last summer for a weekend at the beach and shopping with DDF.  Bottled by Heritiers de Lambert, this Pomerol did not disappoint, and delivered the full flavored, robust tannins of a hearty and impressive Bordeaux - which is primarily Merlot (and some Cabernet Franc mixed in), so take THAT, Merlot haters!  I'd recommend it if you can find it for under $30 a bottle and you have a special occasion and you serve it FIRST, and not as a 2nd or third bottle with dinner.

The Noccese Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (D.O.C.) 2008 from Chiusa Grande was a Trader Joe's purchase that was either $11 or $12, and it was not just delicious and affordable, but it was also ORGANIC!  Imported by Organic Cellar, Laguna Beach CA, it was a great wine.   Estate bottled by Azienda Agricola Chiusa Grande di Franco D'Eusanio, Nocciano Italia.  I really meant to blog about this wine earlier in the summer, but I got distracted - in Southern California there's just so much more to do outside and at the ocean than there is in the desolation of western Phoenix.

The Harthill Farm Pinot Grigio was a $6 WholePaycheck purchase by DDF that she especially enjoyed, and has been a repeat purchase on our dinner table.  I do not mind pinot grigios, but DDF has become somewhat of an aficionado of affordable and delicious white wines.  The Harthill Farm offering is now a "go to" for us.  Bottled in Livermore and Ripon California, Harthill Farms "gets it", providing high quality & delicious Californian wine at a reasonable price.

And now...  it is time for breakfast.

More wine blogging after breakfast.  Stay tuned....

Breaking How Bad It Can Be

Over at I Love Charts, they posted this earlier this week, and it really amused me.

And don't forget, the Full Heisenberg.

Gerard Bertrand Minervois 2008

I do love my Minervois.  I found this Gerard Bertrand Minervois at Costco of all places for $10 a bottle, and it was as good as Chateau Landure - about which I have opined here before.  It was the last bottle at the Laguna Niguel Costco, and had been placed in the wrong bin, but I relocated it to my cart and was delighted when it rang up at just $10.  Why Americans can't relate to French regional wines and rely upon the varietal for what they like or dislike, is well beyond my comprehension.  I could take the Best of grapes, and throw them together poorly, transport them haphazardly, store them warmly, and they'd be terrible.  "Syrah / Carignan" well..   yes...  but don't forget the Grenache, Lledoner Pelut, and Mourvedre grapes as well.  Silly narrowly focused, uninformed American shoppers.

It got a 91/100 rating from Wine Speculator, which (to me) means that someone from Wine Spectator knows someone from the Chateau who knows someone, who got them several cases, and they liked it even though it was not a 20 or 30 Euro bottle.  I liked it, it's made in Minervois, and that's all that's important to me.  =)