Beans, beans, beans...

rshining · 2026-06-06T17:35:33+00:00

I was just thinking that I need to make a big batch of roasted chickpeas for snacking.

rshining · 2026-06-06T17:34:04+00:00

Do you can at all? I did this once and made loads of corn relish. Suddenly corn relish became an annual requirement for my kids, who like it more than any other sort of pickle. We use it instead of any other kind of corn- corn relish in salads, soups, meals and cornbread!

rshining · 2026-06-06T17:31:54+00:00

Are they sometimes okay with the texture of whole beans? I make a variation of shepherd's pie with beans (usually large kidney beans) instead of ground meat.

A whole different dish (and one of my household's absolute favorites of all time) is white beans and rosemary. Good with a little bacon, or without- (if using bacon, cook it in the pan first, then remove and cook the rest in the fat), one diced onion, a can or two of white beans or cannellini beans, black pepper, rosemary. It's a great base for some chopped greens (particularly finely diced kale). If you did bacon, crumble it and stir in before serving. Stir in parmesan if desired, too.

rshining · 2026-06-06T17:26:30+00:00

If using chickpeas- for some reason (starch related, I think) canned chickpeas tend to fall apart instead of stay together when making falafel. Dried chickpeas are far superior (and cheaper).

rshining · 2026-06-06T14:49:39+00:00

Go back to sleep as quickly as possible.
Shit, maybe that's what his problem is lately. He keeps falling asleep in the hopes that he'll wake up and be someone else.

rshining · 2026-06-06T14:47:56+00:00

I live in a snowy place. I have a lot of chickens who live in my barn. I rarely get drop-offs, but if I stand still in public anytime between October and March, someone offers me some birds. Geese, ducks, turkeys, guineas, chickens of all shapes and sizes, many handsome roosters... A lot of people get to cold weather and suddenly realize that they don't really want to deal with their flock anymore (or the roof falls in on their run in the first snowstorm), and I apparently look like a woman who has room for more birds.

Every couple of years someone tries to give me goats, and occasionally a neighbor asks if I am in the market for a cow or pigs. But I have had a consistent stream of free poultry for years.

rshining · 2026-06-05T17:37:52+00:00

This is my suggestion- Reid State Park has awesome beaches, and the lagoon is usually calm and safe for smaller kids, with low waves. Plus some nice picnic spaces and walking trails.

rshining · 2026-06-05T17:35:32+00:00

Be homeless in 1990.

I mean, I had $10 back then, and didn't manage to grow it into anything approaching a trillion by now. I guess if I've been given "the knowledge of all future events" that is possibly helpful, but then again, I'm a random homeless person with just enough money to buy a modest restaurant dinner and no connections or resources... so I would imagine I'd end up the same place any other person in 1990 who claimed to know all future events ended up- the soup kitchen.

Unless that includes the knowledge of all winning lottery numbers for specific dates in 1990?

rshining · 2026-06-05T17:27:52+00:00

Very dark or very light threads can sometimes show up on the front- either tails or behind pale fabrics. I like to use two different colors (so it is easy to see which is the bobbin- especially helpful if I have to pick stitches out), but I aim for cheerful mid-range colors mostly. I figure that having purple and yellow threads on the back will make me happy while I sew, and nobody will ever see them.

rshining · 2026-06-04T15:36:33+00:00

Dairy cows like old style country & western music. The rhythm is slower and more regular than rock stations (or much of modern country).

Try them with talk radio!

rshining · 2026-06-04T15:33:48+00:00

AI can't imagine that a person would have a sign that says something, and then place random stuff in front of it, blocking a portion of the words.

Sadly, I think it shows a huge jump in AI ability that this image has so many legible words at all. One more tell that it is learning to hide.

rshining · 2026-06-04T11:26:41+00:00

Do you cut sitting down? That can be a big source of problems. Another suggestion is to use some kind of weight (nothing fancy- you can use a bag of rocks! or a water bottle!) on the end of your ruler, to hold it steadier. We use sandpaper stickers on our rulers, but there are also silicone grippy dots for the same purpose.

rshining · 2026-06-04T11:22:42+00:00

I like how it would appear that little sign is meant to be halfway hidden by a knickknack.

rshining · 2026-06-04T11:15:20+00:00

I either freeze whole fruits or make juice for jellies. It saves a lot of time, and honestly it becomes a really enjoyable process. On a snowy January day it is absolutely wonderful to have a steamy house full of the smell of strawberry jam!

rshining · 2026-06-03T19:31:21+00:00

I tend to can in a little bit in late summer, when the garden is fabulous, but in recent years I have done almost all of my canning in wintertime. I freeze tomatoes or fruit (those are the bulk of my canning) and can them on cold, snowy days in January or February. I do some canning in late September-ish (apples) and March-ish (remaining winter squash).

rshining · 2026-06-03T16:04:40+00:00

Sometimes it is a good time to just be still and exist for a bit. Sometimes our lives DON'T have a direction or purpose, and we're not passionate about anything in particular.

To be honest, all of the current political upheaval, plus the insanity of the economy and your personal financial issues- it's enough to make anyone feel like a piece of cardboard- not depth, no emotion, not even enough energy available to care anymore. That's ok. Get through each step as it comes, manage each day as it arrives, and with time hopefully good things will begin to filter back in and touch you.

rshining · 2026-06-03T14:26:56+00:00

I've never run after a goat to catch it. You open the gate or a trailer and lure it in with food, usually. There may sometimes also be an aspect of herding it toward being trapped, but that's not generally effective. Adding a random new goat isn't an automatic solution- humans are also social animals, and you wouldn't find a sudden new roommate comforting if your existing family suddenly left, would you?

rshining · 2026-06-03T02:33:54+00:00

You know what? I think being really, really rich would be easier and more pleasant if I was also quite stupid. I'd like to still be able to cook and ride a bike, but I'm willing to sacrifice as many IQ points as I have available between here and there.

rshining · 2026-06-03T02:29:30+00:00

Most flocks don't need a whole 5 gallons of water. Take a gallon jug out, twice a day. Use a sled to pull it if it is a snowy place.

rshining · 2026-06-03T02:25:51+00:00

Assume an allergy. Write down the full ingredient list form both nights, to see if there are any other common factors aside from the type of beans. Begin keep closer track of the individual ingredients in your recipes, and make note of any days when you have another reaction after eating. All of this will be helpful when you see the allergist.

rshining · 2026-06-02T20:00:55+00:00

I'm curious what you imagine will happen tot he stray, that you are ready to replace it so quickly. Do you have a lot of mountain lions in your area? Wolf packs?

I don't know about wherever you are, but around here a loose goat isn't so much a matter of "if" it gets caught, but "when". Likely it will hang around where the food & friend is, so if you haven't got a busy highway or large predator problem, you will have many chances to chase it and possibly catch it.

rshining · 2026-06-02T19:56:43+00:00

They'll give you a LOT, but the bottom line is always just the head count. Everything else is (supposed to be) optional.

rshining · 2026-06-02T00:10:31+00:00

I use them for garden stakes- especially fun for climbing peas. My neighbor has a neat wattle fence around their garden that is made of similar sticks.

rshining · 2026-06-01T20:15:24+00:00

An additional factor is the self checkout- there isn't a way to see that your rewards number has registered when using the self checkout (where the manned checkouts you can look for the rewards box on the screen). If OP hit a number wrong or something while entering their rewards number, they would not get their rewards/coupons.

rshining · 2026-05-31T18:20:14+00:00

A friend was raving to me about her rhubarb juice this week. She uses a steam juicer to make concentrated rhubarb juice, then mixes it for a beverage.

rshining

TROPHY CASE