Epiphany?

  I just experienced what some would call an "epiphany". It was fascinating, and surprising. I came inside from walking with the babies, and I sat down with my catfish and organic fries and was listening to the Band Of Horses Live at Nudie Jeans 2014 recording on YouTube. Some of the songs they played were what would be called sad songs by most. Melancholy at best. Anyhow, I was thoroughly enjoying being inside in the A/C and my food was remarkably good, as it usually is (I spent many years honing my craft and I am obsessive about quality and attention to detail), and it suddenly occurred to me that I was experiencing this music in a way I never had in my life.

   This is the interesting part. These songs, by nature, are written to express something the writer has experienced, usually, and they seem to elicit a similar response in the listener most of the time -when they are really well-done. Yeah? You with me? Anyhow, I have (mostly)always either been "in love" or "feeling bad-about-some-failed-love", and thus I either listened only to "happy" music or "sad" music.

   Just now, however, I suddenly found myself experiencing a very new response to this "sad" music. For the first time, I heard the song. Just the song. I heard what HE was feeling, and I heard the lyrics, and the instruments, and the art of it. I had no emotional response whatsoever, other than a rational appreciation for the poetry of the song. I am neither "in love" with someone, nor mourning the loss of someone. I am merely alive and well, and pretty happy. It is utterly fascinating to me. I am truly amazed.

   I guess I passed an important mile-marker in my growth as a human today. Yay! 

My Kombucha Instructions!

  Instructions for Continuous-Batch Process Kombucha with SCOBY Originating From T.F.Wright and Previously Sourced from the Single-Batch Process of Ray Fisher in Land O'Lakes, Florida                                                                         

  I use (2) 5-gallon glass carboys as my bulk tanks for the main body of my kombucha, but it does not have to be done on such a large scale. If you intend to use it only occasionally and sparingly, a gallon jar or two could work fine. It seems that the most practical way for most people would be the glass 2.5 or 3 gallon jars with a tap on bottom. These are found at Walmart and are fairly cheap. I dislike the plastic tap, but it works well enough. I use the two carboys for bulk storage, the 2.5 for "working" storage, and several smaller jars for secondary fermentation and to drink from. Simple enough. Anyhow, here is the list of necessary items to do it the easiest and most practical way:

• (1) 2.5 or 3-gallon GLASS JAR with tap
• Organic sugar
• Organic Earl Grey tea (any other kind of tea can be used, but I think Earl Grey is best. Coffee kombucha is on my list of things to make in future)
• Springwater or good well water. It is necessary to have the natural minerals found in these waters. DO NOT use tap water under any circumstances! Distilled water is dead and will not work. 
• Stainless-steel tool for stirring. (I use a aerospace-grade titanium rod, but that is not necessary)

  That is it. No fancy stuff, and nothing expensive or hard to find. Organic tea is cheap at Big Lots, and organic sugar is cheap at Walmart or any grocery store. It is very easy to do this, ok? Just make sure you observe a few basic rules: NEVER use anything plastic or aluminum. NEVER! Try to keep it out of the Sun. Do not put hot tea with your SCOBY - it will harm it. Cool the tea first. Always use organic stuff and good water. Let the jar breathe a little, but not wide open. You have to keep out wild yeasts and mold spores.

  So, here is what to do when you get my SCOBY and starter: Your glass jar will be already clean and ready. Make the tea and get it cooled off beforehand. Use 8 large or 12 regular-sized teabags per gallon. Add a cup or so of organic sugar per gallon and stir to dissolve. Once the tea is cool, add the starter and SCOBY that I send you. (Make sure to leave room for it). Put the lid down or screwed on loosely, or cover it with cheesecloth instead. Put it out of direct sunlight, but does not have to be in the dark.

   That is it. After a period of a few days to a week, you will see a white waxy-looking film on the surface. That is your new SCOBY growing. All is well. You can start drawing it off any time you want, and then either drink as-is or do a secondary ferment to make it fizzy. Just make sure you never let it go below halfway or so before adding more tea (NOT HOT!) . You can always message me on the Facebook, or by SMS with questions. See? Easy peasy, man.

Time to Write

I guess I will have to start writing again, now that someone has drawn attention to my blog. For unknown reasons. Some random stranger.

Don't ever buy a pig in a poke.

I do not know how to type. Nor can I knit, do accounting or taxes, sing well, speak Russian, or play a piano.

But I DO know how to read. I also know how to do exhaustive research, compare sources, question experts, and watch documentary films with experts interviewing other experts. I double or triple check information before I accept it as fact, and even then, I stay open to further revisions or corrections, as more information becomes available.

If I tell you that something is known to be a fact at the current level of understanding by experts on that subject - you can be pretty sure that I am qualified to tell you that.

I don't mind being proven wrong, because that always shows me a deeper truth, but if I say it's true - it is very likely to be so.

Maybe not everyone has the energy, time, or desire to do this kind of investigative research, but it is one of the things that happens to drive me. I NEED to know the truth and facts of things that are important to me, and I rarely trust what I hear or see, especially if it is something on facebook or yahoo, Fox News, Bing, etc. I will look to a source with no vested interest in the information it presents, capable of being objective and accurate, and then I will find one or two more similar sources to compare.

The entire sum of all recorded human knowledge is readily available to anyone, if only they make some effort to distinguish between shit and Shinola

There is a lot of made-up garbage all over the media and internet, and it's way too easy to be tricked or mislead by something that seems - at a glance - to be true.

Don't believe anything the first time you hear or read it. Don't even believe me. Just look with both eyes, and think a little.

Energy madness!

 I think that the world is overdue for some major changes. We need to be more efficient, more sensible.
It doesn't take a scientist to understand why.

  Just think about this one example: Millions of people for a hundred years have somehow overlooked the insanity of consuming huge amounts of energy to cool a box (refrigerator) that is contained within another box (house) that is itself consuming huge amounts of energy staying WARM, even though there is abundant cold air right outside of the warmed box it is inside of. WHAT? How can any conscientious, reasoning person rationalize this, especially considering the escalating fossil-fuel crisis we are in the middle of?

There are obvious and simple ways that everyone can make changes to the world we live in., regardless of how things are and have been.