Blogging in the Comics

One of my favorite comic strips to read is Zits. I actually have a Zits daily calendar that I religiously look at every single morning when I come down for breakfast.

For those of you not familiar with this comic strip, it's about a middle-aged set of parents, Connie and Walt, and their 15 year old son, Jeremy. It's appropriate for me at this time because my wife and I have a 16 year old son and can relate to most of what's in the comic.

In one particular comic, the parents and the son are having dinner when Jeremy says, "I have a good idea." Of course the parents look up from their food as Jeremy continues, "If you two would start a blog, you could post all of the long, boring stories you would ordinarily tell at dinner. Then I could read them on my own time and we could eat dinner in peace."

Shocked, the mother says, "If we're not going to talk, why bother even eating together?" to which the son responds, "There's another good idea!"

If you have a teenage son, try reading Zits for a while. It can be found here:

http://www.arcamax.com/zits

Celebrity Reality TV Shows

I've never been one to be awed by celebrities. Apparently I'm in the minority with all the celebrity reality shows on TV now. The latest to hit the tube are Denise Richards and Lindsay Lohan. I couldn't care less.

Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey were divorced before I knew about their show, Newlyweds.

I've never watched Scott Baio nor do I care what age he's turning.

I never watched Anna Nicole Smith or any of her drug induced shenanigans.

I never watched Ozzy Osbourne or any of his drug induced sheningans.

Hulk Hogan's show was as fake as wrestling itself.

I didn't live the simple life with Paris and Nicole.

I didn't go to college with Tommy Lee.

Hey Paula, your show was off the air before I even knew it existed.

Never seen Gene Simmons family jewels (but I understand that lots of women have).

I just don't get it. What's the fascination with these has-been celebrities who are trying to revive their careers?

Maybe somebody can fill me in on why people watch these shows. Until then..........

Peace out,

Rev Run

Homemade Ice Cream

One of the traditions we've created with our family is making homemade ice cream during summer holidays. I guess what we really make is custard, though, since the recipe has eggs in it. We've had a great time over the past several years making the ice cream with our kids and then inviting the neighbors over to sit on the deck and share.

A few years ago, the kids decided that plain vanilla was boring and that we needed to spice it up with something mixed in. We've tried candy bars, cookies, M&M's and all other candies for our ice cream but to me the best we've ever had is Oreos. We simply crush them with a rolling pin in a plastic bag so it's pretty fine. After we've eaten several Oreo cookies, we make the ice cream mix. Here's the recipe that we've used for years and the best we have been able to find:

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs
2 Tablespoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 cups whipping cream
1/4 teaspoons salt
Milk (about 5 cups or so)
1/2 bag Oreos

DIRECTIONS

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until their foamy. Gradually add in the sugar and beat it until it thickens. Add the whipping cream, vanilla and salt and mix it thoroughly.

Pour this mix into the freezer can. Add milk up to the fill line on the can and stir it so it's consistent.

I usually start the ice cream freezer and let it run for 10-15 minutes before I put in the crushed Oreos. If you put in the Oreos at the beginning, they tend to fall to the bottom.

Let me know if any of you try this recipe or if you've got a different one.

By the way, the most surprising look to the ice cream came when we used mini M&M's once. We had expected the ice cream to be very colorful. What we didn't know was that as the ice cream was mixing, the outer coating comes off the M&M's, leaving just the chocalate inside remaining. Of course, the mixture of the colored coating was about like dipping the easter egg in every color so it turned out a lovely shade of brown.

Mowing grass

There's been a fair amount of talk on different blogs about moving up the mower blade and leaving your grass a little high. I've done this for a few years and can tell you that it works very well. My grass is very healthy and it certainly keeps the weeds from being able to germinate.

When we moved into this house last year, there were a fair number of dandelions in the yard. My wife enjoys going around and spraying dandelions with Weed-B-Gone so I let her have all the fun she wanted. The previous owners had kept the yard fairly short but I kept my mower blade up as high as it would go as I had done at the previous house. This year I probably only ever saw maybe a dozen dandelions!

Now this can be carried to extremes. I won't tell you who did this because they might be a bit embarrassed but they have the same initials as my mom and dad. As a matter of fact, they just happen to have the same names as my mom and dad!

Since they spend about half the year in Florida anymore, they didn't return until just after May 1 this year. Normally, they had had somebody mow their yard until they returned but for some reason decided not to do so this year. Of course, when they got home, the grass was about knee-high. Knowing that the riding lawn mower wouldn't be able to cut the grass, my dad jumped on his tractor, attached the bush hog and started cutting his yard. After he got it to a manageable height, he got out his riding lawn mower and cut the yard like normal.

I was down at their house this past weekend for my niece's high school graduation. Their grass is more lush and green than normal. And my dad says he hasn't seen a dandelion yet this year!

Maybe the quality of their yard comes from the fact that it's been very wet and cool this spring but I'm attributing it to their mowing height. By the way, this bush hogging of your front yard works well when you live in the country without neighbors within view. I certainly wouldn't recommend it for those who live in town.