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Tomorrow = March 14 = 3.14 = π.

No matter what you call it, it's PIE day! This is great. Two pie days in one year. I'd really prefer about 365 pie days a year. You may recall (you should have it circled on your calender) January 23rd is officially "National Pie Day" but to the mathemaniacs out there March 14th takes the honor. No matter how you slice it, (preferably in very large slabs) every day is a better day when there's a pie cooling in the kitchen, or in a restaurant, or in the bakery, or at a grocery store or even (although they don't make very good pies) at WalMart. In short, there's no excuse not to celebrate Pie Day either mathematically or gastronomically. Now get out there bake, buy or steal a big piece of pie. Start today! You never know when the bottom may fall out of the pie market.

Here's a reminder of how Sally and Uncas

celebrated back in January

All Done!!!

Mission accomplished. Operation "Kitchen Project" (code named KP) has been completed. Jo and I added the final touches Saturday carefully placing an edited down version of our collection of tins atop the cabinets. It took great restraint but we managed cut back the number of treasures (junk) we had on display here there and almost everywhere in the "old" kitchen. For some reason I didn't have the foresight to take any "before" pictures. One I took at the "2008 Cookie Baking Day" will have to suffice. So, let's let the pictures do their thousand words job...

I used a picture with a lot of clutter
so that the revise will look even better

Finally Jo and I get to sit down, relax
and watch that new fangled HDTV

How Big is Big?

I saw an ad recently for Kelloggs Jumbo Multi-Grain Krispies. As if the old Snap Krackle and Pop wasn't enough distraction while trying to enjoy a nice quiet breakfast now we've got the little elfs (or is it elves?) on steroids. It might be the fumes from my recent kitchen paint job or just anticipation of the completion of "Project Kitchen" (formerly code named KP) only three valances away, but my mind wandered off to "BIG" cereal land. Now that Kelloggs got the ball (or kernel) rolling will the other breakfast biggies be far behind?

Cheerios big enough for emergencies

Even the snack industry is getting into the act

A full report on "KP" is only a day or two away. And then . . . we'll get back to reporting more exotic "Hystorical Wisconsin" facts and locations.

Hey! Hey! Holy Cow!

CUBS WIN!!!

Wednesday was a great day in the Blume house. I finished painting the kitchen, It was 50 plus degrees out side, and I took a nice leisurely drive to Dubuque as I listened to the first Cub's game of the year. I know it was only a preseason, mean nothing game where players only participate an inning or two, but this is truly THE harbinger of Spring. What fun recognizing the names of returning favorites and trying to figure out who all those other guys are and where did they come from? One of the best things about these early season radio broadcasts is the banter between, the best radio announcers in baseball, Pat Hughes and Ron Santo as they poke fun at Ron's toupee, make up names for the players they're not familiar with and generally kid each other about anything from attire to dining experiences. Even though we're being threatened with some fairly foul weather (rain changing to sleet changing to snow) this afternoon and evening, I'll be mentally basking in the Arizona sunshine while I listen to todays game against the dreaded Brewers. The only hitch is that I don't get reception on the radio inside the house and Major League Baseball blocks out the broadcast on WGN's website. So, in order to enjoy the game I have to either sit out in the cold garage and listen on my old clock radio, ride around aimlessly in the car or (best idea yet) park the car on the lawn next to an open living room window with the volume at full blast. I suppose I may sound a little fanatical about this but, It's February in Wisconsin! Come to think of it, I could sit out on my deck with a portable radio. That would be about the same as Wrigley Field on opening day. (Although the Wind/Chill factor is probably warmer on my deck.) Gotta dig my jersey and cap out of the closet.

"Hey hot dog man!"

Dumb, Dee, Dumb, Dumb!

Boy did I ever screw up yesterday. First of all the "textured" plasterwork in the kitchen was supposed to be crocodile and I mistakenly applied the alligator look. No big deal, hardly anyone will notice the difference. Secondly, and a little more important, spell check got me. As usual, I relied on the magic of computer science to make up for my poor spelling capability. One nice thing about the English language is that so many words are very similar but are completely unalike in meaning. So, if you're slightly illiterate like me (or is it I?) you can come fairly close to the correct spelling of a word but you're also very close to the spelling of a different word. Yesterday I mentioned that I came down with the same decease that Jo had a few weeks ago. Some 12 or 17 hours later, while reading the morning paper I noticed my mistake. Neither Jo or I (or is it me?) are deceased or ever have been. In actuality someone or something took away my ease. Yes I was dis-eased. Funny how it took only a little over seventy years to learn this. And, my disease is still with me, which brings us around to dumb number three. Two or three months ago I wrote a post on Wisconsin Hystery. You may recall that I chronicled the story of the origin of Pepto Bismol. Here I sit on my porcelain throne while just a few miles down the road lies the center of rearal relief.
While Jo and the pups are enjoying the newly fallen (and still falling) snow I have a choice to make. Do I put a primer coat on the alligator walls, shovel (snowblow) the five feet of snow outside or take a trip down county road Q to the Pepto mine. Sorry no pics today.

KP - K9 - Kaopectate

The kitchen project (code name KP) is moving right along. Holes are patched, the "Textured" plaster has been accomplished, and the counter top is on order. My next assignment, should I accept it, (like I have a choice) is priming the "textured" walls followed by applying the lovely yellow paint job. The degree of difficulty has been fairly low. So, to make it a little more of a challenge, we've added a couple of "speed bumps". First we added two of our little wiener granddogs. Tina and Snoopy (code name K9) came to stay while a much more weighty construction project is underway at their house. Derek is having foundation and drainage work done to combat an ongoing "wet basement" problem. Adding the dogs didn't distract from the job at hand. They're really well behaved and only disrupt my progress when they insist that they MUST go outside to ward off some unsuspecting passerby. The main setback right now is something I brought to the party. You might say that the work didn't "poop" me out. But "it" (code name, never mind) has slowed down my tempo. (It's amazing how fast one can descend a ladder when the urge hits.) You might say, I've gotten a little behind in my work. I'm using my "affliction" as an excuse to take a couple of days off from KP. I like to say that I'm giving the plaster "texture" time to thoroughly dry, or as they say on The Cooking Channel, rest. Naturally Jo is anxious to "get her kitchen back" but she understands my situation because she suffered the same decease a few weeks ago.
Excuse me while I check out who's walking by. I think I'll check from the bathroom window.

What do you think, too much texture?
Maybe I used the wrong kind of mud!

I feel pretty safe with these two on guard

Tina on window duty

Snoopy in full attack mode

Do you hear what I hear?

About a month ago I posted a blog (partly tongue in cheek) about paying closer attention to the things around us. Recently a friend sent me this story which illustrates what I was trying to say.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work


Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell , one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, tickets for Joshua Bell 's performance at a theater in Boston were sold out and the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing ???...

Like a violin playing mouse!!!