WEDNESDAY READER | MAY 31
“Salute” May – and 3 kisses. Great month.
June’s tomorrow – Hi JUNE!
My answer to “What’s the most majestic animal” is … Lion. You?
Jerry Clower’s Little Red Story is so full of heart. I love it. I can’t stop remembering the power of it.
Leslie Elman’s Trivia in Pop Quiz and Fascinating Stuff is fascinating and is great material for being the most interesting person always. Just so cool.
Rockin’ Sausage-Pepper-Onion Subs … TDF!!
As always — so super grateful that you spent a piece of your day with us. Thank you.
POP QUIZ
- WHICH TV CHARACTER HAD A BEST FRIEND NAMED JENNY PICCALO?
a) Joanie Cunningham
b) Kim Possible
c) D.J. Tanner
d) Laura Winslow - WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME IS A DEADLY DISEASE THAT AFFECTS WHAT CREATURES IN NORTH AMERICA?
a) Bats
b) Bees
c) Cows
d) Pigs - “PAPILLON” IS A FRENCH WORD MEANING WHAT?
a) Bell
b) Butterfly
c) Pepper
d) Prisoner
QUICK QUESTION
WHAT ANIMAL IS THE MOST MAJESTIC TO YOU?
POP QUIZ ANSWERS
- Jenny Piccalo was Joanie Cuningham’s best friend on “Happy Days.”
- White-nose syndrome is a deadly disease that affects bats in North America
- “Papillon” is the French word for butterfly.
~ Trivia Bits
COPYRIGHT 2023 LESLIE ELMAN
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
LITTLE RED
When I was a little boy, one of the prize possessions that I had was a coon dog named Little Red.
Little Red, he was the runt of the litter, and I fed him with a bottle. I looked after him, and I worked with him, and he grew up to be an outstanding coon dog. He was a prized possession of mine.
One night we were hunting down in the swamp, and Little Red got cut on a crosscut saw. I picked him up and started crying, and held his back leg where that saw had cut it.
Every time his heart would beat, blood would gush from that leg.
We loaded him up in an old rattle-trap Ford car. My brother, Sonny, finally got it cranked.
We rushed to McComb, Mississippi, and I was crying and holding my coon dog.
We rushed to Gills’s Drugstore, walked up on the sidewalk and the store was already closed.
There was a light on in the back and Mr. Gills was counting the day’s receipts. We bumped on the door, and Mr. Gills came and opened the door and said, “What do you boys want?”
There we stood with our overalls on, dog blood all over us and scared to death.
My brother Sonny said, “Mr. Gills, we understand there’s a veterinarian rents an office from you. Is there any way we can see him? Jerry’s coon dog, Little Red is bleeding to death.”
He said, “Boys, I’m sorry, but Dr. Williams is out of town and he won’t be back until tomorrow. But bring your coon dog on in my store, put him down on the floor, and let me get the lights on. Let me see if I can help you.”
Now some people would have said, “Get that filthy dog off this sidewalk. Look at the blood you done put down here.”
Yes they could have run me off and I’d a-hated them for the rest of my life.
Ever since that night, I been looking for a boy with a hurt dog, because Mr. Norman Gills showed me how adult people are supposed to set the proper example for young people to follow.
He called his family physician and asked him how to put a pressure bandage on Little Red’s leg.
He gave him some pills.
He said, “Son, you go on home. I’ll put your dog on my back porch , and Dr. Williams will see him first thing in the morning.”
Little Red lived to hunt again, and I thank God for men like Norman Gills because he showed a young boy, a little teenager, how adult people are supposed to treat youngsters with problems.
~ Copyright Jerry Clower
STORIES FROM HOME
reprinted with permission
University Press Mississippi
LEARN FROM YESTERDAY
(( Starve the landfills. Recycle. ))
RIDDLE ME THIS
WHAT CAN YOU LIFT BUT NOT THROW?
ROCKIN’ SAUSAGE-PEPPER-ONION SUBS
This recipe calls for Italian sausages but – by all means – use your favorite sausage: chicken, beef, or … rock it!
- 3 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/4″ strips
- 2 sweet yellow onions, halved and sliced into 1/4″ strips
- 3 TBSP white vinegar
- 2 TBSP sugar
- 2 TBSP vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 – 13″x 9″ disposable aluminum pan
- 2 pounds sweet Italian sausages
- 6″ fresh, soft sub rolls
DIRECTIONS:
- Toss bell peppers, onions, vinegar, sugar, oil, salt and pepper in a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave, covered, until veggies are soft – about 6 minutes. Pour veggies and any accumulated juices into aluminum disposable pan.
- Prepare grill (gas or charcoal) one side hot – the other side medium temperature.
- Place disposable pan of veggies on hotter side of grill. Cover with foil and let it do its deal for about 20 minutes.
- Lift the foil and stir about every 8 minutes or so to keep the vegetables from browning too much (as in burning).
- Place sausages on medium temperature side of grill. Cook to package instructions. (The exact cooking time will depend on what type of sausages you choose), flipping them over frequently.
- When sausages are cooked, transfer to the veggie pan.
- Now slide aluminum pan to “cooler temp” side of grill.
- Transfer sausages from pan to the hotter side of grill. Continue cooking sausages, turning often, until they are totally cooked and have a little grill brown on them.
- Return sausages to disposable pan and tent sausages and veggies with foil.
- Let rest for about 5 – 10 minutes.
- Divide sausages and vegetables in equal portions – onto fresh sub rolls.
SERVE.
~ Hippie Cowboy recipe box
RIDDLE ANSWER
A FEATHER
LOST IN SUBURBIA
ALL HAIL THE PANINI
BY TRACY BECKERMAN
Every once in a while, I discover some new dish that I fall in love with, and then I order it whenever I go out to eat.
For example, there was a point in time when I was really into duck. I had sampled a crispy duck at a new restaurant, and it was love at first duck. For six months I ordered it every time I saw it on a menu. Then one day, a pair of mallards arrived in our backyard, and the place was silly cute little duckies. That pretty much ruined the whole duck dinner thing for me.
Then I went through a flatbread phase. Flatbread is essentially pizza, but it’s usually rectangular rather than round, which somehow makes it warrant a special name. I’m not sure why someone felt they had to get all fancy with the shape of a pizza and call it something different, but who am I to question the culinary geniuses of the world? So, I got on the flatbread bandwagon and then discovered that, in nearly all cases, good old-fashioned thin crust pizza is better than most fancy flatbreads, so I switched back.
Right now, my obsession is panini. In case you are not familiar with it, a panini is basically a grilled cheese sandwich for grownups. Instead of American cheese on white bread, it is usually made with mozzarella cheese on focaccia, with other things stuffed into it, such as chicken, pesto, roasted peppers, etc. “Panini” is the Italian name for sandwich, which I think, is a much nicer name than “grilled cheese,” or even the French term, “croque monsieur” (pronounced “croak miss-yur”). which makes me think of female frogs.
Kind of an appetite killer if you know what I mean.
Anyway, ever since I sampled my first panini, I have been on a quest to find the perfect panini, with just the right blend of melted cheesiness and breadineness. After traveling far and wide and sampling many a panini, I have determined that:
a) There are a lot of places that call a panini a panini, but in reality, they are just serving glorified Hot Pockets;
b) No one actually does make the perfect panini, and since I think so …
c) I am a panini snob, and furthermore:
d) I still don’t like the name croque monsieur.
Once I determined that there was no restaurant that served the perfect panini, I felt it was my duty, as a panini lover, to make one myself.
So, the first thing I did was run out and buy a super-duper, magic panini maker. Then I went out and I bought a beautiful focaccia, some fresh grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, tomato and pesto. I came home, lightly browned the inside slices of bread, added all the rest of the ingredients between the slices, and then put my soon-to-be panini in my brand new, super-duper, magic panini maker and closed the lid.
A moment later a friend called, and we started talking about “The Crown” and who was the better Queen, and then I suddenly smelled smoke.
I hung up, whirled around and found my perfect panini was now a blackened panini hockey puck.
Fortunately, I am over my panini phase and have moved onto bruschetta …
Because it needs no cooking.
~ Tracy Beckerman is the author of the Amazon Bestseller, “Barking at the Moon: A Story of Life, Love, and Kibble.” You can visit her at www.tracybeckerman.com
COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS
Fascinating Stuff
FASCINATING STUFF
- When he designed the Washington Monument in 1836, architect Robert Mills intended it to have a flat top. After waiting some 10 years for the groundbreaking, construction of the monument was further delayed numerous times for numerous reasons including the Civil War. By the time the Washington Monument opened in 1885, 30 years after Mills’ death, the design had been altered to add a pyramid-shaped top capped with aluminum to serve as a lightning rod.
- Daisies take their name from the Old English for “day’s eye” because the flower open its petals at dawn and closes them at dusk. According to folklore, daisies can predict who you’ll marry, protect your home from lightning strikes and heal bruises. Some misguided folks even believed that puppies will stay little forever if you feed them daisies. (Do not do this!) For Victorians, daisies symbolized innocence and loyalty. In 19th century America, people decorated soldiers’ graves with daisy wreaths on Memorial Day. Some people still do.
- The U.S. Military Academy Class of 1846 might be the most poignant in West Point’s history. Those 59 classmates who studied and trained together at the academy included 22 who achieved the rank of general during the American Civil War — 12 on the Union side and 10 on the the Confederate. Among them were General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, who died at Chancellorsville; and George E. Picket who led the unsuccessful charge at Gettysburg.
- Star-nosed moles can detect scents underwater — an ability that makes them unique among mammals. They do this by exhaling bubbles into the water and then re-inhaling them to sniff for insects, fish and other prey. Like most moles, star-nosed moles have poor eyesight. They compensate for this with a cluster of super-sensitive tentacles around their noses that allow them to detect even the slightest movement. That star-shaped cluster of tentacles also gave the star-nosed mole its name.
- Cayenne pepper is named for Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana. The pepper itself originated someplace in South America, possibly French Guiana, possibly not. Never the most hospitable place to live, French Guiana is a French overseas department notorious as a penal colony for much of its history. Trivia buffs know it as the largest European Union territory outside Europe. It is also the European Space Agency’s primary launch site.
~ COPYRIGHT 2023
LESLIE ELMAN
I love the Little Red story. Domestic animals rely on us to take care of their needs. I love when people recognize this responsibility and step up to the plate to fulfill their duty as a humanitarian. It makes the world a better place
Isn’t that the truth?
Domestic animals do indeed rely on us!
I love the Little Red story – HUGE. So very cool.
Thank you for being a Daymaker cheerleader and friend!
Gratitude!