Timmah!

Proper equipment-especially thermometers-in-concert with Maillard & Umami food pairings makes for next-level gnoshing. Civilizations across time & history have discovered natural Umami pairings without knowing the principle. With that knowledge, one can purposely enhance a meal's flavor. Examples would be: Pork + cabbage, green tea & salmon (the flavor sources don't have to be food, they can include drink, etc. for completion of the pairing), Spaghetti sauce + Parmesan cheese... Here's one helpful site to explain Umami pairings & how easily you can incorporate the principle into your cooking. Could be as simple as sauteeing some garlic &/or onions with maybe a nice reduction with soy sauce for an Umami bomb. Many people use these pairings without knowing why they taste good & how to expand that principle to all their cooking, whenever they choose. It's more than worth the 15 minutes' reading to acquire this ability: https://www.foodpairing.com/umami-as-the-fifth-taste/

Simple is usually better in any context or endeavour. Ever since learning about the Maillard Process years ago, I apply it wherever possible -to include toast. That knowledge & a laser thermometer & probe thermometer has me zapping & probing everything, including toast. The sweet spot being ~350f; nothing much happening below 250F. This goes for steaks, coffee, whatever has some protein + a little sugar; you can baste proteinaceous-dominant foods with a modest sugar solution to facilitate/enhance the Maillard reaction. This was a toasted sammich with Black Forest Ham, freshly-cracked black pepper, Pepperjack Cheese, Kosher Salt & a shmear of Hellmann's. Always found cutting a sandwich into strips makes for easier face-stuffing. First few times, I zap the toast with the laser thermometer to get a visual & olfactive sense of what 350F looks/smells like on toast, in this toaster; then note the time & accordingly set toaster's doneness setting; then-on-out, just toss the bread in & let it do its job. This concludes my sammich TED Talk.

This Galaxy S10+ takes remarkably nice pics...& even nicer video when paired with my Osmo Mobile 3 gimbal:

https://youtu.be/LQUXuQ6Zd9w . https://youtu.be/LezoMi3yftM?t=139

One of my friends, who lives in Tx was in much the similar situation: Rural, shitty internet. He rented high capacity, then offset it by erecting a tower & transmitting to some nearby family members & friends to offset the cost. Don't know if that's doable in your area.

Shit, might as well drive to the nearest McDonald's & ride their wifi.

They returned into the bedding once the front passed & the barometric pressure rose; but immediately resurfaced with this next approaching front & attendant pressure drop. These dudes are surprisingly sensitive to the area weather systems! It had me initially worried that their bedding was too moist or the ph, temp was outside their comfort zone. Now I know better.

Thanks for sharing, br0ther. Mortality sucks.socks. ...& I agree with you, get everything square with the people for whom you care. Your parents' death really drives home how short our time is. Took care of my mom during her final years, & the main reason I took nursing years ago. My thoughts are with you, Storm & please feel free to holler if you wanna talk.

...the prodigal Luddite returns...

They're composting worms, they need the dark...and this is a stacking tray system, so you want to leave the lids intact...just some holes for ventilation & inter-tray transition.

Because being busy, or just zerstreut, sometimes produce goes to waste. Also wanting to use ingredients that are organic, cheap & fresh as possible in my cooking are the reasons I bought a pound of worms & read-up on how to start composting worm tower. The castings & tea can feed some nice basil & other greens & microgreens I'ma grow on a bench in my unused living room. Forgotten, spoiled head of lettuce>>>worm food>>>castings & tea for soil amendments & microbiome substrate conditioning for basil>>>tasty pizza topping, red sauce ingredient, etc. Nothing better for any plant than all-natural worm p00p! That shit's expensive!!!

I'm afraid to ask yhe $$$ it cost. Now, gotta see thi in action...

Heynow.

Huh?

Had an old. nosey church lady lived 2 doors down from me, in my childhood. Had a pair of high quality binoculars stationed at her kitchen sill. I mean the looong, multi-coated lens, nitrogen filled kind the fucking Rear Admiral of the Pacific Fleet would have. Wasn't shit slipping by her. I used to troll her, placing random lewd signs in her sight corridors where only she would see them. I did this in the wee hours of a Sunday morning, when I knew she would be sleeping & not possibly glassing my activities. The sweet part was I was on good terms with her & would visit to get oblivious feedback on the success of my misdeeds, even giving me inspiration for a continuation of the plan, or fodder for a new one. Bespoke drama for an eager audience. Steal her welcome mat...return it a few days later, after a replacement appeared...

Dude's a fucking Mensch. Salt of the Earth, I say. Does a person respect animals; do animals trust them. Great measure of a person.

Lol, no shit.

Russian. I'm listening to Russian this morning. I think this a jello commercial, tbh.

He's also the Leopard Whisperer, in addition to Lions & Hyenas. His sanctuary is making a nice comeback from the brush fires; thankfully none of the creatures in his care were seriously injured...wonderful work he does.

By most standards, a happy one. Good times with a pretty country girl in days of my youth.

Rapacious C0cksuckers!

Well, living here, I've literally dated the farmer's daughter on a few occasions. Good way to earn money when you're a teenager, if you're not afraid of work, is local seasonal farm work. Top tobacco, cut & stake later, hang in the rafters etc. Get to know people in a rural area & a lot of basic needs can be had for a very reasonable price. Plus, it always pays to be nice. Get access to acres prime hunting & fishing spots... all kinds of goodies. Met one of my girlfriends-past by running over her dad's barbed-wire fence & spending a summer afternoon reposting & stringing it when she brought lunch out to me. But I digress...

Yeah, it's a monopoly. They all tacitly agree to a price floor; just like oil companies & gas stations also do; When I worked at a gas station/convenient mart years ago, one of your jobs if you ran a shift was to survey the local competitors' gas prices & adjust yours accordingly. Meaning go up with the highest-price one; but not always to follow the lowest price one, because they might not be prime consideration. Once you got to know the managers of the local competitor stations, you'd just call them up & share the price information; some would be as helpful as to proactively call you in advance of a price change at their store, so you could plan the rest of your shift accordingly. The logic being, if several companies are going to 'compete' for local market share of whatever's being sold, might as well agree on a common price range, lifting the profits of all involved. Shady? Grey area? Dunno, but it was common practice in the Louisville market years ago. The guy who owned the dominant stores in the market-for whose company I worked- was on the board of directors of the other major player in the area, namely Ashland Oil. Now that's SHADY.. but apparently entirely legal.

Yeah, price for the 400 down plan is now $55... I pay ATT $300 up front for 1 yr. cell & data. 8mb a month.. I use 5 or 6...so perfect for me.