#might be going to anime midwest too which is a surprise but The Opportunity Is There | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

drtanstravels · 5 years

Text

When I finished my previous post we had wrapped up the Midwest Ocular Angiography Conference at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Jackson, Wyoming the previous night and were just about to begin the holiday leg of our trip through the Pacific Northwest of the USA.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019 We had our lunch at the Four Seasons with Tony, the pharmaceutical representative from Chicago we had met at the conference, and now it was time for us to hit the road. We got in our white, rental Toyota Corolla and it needs to be said, Anna does a great job of driving on the opposite side of the road and there were some confusing roads and intersections to deal with in this area. Wifi was almost nonexistent so we had to either try and make the most of the one bar of connection we had while in a town to find our destination on Google Maps or simply resort to paper maps, something I would have to do a lot over the coming days in order to navigate, making me sometimes feel more than a little carsick. In fact things were so remote we couldn’t even get a radio reception and it looked like we’d just be listening to static for the next couple of hours until I was finally able to get my phone to pair with the car’s stereo via bluetooth, allowing us to listen to the music I had saved on iTunes. If we had to rely on Spotify, we would’ve been screwed. It really didn’t take that long to make our way deeper into Grand Teton National Park, where we would be spending that night:

Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately 310,000 acres (480 sq mi; 130,000 ha; 1,300 km2), the park includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Along with surrounding national forests, these three protected areas constitute the almost 18,000,000-acre (7,300,000 ha) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world’s largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems.

The human history of the Grand Teton region dates back at least 11,000 years, when the first nomadic hunter-gatherer Paleo-Indians began migrating into the region during warmer months pursuing food and supplies. In the early 19th century, the first white explorers encountered the eastern Shoshone natives.

Grand Teton National Park is an almost pristine ecosystem and the same species of flora and fauna that have existed since prehistoric times can still be found there. More than 1,000 species of vascular plants, dozens of species of mammals, 300 species of birds, more than a dozen fish species and a few species of reptiles and amphibians inhabit the park.

One of many meese in the area

To be honest, neither Anna nor myself is particularly interested in fly-fishing, which is extremely popular there, but we do like the outdoors, hiking, and checking out the wildlife so we would be doing plenty of that over the coming days. In fact, we learnt an easy way for spotting animals almost immediately; if you see a whole heap of cars pulled over on the side of the road and a bunch of people staring and pointing into the distance, there is usually something worth pulling over and seeing. On the first occasion it was a female moose (above, right) grazing in a small body of water. It was obviously female, because it didn’t have antlers, but this got us immediately wondering if there might be more moose around, particularly male ones. Then I got a little irritated when it occured to me that the moose is a member of the deer family so the name is an invariant, the plural form still being “moose”, not “meese.” It seemed like such a wasted opportunity, but never mind, that wouldn’t stop me from referring to them as “meese.” Nothing could.

Another stop en route to our destination would be Jenny Lake, a popular hiking area through some of the tallest peaks in the Teton Range, in order to trek a portion of the Cascade Canyon Trail. We would take a boat, the humorously named “Beaver Dick Leigh” (which I later discovered was named after Richard “Beaver Dick” Leigh), from South Jenny Lake across to the the entrance of Cascade Canyon and hike up to the well-signposted Hidden Falls, then past the Jaw and the Rock of Ages, down to Lake Solitude, along the way passing that family from Oregon with whom we went whitewater rafting the previous day and Anna having to keep the sole attached to a busted hiking shoe with a hair-tie, before finally making our way back down to Jenny Lake and catching the “Beaver Dick Leigh” back across to our car. Besides squirrels, we didn’t really see any wildlife, but the scenery was pretty spectacular. See for yourself:

Entering Grand Teton National Park

Token panoramic shot

Our ride across the lake

And we’re off

It looks cold but it surprisingly wasn’t

I guess that’s one way to stop lake pirates

Almost there

following the river

Hidden Falls isn’t all that hidden

I’m dressed like I work there

The beginning of the trail

Still going

Anna getting a bit ahead of me

Not a bad way of spending an afternoon

One of many squirrels we would see

Looking down on some trees

Teton Range

We didn’t encounter any bears… yet!

To say the water is clear would be like saying it is also damp

Now that we were done with the hiking we had to find our way to the ranch where we were staying. That’s right, ranch. We were staying at the Heart Six Guest Ranch, which claims to be “One of the oldest dude ranches in America,” located just outside Grand Teton National Park and right near the south gate of Yellowstone National Park. Another fact to add was that the ranch stunk strongly of horse manure, an odour that you could almost taste, one that never disappeared, but also one that permeated everything until you just became acclimatised to it. One good thing about staying in this region is that it stays light until about 9:30pm each night so we didn’t have to worry about locating the ranch in the dark, but when we eventually found it, we were surprised to also see covered wagons and teepees on the grounds. We would definitely have to explore them a bit more in the morning, because I want to know how Native Americans could tolerate the cold nights here in just a teepee! When we arrived we checked in, noting the wildly swinging ceiling fan in the ranch’s reception, along with the multitude of mosquitoes and other insects in the general vicinity. Once done we didn’t go to our room, instead opting to drive down to a nearby river in the hope of seeing some animals, as dusk is apparently the prime time for spotting wildlife. Unfortunately, we didn’t encounter a whole lot, just a couple of female deer enthusiastically spotted in the distance by some fellow tourists, a large, slowly moving mound on the opposite bank of the river that was apparently a beaver (but realistically it could’ve been almost anything), and some spiders. I did, however, manage to snap the photo of the mountains with the purple sky that I used for the featured image for this post while we were there.

We returned to the “Dude Ranch” and asked the guy working in reception where there was to eat. There were apparently two options, one of which the receptionist said in no uncertain terms was “shit.” We walked outside and there was a man in a cowboy hat passing us so we asked him for his recommendation, to which he replied the other option out of the two was “shit.” We weren’t expecting to find ourselves in a culinary hotspot, but in our experience there people were more willing to tell you which was the worst out of the two restaurants, as opposed to which one they preferred, and thus far the consensus was split 50/50. Not a good sign so we opted for the closest which was on the grounds of the ranch — It was shit. There was probably only about 15 minutes until the kitchen closed and there was a family on a table behind us where the mother, similar in appearance to what you see in ‘Karen’ memes, was going to snap. She was constantly complaining to our waiter and bitching at her kids, but it was the waiter that I felt bad for. This tall, gangly guy with long, blonde hair in a ponytail with a fringe, a curly moustache, and suspenders over a t-shirt was frazzled — It can’t be easy being the only hipster in a tiny town, as well as the only employee in the town’s restaurant. When the family was ordering, the mother asked if there were any gluten-free options, to which the waiter replied that nothing they serve would be truly gluten-free, because they cook everything on the same grill and don’t really clean it. She just let out an audible, dissatisfied sigh and ordered a random dish. I’m not sure if he was cooking the food too, but it took quite a while to come out and it most likely wasn’t because they were busy cleaning in the kitchen. That family were there first so their food arrived before ours and the mother still wasn’t happy, going on a rant about the poor quality of their dinner. Ours eventually arrived and it was pretty bad too; a tough steak each and french fries that weren’t just crunchy, but hard as if they had kept all of the leftover, uneaten fries aside over the course of the evening and then refried them all at the end for our meals — It’s pretty hard to screw up fries, but they managed somehow. Still, we just smiled and gnawed on our steaks and crunched our fries, because we didn’t want to ruin the waiter’s night any further, he seemed close to tears.

