Mr.Bill

Mr.Bill's Journal

May 21, 2021

Sometimes necessity can lead to a good discovery.

My wife and I had some corn on the cob left over so she decided to make corn chowder. As she began to make it, she discovered we had no potatoes. We just did grocery shopping yesterday so we didn't want to go to the store again.

Then I realized we did have some Tater Tots in the freezer. So we dumped those in the chowder. We knew they would disintegrate, but figured we would still have the potato flavor needed in the chowder.

The wonderful discovery was what a great thickener they turned out to be. Next time I make beef stew, I'm going to try some in that for a thickener. Sorry, we rarely go by a recipe or measure ingredients when we make stews chowders and sauces, so you'll have to experiment with amounts. They broke up almost immediately, so you can always start with a few then add more as needed.

May 15, 2021

I did something yesterday I've never done.

I bought a new car without even opening the hood, and I've been a gear head for most of my life.

The lease was running out on my 2018 Sentra and the used car market is so crazy right now, the dealer offered to pay off the residual on my lease and give me 5K to put down on a new one. Payment for me will be the same, but I'm buying instead of leasing. Good deal for me and the dealer, because he will still make money selling my leased car. Because of the pandemic, it only had 18K miles on it.

This is my third Nissan Sentra, I leased the first two. The new Sentra is way improved over my first two. Lots more safety and entertainment features.

I am someone who has built several car engines, and when I got home I did open the hood. If I was shown a photo of what was under that hood, I would almost not be able to identify it as a car engine. Only things like the battery and dipstick would give it away.

May 5, 2021

Parenthood, the responsibility that never ends.

Have you ever had your kid tell you first thing in the morning that they were supposed to bring cupcakes for the whole class today? So you frantically cook cupcakes and barely get them to school on time, because that's what parents do.

Today our daughter, an RN who works at the local hospital called us at 11:30 to tell us she was supposed to buy a Mexican lunch for her staff for Cinco de Mayo. So we run to a Mexican restaurant, pick up a bunch of food and rush it to the hospital just in time for lunch.

This daughter is 51 years old.