Author: boomingbanter

This morning on the way back from Zumba a squirrel ran out in front of me.

They are everywhere around us and they have this cartoon like character that makes them adorable even if thy wreck havoc.

They run into the road, stop, look at you, hesitate for an instant and then take off at great speed. Locals will endorse what I’m describing.

The speed limit in our subdivision is 25 mph so the critter got lucky but the thought crossed my mind that if he’d been a split second earlier he’d have been mash!

Yeh thanks Nutkin you gave me my topic for today!

MASH! When you hear that word what comes to mind for you?

Maybe the long running TV series on the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital that made us laugh so much.

Maybe the weaning food we give our babies or the food we have when we have teeth problems or have no longer teeth at all.

We mash many things but who’d want to eat mashed food all the time? Even babies after a few splutters and spits give it up.

There is of course that MASH that is the exception to the rule and that has become synonymous with the word itself the super special spud.

In Ireland we take it to a whole new dimension and transform it with the addition of a little green into a food of dreams. We call it CHAMP. Look it up and try it.

It may not quite fit the profile of what Hippocrates had in mind when he said we should make our food our medicine and our medicine our food but it is the stuff of legend and the nectar of the God’s.

Blessing # 377 – Medics and Medicine

 

Today we have had a lot going on that at first appearance seemed to be linked to bad fortune.

First because of our issues last week we had to apply new protections and passwords to all our devises. In so doing we discovered that Krishna’s ancient phone that he had inherited from Aaron had suffered a catastrophic fail. 

The poor thing had been lying uncharged for so long that when we attempted to resurrect it only half the screen took a breath. So after an infinite number of hard reboots we decided since he never uses it that we should cancel his part of our mobile plan.

Consumer Cellular our dear provider was as always fast and efficient and without problems disconnected him. So a little savings incurred.

This made us think also about our landline phone. Most calls that we get or make on it now are either scam or are all local. Homer being an important exception. For international connections all our friends and family use WhatsApp.

Since we will need to contact Dad when we are away in the UK and he now has no mobile device we to text we decided we will train him on FaceTime or What’sApp on the iPad which he likes using. So why do we need international access on the landline?

Next up it’s obvious we call Spectrum the cable and land line phone provider and discuss the situation with them. Again we fall on someone who is most helpful and walks us line by line through our entire bill not just the phone service but the internet and cable too. Thanks to them we again manage to save a little on all counts.

As Aaron is working late shift today we then go to the bank to fix his account that was locked down like ours and discover yet another little perk for better interest rates. We are on a roll!

Not a bad day albeit one brought on by what initially might seem like problems. Every cloud as they say has some silver lining. Oh and the icing on the cake while we were doing all this gas prices fell ten cents a gallon!

Blessing # 376 – Little Means a Lot

Bet there are many youngsters out there who think that Kipper is a cute cartoon character.

They may never have experienced the orange delicacy that is a well smoked herring.

Come to think of it our Aaron has never had a kipper. We’ll sort that out when we go on our tour of the UK this summer along with the already planned haggis!

My Dad was very partial to a feed of these fish on a Sunday morning. He didn’t get them that often only on a special occasion like the holidays or birthdays.

Of course being a man of robust appetite not just a single serving would suffice. He could pack away a whole plate full with a few farls of soda bread on the side.

My Mum would fry them up on a big iron pan and she and me would have a couple too.

They are salty little demons. In fact the noun comes from the very Kipper that means to salt. With all their good fats though they must still be good for you.

Their little bones kinda get between your teeth that’s why a good piece of well buttered soft bread is needed to help them slip down.

The whole house would smell fishy and smoky for days after the breakfast bonanza but that never put us off.

They were also served up in the Guest Houses where we stayed when we went to the seaside. Somehow they didn’t seem to cause the same stink there but maybe the kitchen had extractor fans that were way beyond us.

Who eats kippers today? Shout out if you have had one in the past week and we will honor you as a true and Booming Brave Heart.

Blessing # 375 – Tasty Travels

Yesterday was stressful  today was a joy.

