Making ice cream

Tammy had a Homemade Gourmet vanilla ice cream mix.  I decided I wanted to try using it to make homemade ice cream - something I have never done before.  The problem was that I needed a four quart ice cream maker.  Tammy's little 'make a small bowl of ice cream' maker wouldn't cut it.

Then I remember how our neighbor in Minot would bring homemade ice cream over for our New years get-togethers.  I borrowed their ice cream maker on Saturday.  Saturday night after a full day of cleaning the house I decided to make ice cream.

One problem.  I had only bought one bag of ice and the mix said I needed two bags.  Also the mix only had directions to prepare the ice cream mixture for the maker.  Once we turned on the ice cream maker we were on our own.  Tammy researched recipes on the internet on how to make ice cream the old fashioned way and they said I needed 15 lbs of ice (or three bags).  The third bag was for "ripening" the ice cream.  "Ripening" ice cream means "hardening" the ice cream after it has been made.

*Argh*

Did I need that third bag for to "ripen" the ice cream?

It was after 9 pm but out into the cold and snow I went.  It was snowing heavy by now.  That didn't seem to deter the traffic on a Saturday night as there were plenty of cars out.

I decided to buy two more bags of ice to have three bags totals.  Better to be safe than sorry.

After I got home I found that my brother had drank the gallon of whole milk the recipe called for.  He normally drinks skim milk, and he was there when I bought the gallon of whole milk, but never realized it when he drank the whole milk.


*Argh!*

I decided to use the skim milk.  I didn't feel like going back out into the cold and snow and drive again on slippery streets across town.

I mixed the mixture.  I placed the mixture into the maker's can.  I crushed the ice with a large hammer to make the ice smaller.  I plugged in the ice cream maker and then spread the ice in the bucket around the can mixing in rock salt ever so often to melt the ice.

One churns the ice cream for about twenty minutes and I used two bags (10 lbs) of ice during this time.  At the end of the twenty minutes I had a mixture of ice and cold water in the bucket around the can.  I think the third bag is more useful if making the ice cream on a warm day.  The remaining ice and cold water in the bucket was enough to harden the ice cream.  If one wants it harder, place it in the freezer.  The next day after storing the ice cream overnight the ice cream was rock hard.

The ice cream turned out fine.  My brother likes it.  Tammy doesn't.  This was the first time she tasted homemade ice cream and it is not to her liking.

Here is a short video of the ice cream maker in action:  (45 seconds long)

http://youtu.be/-VOCuuYANlk

Snow

On Sunday Winter finally arrived. Minot got 8.5 inches of snow on Sunday. From Saturday night to Monday morning Minot got 10.2 inches of snow.  My brother got his snow blower out and had fun.

Here are a few snow photos:

Trivia at the Blue Rider

The Blue Rider Bar is a small place in an old section of downtown Minot.  They hold a trivia contest every other Wednesday.

Both Darrell and Rod warned us to get to the bar early in order to get a seat.  The trivia contests start at 7 pm and we were advised to get there around 6:30 pm.  Darrell said he planned on attending but instead of Darrel, Tammy and I were surprised to see Austin.  Darrell never showed up as his dart team was tied for first place and they had to play that night a sudden best-out-of-seven match to determine the season's winner.  Rod showed up before the contest started and halfway through the first contest both Ed and Jason showed up.

We needed Ed and Jason's help as the trivia was obscure and hard.  Our team finished in the middle of the pack with 11 answers correct out of 30.  The winning team got 20 correct.

The second trivia contest was run by another team, who appeared to be a mix of college professors and students.  In this contest we got 5 answers correct out of 20 questions.  Again we were in the middle of the pack.  The winning team - the same one as in the first contest - got 11 answers correct.  Unknown to everyone was a hidden theme in the second game.  The 20 answers were alphabetic - minus A and the vowels.  That is, question 1's answer began with B, question 2 with a C, and so on.

Questions:

1. What is the second highest mountain in North America?
2. What is the name of Annie's bodyguard?
3. Which country has the most lightning strikes?
4. What is the last movie Cary Grant and  Katherine Hepburn appeared in together?
5. What item did Anthony Quinn bring to the movie set for They Died with Their Boots On before the filming of Custer's Last Stand?
6. What movie that starred Anthony Quinn won an Academy award for the "best cinematography, Black-and-White"?
7. What is the genitive singular ending? 
8. Who signed off their show by saying "And so it goes."?
9. What one word telegram did Bob Hope send Harry Truman when he was re-elected in 1948?

