The Thing in the Compost Bin

A couple of months ago something sprouted in our compost bin and we waited with baited breath to see what it was.  My wishes were fulfilled when it started fruiting - yes!  buttercup pumpkin - happy days!  The folks back home are likely surprised (I was) to find out that many people in the US have no idea of what to do with a pumpkin.  The canned stuff is for pies and the actual vegetable only comes out around Halloween and is ceremoniously hacked into a lantern.

As a result, one of my all-time favourite veggies is somewhat hard to come across here.  Not to be confused with butternut squash or butternut pumpkin, no matter what Wikipedia says.  (University professors everywhere are exclaiming "SEE?  This is why we won't let you use Wikipedia as a reference!")

The buttercup pumpkin has a creamy texture and is great boiled or roasted.  The other day we boiled some, then put it on the barbeque to finish it off.  You can even eat the skins.  Yummmmy!  Here's a photo of a couple we grew - totally different from the Wikipedia pic.  Yup, I've saved some seeds and will be enjoying another crop next year.

Lengthening the GA 400 Nightmare

I've lived north of Alpharetta long enough to remember what the southbound morning rush hour commute on the 400 was like before they put a sign up near the Shiloh Rd overpass.  Traffic flowed smoothly at that point, all the way to Old Milton.

Then someone decided it would be nice to know how long it would take to get to Haynes Bridge, which in theory was a good idea.  They didn't, however, take into account the speed reading skills of the average driver on the GA 400.  We now have a bottleneck caused by rubberneckers trying to work out what the pretty sign is saying.  Never mind that it says the same thing nearly every morning, the exception being the occasional change to the two numbers on the bottom line.

When you work out what the top two lines say, all you need to do is pay attention to the bottom line.

At least, that's what I thought until a few months ago (I haven't had a chance to blog much lately).  You see, the sign originally said "5 miles ahead" but one day it changed to "6 miles ahead".  It stayed that way for a week, when it changed to the current distance.

I'm wondering if some bright spark noticed that the mile markers on the side of the road didn't add up properly, or if it had something to do with the earthquake in Japan last March, as it was shortly afterward that the sign changed.  Either way, apparently the GA 400 commute between Shiloh Rd and Haynes Bridge Rd somehow got longer.  Oh joy.

* Image courtesy of 511ga.org (GA Navigator).  Your website stinks by the way.  It's always broken, especially during rush hour.  I guess it simply reflects the state of the Atlanta area road system.  Always a mess and not enough bandwidth when it's really needed.

Georgia License Plate Vote

Hands up who got the email that was doing the rounds a little while ago where you could click on a link and vote for the new GA license plate.  It hit my email inbox at least three times.  I voted for one of the three designs that had "In God We Trust" on the bottom where the owner's county of residence would normally be.  Apparently a lot of other people did too.  So many, in fact, that the three finalists were: (drumroll) all three designs that included the words "In God We Trust".  Looks like there are a lot of folks out there who like making this declaration to the world.  And good on them.

However (I bet you knew there would be a "however" to this post), according to this article on Yahoo, we misunderstood what we were voting for.  You see, although three of the pictures of the designs up for vote included the phrase "In God We Trust", what they didn't tell us is that you have to pay $1 extra to get a sticker with these words instead of the county sticker.  As the article says:  "The three online winners happened to be the ones with "In God We Trust" at the bottom, leading the state to believe that voters may have decided on the phrase instead of the design."  Ya think???

So how is the state handling this?  They are holding a second vote involving the three winning plates.  Only this time they are clarifying that the phrase is not part of the plate.  Okay, that's fine.  I don't particularly want to force people with different beliefs to have the phrase on their car.  And the good thing is that I now know that I can buy a sticker for $1 and plaster it over my car.  I guess my complaint/question is - why on earth wasn't this handled better so that we could save some time and taxpayer money?  If I fouled up that badly in my job, I'd likely be out of work.  But then that's the difference between civil servants (US: public servants) and those of us in the business world who pay their salaries.

The amusing part of this story is the claim that a certain gun enthusiasts' website was encouraging its readers to vote for the plate with a design showing a peach which looked remarkably like a horse's patootey.  ""If we win, everybody in Georgia state will be driving with horse's [rear] license plate".  Could be interesting...

Doggy Phobias - the Black Abyss

Mr. F and I have a very playful and amusing dog who nevertheless seems to be half a bubble off plumb most days.  His newest (and absolute favourite-est) toy is a tennis ball I found at a park recently.  Rocky chews it, plays his own private soccer match with it and has actually learned that there is a game to be had with bringing the ball to us so we can throw it for him.  (The bubble edged slightly more central with that revelation.)

He does have some phobias though, which are mostly a source of giggling for us.  Mr. F had high hopes of training Rocky to be a bird dog for hunting trips.  That idea was laid to rest the first time Rocky experienced fireworks.  Not up-close-and-personal, mind you; he was inside and, after a short search-and-rescue, we found him doing ostrich impersonations under the bed.  His fear of loud bangs is such that the mere rattle of a box of matches sends him scurrying upstairs for the darkest hidey-hole.  He's a sad tale during a thunderstorm...

We discovered Rocky's latest phobia after noticing that he would tread gingerly past the hearth in our living room.  It's black and very reflective.  At first we thought his own reflection was freaking him out, but it looks like he's more afraid of how it appears to be a horrifying Black Abyss.  He is exceptionally careful about retrieving his ball when it goes too near.

Alas!  The poor dog has lost his newfound toy and best friend!  His tennis ball rolled onto the Black Abyss yesterday during a game of fetch.
 

After about 10 minutes of fretting and trying to build up the courage to pick it up (during which he would plant his hind legs securely a good distance from the hearth, then stre-e-e-e-etch as far as he dared towards the ball), he gave up entirely and sat down for a candlelit vigil.  (At least, we would have lit some candles but then Rocky would have run upstairs to hide as soon as the matches came out.)

I can't imagine what he thought about seeing Pepper lying on it recently.  A large black ball of fur with glittering green eyes, floating on the scary Black Abyss.  He does seem to have a little more respect for the cat lately...

The ball lies there to this day, waiting patiently for another game.  Rocky has been exceptionally callous in totally shunning his former playmate and leaving it to the clutches of the dreaded Black Abyss.