Miscellaneous Monday malarkey

Happy St. Pat's! Working for a Catholic, Jesuit university, we tend to celebrate more than most. Or at least the students do...wonder what attendance will be like in morning classes tomorrow? One of the biggest Irish pubs in the city is easy stumbling walking distance from campus.

The big news from Brewers' spring training isn't Ryan Braun's return to play after his suspension for illegal substances, but...a dog. Hank the dog showed up as a stray, wandering the ballpark in Arizona winning every one's hearts. He's in Milwaukee now, going to a forever home with a family of one of the club's management team. No doubt we'll be seeing him at the park for opening day.

I'm doing my first quilt for pay. Seems odd to say that, when I've been quilting for over thirty years. A friend has a bunch of t-shirts she wants put into a quilt. A few years ago I helped a young friend make one (she must have liked the process, as she's made a couple more since then), but I've not done one of my own. Heaven knows I have enough racing t-shirts for a queen size quilt.

The economics of the thing are one reason I've not done this before. Materials plus a flat fee is how I've priced it; I know I'll be in the hole on the labor. Well, unless all the stars align and I can put it together in ten hours or less (yeah, not gonna happen). For future reference, I'll track the hours it takes, at least. I know I'll get faster if I do more of them, but it doesn't interest me enough to make a significant effort to get business. However, if you are a friend in the area, I may be persuaded to put together your collection, if you aren't at all picky about how long it takes for it to be done.

I see we are slapping the wrists of those close to Putin because of the Crimean issues, but not Putin himself. This is pretty much the nail in the coffin of our standing with the rest of the world. The POTUS has managed to do one thing well in his two terms in office: run down the reputation of this country in the rest of the world, reducing the US to ineffectual blowhard status.

All that cooking and freezing is coming in handy today. A couple weeks ago I cooked and froze a couple of packages of ground turkey. While I remembered everything else this morning, I forgot to plan for dinner. A friend is making Shepherd's Pie, which reminded me of the ground turkey. It should thaw quickly, as I chop onions and mushrooms to go with it. Maybe I'll go whole hog and throw some frozen green beans in as well. Making a gravy is easy-peasy, and I always have instant potato flakes in the cupboard (don't judge - this is the only dish I ever use them).