Sunday, September 7, 2008
Update On Ike
Folks, we really need to look out for this one. I got that sinkin' feelin'..... He's doing everything I don't want him to do. Check out the full update at Keep It Simple Survival, and get ready...
More Bad Financial News
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the U.S. Treasury Department could announce big changes for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they struggle with the current mortgage and housing crisis.
Here is an excerpt from that story:
“In a statement, the Treasury Department said it would not "comment on rumors." Representatives for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined to comment on the report.”
Read the entire story here:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/05/news/companies/freddie_fannie/index.htm?postversion=2008090521
This trend is quickening. Soon it will be GM, Ford, etc.
Pickdog
Here is an excerpt from that story:
“In a statement, the Treasury Department said it would not "comment on rumors." Representatives for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac declined to comment on the report.”
Read the entire story here:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/05/news/companies/freddie_fannie/index.htm?postversion=2008090521
This trend is quickening. Soon it will be GM, Ford, etc.
Pickdog
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Ike Update
Ike is heading southwest like I anticipated he would, and will soon be in the Gulf. There is a frontal system steering Ike in this direction, and low pressure moving in from the west that will help pull Ike along.
At this point it looks like another northern Gulf landfall, but this far out it's anyone's guess. He is a borderline catagory 3 at this time, which is amazing due to the relatively cool water he is over, and the amount of wind shear he's experiencing. But once he moves into the Gulf, he'll have less shear to contend with, and some really nice warm water to feed on. Y'all keep your eyes peeled, he's gonna be a monster. The models show him slipping northward behind the front, but I think the computer model thinks the southern part of the frontal boundary will dissapate. I don't know about that, we'll just have to watch. Me, I think Ike will skirt right along that frontal boundary, staying in the lower Gulf, then turning northward after the front passes...
Either way, this is definitely a storm to keep a close eye on if you live anywhere on the Gulf coast.....
Friday, September 5, 2008
Storage Recipes - Canning Butter
CANNING BUTTER
Jars of Canned Butter & Hamburger Rocks.
Now you can purchase canned butter from The Internet Grocer http://www.internet-grocer.net/butter.htm or make it yourself using the directions below.
1. Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see #5 below), but the results are the same as with the expensive brands.
2. Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.
3. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.
4. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.
5. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once a few lids "ping," shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.
6. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.
7. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. [It does last a long time. We have just used up the last of the butter we canned in 1999, and it was fine after 5 years..] Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.
A lovely glow seems to emanate from every jar. You will also be glowing with grateful satisfaction while placing this "sunshine in a jar" on your pantry shelves.
We have canned over 75 pints of butter in the past year. Miles loves it and will open a jar when I'm not looking! I buy butter on sale, then keep it frozen until I have enough for canning 2 or 3 batches of a dozen jars each.
Source: http://www.endtimesreport.com/canning_butter.html
Belwether Notes:
The most difficult part of the whole process is coming up with the necessary extra funds to purchase the 11#'s of butter all at one time. I already had the jars. I used "Land-O-Lakes" unsalted.
Keep the temperature as low as possible yet let it simmer so as not to scorch the butter.
Shake, Shake, Shake and Shake some more - Looks good and tastes just fine.
Take Care - Belwether
Jars of Canned Butter & Hamburger Rocks.
Now you can purchase canned butter from The Internet Grocer http://www.internet-grocer.net/butter.htm or make it yourself using the directions below.
1. Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see #5 below), but the results are the same as with the expensive brands.
2. Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.
3. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.
4. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.
5. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once a few lids "ping," shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.
6. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.
7. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. [It does last a long time. We have just used up the last of the butter we canned in 1999, and it was fine after 5 years..] Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.
A lovely glow seems to emanate from every jar. You will also be glowing with grateful satisfaction while placing this "sunshine in a jar" on your pantry shelves.
We have canned over 75 pints of butter in the past year. Miles loves it and will open a jar when I'm not looking! I buy butter on sale, then keep it frozen until I have enough for canning 2 or 3 batches of a dozen jars each.
Source: http://www.endtimesreport.com/canning_butter.html
Belwether Notes:
The most difficult part of the whole process is coming up with the necessary extra funds to purchase the 11#'s of butter all at one time. I already had the jars. I used "Land-O-Lakes" unsalted.
Keep the temperature as low as possible yet let it simmer so as not to scorch the butter.
Shake, Shake, Shake and Shake some more - Looks good and tastes just fine.
Take Care - Belwether
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Cheap Bug-out Locations in Texas
Need a temporary bug-out location that's easy on the budget. Get a Texas State Parks Pass for you and your family and it's good at over 90 locations in the state of Texas. If you have to bug-out for a while due to whatever (storm, flood, or just to get away) a Texas State Parks Pass is a great way to do it on a budget and have a large variety in your choice of destinations. Mine only costs $60 and it's good for a whole year. I have a lot of places I can go for only $5 a month!
You can get information about a Texas State Parks Pass here:
Riverwalker
Monday, September 1, 2008
The Near Future?
Is this what we have to look forward to in the near future?
Rat meat in demand as inflation bites
Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:32pm EDT
Cambodian shoppers search through rodent meat at a market northwest of Phnom Penh
Rat meat in demand as inflation bites
Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:32pm EDT
Cambodian shoppers search through rodent meat at a market northwest of Phnom PenhPHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia this year as inflation has put other meat beyond the reach of poor people, officials said on Wednesday.
With consumer price inflation at 37 percent according to the latest central bank estimate, demand has pushed a kilogram of rat meat up to around 5,000 riel ($1.28) from 1,200 riel last year.
Spicy field rat dishes with garlic thrown in have become particularly popular at a time when beef costs 20,000 riel a kg.
Officials said rats were fleeing to higher ground from flooded areas of the lower Mekong Delta, making it easier for villagers to catch them.
"Many children are happy making some money from selling the animals to the markets, but they keep some for their family," Ly Marong, an agriculture official, said by telephone from the Koh Thom district on the border with Vietnam.
"Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese living on the border with us."
He estimated that Cambodia supplied more than a ton of live rats a day to Vietnam.
Rats are also eaten widely in Thailand, while a state government in eastern India this month encouraged its people to eat rats in an effort to battle soaring food prices and save grain stocks.
($1 = 3,900 riel)
(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould and Paul Tait)
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnough/idUSBKK27922820080828
Take Care - Belwether
With consumer price inflation at 37 percent according to the latest central bank estimate, demand has pushed a kilogram of rat meat up to around 5,000 riel ($1.28) from 1,200 riel last year.
Spicy field rat dishes with garlic thrown in have become particularly popular at a time when beef costs 20,000 riel a kg.
Officials said rats were fleeing to higher ground from flooded areas of the lower Mekong Delta, making it easier for villagers to catch them.
"Many children are happy making some money from selling the animals to the markets, but they keep some for their family," Ly Marong, an agriculture official, said by telephone from the Koh Thom district on the border with Vietnam.
"Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese living on the border with us."
He estimated that Cambodia supplied more than a ton of live rats a day to Vietnam.
Rats are also eaten widely in Thailand, while a state government in eastern India this month encouraged its people to eat rats in an effort to battle soaring food prices and save grain stocks.
($1 = 3,900 riel)
(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould and Paul Tait)
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnough/idUSBKK27922820080828
Take Care - Belwether
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