Once we had got through the bulk of our dinner we decided to have a look around this part of the ranch, including the lounge area and the bar. As had been the case in Jackson and is probably a theme running through all ranches, there was a heap more taxidermy within those walls. Inside the lounge there was a kid being shown how to play pool by an older man, people sitting around reading books, and a stoned-looking guy admiring a stuffed animal head mounted on the wall, looking at it in the same way that a person takes in a renaissance masterpiece in a European museum. He giggled and pointed out to me that it had a weird horn in the middle of its head that would block its vision when it looked to the side. I mentioned that its eyes were on the sides of it head so it probably wouldn’t have had true peripheral vision anyway and the horn could just be the result of poor taxidermy. He seemed to take this onboard and continued to study this felled beast. Anna and I decided to take in other areas of the building such as the small bar with incredibly uncomfortable looking saddles on top of the barstools, when the guy staring at the head came running up, appearing relieved to have finally located me. “It’s a caribou!” he yelled while laughing hysterically, obviously having asked someone else, because he wouldn’t have been able to Google it unless he could get on one of the two occupied computers in the lounge.

We weren’t going to be staying in a teepee or a covered wagon, we just went up to our ugly room and hit the sack for the night. We were told when we checked in that the rooms in the part we were staying had only just been completed and when we got up there we saw that it was really basic; the walls were just plywood and everything appeared to be unfinished and really cheaply done so we could hear everything happening in the neighbouring rooms, all the while trying to make contact with as few surfaces as possible in order to avoid getting splinters. It also smelled of turpentine and there wasn’t a TV or wifi for a distraction so we just showered and went to sleep. A look around the ranch and our room:

Part of the outside area of our ranch at dusk

Me in the ranch’s restaurant with the angry mum behind me

Anna from the other side of the restaurant

Inside the lounge area

Some heads on the wall

The caribou with its weird centre horn

Inside the bar

Those stools don’t look comfortable at all

Our bed for the night

Thursday, July 11, 2019 Maybe it was just the jet-lag catching up with me, but I had a mild epileptic seizure that morning in my sleep. It wasn’t anything major, I still remember waking up immediately afterward and snoring heavily while trying to get back to sleep, but it would leave me feeling kind of lethargic, however, I wasn’t going to let it prevent me from making the most of the day. We also couldn’t sleep much, because there was construction going on outside our room from the early morning onward, as well as people speaking loudly just outside.

We knew that the restaurant in the ranch was terrible and we hadn’t heard sparkling reviews about our only other option so we didn’t bother with breakfast, we just went down to a convenience store, breathing in the fragrance of horse shit the entire way and passing our waiter from the previous night, a defeated-looking man now hanging out towels. We just hoped for better results than the last time we were in a convenience store and we didn’t do too badly, just a couple of average cups of coffee and I grabbed a Hunter’s Reserve Roadkill meat stick. It may sound like a bad double entendre and due to the word “roadkill” being a registered trademark, I have my doubts that it did contain any actual roadkill, however, “meat from feral swine” was one of the listed ingredients. Anyway, I ate the roadkill stick and stuck the wrapper in my pocket, because there were no bins around. We did one last look around, taking in the covered wagons and teepees around Heart Six Ranch and was surprised to see that they were actually quite modern on the inside, almost to the extent of our room, except for the fact that the people staying in them needed to use a communal toilet, something that is kind of a dealbreaker for Anna and I. A better look around the ranch in the light of day:

This doesn’t just apply to cowboys, there is crap EVERYWHERE!

The wagon accommodation

That’s where the smell is coming from

Some of the teepees

I don’t think it would be big enough in one of those for the both of us

So long, poop ranch

About to gnaw on some “Roadkill”

Before long we were back in the car, bound for the world famous Yellowstone National Park (no, not Jellystone):

Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular features. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. The caldera is considered an active volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million years. Half of the world’s geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone.

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States.

That all sounds pretty cool and if you took the time to read that Yellowstone background information, you would have seen that it mentioned a geyser called Old Faithful, the eruption of which we wanted to witness that day:

Old Faithful is a cone geyser located in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, United States. It is a highly predictable geothermal feature, and has erupted every 44 to 125 minutes since 2000.

Eruptions can shoot 3,700 to 8,400 US gallons (14,000 to 32,000 L) of boiling water to a height of 106 to 185 feet (32 to 56 m) lasting from 11⁄2 to 5 minutes. The average height of an eruption is 145 feet (44 m).

The time between eruptions has a bimodal distribution, with the mean interval being either 65 or 91 minutes, and is dependent on the length of the prior eruption. Within a margin of error of ±10 minutes, Old Faithful will erupt either 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than 21⁄2 minutes, or 91 minutes after an eruption lasting more than 21⁄2 minutes.

The drive to Yellowstone took us through some gorgeous scenery, bringing us within six miles (10 km) of the Idaho state line, through mountains and alongside rivers until we were finally where we needed to be. Old Faithful wasn’t due to erupt for another 30 minutes or so when we arrived, but remember there is a ±10 minute margin of error, meaning it could be anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes. We had a look around the stores nearby, used the bathroom and grabbed a drink, then we went outside and pulled up a seat on the wooden, colosseum-like benches and waited for the show to begin:

Anna killing time

A lot of people show up to see this thing erupt

youtube

Once the geyser had finished doing its thing the bulk of people watching began applauding for some reason, however, a lot of people here do that when their plane lands as well and you know for a fact that that pilot has successfully landed every single flight he’s flown. Others complained that the geyser was three minutes early which was kind of amusing, mainly because it doesn’t follow a set schedule, rather people make educated guesses with reasonable accuracy as to when it will erupt and within three minutes is a pretty decent guess.

