Save the Planet! learn to peel an egg!

Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon

February 02 2009

It’s Ground Hog Day as I sit down to finish this up in the wee hours of the morning or the
late hours of the night. I’m sitting here trying to think of ways to save the planet. First
we have to save ourselves from being so lazy. So why do we depend on the groundhog
to predict our weather?

According to tradition, the most famous forecaster of spring, Punxsutawney Phil, a
groundhog leaves his burrow where he has been hibernating to discover whether cold
winter weather will continue. If the Phil cannot see his shadow, he presumably remains
above ground, ending his hibernation. But if his shadow is visible—that is, if the sun is
shining—six more weeks of cold weather will follow, and the furry little prognosticator
returns to his nice warm burrow. There is no scientific evidence for this belief.

The legend or tradition that animals can predict the weather has been going on for centuries. Now how that ties in with Punxsutawney Phil I don’t have a clue. I just thought I would throw it out at you. As I wrote earlier, if Phil sees his shadow it means six more weeks of winter, and no shadow means spring is around the corner. Groundhog Day proponents state that the rodents' forecasts are accurate 75% to 90%. A Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years puts success rate level at 37%. Also, the National Climatic Data Center reportedly has stated that the overall predictions accuracy rate is around 39%. I think that is better than Dick Rice’s predictions!

The rule of thumb around here is if Dick Rice says it’s going to snow, people run to the grocery stores and stock up on bread and milk and sandwich meat and fill their cars with gas. Then it doesn’t snow. If he says its going to warm up, it gets cold. He can’t predict it any more than Al Gore can predict global warming. Matter of fact I think the ground hog might actually do a better job. I seem to remember when I was in school that the scientists were calling for the next ice age.

Which brings me to my next head scratching pondering. Just how lazy are people getting? Have you ever heard the phrase, “she couldn’t boil water without directions”?
I think one of the worst things that ever happened in the school systems was when they dropped home economics classes. People don’t know how to cook. Kids know how to open the freezer and yank out a pretty cardboard box and poke holes in the frosty ice crystal covered plastic. Then they fling it in the microwave and nuke it for 3 to 6 minutes and viola! A handy dandy tasty meal full of sodium but low in carbs and taste.

When was the last time you cooked something totally from scratch? Can’t remember can you? I use a lot of shortcuts in my cooking but I do still use recipe books that I have collected and recipes that have been handed down in my family. I still make pancakes from scratch. I like them better than toaster and nuked ones. Homemade waffles are just so much better. And I know how to make French toast too.

It’s that wonderful time of year called TAX season, and we have discovered that we did not make Tax Freedom day. 'Tax freedom day' -- the mythical day we Americans can stop working for government and start working for themselves. (Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor from laughing hysterically.) And what does Tax Freedom day have to do with cooking from scratch? Well I’ll tell you. When you suddenly find out that you have to pay Uncle Sam even more, you have to tighten up the budget even more and that means planning meals down to the penny and pinching those little fake copper Lincolns.

As I was making my rounds with my carefully planned 2 week menu, hunting down the best deals in several grocery stores, I started noticing the prepackaged convenience foods. Most I am sure you have seen, but I spied one new thing that just blew me away. You can now buy bags of hard boiled, pre-peeled eggs. Yep. You don’t even have to boil an egg any more. And for those that are challenged in the egg peeling department it’s the perfect thing. So throw away the little pan and the egg timers. Just go to the fridge, yank out the zip locked bag of preboiled, prepeeled, cold rubbery eggs to make your deviled eggs. Now THAT is lazy. Bring back Home Ec. Save the Planet that way!