Sunshine, Zumba and the best of all a good old Church Rummage Sale.

In the UK we call them JUMBLE sales. If you look at the origin of the term it is a Confused Mixture. You have things jumbled up but do you Jumble? No you Rumble in the Jumble.

Thats what we did today and we found some absolutely precious little beauties.

The best of course is Irish! It is a small Belleek China plate that is so fine it is transparent.

Other little treasure that will eventually find their way to the shop are a cute dog pot holder that resembles a certain person not two inches from my feet and a tiny little beer stein that is a reminder of the critters who call our yard their home.

of course we couldn’t leave without a few books or a few angels.

Leave you to work out  who got what!

Blessing # 375 – Sunshine after the Rain!

The sun came out today but a big black cloud was over our house.

Last night as we were happily digesting our dinner, sipping a little beverage and watching some TV the phone rang. We all heaved the inevitable groan immediately suspecting our most frequent callers THE SCAMMERS.

I took the call which was fortunate as Krishna usually yells at people he doesn’t know.

The person on the phone said he was calling on behalf of Chase Bank and the reason he was calling was because there was some suspicious activity with our bank account.

I asked him what he needed and he explained he’d need my card number.

Of course I was reluctant to give him that so I asked if there was an alternative he explained I should call a number that he gave me and ask them to block our accounts and contact our bank as soon as possible.

Still suspicious I asked for his name and he told me he was Homer. Was he joking?

I asked where he was calling from and he said the Philippines. The fact that he gave me his name, albeit a funny one, and that I recognized he had an accent that was indeed from the Philippines added credibility to what he was saying so I thanked him for his advise.

Immediately I contacted one of the  local bank mangers we know well. He replied immediately saying as soon as the office opened in the morning he’d make sure we were safe.

So good to his word he called this morning and said that Homer was for real and had stopped an attempted fraudulent transfer. Now we needed to get to a bank branch quickly and close all our accounts.

Off we went to our usual branch and our manager there stopped what she was doing and gave us her full attention. It took a while but we got everything closed and this is where dear Krishna’s record keeping again came to the fore. We were able to go though all payments of the past months without tearing our hair out.

Lessons for all of us listen carefully even if you suspect the call may just be a scam! Be gracious to everyone. Be vigilant to anything suspicious and change your passwords often!

A long story that you just couldn’t make up!

We are so grateful to Homer and all at Chase who helped us today. So impressed with all they did to protect us. Let us all pray this Odyssey is over.

Blessing # 374 – Checks and Balances

We all know the old adage Home is Where the Heart Is. So where would this be for you?

Is it the place of your birth or the place you live today? Maybe they are one and the same which makes it maybe easier to answer.

Some have had the chance to live in many different places even like us in many parts of the world.

Often the period spent in one of these locations was known to be of limited duration.

Whether it is for this reason or the fact that there are still many ties with family and friends in Ireland to this day I still refer to it as home.

As soon as a trip is booked I’ll call my besties in Belfast and tell them we’re booked to come home.

What is it we are looking for in that magical place? The familiarity of the accent, the ability to blend right in or is it something more primeval? One thing for sure growing up on a small island you come to know the smell of the sea.

No mountain in Switzerland or Great Lake in the USA or any tower in France or wall in China could ever be as dear as the Irish Sea to me.

Blessing #373 – Roots

Stop now if you think this might be about pot. It’s not.

With all the rain we have had in the past weeks we are now in the business of making hay.

The grass is growing so fast we can watch it get higher by the hour. Unfortunately we cannot get it cut or dried because the sun isn’t shining.

The sump pump ran a lot last night to keep our basement dry. Unlike many in the state we are fortunate to be just soggy not flooded. Good times for mushrooms and ducks!

Grass is amazing stuff. Would we or could we exist without it? The foundation of farming the grandparent of grain.

Most amazing of all the source of cellulose that the ruminants transform into energy and ultimately milk and meat.

As a Ph.D student I worked in the department of Agriculture and got very attached to the cows and sheep. Mucking then out was not so stinky as the hen house.

They were affectionate and sweet and got to know who’d give them a handful of grass or concentrate. Truly lovable.