We then spent the bulk of the day hiking around the grounds, although this left me a little breathless at times, probably a combination of the altitude and the seizure that morning, but we saw some incredible sights. Photos don’t do justice to hydrothermal features so before I post the pictures from around the park, I’ll add some more videos of individual ones we came across:

youtube

Anna and a pool

Me on a pathway

A closeup of the pool

Looking over the general vicinity

Another closeup

Something erupting

Overlooking some of the pathways

That’s a really bright flower!

Once we were done in Yellowstone National Park it was time to start driving toward the state of Montana, our home for the next couple of nights, and twice along the way we saw a bunch of cars pulled over to the side and people staring out at something. As I mentioned, that means there is something worth seeing and we wouldn’t be disappointed on either occasion.

First we would be stopping by one of the numerous geyser basins that follow Firehole River to see yet more hydrothermal spots. This area was crowded and the features there were incredible yet again. On this occasion I had a middle-aged guy with a big beard start laughing at my “Let’s Summon Demons” t-shirt, asking his 14-year-old daughter over to admire it. As it would turn out, she and a group of friends had recently got in a bit of trouble with both teachers and police for conducting satanic rituals and dad was more than proud, both him and his daughter wanting to find where they could get the shirt as well. Ultimately just settling for a picture with me.

We ended up stopping further along the river, this time to stop and watch and entire herd of elk that were making their way upstream. At this point we hadn’t seen a whole lot of wildlife so it was a sight for us to behold:

At the geyser basin

Flowing into the river

This shirt got me a bit of love

A panoramic shot of the area

Another part upriver

Just a small portion of the elk from a distance

Some of them feeding

The next stop would be our last one for the day, we would be traveling to Bar N Ranch, but we wouldn’t be staying in their regular accommodation, not by a long shot. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, or May 23 until September 8, when there isn’t too much snow, the ranch opens Under Canvas and Anna had booked for us to go glamping in a tent in the middle of nowhere. That’s no typo, for those unaware of the term, “glamping” is a conjunction of “Glamorous Camping.” I mentioned earlier that Anna doesn’t tend to like roughing it and despite the fact we were going to be staying a tent, she would by no means be getting in touch with nature. We were going to be staying in a Stargazer tent, described on their website as:

Stargazer

The Stargazer has its own viewing window above the king bed to stargaze at night. The ensuite bathroom in your tent includes a shower, sink and toilet. A wood stove keeps the tent warm at night and a private deck allows you to enjoy the outdoors.

Sleeps up to 4

Private bathroom

Key Features

Superior view with night sky viewing window

King size bed with luxurious linens

Private bathroom complete with shower, sink & flushing toilet

Additional camp cots and bedding can be provided for up to 2 people

Definitely an upgrade from staying in a sleeping bag under a tarpaulin, the type of camping that I was used to. Hell, it turned out our tent even had its own indoor fireplace with a sealed flue going outdoors. We drove down there, but there are a lot of cattle surrounding the entrance due to a cattlegrid stopping them exiting the premises so we couldn’t enter until a woman coaxed all of the cows away from the road. Once down the path we checked in and were chauffeur-driven in a golf cart, along with our luggage, to our super-luxurious tent and this wasn’t like anything I was expecting. We got everything arranged, then went to the main area of Bar N Ranch to have dinner, which turned out to be a great meal, and then it was back to our tent. It was a cold night and our shower had hot water, but it took a little while to kick in. Also, the only way to keep the hot water running was to be continually pulling down on a handle, otherwise it it would just cut off, leaving you standing there naked and wet on a freezing night. Anna discovered the best approach was to put soap on the sponge and toothpaste on the brush before getting in, that way you never had to release your grip on that handle. While I was in the shower, she also thought she had found some biscuits on the fireplace, but wasn’t really hungry — It was a good thing, because they turned out to be firelighters. I was pretty tired by the time I got into bed, our tent had a clear panel above the pillow area so I put on an eye-mask and we both went to sleep. This is where we would be spending the next two nights:

Waiting for the cattle to move

Anna out the front of Bar N Ranch

The view from our tent

Inside the restaurant

Another area of the restaurant

…and another

Glamp Montana

Inside our tent

Looking toward the bathroom

Anna ready for bed

Our shower

Pretty luxurious for a tent

Another part of the bathroom

Anna’s biscuits

Friday, July 12, 2019 Anna was already awake and reading by the time I awoke, which was still quite early. She hadn’t worn her eye-mask to sleep so she woke as soon as the sun rose over the clear panel above us in our tent, but no mask could block out the glare, waking me not long after and helping me avoid getting sunburnt. Factor in the jet-lag that was still affecting us and it becomes clear we yet again weren’t really destined for a long sleep.

The plan for the day was to do a little backtracking from Montana into Wyoming to Gallatin National Forest, an area near where we were the previous day, first stopping off at Gibbon Falls and then making our way down into the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone National Park for some hiking, hopefully encountering something a little bigger than an elk this time. Before we left we took a look around where we were staying, this time in the broad daylight, me realising as we were walking that the previous day I hadn’t discarded of the wrapper of my roadkill jerky, instead just stuffing it in my pocket. This wasn’t a particularly bright move because, although we were hoping to see some bears from a reasonable distance, I didn’t want the smell of meat attracting any to me directly. I’ve never even really been in a fight before so I don’t like my chances of fending off a grizzly bear, I’d more than likely just instinctively play dead. Probably should pop that wrapper in a bin. The place where we were staying felt bad about some of the food we had been served in the area so far so they allowed us to buy packed lunches from their really good restaurant and we were off. We drove down to Gibbon Falls, a waterfall currently with a drop of approximately 84 feet (26 m) and constantly growing as it erodes the rock below, and we noticed what we had seen time and time again not only the day before, but had also noticed on several previous trips spent exploring the outdoors — That a lot of women traveling from a country that shares its name with the material from which fine teacups and saucers are made choose fashion over function. We particularly noticed it in Turkey where these women would be walking around caves and other geological features wearing high end dresses and heels when hiking attire is far more appropriate, preventing injuries and allowing you to access more areas. Now a lot of them had been wandering around Yellowstone, some even rocking a pair of stilettos, and we hadn’t seen the last of them. Anyway, Gibbon Falls was really nice, here’s a look at our morning up until that point:

Anna waiting outside our tent

Some of the other tents in Under Canvas

An area for outdoor dining

Not the worst heels we saw, but still not appropriate outdoors footware

Gibbon Falls from the side

Looking over the falls

Gibbon Falls from the front

Next we were going to make our way to a kind of unnamed town in the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District, first to eat our packed lunches, then to go to the Horace Albright Visitor Center to get us some information about where we could go hiking and potentially see some big furry things. A little more about the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District, an area that looks a hell of a lot like a town, operates like a town, but apparently isn’t a town:

The Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District in Yellowstone National Park comprises the administrative center for the park. It is composed of two major parts: Fort Yellowstone, the military administrative center between 1886-1918, and now a National Historic Landmark, and a concessions district which provides food, shopping, services, and lodging for park visitors and employees.

