Charlie (AKA “Charles” the powderpuff Chinese Crested pup) nudged me at 0700 for his morning constitutional. That kicks off the weekend routine.
Eighty-four degrees and 88% humidity at five minute to eight.
Buttered biscuits with orange marmalade. And coffee.
And a bit of easy time. Sweetie’s sleeping in. The dog and I are watching BBC documentaries.
Here’s Charlie:
Sweetie was running into a case of cabin fever yesterday evening, so we went for a ride. Since she was driving, I don’t get a lot of choices. We found ourselves running down the main drag of the big(ger) town across the river, surveying the quarantine and – lo and behold! – a favorite Mexican restaurant was open.
Aha! A meal where somebody else cooks! We went in, met familiar waitresses, and ate a darned good meal. She had carnitas and I had enchiladas rancheros. Mine was augmented by margaritas. We hit the ‘buy one, get one free’ night. Soooo… home with a full belly.
This morning we slept late. 0900 – “I suppose I’ll get up and toast a bagel.” Her – “Why don’t we see if the Pitt Grill is open?”
Short drive up the road, okay? And they’re open, half their tables marked with big blue X’s in compliance with ‘social distancing’ mandates, familiar waitresses with their pleasant smiles hidden behind masks, the Holy Grail of breakfast buffets empty. But OPEN!
We ordered off the menu, the standard breakfast fare offered by diners across this still-great land. It was great, from the first cup of fresh, steaming Community coffee to the last tidbit of hash-browns.
And a healthy tip because we KNOW the waitress and we appreciate the place being open.
Now, tomorrow I go BACK to my office.
It’s happened often enough that I can predict it now.
My morning routine while I’m waiting on back surgery is to get up, do breakfast – usually cold cereal – and make a cup of coffee, where ‘cup’ is the full output of my little Brika, and sit down to catch up on email.
Then it happens. The pain pill kicks in. I get a warm, secure feeling, the back pain (which is mostly NOT in my back) recedes, and i get feelings in both legs – the kind of feelings – deep, dull aches – that you might get the day after starting an exercise program you’ve not been using, where you’ve exercised muscles in a way they’re not used to doing.
I call it a good feeling – can’t think of a much better result one might get with a pill and a cup of coffee.
I’m about half an hour earlier than normal today. 0720 my phone went off, just the boss (REAL boss – from work) checking in on me, sharing a bit of news and a chuckle or two. I have a GOOD boss.
As best it can be under the circumstances, life is good.
Okay, the first step is admitting that you have a problem. I admit it. I love coffee. By ‘coffee’ I don’t mean some pale, insipid brown-tinted liquid with an amaretto creamer, I mean COFFEE. Being mostly Cajun, I was raised on drip-pot coffee, the pinnacle of the art being practiced by my great-grandmother who ‘parched’ (roasted) green beans in a cast-iron skillet on the stove, then ground them for each pot she served.
Her pot was little enameled drip pot, but she eschewed the strainer that cam with it, opting instead for a bag made from the carefully hemmed toe of a cotton sock. She’d measure several tablespoonfuls of freshly ground coffee into the bag which was situated over the top of that little pot, then from water boiling on the stove, spoonfuls of boiling water onto the ground coffee.
The resulting brew was thick, almost viscous, served in little demitasse cups along with sugar and cream.
That stuff’ll spoil you for whatever drips out of the coffee-maker at the office.
Ain’t nothing subtle about it. Take a sip. Don’t gulp – SIP! That’s COFFEE.
As a coffee-drinker myself, I brew by several methods. Let’s see… I have a REAL Rancilio Silva espresso machine, a Technivorm drip machine that I use every morning to make coffee to bring to work, a vacuum brewer (very sciency, coffee’s kind of weak), a French press and a couple of Bialetti mokka pots. The mokka pots, in my opinion, are the best balance between convenience and just plain good coffee.
I’ll get on a kick, though, and for a while one method of brewing will take precedence for a while. Right now, it’s the Bialetti Brikka.
And in memory of all the Cajuns who’ve gone before me, I add cream and sugar. And get my taste buds assaulted by COFFEE.
Mornings are the worst pain. I think that while sleeping all sorts of soft tissue re-arranges itself so when I first move in the morning, it presses that nerve in the wrong way.
Mass of pain. Excruciating. Whatever I planned to do, those plans go away. Takes three tries to get the paper out of the driveway, several shuffles back and forth to get breakfast together, then finally I can sit down for a while.
this morning things work to give me a feeling in both calves, that feeling like you get the day after you’ve exercised strenuously after a period of lying about. For pain, it’s a GOOD feeling.
Yesterday at my doctor’s office the nurse, a pleasant lady who’s been taking care of me medically for a few years, wanted me to lie back on the exam table so they could run their own version of the ECG.
Bad move. Lying flat on my back on a hard surface pinched that nerve. I curled up in a ball of pain, stifling an outright scream. I know the pain from too many times before.
She called off the test.
I’m being scheduled for an ultrasound heart exam.
My back surgery may be postponed until they figure out what the deal is with my heart.
I’ve always prided myself on being healthy for a sixty-something year old fat man. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
The coffee tasted great this morning.
Poor Starbucks. They’ve gotten crosswise with teh diversiteh. They’re trying to make amends, though. They’re shutting down for a whole business day to give their employees a much-needed session of sensitivity training.
Also, there’s this coupon. Feel Free to click for the big version, print a few, and pass ’em out, because nothing says “We stand for Diversity™” like handing out free shit.
After California claims that coffee is a carcinogen, we have THIS:
Drinking several coffees a day could lower risk of heart disease
By Lizzie Parry, The Sun
March 30, 2018 | 2:12pmCaffeine addicts…we have great news!
Your daily cups of coffee aren’t just waking you up, they could be saving your life.
Well helping to at least, according to a new scientific study.
More than three cups of coffee a day could help lower a person’s risk of heart disease, the Brazilian scientists found. The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
And that means it’s less likely a person will suffer a heart attack and stroke.
…Andreia Miranda, who led the study at the University of Sao Paulo, said: “We found that habitual consumption of more than three cups of coffee decreased odds of coronary calcification.”
In layman terms… three cups a day stops the calcium build up that can cause a heart attack.
So at least your heart will be healthy when you die from the cancer California says you’re going to get.
Judge rules coffee sold in California needs cancer warnings
Companies like Starbucks failed to properly show threat of carcinogens in coffee, says judge
The Associated Press · Posted: Mar 29, 2018 5:58 PM ET
Superior Court judge Elihu Berle said in a proposed decision Wednesday that Starbucks and other coffee companies failed to show the threat from a chemical compound produced in the coffee roasting process was insignificant.
The Council for Education and Research on Toxics, a non-profit group, sued Starbucks and about 90 other companies, including grocery stores and retail shops, under a state law that requires warnings on a wide range of chemicals that can cause cancer. One of those chemicals is acrylamide, a carcinogen present in coffee.
“While plaintiff offered evidence that consumption of coffee increases the risk of harm to the fetus, to infants, to children and to adults, defendants’ medical and epidemiology experts testified that they had no opinion on causation,” Berle wrote. “Defendants failed to satisfy their burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence that consumption of coffee confers a benefit to human health.
They haven’t made it illegal to sell, yet. Ironic, though, that the state that essentially turns its back on drugs like marijuana and had shoot-up shops open so people have a safe, comfortable place to inject other drugs is going to require that coffee sellers now have to put a mandatory label on packaging and serving materials.
Maybe Californians are more sensitive to these things than the rest of us.
Café cubano. Love it. It’s a break from the french pressed, fresh roasted and ground coffee that’s my regular fare, but I forgot to roast a fresh batch of beans last night, so I’m out of MY stuff (from Sweet Maria’s, bought green, roasted and ground here) and this morning I required caffination.
This stuff is great – insanely sweet and strong, and a pleasant cup to have at my side.
You couldn’t get me near a mall with less than an armored vehicle with a combat load-out.
Woke up to a beautiful frosty morning. Fixed boudin and eggs for breakfast. Now enjoying a cup of French-pressed Kona coffee. I roasted the coffee Monday, so it’s at its peak and MAN! it’s good.
The cats are in the midst of their morning workout.
My biggest stress is whether to put off the weekly grocery run until tomorrow, its normal day on the schedule, or to do it today. I’m leaning toward tomorrow.
I also need to cast up some bullets, .45’s for the big bores, some .314’s for a couple of .303 Brits and a couple of Mosin-Nagants, and some stuff for an 8mm Mauser that needs exercise. Range day tomorrow. Big question is always what do I want to shoot.
For that cup of black ambrosia, AKA coffee:
Coffee may help perk up your blood vessels
American Heart Association Meeting Report: Abstract 12428 (Hall F, Core 7, Poster Board: 7062)
November 20, 2013Study Highlights:
A small study showed that a cup of coffee improved small blood vessel function.
The study takes us one step closer to understanding how coffee might benefit cardiovascular health.DALLAS, Nov. 20, 2013 – The caffeine in a cup of coffee might help your small blood vessels work better, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013.
A study of 27 healthy adults showed – for the first time – that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee significantly improved blood flow in a finger, which is a measure of how well the inner lining of the body’s smaller blood vessels work. Specifically, participants who drank a cup of caffeinated coffee had a 30 percent increase in blood flow over a 75-minute period compared to those who drank decaffeinated coffee.
“This gives us a clue about how coffee may help improve cardiovascular health,” said Masato Tsutsui, M.D., Ph.D., lead researcher and a cardiologist and professor in the pharmacology department at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan.
The study adds to a growing body of research about coffee, the most widely consumed beverage worldwide. Previous studies showed that drinking coffee is linked to lower risks of dying from heart disease and stroke, and that high doses of caffeine may improve the function of larger arteries.
As if I needed another reason.
It’s not a big deal, but the house smells marvelous right now.
You see, I’m a succker for brownies, rich, chocolatey, a bit gooey, nuts of course, so I left the grocery with a box of mix. Added a bag of pecan (Hey! That’s ‘puh-cahn’ just so you know) pieces, and what really makes the house smell good, for the water called for in the mix instructions, I substituted espresso.
Smells like a German pastry shop on a Saturday morning long, long ago.
Range day cancelled due to thunderstorms, so I have to compensate somehow.
Sitting here in the Orlando airport on a gray, overcast day, waiting on a flight that boards in an hour, watching the wildlife and taking advantage of FREE wireless to get on the ‘net and check mail and browse around a bit.
Sitting here with my MacBook on my lap, the thought occurs to me that instead of being a “Pr*ck with a Prius” in traffic, I’m a “D*ck with a MacBook” in the terminal. A couple of weeks into the ownership of this thing, I am still very impressed with the quality and utility it offers.
Coffee! Having been through Orlando before, my first stop after wading through the TSA was Zaza’s for a cafe’ con leche. I love it! Reminds me of the coffee my great-grandmother used to serve when I was a kid, and SHE was 100%, unadulterated, Cajun. STrong coffee, cream and sugar, they’re part of many cultures. It occurs to me that yesterday’s meeting was supplied with Folger’s, brewed to the strength of strong tea, and the taste was flat and insipid. This stuff dances up to your tongue, reaches around and slaps the side of your head and says “You’re drinking COFFEE!”. Makes me smile because in addition to the taste sitting on my tongue, there’s a warm glow in my head, thinking of the old folks and the ways they taught us.
Local university just held graduation, dumping almost eight hundred grads onto the streets. If we pull out the foreign students, there’s still seven hundred of them, and I scanned down the list and saw an awful lot of “Bachelor of Arts – General Studies”.
And we need to keep this in mind for the next few months:
This morning, Burundi, roasted Friday, ground this morning, French-pressed:
