Happiness is a Deltec home, designed to withstand Category 5 hurricanes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Designed for disaster: These homes can withstand a Category 5 hurricane

'Matt Oblinsky, Deltec’s director of engineering, spearheads an effort to constantly find better building materials to further strengthen its designs.

'“After each and every hurricane … we reach out to each and every homeowner in the path of a storm to ask how they are,” Linton said. “99.9 percent of the time we’re seeing ‘we lost a couple shingles’ or ‘we lost a piece of trim, but our neighbor’s home was demolished.’ Our homes have been field-tested for a number of years.”'

Happiness is the nonsense verse chant Flea Fly Flow from Boy Scout camp in the 1960s

The chant is a "repeat after me" or "echo" song. The leader at the campfire chants a line, the boys gathered round are to echo it exactly in reply.

There are many, many versions.

The idea was to make the nonsense lines a little longer each time and to vary the elements in order to make them more tricky to remember, which is great fun but is probably why no one can remember the thing exactly the same way now. 

In this case, the nonsense probably goes all the way back at least to Shakespeare's King Lear of 1605 ("Child Roland to the dark tower came, His word was still, Fie, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of a British man") and was immortalized in the English fable Jack the Giant Killer of 1711 ("Fee-fi-fo-fum").

"Fie!" is an old word which you use when you smell something really bad, i.e. a stench, a subject of some fascination for young boys.

By beginning with an allusion to the form of these then well known lines, the expectation was set for something familiar to come, but is immediately turned into a tongue twister to set the audience of young boys off their balance and arrest their attention and engage them. It needs to be remembered that boys were then relatively better educated than they are these days, and that it was fun to play loose as it were with the otherwise more or less serious subjects of their school days.

Add some strategically placed stick-banging and tub-thumping and it gets to be quite the scene around the bonfire!

The form is a playground for improv, but most if not all of the versions people now remember have regularized the opening tongue twister by incorporating an "L" in each line and element, as in Flea! Flea fly! Flea fly flow! 

This is how I remember it:

Fie!

Fie fly!

Fie fly foh!

Kooma-lotta kooma-lotta kooma-lotta Feast Day!

Oh, no, no, no not the Veesday!

Eeny meany deci-meany Ooo walla walla meeny, Eeny meany, hexa-meany, Ooo walla walla!

Beat belly oaten boaten Bobo benoten botten, Bobo benoten botten, Bobo benoten botten, shhhhh!

Happiness is the fabulous Linda Ronstadt with her 1975 cover of When Will I Be Loved

 

Happiness is Ed Norton from The Honeymooners

 

"Did somebody say I'm trending on Twitter? Well I'm HERE for it!"

Happiness is Do You Know What I Mean? Lee Michaels 1971

She's a dandy, yes indeed, but now she's free.

This is the Rock 'n' Roll you first heard fifty years ago and suddenly you wake up one morning with it playing on continuous loop in your head for some reason.

Happiness is sort-of-Italian opera

 

Happiness is the patriotism of our Irish

 

Happiness is being content with one's share in the blessings common to all

 

Every creature has a share in the common blessings of providence; And every creature should rest well satisfied with its proportion in them.

-- Roger L'Estrange

Happiness is the tree that made America great: The Eastern White Pine

 It's almost an hour long, but it's the fabulous but true story you probably never heard and must see.

Happiness is Not Chick'n Bouillon Cubes

I use this stuff to rev-up my chicken stock/soup, which I do make from the carcass of the leftover chicken. It also works great mixed with extra virgin olive oil made into a paste for rubbing the inside and outside of the roasting chicken before placing in the oven.