Fort Yellowstone is a carefully ordered district of substantial buildings that clearly indicate their military origins. The U.S. Army administered the park from 1886 to 1918 when administration was transferred to National Park Service. The park headquarters is now housed in the original double cavalry barracks (constructed in 1909). The Horace Albright Visitor Center is located in the old bachelors’ officers quarters (constructed in 1909).

The concessions district contrasts with the military district, with a less formal arrangement and style and includes the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Dining Room, a gas station, and retail stores. The Yellowstone Main Post Office, itself on the National Register of Historic Places sits just north of Fort Yellowstone. The residential area includes houses designed by architect Robert Reamer.

So despite having a residential area, retail stores, and even a post office, it still doesn’t qualify as a town, just a “Concessions District.” That explains why I was so confused trying to figure out the location when I first started writing this part of this post, even the locations on the photos I took aren’t accurate.

Anyway, as we were driving into the town concessions district our path to the main parking area was obstructed by a couple of deer making their way across in front of us, which was not a bad start. We ate our packed lunches from Under Canvas then, as we were making our way to the Visitor Center we had to walk pass the town concessions district square, a patch of grass between the two main streets that was teeming with female elk, all just hanging around, some laying down, others eating. I took some pictures, but as I went in to get a slightly closer shot I was accosted by a park ranger. “You must remain 25 yards or 22.8 metres away from all wildlife at all times!” he screamed in a well-rehearsed fashion, but you would think that if it were really that important they would put up at least one sign in the town concessions district. In fact, the only place it was even mentioned was on a flyer from the Visitor Center, however, you needed to walk past the animals to get the flyer. Once in the Visitor Center we stocked up on some supplies such as sunblock and insect repellent as the mosquitoes and horseflies in this area are awful! Anna wondered whether we should get some bear spray, but to me it all seemed like a bit of a scam; the stuff is US$50.00 (currently about AU$72.50) per can and we hadn’t even seen any bears! It was also possible to rent bear spray from some places, but the stuff doesn’t act as a repellent, more like a form of mace for use on bears, and I figured if a grizzly bear was intent on attacking you, spraying mace in its face would only piss it off more so we opted against it.

We got ourselves some maps and were soon on our way, hiking on an uphill path, walking for about 15 minutes when we were approached by an excited looking tourist from New Zealand and her two young children coming the opposite direction. She told us that just a bit further up the hill was a female grizzly bear with two young cubs and it was a bit angry, scaring her kids. We asked her if she thought it was safe for us to continue and she replied, “Oh, sure, you’ll be fine as long as you have your bear spray.” Shit. We walked back down into the town concessions district, forked out the US$50.00 and got us some bear spray.

Take two. We started to make our way uphill again, this time equipped with our bear spray in a hip holster, a liquid with its ingredients listed as 2% capsaicin and 98% “Other ingredients”. This stuff must be pretty strong, possibly even working on the power of suggestion, because after over an hour of anticipating encountering a defensive grizzly bear and its cubs we came to the conclusion that there were now three possibilities:

The bears were substantially further away than the woman had led us to believe,

The bears were gone, or

The woman was working for the bear spray company

I even began to wish I had now kept the Roadkill wrapper in my pocket in the hopes of attracting one. Still, we kept going, hiking for about five hours, covering over 15 km (9.3 miles) of rugged terrain, getting caught in the rain and mauled by mosquitoes, just to see a couple of does, which quite possibly could’ve been the same one multiple times, one male deer, plus a couple of squirrels here and there. As our hike continued, I became more and more annoyed at how anticlimactic it had been; I was now exhausted, wet, and extremely itchy, yet we had seen hardly anything, encountering not only more wildlife, but cooler-looking animals in the town concessions district! We stopped off briefly to have a look at the Mammoth Hot Springs and then decided to head back. To add insult to injury, there was a female elk sitting right next to our car, but screw that 25 yard rule, I wasn’t in the mood to let this thing stop me from getting in our car. If I needed to be 25 yards away from the wildlife, it could do its part on this occasion and move away from me. Some scenes from the town concessions district centre and the little we saw on a disappointing, albeit trying, hike:

Parking the car

Interesting name

The centre of the “Concessions District”

A closeup of some elk

Looking over the concessions district as we begin our hike

Heading back to the store

Now equipped with bear spray

Seems like there’s some around

It’s all good, I’ve got bear spray

2% capsaicin, 98% other ingredients

Safety first

How to use our spray

A small portion of the area we hiked

A doe we saw

Possibly the same doe later

Mammoth Hot Springs

A nearby deer

Mammoth Hot Springs from a distance

She can get 25 yards away from me

That night we went into a real town, West Yellowstone, Montana for dinner with the intent of eating a bison or bear steak out of spite, because we sure didn’t encounter any on our hike. Instead, we settled for a ribeye and some damn good devilled eggs, all of which we shared between us, and then we headed back to our tent for a final night before moving on to the next stop.

Initially I was going to try and tell the story of this trip in two parts, but it turns out I will need a third and final post in order to tell it properly. Where would we be staying next? Would we encounter any wildlife worth writing about? And would I have to wear that hideous cowboy shirt again to a rodeo? Stay tuned for the conclusion of our journey through cowboy country!

Embarking on the vacation leg of our trip through Wyoming and Montana When I finished my previous post we had wrapped up the Midwest Ocular Angiography Conference at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Jackson, Wyoming the previous night and were just about to begin the holiday leg of our trip through the Pacific Northwest of the USA.

1 note · View note

robinswky490 · 4 years

Text

Everything you need to know about Professional Farmer American Dream Free

The free on the fundamental Professional Farmer, with United Independent Farm Simulator Entertainment GmbH, was merely notable because it aimed to help jump on the back of the surprise acceptance in the Farming Simulator franchise, but instead ended up as one of the worst competition of 2016. Resolve the PS4 kind of Professional Farmer: American Dream, a spin-off set in the Midwest, successfully stop the grant in building a decent farming sim? Sadly, far from it.