Such huge and magnificent beasts it’s amazing that they can get by on grass alone all thanks to those four stomachs they have and the little bugs that live in them.

No one who has experience of ruminants can ever doubt the amazing gift of grass. That green ability to take suns light and convert it to energy. Miraculous!

Blessing #372 – Ruminations

Aaron started work a year ago at a hotel about ten miles from our home.

He has worked the breakfast shift, been the pool cleaner, done housekeeping and even swept the parking lot during winter snows. Apart from one day when we had a level three snow emergency and he couldn’t leave the house he has never missed a day or been late.

His regular job on Saturday and Sunday is doing the laundry. These are usually busy days and sometimes he has to work overtime. He never complains.

Since school stopped he is now working a full forty hour week. Yesterday he was  excited because he is being trained on the front desk.

He was working night shift starting at eight in the evening and home at four thirty this morning. When he came home I heard the garage door open. He let Dibley out and when I sneaked in to check how it had gone. He was talking to Dibley telling him to be quiet and he’d see him later.

In just one year thanks to this job he has grown in many ways. Not just the basic skills of cooking, cleaning, making beds but also the growth in self confidence that he can make a living and work hard.

It makes us very happy for him and to see him grown into the lovely young man that he is.

Blessing # 371 – Life Lessons

 

There is so much talk in the USA at the minute about low carb diets that we decided we’d give it a go as one of our family experiments.

We are not even for one moment attempting to go Keto and eliminate all carbs as we like our milk and yogurt too much for that.

For the past two weeks though we haven’t had any breakfast cereal, rice or pasta which is like a revolution in our house. Bread has been restricted to just a few occasions and we’ve had potatoes once.

It really is quite a challenge. We have been making morning smoothies, eating lots of salad which is good, fruit is limited largely to tomatoes, oranges and strawberries and we have gone nuts when it comes to snacking. Not a single potato chip, nachos or French Fry has passed our lips.

Desserts are a big challenge. We’ve had strawberries and cream so often we are unlikely to accept any invitation to a Royal garden party in the near future! Sugar free puddings are OK but we did crack a few times and eat ice-cream.

Meat of course is easy especially for a carnivore like Aaron. It’s the old ovoid option though that has become the new staple

We are boiling, frying, scrambling, omeletting even egg drop souping them! They are really quite versatile and with a good dollop of butter or blue cheese dressing quite tasty too.

So what do we miss most? Probably the pasta for Aaron, the rice for Krishna and the spud for me.

We are not counting calories and Krishna and I have stayed stable on weight but Aaron has dropped some. No yolks though we still plan to scramble to beat him through a combination of  diet and eggercise!

Blessing # 370 – Cracking Up!

 

Well that worked out well to have D on Dads Day!

Its lovely to see all the posts of friends and family on this special occasion when we celebrate Fathers.

Some are young and having their first experience of this moment others are old hands at being Dads but will be thinking no doubt where did that time go since that kid was just a baby?

Aaron and his Dad do quite a bit together. Talk politics, shop, cook and take in the world.

Never though have they gone hunting. That is until today.

When Aaron came back from work he found a snake in the garage so off the two went to find the beast.

 

Alas it is still on the loose but has contributed to one of the more memorable Fathers Day “outings”

I’ve just finished reading Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. It is the sequel of To Kill A Mockingbird Bird. A surprising book it gives some more insights into one of the most iconic Fathers in literature Atticus Finch and the relationship he has with his daughter.

 

Aaron and I went to visit Monroeville where Harper Lee lived and wrote these books. This visit made the book even more impactful as it was so easy to picture the scene of each event.

The book uncovers differences in opinions between father and daughter and ends in a huge argument. It is most likely that each of us goes through a similar passage at some point in our lives.

What is reassuring is the role the childless Uncle Jack plays as peace maker. He explains that at some point all children see that their Father is human. This invariably involves some difference of opinion and some friction. The key according to Uncle Jack is to listen and not to run away!

Keep hunting if not for snakes for justice!

Blessing #369 – Growing Together