Happiness is having a vigorous interior life

(Scarecrow)

I could wile away the hours

Conferrin' with the flowers

Consultin' with the rain

And my head I'd be scratchin'

While my thoughts were busy hatchin'

If I only had a brain

I'd unravel any riddle

For any individ'le

In trouble or in pain

(Dorothy)

With the thoughts you'd be thinkin'

You could be another Lincoln

If you only had a brain

(Scarecrow)

Oh, I would tell you why

The ocean's near the shore

I could think of things I never thunk before

And then I'd sit and think some more

I would not be just a nuffin'

My head all full of stuffin'

My heart all full of pain

I would dance and be merry

Life would be a ding-a-derry

If I only had a brain

Happiness is overcoming adversity

Perhaps human nature meets few more sweetly relishing and cleanly joys, than those that derive from successful trials.

-- Joseph Glanvill (1636-1680)

Happiness is binge-listening to Ennio Morricone on a sunny Easter Sunday, who passed away July 6, 2020 with the comfort of his faith

 

Happiness is a sound egg

This is also evidenced in eggs, whereof the sound ones sink, and such as are addled swim; as do also those that are termed hypanemiae, or wind-eggs.

-- Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Of Swimming, and Floating

Happiness to some people is eating a good head cheese, to others it's watching the laborious process of making one done so well

 

Happiness is knowing how to double your crop

Gather the lowest, and leaving the top,

Shall teach thee a trick for to double thy crop.

-- Thomas Tusser

Happiness is Wright Hickory Smoked Thick Cut Bacon baked in the oven

 

I can't believe I've never prepared this bacon before by baking it in the oven as it suggests on the package. Tonight was the first time, and I'll never go back to frying it in the pan again.

It was simply outstanding, the best bacon I've ever had.

It made the pasta carbonara just that much more special for this particular Friday night's "breakfast".

Instead of a foil lined baking sheet, I used my deep stainless steel roasters to do the job. No splatter at all inside the oven. Turn the bacon every 10 minutes until you get the doneness you prefer. Mine took about 46 minutes total. The fat on the bacon turned out airy like a pork rind.

What a treat.

Happy is the man who has lived so well today, he needs not another

Happy the man, and happy he alone,

He who can call to-day his own:

He who secure within can say,

To-morrow do thy worst, for I have liv'd to-day.

-- John Dryden

Happiness is building a world of your own in the time of COVID

 You can do it! It's easy if you try.

Happiness is shiny steel and polished wood

Happiness is knowing Joe Biden has two shotguns

 

Happiness is birds of little throats, and short

Birds that are most canorous,

and whose notes we most commend,

are of little throats, and short.

-- Sir Thomas Browne, Enquiries into Common and Vulgar Errors, 1646

Happiness is binge watching British chef Marco Pierre White on YouTube on a wintry Sunday

 

Happiness is mnemonic calendar verse which actually rhymes

30 days hath September

April, June, and November.

31 the others date,

Excepting February 28.

But in a leap year we divine

February, 29.

or

Thirty days hath September,

April, June and November.

When short February's done,

All the rest have 31.

or

    Thirty days hath September,

    April, June, and November;

    Thirty-one the others date,

    Excepting February, twenty-eight;

    But in leap year we assign

    February, twenty-nine.

The earliest known example of the poem dates to approximately 1425 AD:

Thirty days hath November,

April, June, and September.

Of 28 is but one

And all the remnant 30 and 1. 

Happy New Year: It's Green, Green they say

 

Happiness is a headlamp for aging eyes

 The warm light of this headlamp, as opposed to the white light of so many comparable LEDs, is very natural. I get so much more done so quickly wearing this in the winter mornings and evenings. A wonderful gift!

Happiness is a very young John Anderson, singing "1959" released in November 1980

Happiness is Johnny Horton singing 1960's North to Alaska with a Dwight Yoakam cover

Happiness is John Anderson singing "Chicken Truck" in February 2014 at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, Texas

 

Norm Crosby has died: May he wrest in piece

 His many happy conflagrations to the English languidage will never be forgotten.

Happiness is a martial birthday

A birthday happens not by chance,

it's not at all in our control.

Each a marker on a mission,

one by one they call, they beckon.

Every year makes its advance,

another checkpoint on patrol.

Take five to pause and to inspect

your kit to see if it's complete,

to get you through to duty's end

with what you need or must amend,

a time to rest and to reject

every thought of sad retreat.