Starting in the game was a rather pleasant experience. I got to choose a report avatar from a selection of cute animals (I cut the duck) while some odd 'American ranch like' music performed from the education. You're then proposed the opportunity to undergo the guide. Knowing simulator activity can be pretty confusing I reason it has to be very good idea. Fast forward about an hour later when I finally managed to undergo the tedious slog of ploughing, grubbing, fertilising and seeding my original field, just for canola, I became willing to give up.

youtube

Controls become very intuitive, like as fair becoming the start button, but it is corrected by regulations regarding your own current vehicle happening in the highest permission of the show. Unsurprisingly the decisions selection became especially simple. The only gameplay changes you can make are; the problem (easy, normal, hard); how long the in-game day last – which ranges from 10 second to 24 times; then a little HUD personalisation which may except people from it stay a cluttered mess. Videos are remarkably 'budget' appearing, with finer points probably not stay on the lead of the creator to do list.

Performance problems include long loading times (anywhere between 20 and 40 seconds depending on the area), poor subject of idea with normal pop-ins and frame rate drops, even when doing a thing because critical to the gameplay as ploughing.

First person perspective has a very odd feeling to it, about like the reputation is very little or state discrimination about the chest. Building dimensions are away too, the townspeople all possibly get neck problems think in how small the door figures are.

There are some spots in the activity: east farm, west farm, farm and city. All are boring with drain feeling. Even though there are cars getting in and people moving around there is a experience of isolation. You have a dog upon the farm to see you almost barking but you could interact with it and can actually go running finished this. I ended up meandering about the town trying to get an answer from communities but the whole I could handle was to have vehicles to beep on myself later check up way with our truck.

I happened alarmed by the inclusion of player levels. People start down at 0 with 1000 experience required for your former reading happy. I did that around 2 hours to the game like completing the guide and ploughing a pair other fields. That leads to achieving a flair situation which might be worked on very boring upgrades like discounts in looks and being able to wake up a little bit earlier. Your farm can also be upgraded which involves money, it is for regular things like bigger grain silos.

That creates me to the principal issue with the sport, a lack of purpose. Yes a lot of successful sports are determined by making money to invest to make more money, yet when the main gameplay is tedious and repetitive, why do you want to reinvest your canola change about raising more plants. You edge away with $200,000 also the one real purpose seems to be getting all 29 in the subjects available.

A recorded figure for American Dream is the ability to develop pumpkins, but this is actually no unique to increasing anything else, only the look of the crops modify. The deciding of the ranch in the mid-west is an interesting one but the terrible image and heartless town don't produce any immersion – smooth the turf sways in a strangely the same way.

Some fun can be found in seek out all the tractors and bus, buying dogs and extending the limited variety of crops. But in the top tedious and similar gameplay coupled with poor graphics, overall performance supplies and a cruel world lead to an abysmal door in an already dire game franchise. Lovers of simulation games looking to use the side in farming are much better off put on the more satisfying but common Farming Simulator series. While everyone new to simulation activity in general are top off avoiding farms all together, for now at least.

0 notes

turfandlawncare · 4 years

Text

Lingering Springs, Bittersweet Memories and The Evolution of a Gardener

The latest in the on-going correspondence between Marianne Willburn & Scott Beuerlein.

__________________________________

May 14, 2020

Lovettsville, VA

Dear Scott,

My heart aches for you and your family coping with the loss of your mother. In a normal year it would be emotionally draining, but right now, with the ability to have less than ten people at the funeral? I am deeply sorry you have had to cope and grieve while normal life is upside down – I cannot imagine. It was this time last year that we lost my father, and that was hard enough.

The arrival of spring has brought back a lot of that tension and sadness. Memory adheres gently to seasons. For years I could not see pumpkins on porches and smell cinnamon in stores without experiencing waves of psychosomatic morning sickness brought on by having not one, but two, romantic Septembers. And now, Dad is messing with spring.

I have had words with him about it. Proper out-loud words to the sky when I’m in the vegetable garden, which is one of the reasons we needed to live somewhere without visible neighbors. That and the outdoor restroom facilities.

I have wondered many times over the last year what Dad would think about my garden now. It is very young, but the last time he saw it, it was a newborn, and for the most part not to be seen. Dad never went in for ornamentals in the same way that he loved his vegetables and the natural world around him. My guess is that he would have nodded gently, raised his eyebrows over some of my kaleidoscope combinations, and then pulled up a chair in the vegetable garden and asked for a beer.

Dad and I in the garden that fed our family during “the college years” in Iowa.

My very earliest memories of a purely ornamental garden and the high ambitions of its creator – a good family friend – are equally strong memories of the bemusement my father felt for such frivolous things. I can still see the marble statues…hear the plans for an amphitheater being discussed with animated hands as mosquitos danced around us in the dusk…and I can still see my father shaking his head.

I must have been ten or eleven and no doubt more focused on one of the wonderful treats Mr. Willson had prepared for us indoors to care what an amphitheater was. Now I routinely stand with gardeners in their Edens and discuss overreaching plans that are based in fantasy and a glass of red wine – including my own.

The only shot I have of Mr. Willson proudly standing in his California foothills garden.

He is gone now too, but I so wish I had had more time to see his garden and his marvelous plans with wiser eyes. I have an aloe pup (of a pup of a pup) he gave me that sits on my desk next to this picture.

Speaking of wiser eyes – or at least, eyes that are now wise enough to recognize how thoroughly un-wise they are – what a brilliant column on the evolution of gardeners in Horticulture this month! No rebuttal from this quarter – you nailed that one. Judging from my young adult children, and my own memories of being supple, invincible and insufferable, it is not only gardeners who go through this “I-know-everything-I’m-a-rock-star” phase.

The fermenters for one. If I am lectured one more time at a party on the merits of lactobacillus by a bearded, gym-ripped Adonis with a koi tattoo on his calf, I may lose my carefully curated reputation as a well-behaved guest. Or as you might say, ‘my shit.’

I get it dude. You can pickle cabbage. So can I. So can three-quarters of the population of Poland. May I assume you’re also fostering a rare sourdough starter you brought back from a hostel in Bratislava last summer?

Whew. That’s obviously been building up.

But as you say (much more wisely, gently, and 100x less arrogantly than I seem to be able to express), it’s payback. I cringe to think of the party-goers I have annoyed with my new gardening discoveries that read to them as ancient history.

And the ones I’m currently annoying for that matter. It’s all relative. Until we leave this Earth with cherubims and seraphims at our heels, there is always someone older and wiser that wants to punch us in the mouth.

Perhaps all this confidence is as it should be. If in those earliest days of discovery, we were to come up against the enormity of all that we know right now that we don’t know, and not experience any wins that made us feel special…made us feel like we alone knew the answer…I think we’d most likely run scared, and turn our talents to ditch digging or politics. I have never felt less able to call myself an expert on growing things than I do now, more than twenty-five years into growing things.

