Icewind's Ramblings

Tomorrow is Bike to work day and my company is hosting a BBQ for our new interns who come in to work with us during the summer months.  The combination bike day and a welcoming BBQ will make it a fun time and the weather is looking great for the event.  I was volunteered to help cook and people were bringing side dishes and deserts.  I figured I would give everyone a treat with my slightly different baked bean recipe. Baked beans are a favorite side dish in the South.  It's rare to go to a barbecue or to a pot luck dinner and not see a baking dish with baked beans. Some baked beans are a whole lot better than other baked beans . . . it takes some "doctoring up" to make the really yummy baked beans . . . the kind that means you come home with an empty casserole dish or crock pot.  If you’re really lucky someone will take the cornbread and lap up the juice in the bottom of the dish. There are probably as many baked bean secrets in the South as there are South...

A dog still has bad breath even after eating a Tic Tac. Ice

When we were younger there used to be a distinction between the movies & television .  The movies at the theater were called the Big Screen while television seen at home was the Small Screen .  Today, it would be a misnomer to say that.  From the big screen analog to the flat screen High Definition TV’s of today, the television of today is also the Big Screen. I would probably like to say . . . my name is Icewind and I'm a TV addict.  I've only recently admitted this, and I probably would still be in denial except for the fact that we just brought into the house a fourth HDTV cable box (digital video recorders).  Mind you they are not all for my watching as I travel somewhat but when I am home like to see my favorite programs.  We've got the big (42”) flat screen TV in the living room, and there is an older television in the bedroom (20”) for my wife to get away from all of the chaos from the grandkids.  She will fall asleep with that one on...

This year like many in the past has shown us that there are more homeless and ‘street people’ than years past.  It is a problem with no easy solutions.  Several years ago the company I worked for built a new state of the art shelter called Brother Francis shelter which is next door to Bean’s Café which we remodeled the year before.  Both handle feeding and housing those in need of a hand.  Many have given up on life and go through the motions of hanging out all day waiting for the next meal or place to sleep.  Mixed into this counter culture are families and children.  Sad but true. One of the major problems here in Alaska is we have extreme conditions that can kill you quickly even when properly prepared for it but leaves little chance when you are intoxicated and not 100% ready for survival.  Each year we have many deaths, and last year I think I wrote about it raining men as one after another seemed to fall out of the sky being frozen to death....