Friday Funnies

Beach Patrol ?

They were joined by beach guards on "foot" patrol . . .

And, the water guards as well, enjoying the surf . . .

These photos are for our blogger friend, Denise (An English Girl Rambles), who is especially fond of seagulls.

Shovelers Not for Snow

These shovelers are ducks, more correctly called northern shovelers.

A couple of weeks ago, we visited nearby Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. This pair was feeding (nearly) non-stop during the 20 minutes we watched them. 

Northern shovelers feed by dabbling and sifting in shallow water and prefer freshwater lakes, marshes and wetlands with muddy edges.  

The northern shoveler is sometimes called the spoonbill. It has the largest bill of any duck in North America. This bill is the most prominent feature; it is also longer than its head.

As in most species, the male is the more colorful with a black head that shows iridescent green in bright light. The male has a black bill, white breast, and its abdomen and flanks are chestnut. The black rump may also show iridescent green. 

Females are mottled brown with darker upper parts and a grayish-orange bill. Both genders have yellow eyes, orange legs and feet, and a powder blue wing patch visible when flying. This pair was more interested in foraging than flying.

Northern shovelers are monogamous, mating after a courtship display that includes various calls, wing flapping and head dipping. 

This duck's summer range extends from Alaska through western and central Canada south to the mountain regions of Colorado and northern New Mexico, and as far east as the St. Lawrence River and Massachusetts Bay. Like some humans, they escape winter temps and migrate to the Pacific coast, southern U.S., the Caribbean and Mexico.

Coffee to Bank On

That's because this local coffee house is housed in a former bank.

Renamed as The Bank Coffee House is housed in the former First National Bank which was granted a charter (no. 4940) in 1894.

It's not the first re-use of this depository. For several years, it was the site of a local pharmacy.

This stately brick and marble building has been in operation for 107 years. It still retains the original woodwork and vaults, one of which is used as an art gallery.

The Bank Coffee House is located is a designated historical district. This district includes dwellings, commercial buildings, churches and schools that are part of Onancock's 300-year history.

Onancock was an important port for the Virginia Eastern Shore and served as the commercial center for Accomack County throughout much of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. The town's buildings represent various styles such as Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Victorian Gothic, Craftsman/Bungalow and Colonial Revival.

Onancock, a short drive from our home in Onley, is a popular tourist destination during summer months because of its picturesque small-town charm.

Grenville enjoyed a favorite brunch item — everything bagel with cream cheese and lox.

Do you have a local eatery that once had a totally different usage?

Smarter Than Us?

Recently, Grenville and I upgraded our “dumb” phones to smart ones. Grenville always got a big laugh in saying that his phone was so old it had a rotary dial. Take a minute and think about it.

We avoided an upgrade 2 years ago, but once again our contract was up. So it was time to consider a change.

We use other Apple products (iPad and MacBook), so we choose an iPhone. Rather than the “bargain” iPhone 4s, we opted for the most current (for now) model. iPhone 5s. We go the distance with contracts; our previous one was so old that it was grandfathered.
Grenville’s has the gray back model; mine is gold which only reflects the case color, not its cost. Thankfully, we qualified for upgrade pricing too, so the phone was (way below) retail cost. However, they are still pricey, so enough said.

Of course, with cell phones there are always accessories.  Grenville’s is a red flip case. My choice was a wrap-around protective case in my favorite color — purple, both ordered from our favorite online retailer, Amazon.
And considering the cost of similar items at the phone store, these were big-time money-saving bargains, always a great thing for us.
Talking about cost, it seems that with the price of these devices, you would hope for a How To Use guide to be included. Sadly, as is the case today for most all electronics, camera, etc., there was only a very small one. So it was back to Amazon for an “after-market” manual; this one has over 500 pages. If we read it all, we should know a LOT about the phones — maybe even before there’s a newer model.

We won’t upgrade before 2 years, which also gives us time to master texting. Yes, many have been texting for years. No, we never texted on our older phones.

Texting has its own language, Emoji, with lots of images (not all “smiley or gloomy” faces) called emoticons that many add in their text messages. FYI, it’s found on the language keyboard of many smart phones and other devices.
Wonder if there’s a Rosetta Stone ® program for Emoji — Can you Emoji?

Friday Funnies

Maybe NOT . . .

But WHY take a chance  ?

No French Toast

Monday was a rainy, snowy winter day. For me, there's no better time to bake something.

The French toast mentioned in the previous post was considered.

BUT there were several ripening bananas and a couple of apples on hand, which could only mean one thing here — it was time to make muffins, much to Grenville's delight (and mine as well).

There's a lot of banana muffin recipes out there and so many variations. Here's a few of mine: use both white and whole wheat flour, honey and brown sugar substitute (vs. white sugar), replace cooking oil with butter. Of course, a healthier change is to use applesauce in place of sugars, and/or add yogurt for moistness.

This recipe yields 12 "regular" muffins; our tins are labelled "Texas-size" and yields 6 large muffins instead, which we definitely prefer.

Banana Apple Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease bottom of muffin tin or use non-stick cooking spray. You could skip the grease/spray and line muffin tin with paper cups. No paper liners for me as it seems a waste, plus we never have any on hand.

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 small apples, peeled and chopped fine (you could use a food processor)
• 1/2 C butter, melted
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 C white flour (I prefer King Arthur flour)
• 1 C whole wheat flour
• 1/4 C brown sugar substitute (Splenda or equivalent)
• 1/4 C honey
• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Mash bananas, then cut apples in small pieces, and mix together, add vanilla extract. (You could use a small food processor for the apples; my preference is less tools used means less cleanup.)
2. Measure flours in separate bowl, add in other dry ingredients (baking soda, baking power, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt)
3. Stir banana and apple mix into dry ingredients.
4. Add in beaten egg and melted butter. Mix all ingredients together until flour is moistened, but do not over stir.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes until tester comes out dry. Cool on rack before tasting, if you can wait that long.

Of course, Grenville and I had to sample (we shared)one. And, the white chocolate/macadamia creamer was a wonderful accompaniment to the coffee.

Grenville declared this recipe was a keeper and that's high praise indeed. Leftovers DO freeze well, if you can refrain from eating them all first.

IF you were are in one of the states affected by this latest winter blast, we hope you were safely indoors.

Spring arrives later this month, so we've heard.

Lots of folks are so VERY ready.

Snow Seen Scenes

We know that many folks are eagerly anticipating spring's arrival later this month but it's still winter in most areas, including here on the VA eastern shore.

Yesterday, it snowed here (VA eastern shore) for the third time this season.

NO, it was not a major storm compared to those that our native NJ and many other states had this winter, including the South. Curiously, this storm missed NJ and even New England.

In this area, anything over a half inch of snow is a BIG weather event. We had over 3X that amount along with freezing rain, sleet and bitter cold temps. Here, cold temps translate to numbers in the low 20s. Yesterday was in the high teens.

As expected, closings were numerous, early and simply stated, everything in 2 counties shut down — schools, banks, medical offices, YMCA, library. There was NO going out even for donuts or shovels as the area bakery and hardware store also closed. Even UPS failed to deliver a package Grenville was expecting (he was not upset).

Despite cautions to stay off roadways except for a medical emergency, there were many reports of vehicles in ditches, spinouts and even overturned along back roads or the main highway. Sometimes, folks ignore warnings of icy and dangerous road conditions, which can lead to misfortune; most local roads are not plowed or salted.

Grenville and I stayed cozily indoors in comfy clothes — sweats and fleece wear; opened the curtains, lit the gas fireplace and enjoyed the snow show. Thankfully for everyone (including ourselves), we did not take any selfies to share online.

We wondered HOW many folks ever make French toast as bread, milk and eggs are always forecast as pre-storm sellouts.

How do you spend a bad weather day?

Proudly USA Made

We are proud that all USA flags we have ever bought have been made in the USA.

That's why it was especially upsetting to learn that many American flags bought by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) could not make the same claim.

Until last month, when under new rules, all U.S. flags purchased by the DoD must be 100% sourced and produced in the U.S., which means entirely made in America. The ruling was part of the 2014 omnibus appropriations bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. 

We raved that is was About Time and wondered what took them so long?

It should be noted that this ruling only applies to military-purchased US flags. Private citizens are not bound by the regulation. And, it is increasingly difficult to find USA-made items, much less an American flag.

Luckily, Annin Flagmakers, calls itself "the oldest and largest flag manufacturer in the United States since 1847."  Its corporate headquarters are located in our native NJ.

We have proudly displayed Annin-made flags on our VA front porch for years. The most recent was purchased at a local Walmart.

So far, all is good.

Except that when we went to take the flag down last month, as we do in windy weather, we noticed that stitches were unraveling along the center pole. I emailed Annin's Customer Service and received a reply which stated in part:

There is no way to predict accurately the life of an outdoor flag, regardless of the fabric used in manufacture.  Our Nyl-Glo flags usually last longer than those of Bulldog (heavyweight cotton) bunting.  Tough-Tex (2-ply spun polyester) flags generally are the longest wearing.  Just how long, however, depends on many factors. 

The U.S. Government generally expects a cotton or nylon flag to last approximately 90 days based on daily usage from sunrise to sunset, but not during periods of inclement weather. Even if your flag was displayed sunrise to sunset you have close to 6 months of flag life.

While this was a reasonable response, this appeared to be a manufacturing vs. weather-related issue. Another email was sent to explain that the flag was never left out in inclement weather and, more importantly, was otherwise undamaged (no frays, rips or tears).

The Customer Service representative requested photos, which I provided via email:

Within a short time, a reply email was received:

I have shared your pictures with our Walmart rep and a replacement will be sent to you. Please reply with your mailing address for the shipment. Thank you for your patience concerning this issue.

It arrived via UPS priority mail recently. Note the message to check the sticking first.

It's now proudly displayed on the front porch except, of course, during windy or inclement weather. As for the damaged flag, while I'm no seamstress, I'll undertake repairs and it will fly again. 

Our thanks to Annin Flagmakers, a USA company that stands behind its product.
Has anyone else had a similar experience contacting a company's customer service?

Skillet Pasta & Broccoli

According to an online article, shrimp scampi, three-cheese ravioli, and penne (or ziti) are considered the most popular pastas in Italian-American eateries.

Since a post last month (that long ago, already?) covered shrimp scampi dinner at The Frog & PenguINN, this one deals with another classic (modified a bit) and it's a one-skillet meal. Easy too and what could be better than that?

It does have a substitution as the recipe in Cook's Country magazine used penne pasta. However, I had bow tie pasta and used that instead. This recipe serves 4. You can cut in half OR enjoy leftovers for another mea. That's what we usually do. A no-cook night is always a great thing.

AND, if chicken is not a favorite in your house, substitute sausage instead. Cut sausage in small pieces and cook before adding to the pasta and broccoli.

Skillet Pasta with Chicken & Broccoli

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed nd sliced thin
• Salt and pepper
• 1 onion, chopped find
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 C dry white wine
• 2-1/2 C water
• 2 C low-sodium chicken broth
• 8 oz. (2-1/2 C) penne or substitute pasta
• 8 oz. broccoli florets, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated (1 cup), plus extra for serving

1. Pat chicken dry; season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Add chicken in single layer and cook without stirring until it starts to brown (about 1 min.). Stir and continue to cook about 2 minutes more; transfer to bowl and keep warm.
2. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, 1/2 tsp salt and cook until softened (5-7 minutes).
3. Stir in garlic, pepper flakes, oregano and cook about 30 seconds. Stir in wine and simmer until nearly evaporated. Add water, broth and penne. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring often until penne is nearly tender (about 12 minutes).
4. Stir in broccoli and cook until penne and broccoli are tender and sauce has thickened (3-5 minutes). Stir in chicken with accumulated juice and cook until warmed (1 minute). Turn off heat, stir in remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve and sprinkle extra cheese on as needed. 
Didn't I say this was easy?

Snow Birds

The Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) is the most well-known species of the Juncos, a genus of small grayish American sparrows. Easily recognizable by their crisp markings and bright tail feathers they are one of the most abundant forest birds of North America.

They're called "snow birds" since in most of the eastern U.S. they appear as winter sets in and retreat northward by springtime. Their appearance at backyard feeders in temperate areas is considered a sign of winter's arrival.

In North America, Black-eyed Juncos are one of the most common birds, found across the continent from Alaska to Mexico, California to New York. Recent counts place the total junco population at about 530 million. (Wonder who did all that counting?)

Dark-eyed Juncos are mainly seed-eaters and at feeders, prefer millet over sunflower seeds. During breeding season, they also eat insects, including beetles, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, ants, flies and even wasps.

Most of the year, these birds are solitary, but during the winter months they often band into small flocks or form mixed flocks with other small, seed-eating birds such as chickadees, nuthatches, and other sparrows, like these. 

What's at your backyard feeders now?