mega ghee

It began as something for the Spei family mid-February Christmas celebration extravgangza.  The February date allows individuals to have their close family Christmas then be available sometime after Valentine’s Day for a bigger blowout.  My birthdad, Dick Spei, was a gourmet/gourmand who taught all his offspring to approach each meal as if it were their last, advice heeded by all out to a couple generations now.  With a little friendly competition, an enormous spread is produced – from old family recipes to new experiments – that takes 3 days to consume, always with leftovers for all.  There are no big gifts, even with all the rugrats running around.  Small individual gifts come out of the “Chimney”, in a ritual orchestrated by my sister Suzanne (1).  Little foodie gifts go to the adults, anything from an interesting useful utensil to an array of homemade concoctions.  I finally joined the fray a few years back and decided to continue my participation this year.  I’d been pleased with the ghee I’d been whipping up (2) and wondered to my #1 nephew Jake – who’s the main organizer of the event – how little jars of that might be received.  Excellent idea, said Jake.  I’d start with 10# of butter and see what I got.  Even though plans were set weeks in advance, I didn’t get around to executing them till the days before the event.  Fortunately, Kroger had a nice sale on Land o’Lakes, $3.99/#, almost half price.  But to get that price you had to scan a QR code to make an electronic coupon.  Thus, I had to download and learn a new app, then go to the store on successive days because the limit was 5/customer.  But the haul made for an impressive stack.

That was Wednesday.  Getting ready to start making it, I found I had no 8 oz jars, requiring a hardware store trip the next morning.  

Needing a few more things down the road at Busch’s, I saw they were having a sale on their store-brand butter, $2.99/#!  I laid in 5 more pounds, as you can’t have too much butter.  Would prove helpful the next day.  Other afternoon errands left me too pooped to take on ghee, so the process got booted to the next day.

Now Friday was the day this shindig was supposed to start.  Jake had decided to move the venue to someplace nicer.  So instead of the rustic stuck-in-the-50s Cowboy Creek Lodge in Onstead, on the edge of the Irish Hills (3), 44 minutes away, we’d meet in Huron, Ohio, occupying a pair of big well-appointed houses on what was not too long ago a farmer’s field (4).  Turned out to be fine and dandy – a big upgrade – although we didn’t get to use the pool or the tennis/pickleball court.  But a good 2 hours away.  We wouldn’t be able to check in till 4, so there seemed to be plenty of time for the prep.  The day before I had chopped, peeled, and vacu-sealed the potatoes, turnips, and garlic cloves for the garlic mashed potatoes for 16 (I had been making for 32, but there was always a lot left over).

My trepidation was how well my ghee recipe would ramp up.  I’d been making a pound at a to me, filling a quart jar.  Now I’ve got 10#, aiming for 20 8oz jars.

It’s important to be able to see the butter solids settle, so a clear pot is essential.  Fortunately, the little amber Pyrex pot I’d been using had a big brother downstairs.

That big fella took on 5#, it would be two batches.  Can be done.  

Of course, it takes a lot longer for 5 pounds of butter to melt than it does one pound.  Idle time for the chef to sit back and sip at his companion beverage.  The foam roars up like slag on an open-hearth steel furnace and must be skimmed with a spoon. 

This stuff is Kathy’s favorite part of the ghee process, so she was happy I was getting a lot of it.  Once that first bloop comes up, you’re done.  There can be a lot of solids.

Time to pour contents of the pot through a double cheesecloth lined strainer. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop most of the solids and it remains an exercise in finesse to pour the clear stuff into jars and leave the solids behind.  Of course, I save the left-behinds.  It’s still buttery good.  I don’t know if I should call it “chunky ghee” or just “seconds”. 

So, repeat with the 2nd 5#, but once through those, I’ve only got 15 jars filled.  This batch method has a lower yield than my 1# approach.  Is there anymore butter in the house?  Why yes! 

So, in go those Busch’s bargain sticks and 20 jars be filled.  

Of course, they need labels.  Fortunately, my Brother p-Touch has a German script for the Speis and the offerings are ready.  

But by then it was 7 o’clock, the chef was toasted, and we’d heard of some bad weather in northern Ohio.  Our fate was an extra night at home.  The big dinner was for Saturday night, so we wouldn’t be missing anything too important.

We finally arrived about 4 PM Saturday.  We were warmly greeted, and no one gave us much crap about missing Friday night.  Many commented that that snow and ice had made passage in the area treacherous, which it still was on the ice-covered pathways around “The Grand Lodge.”

I started getting acquainted with this wonderful family nearly 15 years ago, but I keep learning new things about them.

I learned several things from my oldest brother Nick.  He’s 13 months my junior, so our dad didn’t waste any time.

• Spei translates from the German as “spit”, sez Nick.  My GoogleTranslate doesn’t know what to do with the word. My Duo-Lingo German scholar wifey disagrees, pointing out that in Latin, Spei translates as “hope”. She and some Speis got into it Saturday night and found “speise” (pronounced “spy-zah”) is German for “food”, which would be apt for this bunch.

• Nick’s maternal grandmother was Polish!  That was her recipe of sauerkraut and sausage cooking in one of the pots.  My family tree charts put the Speis at German English with a little Irish.  A proud line regardless.  I was hoping to claim some Polish blood, but that maternal line didn’t come my way.

• He clarified how Dad ended up in Canada.  When I tell folks Dad left Dee-troit for Canada in 1969, I tell them what he told me: he was fed up with the politics and the violence.  And I have to add he was not a draft dodger.  This is how it went, per Nick.  Dad was having an affair with an English woman, cad that he always was.  Nick’s mom went to the embassy and requested the woman be deported, as she was breaking up an American family.  The woman fled to Windsor, and Dad followed her.

• Nick went to Grosse Pointe High, a fairly hoity toity HS with a lot of old money rich kids.  It was site of a pretty funny 1997 movie, Grosse Pointe Blank, that starred John Cusack, Minnie Driver, and Dan Ackroyd (5).  Nick’s family then was certainly not “of means”, what with the divorce and all, and he hung out with the “Italian kids”, who Nick said were all grandchildren of the Purple Gang (6). Good story, brother, but my refs say the Purple Gang was mainly Jewish!  One for next time.

• To make some change in high school, Nick became the local condom dealer.  He’d buy boxes of 12 at the drug store for $2.50/box, then sell the individual condoms for a buck apiece.  Pretty good markup.  Nick did well and had many satisfied customers. He’s still proud of all the unwanted pregnancies he helped prevent.  I told him he should be put up for a Margaret Sanger award.  High school authorities shut him down when some of Nick’s customers began to show their gratitude by hanging their condoms on his locker door.

• Nick faced the draft year after me, drawing #7 in the lottery.  He’d chosen not to attend college, but those 2-S student’s deferments ended with my class, so it wouldn’t have helped.  At his draft board physical, the doctor noticed something irregular in Nick’s back.  He had a slight curvature of the spine.  Nick at the time was working for a moving company and hauling around pianos and such without a peep from his back.  Nevertheless, that doc’s observation was enough to gain him 4-F status and save him from Viet Nam.

• At these food fests, Nick liked to go around with a plastic fork in the front pocket of his flannel shirt.  He liked to be ready to stab anything that looked good.  As I was talking to him, I looked around and saw that all the other Spei men had affected the same accessory and were wearing flannel shirts!  

I don’t know about the flannel shirts, but the fork was also an homage to patriarch Dick, who wanted his boys always to be ready.  I felt a little left out in my pocket-less UC Santa Cruz banana slugs sweatshirt.  Nephew Pete noticed the shoulder pouch I was wearing, with a front pocket, and suggested I stick a fork there.  I did, and immediately felt closer to that crowd. 

I’ve got plenty of flannel shirts, and I’m wearing one next year. 

Marty is my next oldest brother, and an entertaining character.  He’s a full-fledged artist-sculptor with a studio in Santa Fe (7).  I can keep up with him on coffee snobbishness and Dylan quotes so art and science get along.  He announced he’s moving his studio 47 miles up the road to Dixon (pop’n 926), an enclave up in the mountains 20 miles south of Taos where a few old hippies mingle with the predominant Hispanics with what sounds like an amazing organic food scene.  Marty said Dylan lived there for a while, but I’ve yet to find electronic evidence.  Regardless, once Marty gets settled, we’re coming to visit!

I was too pooped after Saturday’s late dinner to stay up for the rest of the proceedings.  Suze’s Chimney offerings were little spoons and spreaders whose handles bore some message of personal significance. Mine had a stein of beer and Kathy’s a NASA logo.  We got jars of spices, bags of gen-you-wine Santa Fe hot peppers (from Marty), Dan’s jars of jam which still bore his late wife Elise’s name, and infused oils from Cyn’s (Jake’s wife) Magic Butter (usually used for more intoxicating concoctions).  Jake gave us a special bottle of wine, recognizing our mutual Trekkiness.

And Marty spread out some of his etchings to take, and I snagged one Sunday morning.  Full size is 9 3/16 X 11, and the caption reads “I should of been a cowboy”.

Breakfast was slow to convene, as some had been up till 2 watching the clear sky through Katie’s telescope (you know who was out there).  Ample leftovers, but nephew Alex whipped up some dandy bean burritos that hit the spot for me.  You don’t usually think of cashew brittle and key lime pie as breakfast items, but dessert artist brother-in-law Dan had made them so I had to have a taste.  Leaving is always hard, and a little awkward.  You must squeeze in the hugs between other folks gathering up their stuff to leave.  With Mike and Suzanne’s new 4500 square foot log house nearby, we had to have a Mike-guided tour.  What a magnificent orgy of wood, looking over a bend of the Huron River where bald eagles like to play.

Yes, we were happy with our takings from the affair, although most of our takings are new memories to add to the very nice pile I now have with my not so new family.  As always, the true joy is in the giving, not the taking.  Now I’ve got a year to figure what I’m going to butter them up with next time.

References

1. Ike B.  Chimney!  WordPress 3/8/22.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2022/03/08/chimney/

2. Ike B.  ghee whiz!  WordPress 11/6/23.  xc

3. Stagecoach Stop USA and Cowboy Creek Lodge Western Resort. https://www.facebook.com/CowboyCreekLodge 

4. AirBnB.  The Lodge with private pool – The Ultimate Retreat.  xc

5. IMBd.  Grosse Pointe Blank.  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119229/

6. Detroit Historical Society 100.  Encyclopedia of Detroit.  Purple Gang. https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/purple-gang

7. MARTIN SPEI.  https://martinspei.com

VD24

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day, dirty foreheads and all, some of you. Mine was wonderful, although it didn’t start well.  Unable to tell my wife when that Kerrytown Cabaret show started, I went looking for the tickets and couldn’t find them anywhere.  I dashed off a frantic e-mail to the concert house, but it was 7:30 AM and they don’t open their office till 1:30.  With the afternoon melting away and no response, I broke down and called.  They often do their tickets will call, so maybe they were waiting for me.  Nope, no tickets for that name, but a few tickets remained, which I snatched.  As Kathy found out, nothing adds to the romance of a wife’s Valentine’s date like hearing her husband spell out his credit card number over the phone to pay for the tickets.  She’d gotten a taste of that same feeling the night before at Kroger’s as I paid for that bouquet of red roses along with the rest of the groceries.

Next would be the romantic dinner.  Kerrytown is several blocks north of Ann Arbor’s restaurant row on Main Street but has a few nice places close by.  Of course, all of those would be crowded with couples working to squeeze as much romance out of the evening as possible in spite of the mediocre food.  Fortunately, I’ve got Kathy convinced that the best kitchen in town is right here at 1611 Harbal.  So, when I quoted Dave Frishberg and said “Let’s eat home” (sung here by Rosemary Clooney (1)), she was all for it.   It’d be a simple repast: angel hair pasta with meat sauce, salad with homemade Italian dressing, and the nice Barolo on which we’d splurged.  I had a bunch of my own ragu (Italian for meat sauce) frozen away and spiked it with an Italian sausage and some mushrooms.  Kathy’s in charge of salads, and decided to try a more elaborate Italian dressing, which was very nice. 

Spotify’s “Valentine’s Day 2024©Ultimate Love Songs©Romantic Songs” provided the soundtrack and the fireplace the ambience.  Almost hated to leave the house.

Kerrytown Concert House is about 3 minutes from our house.  Right across from the Farmers’ Market, it’s an old white frame house with what used to be a big living room and dining room converted to a concert space, seating maybe 50 at most.  They feature a wonderful array of jazz, classical, and folk (2).  Last night’ s show sounded both unusual and fun when I first spotted it a couple months ago (3).  Tyler Driskill is on faculty at the UofM music school, as were 2 other performers.  The 2 ladies on strings piece together a living by giving lessons and performing with various groups.  The husband-and-wife singers – the Bogarts – are both seasoned Broadway vets.

If you weren’t in the mood already upon arrival, the (free) offerings of 3 different champagnes and many different little cakes set up in the side room en route to the coat rack sure helped things along.  Professor Driskill kicked things off, solo on the piano, with 4 fairly obscure gems from the Great American Songbook*.  After the Cole Porter we all recognized (“From this Moment On”), the ladies with violin and cello came on to kick our brows way high, Driskill accompanying.  After 3 numbers, the ladies were replaced by the Bogarts.  Just to make sure there was no doubt about the hard shift, they opened with a Queen song, before settling into more GAS* classics.  Jessica brought down the house with her rendition of “I Cain’t Say No”.  All were songs about love, for Valentine’s Day, of course.  I recognized them all but one, “How Much Love”, a moody, brooding, compelling song by Michael John LaChiusa, an NYU prof 10 years my junior known for his daring off-Broadway work (4).

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who entered the night air with a warm glow.  And it wasn’t just the champagne, which they continued to pour throughout the show.

I know Valentine’s Day 2025 is a long way off, but if you’re gonna be anywhere near Ann Arbor then, I highly recommend this show, which they do every year.  I can’t think of a better VD date.  I know Kathy and I will be there, God willing.

References

1. Rosemary Clooney – Let’s Eat Home (written by Dave Frishberg).  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBDUV0xDtRI

2. Kerrytown Concert House. February 2024.  https://kerrytownconcerthouse.com/events/

3. Kerrytown Concert House. Kerrytown Concert House Valentine’s Day Cabaret 2024 https://kerrytownconcerthouse.com/event/valentines-day-cabaret-with-pianist-tyler-driskill-friends/

4. “How Much Love?”//REQUIEM FOR WILLIAM. Transport Group. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10vEkNLYlxs

all over again

The plot of the classic movie “Groundhog Day” is that Billy Murray’s character weatherman Phil Connors experiences Groundhog Day in Punxsutawny over and over again, getting things a little better each time. The music site Best Classic Bands (1) today circulated a story on the 2020 Super Bowl commercial Murray made for Jeep. I gave you a link to the extended version of that hilarious commercial in yesterday’s post (2). The BCB article goes into some detail how Murray, Jeep,and the producers worked to keep the commercial faithful to the original movie. As a bonus, they even provide a link for free streaming of the movie. So check it out (3). Just like Phil Connors in the movie, you can’t get too much Groundhog Day!

References

  1. Best Classic Bands – Celebrating the Artists, Music, and Pop Culture of the Classic Rock Era. https://bestclassicbands.com

2. Ike B. marmota momax cometh. WordPress 2/1/24. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2024/02/01/marmota-monax-cometh/

3. Best Classic Bands Staff. When Bill Murray Reprised “Groundhog Day” Role for Super Bowl Ad. BestClassicBands.com 2/2/24. https://bestclassicbands.com/bill-murray-groundhog-day-ad-jeep-super-bowl-2-2-20/

marmota monax cometh

Where did January go? On this first day of the second month, we sit on the eve of one of our most underappreciated holidays: Groundhog Day.  No one takes it seriously.  Banks remain open, no one gets a day off, and the postman still comes.   But this day – a “cross-quarter” day smack between the winter solstice and vernal (spring) equinox – has cosmic significance and deserves greater reflection than just hearing whether that Phil in Punxsutawney saw his shadow or not.  His observations aren’t even that accurate, worse than a coin flip (1).  But certainly, in Michigan it’s guaranteed to be bright and sunny on February 2nd, so of course here come 6 more weeks of winter.  But if you don’t quite know the origins of this charming tradition, and its deep roots in paganism, I urge you to take a brief read (2).

Of course, they don’t look so happy.  They’ve been in bed all winter! Also of course, the forecast for SE lower Michigan tomorrow is bright and sunny, so you know what Woody will be doing!

Once you “get” Groundhog Day, you’ll not want people to mess with it (3).

Now just for fun, indulge in 4’49” of hilarity watching Mr. Murray trying to sell a Jeep at the 2020 Super Bowl (4).

Take heart. The light is coming!

References

1. The Feed. Groundhog Day 2024: How accurate is Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction?   The Economic Times 1/31/24.  https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/groundhog-day-2024-how-accurate-is-punxsutawney-phils-prediction/articleshow/107302395.cms?from=mdr

2. Ike B.  cross quarter.  WordPress 2/1/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/02/01/cross-quarter/

3. Ike B.  don’t screw with my groundhog. WordPress 2/3/22. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2022/02/03/dont-screw-with-my-groundhog/

4. *Extended Cut* Bill Murray Jeep Gladiator ‘Groundhog Day’ Commercial w/ BehindThe Scenes Footage!  David Wilks.  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nEAkPNi9Og

thank U, MSU!

The maize-and-blue faithful here in Tree Town and around the world are emerging from this January in an unfamiliar position.  Instead of losing their bowl game at the start of the month, tucking tail, and saying “wait till next year”, they find their team is a National Champion, first time in 27 years, the twelfth time all told for a Wolverines team over their 144 seasons.  9th year coach Jimmy Harbaugh – All American quarterback hero and Bo Schembechler protégée returned home to restore Michigan Football’s faded glory – and did just that, fielding a team that ground all 15 opponents into paste, including hated rival Ohio State for the 3rd straight year.  He wasn’t on the sidelines for 6 of those contests, but that’s another story.  His team not only beat other teams, they blew up whole programs.  Legendary Nick Saban retired unexpectedly after his ‘Tide fell in the Rose Bowl.  The coach of the championship opponent Huskies, former Hoosier Kalen DeBoer, split after only 2 seasons to take the Alabama job vacated by Saban.  Ohio State’s Ryan Day, whom Harbaugh said “found himself on 3rd base and thought he’d hit a triple”, not only finds himself on the hottest seat in college football, at a school where any season in which you don’t beat Michigan is a failure.  Ryan’s got himself a triple there, with three straight losses to that team up north.  Meanwhile, funds from all Buckeye supporters are pouring in, working on their second multiple of $10 million, for NIL monies to lure prospects from the transfer portal.  To think this school got in trouble for players trading the “gold pants” trinkets they got for beating Michigan for tattoos.  When Ryan thinks of his predecessor Jim Tressell, I’m sure he thinks “amateur”.

All that was missing for Michigan was hearing the lamentations of their opponents’ women. But Jimmy is nothing if not an interesting character.  He and AD Warde Manuel had been dancing over a new contract since before the end of the regular season.  It would have made sense to give him everything he wanted, letting him ride triumphant into the post-season with a symbol of the U’s love for him.  Instead, Jimmy was left to start his annual dance, 3rd year running, with the NFL.  He’d been a successful pro coach with the Niners, leading them to 3 division championships and one Super Bowl, where he famously lost to his brother John’s Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII (2013) 31-34.  Things went horribly south the next season with the Niners management, and he was ready to be lured to greener pastures in Ann Arbor, an orchestrated seduction chronicled in John U. Bacon’s book Overtime: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football (1).

So, after that natty, Jimmy continued to provide us drama.  His speech to the adoring throngs at Crisler celebrating that championship showed a heartfelt Michigan Man, through and through, quoting from Fielding Yost, Bo, his dad, James Earl Jones, and Shakespeare (2).  This did not appear to be a man who was going anywhere.  But the dance continued, Jimmy interviewing not only with the Chargers (where he played 1999-2000) but also with the Falcons.  When the Chargers finally made an offer, 15 days after the National Championship game, UofM AD Warde Manuel finally relinquished and included a clause in Jim’s proposed contract that he would not be fired for any NCAA sanctions levied – something Jim’s lawyers had been asking for since negotiations had started the previous year.  The potential NCAA sanctions had been a double piece of BS since the get go, the first for supposed “recruiting violations” during COVID and the second for “sign stealing”, based on a cell phone-based piece of espionage orchestrated by an overzealous graduate assistant.  They made Jim sit out 6 of his team’s 12 regular season games.  So, when LA agreed to Jim’s $1.5 million buyout – coy on other numbers of his 5-year contract except to say he’ll make more than his brother John with the Ravens ($12 mill/per) – Jim was gone.

The Michigan faithful were comforted by Warde’s quick appointment as HC of 37-year-old offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Sherrone Moore, once an offensive tackle for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma.  Sherrone had been on staff for 5 years, starting as tight ends coach and responsible for the entire O-line the last three years.  In the first two years, his line won the Joe Moore award as best offensive line in all of college football.  This past season, his first as sole coordinator of the offense, his team put up 30 or more points in all but three games, playing the smash mouth style Jimmy loves, with just enough zings from the great JJ McCarthy to his talented receivers to keep things interesting.  They ate lots of clock and kept the defense rested. I’m sure Bo looked down and smiled.  Public Sherrone was a joy, passionate, emotional, and all Michigan.

However we got this future superstar coach to Michigan is the basis of the little tidbit I want to share, which inspired this blog.  But to appreciate it, you need a little background, especially you’re not from the state of Michigan.

You see, in this state with many public and private institutions of higher learning, there are only two that play big-time football: Michigan and Michigan State.  The two schools have been playing each other since 1898, when a contest between the two undefeated schools on Michigan’s home turf of Ferry Field left Michigan victorious, winning all the rest of its games to claim their first National Championship.  MSU was MAC then (Michigan Agricultural College) and were the Aggies, not the Spartans.  That new nickname, acquired in 1925 – same year MAC became MSC – may have slowed the farmer jokes from Michigan fans, but certainly hasn’t stopped them!  Meetings were irregular until MSC was admitted to the Big 10 in 1950, replacing the University of Chicago, which had deemphasized football a decade earlier, greatly reducing the Big 10’s output of Nobel laureates.   The state made MSC a university in 1955, their centennial year, and “Michigan State University” was adopted in 1964.

Regardless of institutional names, whenever green meets blue on the gridiron, it’s an epic struggle.  Books have been written on the rivalry (3,4), as well as a very good Wikipedia page (5).  It’s hard to appreciate the atmosphere of game week unless you live around here.  It’s nonstop hype, everybody’s flying and wearing their colors, and jabs to those on the other side.  The many “mixed marriages” test their bonds.  But the underlying current is always good natured and well humored.  Sure, past games have had stings for both sides, and they are not forgotten, but it’s never the source of bitterness or rancor.  The game is played, one side gets bragging rights for a year, and we move on.

So, imagine my surprise when I discovered this tidbit as I looked into Sherrone’s background.  Here goes.   We owe his presence on the Michigan staff to a former Spartoon.  Sherrone’s previous post was at Central Michigan, where he coached tight ends.  His head coach was Dan Enos, MSU QB 1986-1990, under George Perles.  He started his last two years and did pretty well, even beating Michigan in 1990 (the controversial game where obvious interference on Desmond Howard that thwarted a 2-point conversion wasn’t called).  After Dan was canned by the Chips in 2017, Jimmy hired him on to be wide receivers’ coach.  He brought Sherrone with him.  Dan was hired away to Alabama by Nick Saban 6 weeks later, but Sherrone stuck around, fortunately.  So, thank U, MSU!  “Go right thru…”(6).

I’d be remiss if I didn’t confess my own Spartoon near miss.  My adoptive father only managed Haney’s Business School, but was a lifelong fan of the Wolverines, indoctrinating me early so there was never any question where I’d go.  Only when I met my birth family around 15 years ago did I realize how different it all might have been.  Mom had a year in at Wayne State till she got pregnant with me, but all her other living kids have at least one MSU degree, with my sister Di still a volunteer coach for their women’s rowing team.  My birth dad not only went to MSC, he played football there, spending a year as a linebacker under legendary Biggie Munn, until “I got tired of being a tackling dummy”.  My adoptive family pitched in with Mom’s little brother Jim, a proud member of MSC’s marching band at their first ever Rose Bowl.  To assure he’d always be at loggerheads with his nephew, he went and got a PhD at Ohio State!  But like all Michigan mixed families, we still love each other.

And so the great drama that is college football plays on.

References

1. Bacon JU.  Overtime: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football.  New York: HarperCollins (William Morrow), 2019 https://www.amazon.com/Overtime-Harbaugh-Michigan-Wolverines-Crossroads/dp/0062886959/ref=sr_1_2?crid=U9QLXOWLCVAX&keywords=John+U.Bacon&qid=1706617484&sprefix=john+u.bacon%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-

2. Coach Jim Harbaugh: Michigan National Championship Celebration.  Fox2 News.  YouTube. https://youtu.be/WQ5c0-VWYWw?si=iMqrrYwxji9F-bO1

3. Gallagher B.  The Nasty Football History of Michigan vs Michigan State: Why Every Game Drew Blood From 1898 to 2020.  Little Rock: Power Group Enterprises, 2021.  https://www.amazon.com/Nasty-Football-History-Michigan-State/dp/1734431334/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9YHAQGDAI7EQ&keywords=michigan+michigan+state+football&qid=1706622164&s=books&sprefix=michigan+michigan+state+football%2Cstripbooks%2C162&sr=1-1

4. Schinkal P.  The Great Lakes Rivalry: A complete history of the Michigan vs Michigan State football rivalry.  Independently Published, 2021.  https://www.amazon.com/Great-Lakes-Rivalry-complete-Michigan-ebook/dp/B0871PGLJ9/ref=sr_1_7?crid=9YHAQGDAI7EQ&keywords=michigan+michigan+state+football&qid=1706622612&s=books&sprefix=michigan+michigan+state+football%2Cstripbooks%2C162&sr=1-7

5. Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry.  Wikipedia 1/22/24.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan–Michigan_State_football_rivalry

6. Michigan State Spartans Football – Fight Song.  Luthstar.  YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT_ZuY63qKw

Musings I.

My first book of compiled blogs from the pandemic years – there would eventually be 5, all titled Musing through a pandemic – contained my writings on coronavirus, whom I’d personalized as “Mr. Corona” (1). Looking back, it’s not a bad historical record. I got to wear my microbiologist/virologist’s hat as well as my doctor’s white coat. Plus, I was having to live through the BS just like everybody else. In those early months, I was way too optimistic that our scientists’ efforts would beat this bug. Fortunately, SARS-COV-2 went the way of all rapidly mutating RNA viruses and shed the features that made it deadly.

I’m writing this post as I’m about to give a copy of that book to my friend Ana. She’s been involved in the COVID battle from the git go, but as an attorney. She turned her attention from malpracticing doctors to the malpracticing governments and institutions that were hurting people with the measures they instituted to “protect” them against COVID. It was her strong instance that kept me and my wife from getting the jab. I very briefly worked for a foundation she’d help set up to meet the medical needs of the unvaccinated. I bowed out when it started to feel like a job. But we’re till friends, and my wife and I visited her in her redneck paradise panhandle home en route to the Pinellas spit. I told her about my book and she asked for a copy. As I looked over that book for the first time in a year or so, I saw I had not done with it what I’d done with the rest. I include a lot of links in my posts. When you read them on line, they’re easily accessible. Not so in a paper book, although you retain that functionality in a Kindle version. What I will be doing here is listing the book’s table of contents, all titles hyperlinked. I’ll make the URL of this blogpost into a tinyURL and put that in the front of the book. Hence. anyone reading the book next to computer or tablet can access the post corresponding to the chapter, and all the links in it.

Ike R. Musing through a Pandemic. My year and a half with Mr. Corona. Volume I. about Mr. Corona. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798530730. https://www.amazon.com/Musing-through-Pandemic-Year-Corona-ebook/dp/B098LML34S?ref_=ast_author_dp

home improvement

I’ve learned in retirement that home improvement doesn’t always have to involve plaster dust, power tools rented from the hardware store, and a pallet of materials on your driveway.  While such might be needed to elicit a grunt of approval from Tim Allen (1), your home is awaiting gentler ways to make it better.  For sure, there’s a place for the dust and big tools.  I moved out of our house for a year to let our builder/designer turn our nice house into a showcase (2).  But in the 18 years we’ve lived in this remodel, room for improvement has revealed itself in very many ways.  In a beautiful place like mine, it’s easy to look past the few flaws.  And with both my wife and I consumed with our careers, who has time to pay attention, let alone act on it?  But come retirement, what’s a compulsive organizer/doer to do?  While I’ve had other projects to work on, I thank God for giving me this home to improve.  In 4 years, I think I have.  With this brief essay, I want to share what I’ve learned, in a step-by-step fashion.

Step one.  Get rid of your crap!  Face it, since the Eisenhower administration, if you’re like us, you’ve been accumulating “special” stuff: nice pictures, certificates from key accomplishments, tschotzkes reminding you of trips and other special times, plus big stuff like appliances you never use or clothes you never wear.  If it’s not something your kids would care to have or that you can restore to your own life, like in a display, get rid of it!  In AA, they provide a “trash to treasures” guide, showing ways your flotsam and jetsam might become useful to someone else (3).  Since many of the destinations are national, it’s worth consulting even if you don’t live around here.  Marie Kondo has made a career dispensing advice about this stuff (4) and M Magnison has written a helpful slim volume on the subject (the one we used) (5).

Decluttering is not a one-time push.  Every boomer should be thinking of it essentially all the time.  Every piece of useless crap you get out to Goodwill is a victory.

Meanwhile, what about the stuff you’ve already got?  Organize it!   There must be stuff you always reach for when you need it and wish it were somewhere else.   Well, put it somewhere else!   If it needs a shelf or a hook to rest on, these are abundant on Amazon and easy to install.  I can’t tell you how many hooks and shelves we’ve put up to put our stuff at arms reach or at least easier to retrieve (6).  Hooks and shelves today go up with glue-backed stuff, so you can leave your electric drill and screwdriver in the garage.

I’m sure that some of that crap is pretty special, eliciting great memories. Well, what good is it doing you in that storage closet?  Why not put it up on your walls so you can see it all the time and share it with your guests?  Frames are cheap and available on Amazon and michaels.com.

The hooks you buy to hang your rediscovered treasures have other uses.  Utensils, shopping bags, backpacks and any other thing with a string does better on a wall than sitting on the floor of a closet or stuck in a box where you won’t even use it.

You, too, can have a very, very nice house, even if you don’t have two cats in the yard (7).

References

  1. LuminaryArts. The Top Ten Home Improvement Grunts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEAoQckYfmk
  2. Ike B.  on Harbal.  WordPress 9/21/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/09/21/on-harbal/
  3. Washtenaw County Trash to Treasure Guide.  Water Resources Washtenaw County Michigan.  https://www.washtenaw.org/281/Turning-Trash-into-Treasure
  4. KonMari.  The Official Website of Marie Kondo.  https://konmari.com/
  5. Magnusson M.  The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter.  New York: Scribner, 2018. https://www.amazon.com/Gentle-Art-Swedish-Death-Cleaning/dp/1501173243
  6. Ike B.  hooked!.  WordPress 1/11/24. https://theviewfromharbal.com/2024/01/11/hooked-2
  7.  Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young – Our House (Official Video).  YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aunVlekXjkE

quaternary

Hello to my dozens of readers and anyone else looking in.

The term quaternary refers to the fourth order in a series.  As a lifelong striving academic, I’m well aware of the quaternary milestones of graduation from high school, college, and medical school.  The rhythm gets fuzzy after that: residencies – at least for internal medicine – only 3 years (unless you make chief resident), and fellowships 2-3 years.  As the academic clock starts ticking, there’s 7 years to get those papers in for tenure. My own tenure clock got pushed to a double quaternary when my committee judged that the first year of my appointment was primarily for training purposes and carried no expectation of academic productivity.  Yet the rhythms of academic life run strong.  Each September brings pangs of a need to return to the classroom, even if those obligations are long past.  Watching our sports teams, we’re aware of the quaternary clock that will determine how long we’ll get to watch these athletes play.  Redshirting, transfers, and early exits change the equation, but we still want to know the class of the hero we’re watching.

Today marks a personal quaternary.  Four years ago, on this day I posted my first blog on WordPress.  This post is my 404th (does that make it a 404 error?).  There have been some ringers, like tables of contents to make a URL for a book, and “shameless plugs” announcing a new Amazon book.  But for the most part, it’s been writing, writing, writing.   I try to make the most of it, bundling some posts into Amazon books by topic, 5 so far (1,2,3,4,5).  The royalty checks Jeff Bezos sends me are pretty meager, but it’s a joy to hand one of my books to a friend.  This particular anniversary marked a self-imposed deadline for including posts in a book that’s not new, but a revision.  My original series of 5 was titled “Musing Through a Pandemic”.  Volume II – “Interpersonal Relationships” – was supposed to have a section “My brilliant career” with all my medical posts.  Somehow, they never got into the original.  I’ve sought to correct that and will be submitting a revision soon. I’ve decided to feed another section – “In this life” – with post-pandemic posts right up to the 4-year mark.  Don’t worry, I’ve excluded anything COVID related.

This blog is a pit stop, not a farewell.  There’s plenty more to write about.  I keep a file full of blog possibilities, and this crazy world of ours offers up plenty more potential topics.  So, like my dear dad liked to say: ”See you in the funny papers”(6).

References

1. Ike R. Musing through a Pandemic. My year and a half with Mr. Corona. Volume I. about Mr. Corona. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798530730. https://www.amazon.com/Musing-through-Pandemic-Year-Corona- ebook/dp/B098LML34S?ref_=ast_author_dp

2. Ike R. Musing through a Pandemic. On the sidelines. Volume II. Interpersonal relationships. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798531225023. 2nd edition to be submitted 8/8/23https://www.amazon.com/Musing-through-Pandemic-Sidelines-Inter- personal-ebook/dp/B098QZJMLW?ref_=ast_author_dp

3. Ike R. Musing through a Pandemic. On the Sidelines. Volume III. Indulgences. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798531231062. https://www.amazon.com/Musing-Through- Pandemic-Sidelines-Indulgnces-ebook/dp/B098LY1J8X?ref_=ast_author_dp

4. Ike R. Musing through a pandemic. On the sidelines. Volume IV. Then play on. Amazon (Kindle) 2021. ISBN: 9798780303411. https://www.amazon.com/Musing- Through-Pandemic-Sidelines-Then-ebook/dp/B09NGZL5TH?ref_=ast_author_dp

5. Ike R. Musing through a pandemic. On the sidelines. Volume V. Foodies! Amazon (Kindle) 2022. ISBN: 9798811634828. Published 8/26/22. https://www.amazon.com/Musing-Through-Pandemic-Sidelines-Foodies- ebook/dp/B0BC5Y7QML?ref_=ast_author_dp

6.”See you inthe funny papers”: etymology and meaning. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND USAGE.  https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/106878/see-you-in-the-funny-papers-etymology-and-meaning

hooked!

They entered our house to help us hang stuff.  120 pictures, posters, and objects later (and that’s just the main floor), I think it’s been a job well done.  But, like a restless army after a war, some have hung around to see how else they might be of help.  A lot, as it turns out.  Turning vertical space into a useful storage area, these little prominences have brought order to places where we never though it possible.  Rather than sing praises of hooks, just let me show you some examples of what they can do.  To illustrate that, let me take you on a tour of our Harbal house. (A more extensive exposure is available elsewhere (1)).

Some hooks were already in place before our recent explosion.  The underside of the shelf in our entryway is penetrated with hooks to hold car keys and other things, such as masks when that used to be required. Around the corner, our hall closet is replete with hooks, hanging i.d. tags, umbrellas, a yardstick, my shoulder pouch bag, and hiking poles.  Hard to capture that with a panoramic photo, so you’ll just have to use your imagination. 

Let’s proceed down the stairs to the lower level to take our first looks.  We don’t like “downstairs” or “basement”.  The house has been zoned R2 (duplex) since it was built in 1958.  Although only one family has ever lived here, 2 could do so comfortably.

First stop is the laundry room, where the seldom-attended counter attracts clutter.  Fie to that, as up on the wall it goes!

Next stop is the lower-level kitchen.  Yes, we have a second full kitchen.  I get to experiment there as it’s mostly out of sight, out of mind.  When we had to demote our wedding-gift acquired blue Chantal pots and pans in favor of our new Granitestone set (2), I saw an opportunity.  I hadn’t hung up pots and pans in my kitchen since I put up a pegboard in my St. Louis apartment in 1981.  But those Chantal pots – stained and battered as they were – still looked pretty dandy hanging up. 

A side wall found a home for roasting pans and such that had languished in cabinets, and utensils in drawers.

Our downstairs oven rests on a chrome Metro shelf.  They make hooks, and we used them.

Back upstairs, let’s turn to the master bedroom.   A blank wall in my walk-in closet becomes a repository for a resting place for laundry I’m too lazy to hang, frequently used shopping bags, my backpack, my CPAP case and frequently used power tools, and a basket to collect most anything I don’t know where else to put.

That closet was no stranger to hooks, as there was already one for my string ties and another for my heart monitor, with discretely placed hooks coming for zip up storage bags once I get a few more sport coats out of the way.

Kathy liked it so much, she found some wall space for her backpack.

Right outside, in our “hall of memories”, came a spot above the window for my cane collection, the prize being the one given to me by the patient in whom I diagnosed and treated his Brucellosis, probably garnering my job.  No picture for this, alas.

Then, across the way, is the master bathroom, and what clutter those attract!  Hooks brought a little order here.

Off now into the living room.  Next to my Ekornes Stressless Max recliner (3) in the living room – my “office” – come 2 little hooks that support my head magnifier, headlamp, little flashlight, and reading glasses.  Just to the left hang our Oontz speaker and string bag that acts as my accessory wastebasket (it’s such a long walk across the room to our main one!).  There’s more around the corner.  Kathy has followed suit.

Kitchens always beg for more organization, and we may have quieted down that supplicant some with our recent modifications.  The bare brick walls beg.  Under sinks can be such a jungle, and we did some clearing out when we had to prepare recently for the instillation of new countertops.  But having an earnest nose under there gave me a few ideas.  Not much to look at but having that good sponge and especially that squeegee makes cleanup of those new countertops a breeze.

The little dangly thing to the far right is a bright thumb flashlight, essential to peering into the depths of cabinets.  I tacked hooks to hold up one of these under onto the doors leading to 2 other cabinets but won’t bother to show you those.

The sunroom we added on in the late 80s is really just an extension of our kitchen, a place for storage and where we pass though on the way to the deck.  Not that it couldn’t use a little organization.

The other space you step into from the kitchen is the garage.  Great organization will be coming to it this winter with new hooks and shelves, even some hanging from the ceiling.  That’s not happened yet, but we’ve taken a few small steps.

So, as you can see, this doctor has a thing for hooks.  But don’t call me Dr. Hook!  There’s already one of those, and he had different talents, including singing about my missus (4) 

Hang in there!

References

1. Ike B.  On Harbal.  WordPress 9/21/20.  https://theviewfromharbal.com/2020/09/21/on-harbal/

2. Granitestone 20pc Kitchen In A Box – Cook, Bake, Steam, Fry – Complete Set.  Granitestone.https://granitestone.com/collections/sale-clearance/products/all-you-need-20-piece-non-stick-cookware-set-black?variant=40998380372131

3. Stressless Max®. Stressless.  https://shop.stressless.com/en/c/Recliners/max

4. Ronja´s Dr Hook Channel.   Dr Hook – “When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman”.  YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCJpzpd-8us