And I feel almost panicked over how little time there is to absorb all that I’m hungry to learn. I’m at it 24/7 and there still isn’t enough time. Life gets so complicated so quickly that dropping everything and offering my unpaid services to Keith Wiley or Fergus Garrett or Panayoti Kelaidis for a year in exchange for knowledge unbound requires that I fake my own death.

One view (amongst hundreds) of Keith Wiley’s garden at Wildside in Devon. Yes, I know we’re back to England and it’s a sore point with you, but when I see a garden like this I realize the enormity of what I have left to learn.

Don’t think I haven’t thought about it. Why can’t we have two decades in our twenties? One to try everything and one for keeps. Or is that what our thirties are supposed to be?

But enough of philosophy and supple young joints.

We too have had one of the most glorious springs in memory. Long and lingering, it has allowed so many early bloomers such as epimedium, dicentra (I know, lamprocapnos, &$%@! taxonomists), claytonia, brunnera, trillium, mertensia, narcissus, leucojum, kerria etc. to hold those blooms for weeks – right up until the freezes we had that you sent from the Midwest.

Self-seeded and superb – Brunnera macrophylla

Even the sanguinaria held on longer than two days. After the freezes, the temps stayed cool and revived almost everything. My newish ‘Rose Marie’ magnolia took a huge hit – both blossoms and leaves – as did ‘Jane’, but as Michael said, now they can boast of a tough childhood.

Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Multiplex’

One of the most surprising semi-casualties was a Rodgersia podophylla ‘Rotlaub’ I have grown for five years since I brought it back from Dancing Oaks Nursery in Oregon. It has weathered much in the way of crazy springs, flagged a little, but never been hit so hard by a cold snap. As I thought of it as an early emerger, I was gobsmacked that it couldn’t pull itself together for a night. But when I went back to my records, I realized that the warm winter had gently made me think that we were later than we were, and with all the days blending together right now, who the hell knows what day of the week it is, much less where the rodgersia should be.

Still, lesson learned, filed away under ‘fail,’ and thankfully the plant has begun to re-sprout. I understand from a friend in Colorado that this is a normal state of affairs in a region that giveth and taketh away every May, but it’s hard to see such a gorgeous plant on its knees. Again, this is where you cannot beat hard experience – and many years of it.

The Lord giveth….

And the Lord taketh away.

Meanwhile, in more resilient quarters, each spring I come back to epimedium and brunnera as two genera that are woefully underplanted by the general public. It’s not their fault. For whatever reason neither is commonly sold. It probably has much to do with how they present in 6” pots – not as much come hither as a greenhouse begonia. But so much ease, and so much to offer shade gardeners tired of staring at hosta. Unaffected by the freezes, and by most things really Except for Southern blight on the brunnera in the summer months – yep, that scourge is in my soil in places.

A little ‘Jack Frost’ brunnera in the midst of some blushing E. x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’

I share your enjoyment of ostrich ferns and try very hard not overuse them in my quest to conquer Japanese stilt grass. They are overusing themselves I fear. Plant one, you have a hundred; and as you say, late freezes halt them only for seconds. They have already shoved out a robust stand of Arisaema triphyllum and are heading for the A. ringens and A. consanguineum if I don’t pull out the shovel. And move the arisaema. Such beautiful Jurassic monsters.

Do you grow vegetables somewhere on that plot of yours? The asparagus are coming in well this year and the kale is putting a little green in my juice every day.

Wait, that’s every week. I’m forgetting. It’s the wine I drink every day. The wine.

Especially at the moment.

I have put off mentioning COVID-19 and the unbearable state of things until the end of this letter, and quite frankly, I am tempted to sign off and leave it there, the entire business is so upsetting. But in response to your question – should we build gardens for nursing homes and tend gardens for first responders during this pandemic – the answer is of course yes; but then, we should build gardens and help our struggling neighbors where we have the ability at every opportunity.

Though it seems like this will never end, it will. The true question is, will we do these things when it is all over? Will the new Victory Gardeners keep gardening without a pandemic to worry them? Will people still remember to bring a bouquet of tulips to a nurse’s door, or plant up a windowsill garden for an elderly friend when there are stores to be shopped and weekend recreating to be done. Will I?

I hope so. We are not judged so much I think by what we do when the emergency is obvious and push comes to shove, but what we do when the world stops shoving and we can quietly return to familiar routines. Your thoughts are laudable and wonderful however. Do not let my cynicism blight them.

As for your promise of you both joining me in the UK next year on a garden tour, you might want to ask yourself if you are truly safe in a country whose beloved horticultural institutions you’ve publicly disparaged. I’m not saying I would rat out your identity, but then again, I’m not saying I wouldn’t. Of course I wouldn’t let them hurt Michele – she’s one of us.

Make sure Michele brings this picture tucked into her passport. They may require proof.

As for me – do I want an Olympic level smart ass sitting in the back of the [exceptionally comfortable] coach, sipping red wine and throwing out occasional witticisms to the raucous laughter of all present? I sat through that once already remember.

What the hell. But I’m telling you right now, I’ll have the microphone this time and I know how to use it.

My best to you both,

Marianne

P.S. We got a new puppy. An Irish Wolfhound named Nessa. Mungo is currently seeking legal representation.

P.P.S. Love your mossy walks. LOVE them.

Lingering Springs, Bittersweet Memories and The Evolution of a Gardener originally appeared on GardenRant on May 14, 2020.

The post Lingering Springs, Bittersweet Memories and The Evolution of a Gardener appeared first on GardenRant.

from GardenRant https://ift.tt/2WTIAZp

#GardenRant

0 notes

mredwinsmith · 6 years

Text

Product Review: TOKAY Ultimate Cleats

Sizing/Fit: 4/5

I have big feet, wear inserts, and also have narrow feet. This makes finding footwear really challenging when I get to try things on in the store, let alone order online without trying them on. I closely followed the instructions and had my roommate trace my foot. The sizing instruction describe the “maximum recommended foot size” for both length and width of your foot. Of course, my length put me exactly the “maximum size.” I ordered my cleats and anxiously awaited their arrival.

Unfortunately, they did not quite fit in the length. The width was perfect, but I needed a half size up. My roommate also ordered a pair of cleats and they didn’t quite fit her either. She also needed a half size up. I contacted Tokay, and was blown away by the customer service to get me the correct size. Robin responded and made sure that I got the correct size. With Tokay being an international company, I was so impressed with immediate responses that helped correct the problem.

When my current cleats arrived, I put them on and the length was great; however, the toe box is a little wider than I would normally wear. With my inserts, they fit fine. If you have long narrow feet, beware. It might be best to try someone else’s on before you order a pair!

I especially like the mid-cut model, because the elastane sock prevents turf pellets from getting into my shoes. I no longer have to clean out hundreds of tiny black rubber pellets every time I play or practice on turf. The sock itself is not too snug, and rather comfortable. I also tried the low-cut model and found it was much easier to get my inserts in and out of them.

Another added bonus: Tokay cares a lot about each customer’s needs for individual adjustments/modifications for fit. Their blog features instructions about how to lace your cleats, depending on what you need, how to tie your cleats so they stay secure. Do you have wide feet? Narrow feet? Weird pressure points? Toe pain? Heel slippage? There are tangible solutions to helping prevent those problems with easy-to-understand diagrams and gifs. Additionally, the cleats come with two different inserts. One is a bit thicker, one is thinner. It adds an extra layer of customization to ensure that they fit and support your feet the way you want them to. This added layer of customer experience helps make sure that your cleats fit you the best way possible.

Style: 5/5

I love the color scheme of the cleats. Both white and black pairs look so sharp. I ordered the black ones because I figured they would be easier to care for and keep them clean-looking in the Upper Midwest mud-bath that we refer to as spring. I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly the most stylish of athletes, as I prioritize function and fit over style. It was surprising to get constant positive feedback about how cool my cleats looked. Everyone has been asking, “What brand is that?” or “Where did you get those cleats?” I won’t lie, the cool factor gives me a little extra swagger when I lace them up. You know what they say, “Look good, feel good!” certainly applies.

Performance/Feel: 5/5

I love the cleat pattern. It has grip in all the right places, which is something that lacks when I used football or soccer cleats in the past. As a handler, I find that I can change directions easily; as a defender, I feel like I get the right amount of traction to react quickly and explosively to my offensive player.

I have had the opportunity to play with them on two different artificial surfaces, firm outdoor grass, and soft grass. I was happy with how they performed in all conditions, including the wet, soggy conditions outdoors. The bottoms are designed to have cleats that go the full width of your forefoot to enhance ground contact and stability. The rear part of the cleat is reinforced and provides additional support that provides the ideal amount of rigidity. I found that the cleat bottoms did not attract and hold as much mud and grass as other pairs I have had, keeping them light in weight, and enabling me to perform changes of direction without slipping.

Durability: 5/5

I haven’t had my cleats for too long and am not wearing them regularly thanks to all the snow we keep getting. However, I confidently that they will hold up against the conditions I will be competing and training in this year. The seams are well-made and well-planned — for everyone who has blown out a pair of cleats, it seems like Tokay reinforced or avoided seams in those areas. The attention to detail in designing and manufacturing these cleats surpasses any other cleat I have seen.

Hat: 1/5

Not that this category should be relevant for whether or not you purchase them, as they are designed for your feet, and not your head. With that said, if you’re an adult, the cleats will definitely not fit on your head. If you try really hard, you can balance them on top of your head and have a great view of the bottom color scheme (which is super cool). It would definitely work best for a doll or stuffed animal hat, so it gets some points for that.

Overall: 5/5

These are the best ultimate cleats I have had in awhile. They come with a steep price tag, but the attention to detail is worth it. Tokay cleats are lightweight, durable, and look really cool — all the details that contribute to a great playing experience across all turf surfaces.

The post Product Review: TOKAY Ultimate Cleats appeared first on Skyd Magazine.

from Skyd Magazine https://ift.tt/2HofFnb

0 notes

junker-town · 7 years

Text

Which NFL player would you name a food after?

It’s the offseason and we’re hungry.

Sports and food are two of the best things in the world. When you combine the names of NFL players with meals, you have a delicious and well-named masterpiece.

SugarFire Smokehouse in St. Louis recently unveiled a burger called the “Reuben Foster.” It is a house burger, with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut hash, pastrami, caramelized onion, and a special sauce. Sounds good, right?

The burger inspired us to make our own creations, naming them after various NFL players, coaches, and even mascots. We apologize in advance for the appetite you’re about to have after reading this post.

Aaron Rodgers: Dairy-free “Kale Mary” smoothie

A year ago, Rodgers fessed up to the biggest cardinal sin any Wisconsinite can commit: He cut dairy from his diet. At the time, he said he did for his health reasons, and his new diet — "more of a vegan diet with some red meat at times and some chicken" — sounded obnoxiously Tom Brady-esque.

Recently, Rodgers clarified that “irritable bowels” is why he really went dairy-free. And man, that stinks for him, but is also a valid reason. No one wants the constant tummy rumbles or runs to the bathroom (or scatological jokes at your expense).

Rodgers’ commitment to watching what he eats as he enters his mid-30s is admirable, though. So let him have his kale and eat it too: add some almond milk, a couple of fruits and vegetables, NFL-regulated protein powder, and voila, the Hail Mary king has his own belly-friendly smoothie.

Matt Ryan: Matty Ice light beer

It’s safe to assume the Falcons quarterback could use a beer after what was a rough Super Bowl LI loss. So what better than a Matty Ice? It’s cool, crisp, and aged a long and painful 25 weeks to perfection.

Tyrann Mathieu: Honey Badger honey cake

Mathieu got his Honey Badger nickname from the animal. Honey badgers are mean as hell and they’ll eat anything. They’re true omnivores. Its formal name, mellivora capensis, means “honey eater of the Cape,” meaning the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. We also think that Mathieu wouldn’t mind being the eater of the cake that we’re naming after him.

J.J. Watt: 99-Watt energy drink

Watts are a unit of power, and Watt is an explosive and energetic player out on the football field, whether you find it to be genuine or not.

Watt’s drink would be made out of the most ridiculous and stereotypical ingredients that any meathead would have in his smoothie/drink/shake. Raw eggs (with the shells), any mixture of fruit and vegetables, all while being chugged straight out of the blender.

Ezekiel Elliott: Cinnamon Toast Crunch “Feed me” fried ice cream

We know Zeke loves cereal:

Like, probably more than you love your kids:

And we know Cinnamon Toast Crunch has been one of his favorites for years:

Should I eat frosted flakes , fruit loops, or cinnamon toast crunch???

— Ezekiel Elliott (@EzekielElliott) February 5, 2014

No one is ever too old to enjoy a lil CT Crunch, but at a certain age, it becomes less acceptable to chow down on it in public. There’s an easy fix for that, and it’s very Texas: fry it, add some ice cream, and sell it at a food truck.

Myles Garrett: “Myles to go before I sheep” taco

Hopefully Garrett gets the opportunity to open his own Fuego Tortilla Grill franchise in Cleveland. Not only would it be the first location in the Midwest, it’d be Fuego’s first location outside of Texas. And such a milestone deserves its own signature dish. The fresh home-made flour tortilla, chipotle cream corn, and pico de gallo can stay, but Garrett earns the right to be the namesake for Fuego’s lamb taco debut.

Alex Mack: Mackaroni and cheese

Much like the Falcons’ center is the best player along Atlanta’s offensive line, macaroni and cheese is a dependable comfort food. Enjoy it with a nice, cold Matty Ice.

Drew Brees: Dink and Dunkin’ Donut

The Saints’ quarterback is a budding restauranteur, and he’s part of an effort to bring 69 Dunkin’ Donuts stores to Louisiana, which is nice. It’s only fitting that one of the donuts they offer would be named after the guy who brought home the Lombardi Trophy after the 2009 season.

Tom Brady: Super Bowl MVPizza

The closest thing Brady has had to an arch-rival in his unparalleled NFL career is Peyton Manning, a man who brought 30 Papa John’s shops to Denver when he left Indianapolis. Based on their final Super Bowl ring counts, Brady is destined to open 75 of his own gross, artisanal, vegan, gluten-free pizza chains throughout New England.

We already know the four-time Super Bowl MVP marks out for avocado ice cream and has never tasted a strawberry in his life. Brady’s pizza would have the kind of health benefits that allows 39-year-old men to post MVP-caliber seasons. It would also taste like lawn clippings sprinkled over Saltines.

Rob Gronkowski: Gronk’s MonsterClear Brotein shake

Bro. Bro

The perfect way to cool down after a workout and pre-game at the same time is a protein shake mixed with Monster and Everclear.

Glen Coffee: Coffee Americano

His item can’t just be some coffee. And it needs to be stronger than a Caffe Americano. Sure, both will energize you and give you a jumpstart to your day, but Glen’s Coffee Americano would give you more than that, with an extra shot of espresso ... and patriotism.

Coffee retired from the NFL to join the U.S. Army to become a paratrooper. His extra espresso drink will give you the same motivation to do something of greater meaning, as well as the energy to kick some butt while doing it.

Now, he’s making a comeback. Time for some shots!

Andrew Luck: Luck of the Irish oatmeal

It should be no surprise that Andrew Luck is a big fan of oatmeal. Sure, it sounds like it’s the breakfast equivalent of going to the dentist, but that’s only to those too unrefined to realize just how versatile and flavorful oatmeal can be.

But Luck knows. From a 2013 interview with The Indianapolis Star:

Q: You're a sponsor of Quaker Oats. Do you have a favorite oatmeal recipe?

A: "I eat a lot of oatmeal anyway. But every morning, I get an omelet and I get fruit, oatmeal and I put yogurt on my oatmeal, which is sort of weird. But there is this recipe I like with honey roasted maple pecans, bananas (on oatmeal) and that's pretty good. But I don't do that every day. It's too much to do on a daily (basis)."

Now that’s a savory — and healthy — start to the day. Oatmeal will never be the sexiest meal, but whether you use quick, rolled, or steel-cut (aka Irish) oats, it’s always one of the most reliable.

Ben Roethlisberger: Big Bean soup

What, you were thinking a burger? Cliche. Soup isn’t just great, but it also helps you feel better when you’re dealing with the aches and pains of a bad cold. Roethlisberger knows a little bit about aches; he’s missed five starts the past two seasons while playing through injury in the back halves of each year.

Bill O’Brien: Potatoes O’Brien breakfast taco

Breakfast tacos don’t have to be complicated, but the best ones usually offer more than just eggs, cheese, and a tortilla. Bacon, chorizo, brisket, beans if you’re vegetarian, or all of the above if you’re really not; avocado if you don’t want to buy a house one day; and, of course, potatoes.

Throw in some diced peppers and onions, and those potatoes suddenly become Potatoes O’Brien. If that all sounds messy, then it’s perfect for Bill O’Brien. Just look at the quarterback situations he’s had to deal with since becoming the Texans’ head coach.

Vince Wilfork: Wilforkin’ Good Ribs

We’ll let Wilfork explain this one:

Bust a move, barbecue style. You better join me + @Kingsford and #StandWithRibs #Sponsored http://pic.twitter.com/8sn0EdLgFR

— Vince Wilfork (@wilfork75) May 17, 2017

Kirk Cousins: “You Like That?” Early Bird Special

Kirk Cousins used to drive his grandma’s conversion van to his job with the Washington football team and park it among the BMWs and Bentleys. He also thinks staying up until 10:30 is “late.”

It only seems fitting that he’d have an early bird special named after him. Cousins would most certainly like that.

Blue, the Colts mascot: Blue’s berry pie

There’s nothing quite like a wholesome blueberry pie. Blue is arguably the best mascot in the NFL, and might be inclined to throw that pie in your face.

It’s better than him humping it, though.

0 notes

wendyimmiller · 4 years

Text

Lingering Springs, Bittersweet Memories and The Evolution of a Gardener

The latest in the on-going correspondence between Marianne Willburn & Scott Beuerlein.

__________________________________

May 14, 2020

Lovettsville, VA

Dear Scott,

Dad and I in the garden that fed our family during “the college years” in Iowa.

The only shot I have of Mr. Willson proudly standing in his California foothills garden.

Whew. That’s obviously been building up.

Don’t think I haven’t thought about it. Why can’t we have two decades in our twenties? One to try everything and one for keeps. Or is that what our thirties are supposed to be?

But enough of philosophy and supple young joints.

Self-seeded and superb – Brunnera macrophylla

Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Multiplex’

The Lord giveth….

And the Lord taketh away.

A little ‘Jack Frost’ brunnera in the midst of some blushing E. x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’

Do you grow vegetables somewhere on that plot of yours? The asparagus are coming in well this year and the kale is putting a little green in my juice every day.

Wait, that’s every week. I’m forgetting. It’s the wine I drink every day. The wine.

Especially at the moment.

Make sure Michele brings this picture tucked into her passport. They may require proof.

What the hell. But I’m telling you right now, I’ll have the microphone this time and I know how to use it.

My best to you both,

Marianne

P.S. We got a new puppy. An Irish Wolfhound named Nessa. Mungo is currently seeking legal representation.

P.P.S. Love your mossy walks. LOVE them.

Lingering Springs, Bittersweet Memories and The Evolution of a Gardener originally appeared on GardenRant on May 14, 2020.

The post Lingering Springs, Bittersweet Memories and The Evolution of a Gardener appeared first on GardenRant.

from Gardening https://www.gardenrant.com/2020/05/lingering-springs-bittersweet-memories-and-the-evolution-of-a-gardener.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes