Cassie-b

April Calendar

Well, tomorrow is April Fool's day. I never remeber, and usually get caught at least once, but it's all in good fun.

Here is a calendar of April's unusual holidays

See anything worth celebrating?
Have a Happy April

Is this for real?

I just got an email message from these folks (sent to my personal email account) asking me to update my account.

I don't have an account.

Do you think this is a scam? I didn't open the email message.

Octopus Surprise

By walking on two arms, Indian Ocean Octopuses are able to move quickly while using their other arms to disguise themselves as a clump of algae tiptoeing away.

I’m pretty sure I’d recognize them even in disguise.

Octopuses, known for using camouflage to avoid predators, have been observed apparently trying to sneak away.
Two kinds of octopus were seen to use different ways of walking along the sea floor, researchers were reporting in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

This locomotion differs from their normal crawling, which usually involves several arms sprawling around the body, using the suckers to push and pull the animal along."

The researchers have videotaped the animals, one the size of a walnut and the other the size of an apple, "walking".

Walking on two legs, or arms, makes sense for an octopus, Ms Huffard's team said.

How old is your dog?

A popular old wives' tale claims that one year of a dog's life is equal to seven human years.

This has been proven to be false.

For example, dogs are capable of reproducing at around one year of age, but a seven year old child is far from mature.

Veterinarians have now come up with a much more realistic comparison between human and dog years.

Here’s a chart to tell you how old your dog is in human years.

Here’s a picture of the dog I’d like to own – soon.

Is she cute, or what?

Rainy Day - Great for Museum visits

Since the first day of spring was cold and rainy here, we decided to do something indoors. We went to this museum. There are a couple of nice audio tours at this website.

We like to visit the museum about once a year or so, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

After a nice long visit, we left, and went to a diner for lunch. The sign on the diner said "Open 25 hours" I just want to know which 25 hours they were talking about.

All in all, it was a very nice day.
A good way to welcome Spring.

Posted by cassie-b at 04:01 PM | Comments (14)

True Love

I was talking to a co-worker this morning, and she told me her "happily ever after story".

She re-met a childhood friend after not seeing him for 38 years. He had never married, and she was no longer married and had a couple of children.

After they re-aquainted themselves, he told her that he's loved her all his life.
Now they've just celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary, and when she was telling me this story, she had stars in her eyes.

Such a sweet story.

How romantic.

They both work in the same building of our large company,
and I often see them having lunch together.

Posted by cassie-b at 04:38 PM | Comments (18)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Any Irish folk out there?
Count me in!

A bit more of the Irish

I decided that I wanted to make Irish Soda Bread for St. Patty's day, but didn't want to do it the hard way.

So I went to my favorite cookbook, the internet, and found this recipe that I'll be trying for tomorrow night's dinner. The recipe is even listed for 3 sizes of breadmakers. Mine uses the medium size, (listed here) and the ingredients for the other two sizes are in the extended entry.

Irish Soda Bread For Breadmaker

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

---SMALL CAPACITY MACHINE--- 1/2 c water 1 tb butter or margarine 1 tb sugar 1/2 ts salt 1/4 ts baking soda 1 tb caraway seeds 1 1/2 c bread flour 1 1/2 ts buttermilk powder 1 ts yeast 1/4 c raisins

---LARGE CAPACITY MACHINE--- 1 c water 2 tb butter or margarine 2 tb sugar 1 ts salt 1/2 ts baking soda 2 ts caraway seeds 3 c bread flour 3 tb buttermilk powder 2 1/2 ts yeast 1/2 c raisins

2nd Annual Chieftan's Concert

Last year we went with friends to the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia with to see the Chieftans

We enjoyed the day so much, that we did it again this year and we went with 3 other couples. If anything, we had an even better time.

We had an Irish brunch at The Plough & The Stars Pub in Philadelphia. It was really good food, Irish style.

After the concert, we all went to our friends’ house and had Irish Stew for dinner.

All in all, it was a really terrific day!

The Honesty Room

If you’re missing Buzz, who unfortunately for all of us has decided that blogging is a part of his past, you might want to check in on The Honesty Room.

He has picked up the unusual trivia that Buzz did so well, and is doing a great job.

Scary Drive Home

I left work at noon today, because when I looked out the window, the snow was so thick and blowing so hard, I could hardly see. And the weather report only promised more of the same, but colder.

The roads were pretty bad, and the wind didn't help. At one intersection a car was sliding sideways, and managed to stop about 10 feet from the front of my car. I did some slipping and sliding myself.

It took me about an hour to get home versus the normal 15-20 minutes. And I have an all wheel drive car, which is usually really good in the snow.

If you're in a snowy place, please be careful driving.

Cold Weather Food

I'm really hoping the cold weather is coming to an end here in Bucks County PA. I've certainly had enough of the cold mornings driving to work.

I just made a pot of "cold weather" food, and hopefully won't be making it again this season. I think this is a particularly easy recipe. It only takes 10 minutes or so to get everything into the crockpot.

CHILI IN THE CROCKPOT
2 sweet onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 -2 pounds hamburger
2-4 Tablespoons chili powder
2 cans (16 oz. ea.) tomatoes (I used frozen tomatoes - from my garden)
1 can tomato paste
2 cans beans your choice (I like to use black beans)
1 chopped red or green bell pepper
salt and pepper

optional: shredded cheese, chopped onion and/or sour cream for topping

Cook onions and garlic in 2 Tbs. oil for about 5 minutes. Add hamburger and cook till browned. Stir in chili powder and cook 2 minutes more.

Meanwhile, in crockpot, combine remaining ingredients. Stir in browned meat mixture. Cover and cook on Low setting for 8-10 hours.

I really enjoy a good bowl of chili on a cold day,
but would happily exchange it for a salad and a warm day.

Happy Anniversary Don

I can't believe it's been 9 years!
Sometimes it seems like a forever thing
and sometimes it seems like we were married just a short time ago.

March Holidays

If you are in need of additional days for celebration to get you through the month of March, here's a list that may help.

I'm especially looking forward to March 26.
I wonder if any of these holidays looks especially interesting to you.