Answers:

1. Mt Logan
2. Punjab
3. Democratic Republic of the Congo
4. Philadelphia Story
5. A hearse
6. Zorba the Greek
7. s 
8. Linda Ellerbee
9. Unpack

A side note: Instead of the Zorba the Greek answer Rod pushed for Requiem for a Heavyweight as the answer.  I argued against it based on what I learned later were the wrong reasons.  If I knew more about Requiem for a Heavyweight, Rod would have been able to convince me his choice was correct, even though in the end it was the wrong answer.

About four names were listed as titles of a TV show. Jason knew the list of episode names were from the X-files TV show.

The bar also had quarters questions.  A number of people wanted to make funny guesses and waste their quarters.  Sometimes they were funny, sometimes they were not.  Tammy got annoyed when they gave dumb answers.

The Blue Rider Bar is smoke free so that was very nice.  I believe a college art professor is an owner of the bar.  There was lots of artwork on the walls.

Back to trivia at the Landing

I'm back in Minot and again attending trivia games.  Last Monday night Tammy and I attended Ed's trivia contest at The Landing Bar, whose location is shown by the red marker in the image to the right.

Darrell and Marv were there.  Jason, a recent Minnesota transplant and new member of the team, was also there.  Darrell, Marv and Jason were on fire and answering most of the questions until Tammy commented on how well they were doing.  Then our streak came to an end.  The last half dozen questions we had to think through or guess an answer for.

Still, we did well as we handily won the game. We had 17 correct answers out of 20 questions.  The next highest team score was 14 correct.  Our team won a $20 certificate for drinks.

For the second game we did well, but came in second place with 15 correct.  The winning team had 18 answers correct.

The prizes for the quarter bonus questions have changed.  Instead of picking one's prize for winning, one picks a slip of paper and gets the prize written on it.  No more are the good prizes taken first with the weaker prizes ignored.  One guy wanted to win a box of girl scout cookies but kept winning other things: a shirt, a bottle of vodka.  Finally on the last question he won a box of cookies and was happy.

Most of our team stayed after trivia to chat.  Karaoke started and was loud.  There are a number of different good singers now.  One couple at a table next to us were a mismatched couple.  She was young.  He looked older.  She was slim and stylish.  He was heavyset and dressed dorky.  And... what heavy, thinning hair, middle aged man wears the calf-length pants these days - especially when it is still cold outside?  They danced - she could.  He couldn't.  They sang one song together.  She was an ok singer.  He was hard on the ears.

Tammy sang well to some of the songs.  She wouldn't go up on stage to sing as she said she needed much more to drink to do so.  Two bottles of Mike's Hard Lemonade were not enough.

The Landing Bar has changed since last year when I was here.  There are more people in the bar now.  It is no longer a sleepy bar on Monday trivia nights.  Fights have broken out recently and now there is a bouncer who sits by the door.

North Dakota still allows smoking in bars so Tammy and I came home reeking of smoke.  I hung our clothes outside on the clothesline in the cold to air them out.  Still, it was nice to be back at trivia with friends.

Visit to Benedict

Last Sunday Tammy and I drove to the Benedict, ND area to visit an aunt and two cousins on my father's side of the family.  It has been a few years since I last visited them on their farm.  Ginger and Monica made a large wonderful meal for us when we arrived shortly after noon.    We then spent a pleasant afternoon chatting until Ginger had to leave to go to Bismarck.

One room school my father attended. The outhouse is the small building out back.

From where the school was located, it is a half mile to the spot where I stood to take the next two photos.  These photos are of my grandparents' farm where my dad was raised.  All total... the distance to the school doesn't look to be five miles to me!!  I think my dad was wrong about how far he had to walk to school.

No one has lived at the farm for many decades now.  This is the barn.  The house is behind the barn among the trees.  Apparently the house is majorly deteriorated.

Scenery looking east from the school.  Typical of this area.  Open with few trees and sloughs here and there.

On the way home we drove through Benedict.  The town is a few houses, a grain elevator, a church, bar and post office.  Surprisingly, There were some houses that appeared to have been built in the last ten years or so.  In a dying town I expected all the houses to be very old.

The bar is not located correctly on the map below.  The bar is located closer to the "B" in Benedict.  Nice town sign though. A better sign than most city signs in larger cities. The red circle is where the town sign is located.

Oh yeah... the old city jail still exists.  Not that big is it?  Probably would be considered cruel and unusual punishment to put a criminal in there now.  I marked the location of the jail on the map above.

Back to Dakota

Last Thursday Tammy and I took the Amtrak train from Montana to North Dakota.  The train was not crowded as this is the off season for traveling.  I did notice that the passenger profile has changed - there are lots of men in their 20s, 30s, and 40s riding the train while in the past I hardly seen middle aged men on the train.  Why now, is due to these men working in the oil fields of North Dakota.  Many people got off and on the train at Williston, Stanley and Minot, North Dakota.

Before we left Kalispell I had a movie (Super 8) to return to the library  as it was due before we got back to Montana.  So we were up late watching the movie; and then I had to drive into Kalispell to drop it off at the library.  We never got to bed until after 1am.  Four hours later we got up to get ready to be at the train station by 7 am.  No matter - we could sleep on the train - and we did.

Tammy claims she can't sleep sitting up.   Here is a photo of her sleeping (with her 'blankee').  She claims she is not sitting up.  What do you think?

While the Flathead Valley is pretty bare, the mountains have plenty of snow.

Once we got over Marias Pass we had sun.  Here are photos once we passed over to the east side of the mountains.  We have had nothing but sun since leaving Kalispell.

The cloudy area to the right of center is where the train came over Marias Pass and through the mountains.

The further we got from the mountains the less snow we saw.

Sweetgrass Hills

Near Wolf Point, Montana the train stopped to attach a train car that was left another day due to problems with the car. The next two photos show the scenery to the north and to the south of the train.

Another photo from near Wolf Point, Montana

The train was on time or ahead of schedule all the way until we got the train car near Wolf Point. That took 40 minutes to attach and we never made up that time before we got to Minot.

The Minot train station is still affected from the 2011 flood.  The ticket office and baggage office are located in a back room while the station is being fixed.

Bad bicycle seat

My bicycle seat broke today when I was riding my bicycle.   This is the third time this has happened to me over my many years of riding.   The first time this happened to me many years ago I was sitting up and taking my shirt off so I did not have my hands on the handlebars.  I fell off the back of my bicycle and got pretty scratched up.  This time the seat started to loosen up before the bolt broke.  So I had a clue that something was up and I was able to stop and get off the seat safely.

Still, I had to ride my bicycle home standing up all the way.  Over four miles.

Here are before-and-after photos before I used another bolt to attach the seat on to the seat post.  Pretty obvious why I rode home standing up.

FYI - this bicycle seat has had over 38,000 miles of use.  It shows, doesn't it?

Oh yeah... the newspaper?  My temporary fender as the roads are wet now.  Not classy.. but it prevents a stripe up my back.

Suet near gone

The birds have been working on the suet.  It is almost gone.

I took this last picture with the fish-eye effect on the camera.  It makes for a different kind of photo.

Ice, ice, baby

When winter started the water and snow in the livestock's water trough froze into a solid block of ice. Yesterday I noticed how the ice has changed.   See how the ice is gone around the sides?  It appears the temperature has been cold enough that all the ice does not melt back into water.  Instead the sides get just warm enough to evaporate the ice next to the metal.

Neat, huh?

By the way... as you can see in the last photo, it snowed last night.  We unexpectedly got two inches of snow.  Something (clearing the driveway) to keep me busy while Tammy is away.

Tex mex skillet dinner

Today Tammy flew to Washington State to visit my relatives and attend a Tastefully Simple conference.

I'm on my own.  I have to fend for myself.  I have to make my own food.  I'm gonna starve!!!

Oh wait.  I know how to cook.   Never mind.

So tonight I made a dinner that Tammy wasn't interested in.  A Homemade Gourmet Tex-Mex Skillet Dinner.

http://recipes.homemadegourmet.com/recipe.asp?code=9886

Tammy didn't think she would like Tex-Mex seasoning.  And this dinner was an opportunity to use up some ground beef.  Tammy is not much of a red meat eater.  And she likes her meat fresh.  No more than a few months old.  The ground beef I have in my freezer is more on the order of 'more than a few years old' and Tammy won't eat it.

Since Tammy will be away for a few days and I need food to tide me over until she returns...I got a little carried away. I added a little more of my rice to the amount of rice that came in the Homemade Gourmet packet.  Then I had to adjust the amount of water.  Then I decided to add two pounds of beef instead of just one pound to balance the rice out.  In hindsight I should have added one more can of diced tomatoes to balance the meal out.  Oh well, there is always leftovers to experiment with.  (That is if I survive after eating my 'old' ground beef.  Tammy keeps telling me I will die from eating it.  I haven't yet.  Tune in tomorrow to see if my lucky streak continues.  Or wait... the expiration date on the rice and seasoning was back in 2011.  If I kick the bucket tonight that could be the reason!   Yikes!)

By the way... I like the meal I made and am looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.

Expo candidiates

At the Ronan Expo and tradeshow I had a conversation with the campaign manager for Janna Taylor.  In the last Montana legislature Ms Taylor had voted for HB 198 which:

"Authorizes public utilities to acquire property by eminent domain in order to provide service to customers or construct a facility without certifying that the acquisition is necessary for public use, whereas existing law required such certification"

http://votesmart.org/bill/12628/35878

HB 198 came about because a Canadian power company wanted to take farmers' and ranchers' land to build a power line.  Local Republicans claim they are for property rights... but apparently not when it comes for a foreign business.  No wonder all the local Republicans who voted this bill into law would like to pretend that didn't happen.

The campaign manager let slip that Ms Taylor warned him that her vote on this bill would come up in conversation.  Still, he wasn't able to defend her vote beyond the vague 'there were some good things in the bill'.  His defense withered away when I discussed the history of this bill and a similar bill in the legislature that protected a landowner's rights. That bill was side lined by the lobbyists and politicians.  Based on her vote on the matter I believe Ms Taylor doesn't deserve to be returned to the Montana Legislature.

http://laws.leg.mt.gov/laws11/LAW0211W$BLAC.VoteTabulation?P_VOTE_SEQ=H335

Ronan expo

Today Tammy and I drove to Ronan, Montana to attend the Ronan Expo and Livestock Trade Show at the Ronan Community Center building.  Tammy had a table there to sell her Tastefully Simple product.

It was a much earlier start to the day than we are accustomed to.  We left the house at 6:30 am.  This is hours before we normally get out of bed.  The expo started at 9 am and it was more than an hour drive to Ronan.  Very little traffic was on the road as most sensible people were snuggled in their warm beds.  It was dark out until we got to Polson, Montana, 11 miles from Ronan.  Then it was grey from an overcast sky.

The expo room wasn't too big.  There were probably a little over two dozen tables/vendors in the room.  Several Republican candidates for state offices had tables. A bank had a table.  An insurance agent. A cable TV company.  Several agriculture-related businesess.  A half dozen home-based direct-selling businesses like Tammy's Tastefully Simple business.

We were set up and ready a short time before 9 am.

 
Next to Tammy's table was Tammy's friend, Eva's, table.  Eva sells Tupperware.  Eva had a very good day as she had several big sales.  Otherwise it was slow sales wise for most people.  Tammy sold some things, but not enough to cover the expo fee.  The expo had a decent attendance for a small town and a number of women took catalogs and expressed interest, so it may be a case where the sales come later via the internet once the people look the catalog over.

On the other side of Tammy's table was one of the two irrigation sellers at the expo.  Before the expo started I chatted with one of the guys about irrigation pumps, one of which I have. The pump has not been used since dad quit using it.  I am interested in re-starting irrigating the property but would want to know if it was possible to use the old pump.  Nothing definitive can be determined without seeing the pump, but it seems possible to do.

I also talked with an older couple who had a disabled son or grandson along with them.  They were selling vitamins that causes people or animals to stimulate their adult stem cells to allow them to heal quicker. They had three gruesome before-and-after photos showing the claim of how well the pills work. I am leery of pills that could work on either horses or humans, depending how much you like the taste of alfalfa.  He seemed sincere but the pills seemed like snake oil to me.

The expo left a side door open all day even though the outside temperature was in the mid 20s under a cloudy sky.  The reason the door was open was so people would go visit the livestock stuff outside.  For us inside it made it a cold day.  The room had four or five heat lamps as pictured below.  But it didn't make the room warm.  Tammy hugged her cup of hot chocolate and ended the day with cold feet.  Most people kept their coats on.

Tammy bought a raffle ticket to win an iPad2.  She didn't win.  

The expo went from 9 am to 3 pm.  Shortly before 3 pm most vendors were taking their booths down and packing up.  Close to 3 pm we did the same.  Tammy has a fast routine and we were on the road by 3:30 pm.

We drove home on the highway on the east side of Flathead Lake as Tammy had never been south of Bigfork on this road.  This area is where most of the Flathead cherry orchards are located.

Mountain snow

Light from the setting sun on the mountains today.

For the first photo I zoomed into Glacier Park.

Swan Range.

On the right side of the photo, and perhaps just to the right of the photo itself, a cross-country skier died in an avalanche Wednesday afternoon when a snow cornice he was on broke and he fell down into the ensuing avalanche and was buried under five feet of snow.