Need For Speed

Several months ago our city's police department bought a new "toy"; a trailer containing a radar gun and an electronic sign that tells you exactly how fast you're going as you drive past. Since then, I've seen the speed trailer in several different locations. As I drive by it, I always glance at my speedometer to make sure I'm not going too fast.

Tonight Tony and I were out for a stroll and saw the sign sitting on the side of the road. As we walked past it I wondered what it would take to make the screen activate. After a little experimenting I figured out how to set off a radar speed sign while I was on foot.

It wasn't hard at all. I just danced around in front of it a little bit and waved my arms. There were no cars in the vicinity to see my performance, but the screen showed me moving at 29 miles per hour. After my experiment was over I walked away (at a much slower rate of speed).

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

Sage at Wise Herb's Random Jottings gifted me with a lovely "faithful follower" award a few days ago. As I'm just getting around to acknowledging it just now, I'm not sure how faithful that makes me, but I'm honored to accept.

As all blogging awards go, I now get to choose others to receive this one. Based solely on the fact that they've recently commented on my ramblings, my picks are:

Colette2008
Life In The Second Half
Dkzody’s Weblog
New things each Day
Life In The 2nd Half Century
The Unemployed Elitist
Not Rocket Science
Journey to Flow
Kathy's Kampground Kapers

Please don't feel compelled to pass the award on, but if you'd like to, here are some rules:

1. Put this award on your blog.
2. Invite 10 people to take this award.
3. Don't forget to link back to the person who gave you this award.
4. Let them know that they have received this award.
5. Share the love to those who get this award.

Plant or Weed?

This year we decided to cancel our lawn service. There's been no "weeding and feeding" of our turf, and the non-grass plants that were missing last year have started to return. (A few never really went away.) I know the names of some of the invading weeds...dandelions and clover are so distinctive they're easy to identify. Crabgrass is forever popping up in the garden, and because nutsedge (aka watergrass) grows faster than the grass it's sadly easy to find in the yard.

However, I can't identify many of the other weeds. There's the plant with the yellow flowers, the one with succulent-looking leaves, and the one that starts out looking like a petite dandelion, but has tiny white flowers at the top of a longish stem. I decided to rectify my ignorance and today I researched the names of the weeds that I see in our yard.

I got my information, and photos, from the University of Missouri Weed Identification Guide Website. It was very helpful. There were several different classes of weeds, but I concentrated on the garden, landscape, and lawn categories. I spent a lot of time clicking through to different plants. There were some very unusual names that caught my attention, such as clammy groundcherry, mugwort, and poorjoe. A few plants, like Jerusalem artichoke, are considered weeds when they grow in wrong places, but are actually cultivated in others.

Some of my more interesting discoveries:


This is yellow woodsorrel. The leaves look a bit like a shamrock, as woodsorrel is in the oxalis family. The plant is a perennial, and I'm forever pulling these plants from my flowerbeds starting in the spring. They tend to grow in clusters; there's always four or five plants growing together in one spot. An orange dye can be obtained by boiling the whole plant; I may need to try that!


Common Lespedeza is an annual that's also called Japanese clover. It forms a large flat mat that can be more than a foot wide. At my house, it likes to grow in the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street, and kills all the grass underneath it. Occasionally after a hard rain I can pull up the whole plant; it's attached to a long taproot.


Do you ever wonder how some plants got their name? Shepherd's-purse has triangular, purse-like pods. It can flower almost all year round. Although it can get as tall as two feet, in our yard it gets mown over on a regular basis, so it tends to stay short.



Common purslane is in the portulaca family, which explains the leaf's resemblance to the annual flower I buy from the garden shop. This plant loves to grow in the driveway and sidewalk expansion joints at my house. Someone told me that purslane is edible, but because it's growing so close to the street at our house I think I'll pass!

Be Cool

Although our grass isn't growing as quickly as it was last month, it still needs to be cut on a regular basis. Today was the day, and I wasn't looking forward to it because the forecast called for temperatures in the mid-90s and a heat index of over 100. I was gone all morning, and when I got home I kept finding things to do other than get the lawn mower out. I spent so long procrastinating that it was mid-afternoon before I got outside-ironically, the hottest part of the day.

In preparation for the job I put on old baggy clothes, slathered on sunscreen, and borrowed Tony's lawn mowing hat (an old sweat-stained baseball cap from the Cayman Islands). I was almost ready, but I decided to take one additional step to keep myself cool while I cut. I filled a bucket with water and added a handful of ice cubes to keep it cold. Just before I started the lawn mower, I dunked the cap in the bucket, wrung out most of the excess water, and put it on my head.

It felt wonderful! There were cool rivulets of water running down the side of my face, and drops of water from the brim hitting my nose. After I finished cutting the front yard, I turned off the the mower and re-wet the hat. This time I left a bit more water on it so it would cool off the top of my head. I repeated the dunking procedure three more times before the mowing was finished, not because I had to but because it felt so good. Each time the hat was a little more saturated when it went back on my head and there was more water dripping off it.

When I finished the lawn my clothes were completely covered in sweat, my eyes were burning from sunscreen running into them, and I had very unattractive raccoon rings from melting mascara. It was time to get clean.

I don't like to shower after exercising in hot weather, because it doesn't cool me off; I continue to sweat after I get out. I'd rather take a bath, because I can sit in the water as long as I want. However, today I decided to improve the bathing experience. I carried a large drinking glass and the ice container from the freezer up to the bathroom. I filled the glass with ice and water, then turned the cold faucet on in the tub and dumped the rest of the cubes in.

There wasn't a lot of ice, so it was melted about the time the water got six inches deep. I stepped into the tub and sat down. The water was almost cold, but quite invigorating. I dunked my head under the water and let the extra run down my back, then sat back and drank my ice water. In less than five minutes I had stopped sweating and was ready to get out.

Public Service Announcement

Must Have Medical Tests for Women (from Life123)

It’s easy to put off going to the doctor. Life gets busy and you feel healthy, right? While you don’t want to spend more time in the doctor’s office than necessary, certain tests are well-worth the time investment because they will extend the length of your life as well as the quality of your life. The following must have medical tests are ones you won’t want to skip.

Tests you’ll need once you turn 18

Once you’re on your own, make sure you get these medical tests:

* Annual Physical. It may sound basic, but many people think as long as you feel healthy, you don’t need to see the doctor. Establish a relationship with your primary care physician by scheduling an annual physical. Make sure this yearly exam includes a pelvic exam; an all-over skin examination, looking for signs of skin cancer; weight check, as one of the most common signs of other illnesses is unintentional excessive weight loss or gain; blood pressure check, given that it’s never too early to watch for signs of heart disease, the number one cause of death for women; and a discussion about your mental health, touching on signs of depression. Continue to have these annual exams for the rest of your life, using these annual physicals as a springboard for the rest of the annual medical tests mentioned in this article.

* Twice a year dental exam. You may feel like your teeth are bright and shiny--you may even clean and floss them three times a day—but there’s no substitute for your biannual dental appointment for a professional cleaning, check for cavities and gum disease, and visual check for oral cancer.

* Annual breast exam. While you’re in the doctor’s office for that annual physical, make sure your doctor does a manual breast exam looking for signs of breast cancer. Ask your doctor to show you how to perform a proper self exam and make sure you perform a self exam monthly.

Tests you’ll need starting in your 20s

* Cholesterol test every five years. When you turn 20, you’ll want to ask your doctor to check your cholesterol every 5 years, charting your levels of good and bad cholesterol. The test can be done during your annual physical and consists of having blood drawn. You have to fast the day of the exam, so make sure you tell the physician’s office you want this test done when you schedule the exam and follow the instructions carefully, so you don’t have to come in again another day. If the test comes back saying you have “high cholesterol”, this means your bad cholesterol is too high or your good cholesterol is too low, putting you at risk for heart disease in the future. Your doctor may prescribe certain dietary, exercise, and even prescription drugs for you if your cholesterol is high.

* STD screening if you’re sexually active. Once you have been sexually active with more than one partner, or if your partner has had multiple partners, you should consider an STD screening. It’s advised to be screened at the very least for Chlamydia, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), herpes simplex virus, trichomoniasis and AIDS. If you have had any concerning symptoms, such as itchiness, unusual discharge, sores, blisters, or irritation in your genital area, mention this to your doctor. Early detection of STDs can reduce chances of serious consequences. How often you should be tested depends on how many sexual partners you have in any given amount of time, so be open with your doctor at each yearly physical. If you are under age 26 and do not have HPV, you may want to get the HPV vaccine and protect yourself from cervical cancer later on.

Tests you’ll need starting in your 40s

* Diabetes screening every 3 years. When you hit 40, you’ll want to ask your doctor to perform a diabetes screening since uncontrolled diabetes takes a toll on your internal organs—especially your heart, kidneys and liver. This test requires you to fast and is done via drawn blood.

* Annual mammogram. Once you hit 40, you’ll want to be more aggressive in your fight against breast cancer, and that includes yearly mammograms. These tests can detect a lump in your breast much smaller than anything you could find on your own in a self exam, giving you the edge against cancer. The test entails allowing an x-ray-like machine clamping sections of your breasts between slides, and although it is somewhat painful, it is a quick and simple way to protect yourself from a life-threatening illness.

Tests you’ll need starting in your 50s

* Glaucoma and cataract screening. You’ll want to see the optometrist—whether you’ve worn glasses or not—when you hit 50, because you’ll want to get checked out for glaucoma, a disease involving the optic nerve that is the leading cause of irreversible blindness, and cataracts, the clouding of the clear lens that protects your iris. While both tests may be uncomfortable, they are not painful. Get screened every 2-4 years until you hit age 60; then see your optometrist annually every year thereafter. If you are African American, you’ll want to start getting these tests at age 40.

* Thyroid test every 5 years. If you’ve noticed significant weight loss or gain or have trouble staying warm, it’s time to get the old thyroid checked out. A thyroid test is as simply as drawing blood and is recommended every 5 years after you turn 50, helping your doctor identify either an over or under active thyroid before it becomes a problem. Get this taken care of by your primary physician during your annual physical.

* Colonoscopy every 10 years. Even though this is an uncomfortable test, you’ll want to get your full colonoscopy at age 50 and every 10 years thereafter, with a digital rectal exam midway between (every 5 years) to catch signs of colorectal cancer early on. You can get this over with during your annual physical.

* Stress test every 10 years. Since heart disease is so prevalent among women, it’s a good idea to get a stress test once you turn 50 and every 10 years thereafter. A stress test will involve physical exertion (usually on a treadmill) while your heart rate and blood pressure are being monitored. This test can tell your physician a great deal about your susceptibility to heart disease.

* C-reactive protein test. This test is one more way to detect heart disease early on. The test uses blood from a blood sample to determine how high your c-reactive protein level is in your blood stream. A high level of this protein indicates inflammation in your body, which is either a predictor of a propensity towards heart disease or one sign that heart disease may already be developing. There is no standard recommendation for this test to be done, only that it should be performed on women over age 50 who show signs of possible heart disease.

Tests you’ll need starting in your 60s

* Bone density test. The tests used to measure bone density in your hip bones and spine are DEXA scans and quantitative CT scans. Both of these tests are painless and work much like an x-ray machine, using radiation to capture images of your bones. It is important to note that both tests use less radiation than a traditional x-ray machine. The tests are quick, usually taking less than ten minutes total. You’ll want to get this test done every two to three years.

Geographically Challenged?

The Traveler IQ Challenge is a lot of fun. I'd like to say I breezed through all the levels with perfect scores, but I guess I'm not as good at world geography as I thought I was!

Try it and let me know how you did.

Drink Up

Over the weekend I made a cake that called for a total of one tablespoon of root beer concentrate (some in the cake and some in the frosting). The concentrate came in a two-ounce bottle, so there was quite a bit left over when the cake was done. As I was putting the bottle back into the package, I noticed there were directions for homemade root beer on the back of the box. Since I already had the concentrate on hand, today I made root beer, then figured out how to prepare a single serving for myself.

Making the root beer was easy. The recipe had four ingredients: water, sugar, concentrate, and club soda or seltzer. The first step is to make a simple syrup by cooking the water and sugar till it boils, then stirring in the concentrate. Next, the chilled syrup is poured into carbonated water and mixed till it's blended together. How simple is that?

The plan was to serve root beer with tonight's dinner. I made the syrup, put it in the refrigerator, and walked away. But the syrup kept calling my name from the kitchen. Eventually, I gave in and decided to have some soda for a late-afternoon snack. I didn't want to mix the entire batch together, since I didn't know how long the carbonation would last once the concentrate was mixed with the club soda. Not a problem; a little computation allowed me to pour just enough of the syrup into a glass for a single serving. I added the soda water and a few cubes of ice and gave it a stir.

The soda was great! The syrup tasted like something you'd put on a snow cone, so I was afraid the end result would be way too sweet, but the carbonation of the club soda really cut the sugar and gave it a different taste. My treat was gone quickly, but I still have a partial bottle of concentrate left for another day. Root beer float, anyone?

Why Not?

Last week I went shopping for material for a sewing project.

I ended up at a store that specializes in home decorating fabric. One of the things that I like about this place is that they have sample swatches of each material already cut and pinned to the end of the bolt. The samples aren't large; they're usually about six inches long and three inches wide, depending on the repeat design of the fabric. I picked nine potential fabrics and brought them home to decide which one I wanted. Today I returned to make my purchase.

When I got to the store I absent-mindedly carried the entire set of samples in with me, instead of just the one I had decided on, so I decided I might as well give back the ones I didn't want. Today I returned free fabric swatches to a store.

All the fabrics I had chosen were grouped in one corner of the building, so it was easy to match the sample to the bolt. I unpinned the safety pin that held each bolt's swatches, stuck mine on the pile, and re-pinned everything back on the bolt. I felt like I was doing something I shouldn't, and I kept checking to make sure no one saw me, but the store was pretty empty and I was the only customer on that side of the store. It only took a few extra minutes to complete the job, then I found the material I was purchasing and took it up to the cutting table.

I'm sure the store considers giving the samples away part of their cost of doing business, and they don't expect to get them back. However, they were too small to do anything with and I would have just thrown them away, so I hope the next person to take "my" samples home appreciates them.

The Scoop

Ted Drewes is a St. Louis institution, selling frozen custard since the 1930s. Although they serve only one flavor of frozen custard (vanilla), there are infinite combinations of flavorings and toppings that can be added to make sundaes, malts, or floats. However, they're probably best known for their concretes. A concrete is custard (with mix-ins) blended in a cup that's so thick that it doesn't fall out when the cup is turned upside-down.

Somehow it slipped by me that the 50th anniversary of the concrete occurred back in May; this weekend we went to Ted Drewes to celebrate.

Feast: St. Louis Magazine's food, wine, and spirits blog tells the story this way:

Just so happens that in 1959, 50 years ago this May, a guy named Steve Gamber (who's now 64) began bicycling to Ted Drewes' Chippewa location for a daily Landshire sandwich and a chocolate malt. Each day he'd ask 30 year old Ted Drewes Jr. to make the malt thicker. Ted made the successive malts thicker and thicker but the 14 year old wanted them thicker still. One day, "Just to shut me up," reports Gamber, "Ted turned the malt upside down right in front of me and said 'is this thick enough for you? If it falls out, it's free.'" Gamber paid for his malt.

Ted Drewes was a very busy spot on a weekend night. We didn't even try to park in the lot, but found a spot on the street a block away. As always, there was a crush of people in front of the building, but every window was open and it didn't take too long to get up to the front of a line. After we received our order we walked over to the side of the building and found a spot to eat our treats. Since everyone ordered a different concrete, we had fun tasting each others treats. After we were finished, we people-watched for a while, then walked back to the car.

Although there are several frozen custard stands closer to our house, it's always worth the drive to go to Ted Drewes.

Hallmark Moment

A friend used to be married. I just found out today that she isn't anymore. All the legal work has been finalized and signed, and she's moving on with her life.

What do you do when someone you've known each a long time has had a major life change? If she were sick I'd send a Get Well card. If someone she was close to died, I'd put a Sympathy card in the mail. There are cards for just about every occasion; today I sent a divorce card to a friend. I was amazed that there were several cards to choose from. Some of them were funny and irreverent, and some were heartfelt.

I picked out one I thought she'd like, added some words to the bottom of the card, signed my name, and sent it off. I'm sure if the shoe was on the other foot, I'd appreciate knowing that people were thinking about me.