We cannot know the outcome now,

but only that our part we play.

And when at last our task is done, 

and we our final course have run,

we trust our Captain will endow

the vict'ry ribbon to repay.

-- Johnny (For Monica, 4 October 2020)

Happiness is homemade tincture of lavender

Homemade tincture of lavender

2 cups vodka

1/2 cup culinary lavender flower buds (e.g. Folgate or Royal Velvet, aka English)

parchment paper

large clean canning jar with a secure lid (I use an old 48oz honey jar)

1) Add the buds to the jar.

The best culinary lavender buds are well sifted, with hardly any brown bracts or stems remaining. Fresh means the buds are bright and not faded.

Don't even THINK about using sachet-grade lavender. If you use e.g. Grosso, it will turn out . . . gross, perhaps even toxic.  

2) Pour the vodka into the jar.

3) Cut a generous piece of parchment paper for a lid liner. Wrap the parchment over the opening and screw on the lid over that. The parchment helps prevent any reaction between the contents and the lid's rubber and metal components.

4) Give the contents a whirl and store in a pantry away from light and heat for a month or so. At least weekly give it whirl to keep it mixed up.

5) Strain the contents through a sieve after a month and return the liquid to the same jar with the parchment between the lid and the jar for indefinite keeping on the shelf.

6) The tincture makes a refreshing cocktail in the summers over ice with some added sweetener and water, and is reminiscent of Ouzo or Anisette. Or jazz up your fresh-squeezed lemonade by adding some lavender tincture to it.

7) But mainly I use a tablespoon or two in hot tea made with honey and lemon in the colder months when I feel a cold or flu coming on. It usually stops the cold dead in its tracks if you begin with the tincture immediately on symptom onset, in my experience.  This is not medical advice. 

Happiness is David Seville and The Chipmunks from 1958 (you probably remember them as Alvin and The Chipmunks)

 

Happiness is the 1951 pro-police film . . . The Day the Earth Stood Still

Yes, Gort is actually a cop:

"There must be security for all -- or no one is secure... This does not mean giving up any freedom except the freedom to act irresponsibly. Your ancestors knew this when they made laws to govern themselves -- and hired policemen to enforce them. We of the other planets have long accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets -- and for the complete elimination of aggression. A sort of United Nations on the Planetary level... The test of any such higher authority, of course, is the police force that supports it. For our policemen, we created a race of robots-- Their function is to patrol the planets -- in space ships like this one -- and preserve the peace. In matters of aggression we have given them absolute power over us. At the first sign of violence they act automatically against the aggressor. And the penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk."

Happiness is Mediterranean Tomato Sauce from Rosso and Lukins' THE NEW BASICS

Mediterranean Tomato Sauce, adapted

1/2 c extra virgin olive oil

1 2oz can anchovies in oil

4 cloves garlic

2 28oz cans San Marzano tomatoes

3 T capers in salt, rinsed

1/2 c pitted Kalamata olives

ground black pepper

1) Combine EVOO, anchovies and all their oil, and garlic in a ceramic-coated dutch oven, mash gently and saute over medium heat a couple of minutes. To speed this up I just throw it all in the food processor first to chop it up, then add it to the dutch oven.

2) Add the tomatoes and crush, then add the capers and olives, bring up to heat, then simmer on low covered about an hour, stirring frequently.

3) Before using or storing, grind over some black pepper to taste.

4) Rosso and Lukins use only 35oz of tomatoes but triple the olives, 1.5 c.

We use this on Rosso and Lukins' Mediterranean Hero sandwich from the same cookbook, which is, in my opinion, absolutely fabulous, but is sort of a cheater's Pan Bagnat. We stir together canned atlantic salmon, chopped tomato, and red onion, and place this mixture in a hollowed-out side of an oiled french baguette cut lengthwise (stale is best). You top that with this sauce, then top that with sliced hard-boiled eggs and the other half of the baguette. Then we toast it in the oven at 350F for 15 minutes or so. Before serving we add romaine lettuce, and even avocado. The thing is glorious warm, room temperature, or cold. But this might be more glorious:

You haven't lived until you've tasted a FatBoy Ice Cream Sandwich

Easily the best ice cream sandwich I have ever had. And why not? Look at all that saturated fat in there.

I found an 18-pack for $9.98 at Sam's Club.

Happiness is The Reflections singing 1964's Just Like Romeo and Juliet

Happiness is just a state of mind

Happiness is . . . loving it!

Happiness is the 102 year old woman who says "Jesus did not change water into wine so that I could look at it"

Advice from a woman who survived covid-19, the 1918 flu - and cancer:

But when she's being introspective, she credits a strong immune system, avoidance of excessive worry and even her love of red wine. She was known to say, "Jesus did not change water into wine so that I could look at it."

Happiness is good instant coffee when you're up early and need to be quiet because no one else is

Yes, happiness is being "closer, and closer, and closer, like we used to be"

Happiness is making the morning coffee and suddenly this song pops into your head for no good reason

Happiness is super easy side-dish "Southwestern Rice" made with RO-TEL

1 can "original" RO-TEL, undrained

4 oz. prepared black beans, fully rinsed

4 oz. frozen sweet corn kernels, steamed and warm

1 cup already prepared Basmati rice, warm

Mix everything together in a heat-proof covered casserole dish and pop it in the oven on "warm" 20 minutes or so before serving. The tomatoes in the recipe prepared this way remain perkier than cooking the RO-TEL together with the rice.

You don't have to make your beans from scratch, but I did. Took about 3 hours. Rinse, cover with water in a heavy pot, boil, turn off heat & cover 1 hour. Return to boil, then to low, simmer 2 hours covered. Drain and rinse well. Ba-da-bing.

Happiness is Uncle Kracker, who can't wait for this to be over

Happiness is Don Williams singing "Tulsa Time", first released in October 1978

Happiness is a refreshing glass of vodka lemonade

Vodka lemonade

1 lemon

2 t sugar

1/4 c water

1/4 c vodka

ice

1) Juice the lemon and add juice to a high ball glass

2) Add the water, vodka and sugar

3) Stir vigorously to dissolve sugar

4) Add ice and serve

Happiness is the juice of the lemon in the summertime

 

 

 

 

  The juice of the lemon is more cooling and astringent than that of oranges.

-- John Arbuthnot (1667-1735)

Happiness is Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers singing "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" in 1956

Happiness is to know how always to choose the mean and shun the excess in either direction

. . . know how always to choose in such things the life that is seated in the mean and shun the excess in either direction, both in this world so far as may be and in all the life to come; for this is the greatest happiness for man.

-- Plato, Republic, Book X, 619

Happiness is when Dudley Do-Right shows up when you can't pay the rent

Happiness is the eastern redbud tree in bloom

Happiness is crop rotation

 

 

If you sow one ground with the same kind of grain, it will produce but poorly.

-- Francis Bacon

Happiness is a tender Italian turkey meatball "shell" during the pandemic

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground turkey

1/2 c milk

1 egg

3/4 c Panko bread crumbs

Seasoning:

1 t salt

1/2 t granulated garlic

1/2 t dried thyme leaves

1/2 t dried oregano leaves

1/2 t whole black peppercorns, or 1/4 t ground

1 t fennel seeds

1 t crushed red pepper flakes

1 T sweet Hungarian paprika

Method:

1) Whisk together the egg and the milk in a large mixing bowl

2) Grind the seasonings in a coffee grinder until fine-ish

3) Whisk the seasonings into the egg/milk mixture

4) Add the meat to the bowl and mix together using a fork or a potato masher

5) Add the bread crumbs and mix together

6) Form "meatball shells" using a fork and a nonstick ice cream scoop, which releases them easily 

7) Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat and add enough canola oil to cover the bottom

8) Fry "shells" in batches about twelve minutes in the oil, flat side first, flipping them half way through

9) Serve with pasta "Orecchiette" if you can find them, for fun, and your favorite sauce

Happiness is being one of the lucky dogs who snagged one of these at Sam's Club this week

And I paid only $1.98, which actually reflects a recent price increase. Once in a while you've got to splurge on the creamy, fatty goodness of half-n-half in your coffee. Like during a pandemic, for example.

Milk, however, was CLEANED OUT. First time that's ever happened to me at Sam's Club.

Butter also was unavailable again at Sam's.

So far, though, I'm still able to get milk and butter either at the corner gas station, or at the grocery stores. Mind you, at those places it costs more, even a lot more, than I routinely pay at Sam's.

Meanwhile, the shelves are actually appearing better-stocked at Sam's than I've seen them in the last four weeks.

And more of the shoppers are wearing masks now, as am I. 

Happiness is the big mother bag of bread flour purchased at Sam's Club to get us through the lock down

Happiness is COVID-19 (Come on Eileen)

Happiness is being secure from fortune's blows

Secure from fortune's blows,

Secure of what I cannot lose,

In my small pinnace I can sail.

-- John Dryden

Happiness is Comrade Jeeves explaining Stalin's socialism to Comrade Butt

Here.

Happiness is fruit so fresh out of the bag the attached leaf is still green

Happiness is BelGioioso pre-sliced fresh mozzarella for pizza night

It's more expensive than shredded part-skim mozzarella by about $1.23/lb, but tastes far better.

It's worth it.

We can still make five pizzas with a pound of it as before, and just as conveniently because it is pre-sliced.

Happy is he who is kind to the poor

-- Proverbs 14:21

It is more blessed to give than to receive. -- Acts 20:35

It was 21 years ago today, the final game for John Elway

All things considered, I prefer the hammsvirus

Happiness is 36-year-old Aaron Rodgers leading the Packers to San Fran for the NFC Championship game on Jan 19th

Cheeky sports girl announcer called him "old man" after last night's victory over Seattle.

Happiness is visiting the junkyard on a 47 degree day in January and saving big bucks on tires and wheels

It was like winning the lotto. 

There she was, a 2003 Pontiac Bonneville with black steel wheels and tires, not in the yard yet two weeks. Junked probably for a failed tranny. The tires were just over two years old and still had a tread depth of 8. Wheels and tires fit my 1997 Oldsmobile with ten year old rubber needing replacement. Extra set of wheels will get my snow tires.

Who could have predicted? Out the door for $108 plus tax.

Total savings over retail: At least $675. 

Happiness is the best answer ever to the interview question "What would be your ideal job?"

Happiness is 1965's "Wooly Bully" by Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs

Video.

Happiness is the old Majestic 36BDVR gas fireplace fixed over Christmas by your son for less than ten bucks

Happiness is November 1982's TV movie The Scarlet Pimpernel starring Jane Seymour and Anthony Andrews

They seek him here.

They seek him there.

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.

Is he in Heaven?

Or is he in Hell?

That damned, elusive, pimpernel.

Happiness is Eight O'Clock Coffee

Eight O'Clock Coffee,

     Five O'Clock Gin,

Start the day early,

     End it with a grin.

Happiness is stents, which save lives if your widowmaker is blocked, and improve quality of life, despite recent study

The findings do not apply to all heart patients, including those with blockages in the left main coronary artery, Hochman said. And, she added, “if you’re having a heart attack, stents save lives.”

Story.

Today is the second anniversary of my stent procedure, and I'm happy to tell you I'm happy to be here, because I did it.

If you have pain in your chest or arms on exertion, or quickly reduced function due to fatigue on exertion, see your doctor. A simple stress test and echo-cardiogram can save your life, and improve it.

Pet Peeve: When the really nice looking white-skinned chicken thighs have just as much skin hidden underneath them by the butcher

Happiness is white teeth

We simple toasters take delight

To see our women's teeth look white;

And ev'ry saucy ill-bred fellow

Sneers at a mouth profoundly yellow.

-- Matthew Prior

Happiness is the Victor Tin Cat mouse trap: Holds up to 30!

It works as advertised. We put in some sunflower seeds as bait and set it in the garage overnight and caught four, after which they went for a nice little swim.

Next!

Happiness is replacing the traditional charcoal grate with the Old Smokey charcoal grate

Traditional charcoal grates burn hotter than the Old Smokey type grate because the coals are exposed to air both top and bottom.

But with the Old Smokey the bottoms are not directly exposed to air, and consequently you get a longer, less intense burn.

For me the Old Smokey type, meant for smoking obviously, just works better for things like hamburgers and pork chops because you can grill directly over the coals but the heat is just less intense and you get a more tender, flavorful outcome.

Happiness is a used Karcher G2000QT gas engine pressure washer for ten bucks

For an additional six or seven bucks in parts, my very talented son had this model up and running in a couple of days after taking it apart and regreasing it.

So far we've cleaned some long overdue dirty house siding, the driveway, an old lawnmower, all the first floor cottage blinds (out on the clean driveway), and the Generac, all in the first week, and I'm probably forgetting something!

Works with a garden hose, and we didn't even use any soap, just plain water. Worked like a charm. It takes up very little space in the garage, too.

What a money saver this thing has been already.

Happiness is the 1870 counting rhyme "Over in the Meadow"

Over in the meadow,

In the sand, in the sun,

Lived an old mother toad

And her little toadie, one;

"Wink!" said the mother,

"I wink," said the one,

So she winked and she blinked

In the sand, in the sun.

Over in the meadow

Where the stream runs blue,

Lived an old mother fish

And her little fishes, two;

"Swim!" said the mother,

"We swim," said the two,

So they swam and they leapt

Where the stream runs blue.

Over in the meadow

In a hole in a tree,

Lived a mother bluebird

And her little birdies, three;

"Sing!" said the mother,

"We sing," said the three,

So they sang and were glad

In the hole in the tree.

Over in the meadow

In the reeds on the shore,

Lived a mother muskrat

And her little ratties, four;

"Dive!" said the mother,

"We dive," said the four,

So they dived and they burrowed

In the reeds on the shore.

Over in the meadow

In a snug bee-hive,

Lived a mother honey-bee

And her little honeys, five;

"Buzz!" said the mother,

"We buzz," said the five,

So they buzzed and they hummed

In the snug bee-hive.

Over in the meadow

In a nest built of sticks,

Lived a black mother crow

And her little crows, six;

"Caw!" said the mother,

"We caw," said the six,

So they cawed and they called

In their nest built of sticks.

Over in the meadow

Where the grass is so even,

Lived a gay mother cricket

And her little crickets, seven;

"Chirp!" said the mother,

"We chirp," said the seven,

So they chirped cheery notes

In the grass green and even.

Over in the meadow

By the old mossy gate,

Lived a brown mother lizard

And her little lizards, eight;

"Bask!" said the mother

"We bask," said the eight,

So they basked in the sun

On the old mossy gate.

Over in the meadow

Where the clear pools shine,

Lived a green mother frog

And her little froggies, nine;

"Croak!" said the mother,

"We croak," said the nine,

So they croaked and they splashed

Where the clear pools shine.

Over in the meadow

In a sly little den,

Lived a gray mother spider

And her little spiders, ten;

"Spin!" said the mother,

"We spin," said the ten,

So they spun lace webs

In their sly little den.

Over in the meadow

In the soft summer even,

Lived a mother fire-fly

And her little flies, eleven;

"Shine!" said the mother,

"We shine," said th' eleven,

So they shone like stars

In the soft summer even.

Over in the meadow

Where the men dig and delve,

Lived a wise mother ant,

And her little anties, twelve;

"Toil!" said the mother,

"We toil," said the twelve,

So they toiled and were wise,

Where the men dig and delve.

-- Katherine Floyd-Dana, aka Olive A. Wadsworth (1835-1886)