World Food Day

Tomorrow, October 17th, is World Food Day. Did you know that there was a special day for food? I didn't know that. But I'm not surprised. Sometimes it seems like there are so many special days in the year that there is not enough days in the year to go around. It seems to water down all the specialness about special days. I kind of like the idea of World Food Day though. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about food. Not that I'm all that hungry usually, Those of you that know me, and from what I can tell, that's both of you, will know that I am an avid gardener. I like to promote the ideals of buying your food locally and I promote sustainable food production. I got an email today from Kitchen Gardeners International. After alerting me that tomorrow was World Food Day they presented me with a list that I thought was kinda cool. I believe the list was created by a guy named Roger Doiron. Here is the list below.

1: number of new kitchen gardens planted at the White House this year AP


1943: the last time food was grown at the White House White House

20 million: the number of new gardens planted in 1943 LA Times

40%: percentage of nation's produce coming from gardens in 1943 LA Times

7 million: estimated number of new food gardens planted in the US in 2009 NGA

$2000: amount of savings possible per year from a 40' x 40' garden KGI

90%: percentage of fruit/vegetable varieties lost in the US the last 100 years CNN

3500: number of vegetable varieties owned by Monsanto Monsanto

18,467: number of new small farms counted in the last agricultural census USDA

4,685: number of farmers markets nationwide USDA

4,100: number of Wal-mart stores and clubs in the US Wal-mart

187,000 ft2 : average area of a Wal-mart superstore Wal-mart

60,112 ft2: average area of a farmers' market USDA

9.5 million: number of imported food shipments arriving in the US each year Huffington Post

226,377: number of establishments registered to export food to the US Huffington Post

200: number of on-site inspections of these establishments conducted by the FDA last year Huffington Post

76 million: number of people who fall ill each year due to food poisoning CDC

50 gallons: volume of sugared beverages consumed per person in the US each year LA Times

22,727: number of Olympic-sized swimming pools those beverages would fill Answers.com

$15 billion: annual estimated revenue of a penny-per-ounce tax on soda LA Times

$20.5 billion: Coca-Cola's gross profit in 2008 Coca-Cola

72 million: number of American adults considered obese CDC

33%: percentage of US children likely to develop obesity or Type 2 diabetes CDC

10-15 years: average number of years their lives will be shortened as a result CDC

57 years: average age of the American farmer USDA

25 days: average shelf-life of a Twinkie Snopes

350 parts per million: sustainable level of CO2 in atmosphere 350.org

390 parts per million: current level of CO2 in the atmosphere NOAA

31%: percentage of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions attributable to food and agriculture IPCC

2020: year by which many geologists feel the world will have reached "peak oil" production UK Research Centre

10 calories: average amount of fossil fuel energy required to produce 1 calorie of food energy in industrialized food systems Cornell

29,100 calories: estimated fossil fuel calories required to produce one order of Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries Men's Health

1 billion: number of hungry people in the world in 2009 FAO

9.1 billion: projected world population in the year 2050 US Census

70%: percentage increase in global food production required to feed that projected population FAO

70%: percentage of world's fresh water used for agricultural purposes UNESCO

1.8 billion: number of people expected to experience "water scarcity" in the year 2025 UNEP

0: number of new, oil-rich, water-rich, fertile and inhabitable planets we are likely to discover in the next 40 years

1: number of people needed to make a positive difference in any of the above: you!

I thought that was an appropriate list for World Food Day. The blue text on the end of the lines that look like links are just blue text. I was too lazy to put all of those links in. Too much stinking linking. Supposedly you can go to those websites to verify the information. I don't know for sure since if I was so lazy I had to put in fake links I was surely too lazy to go and check their sources.

Have a great World Food Day. As luck would have it I will be going to a BBQ to celebrate my Step Moms birthday. She's 80 something. Happy Birthday Mom.

Bye!

Some Photos For Ya

Sorry it took so long to to get some pics up but I was trying to wait until I had a chance to get some really cool stuff for you guys. I haven't had a chance to go out and do a picture taking safari so most of these are just snap shots that I have been taking trying to get familiar with the new  camera. I'm going to throw in a few that I did not take just because they need to be there. I'll let you know which ones they are. All of the ones I took have a little bit of post processing done to them but just what I could do with the limited software that I have. The other night as I was poking around on my computer I found out that I have a copy of Photoshop 7 loaded on there. Dunno where it came from. I think my step brother Jerry might have loaded it on there a long time ago and I just forgot. I've forgot stuff before I think. I don't know nuthin about Photoshop 7 or any of the other numbers either so I ordered a copy of Photoshop 7 for Dummies cuz that's what I am when it come to new software.

OK Shot #1

This is my grandson Chase. He's a stinker and he's almost two. He's our first and only, so far, grandchild and we're having a blast with him.

Shot #2

This here's the Liberty Bar just north of downtown San Antonio. If you've never been there it's almost too late. The owners of the property told the folks that run the bar that they had to get out because a parking lot would make them a whole lot more money than the 100 + year old restaurant/bar. They are going to move there business down to the art district known as South Town but it will never be the same. I snapped this shot one day while we were on our way home from the Pearl Farmers Market. So long Liberty Bar!

Shot #3

We went to Fredericksburg one Sunday to attend the Alternative Energy Exposition. This really old paddle wheel supplies all of the electricity for the town of Fredericksburg. WOW! That thing is really efficient. I reached over and grabbed it and stopped it for a few seconds and the town fire alarm went off at the fire station next door. I ran into the bathrooms and hid for a while. I don't think they know it was me. I hope they don't read this blog. For $10 a head I don't think it was really worth it. They had some neat stuff and all but most of it was just vendors trying to sign you up to sell you stuff. I had more fun just bopp'in around town.

Which leads us to.

Shot #4

After having some lunch at a little diner down the street we took a little walk up Main Street and I saw this Hobby Horse. I always wonder why they call them Hobby Horses. I guess it would be a good hobby for a kid if ha had plenty of coinage. This horse runs on alternative energy too. Quarters, two at a time. And it will run as long as you have quarters but once you run out it stops. My wife said we we out of quarters. I think she just got nervous about the small gathering crowd that had assembled before I got off.

Shots #5 and #6

These are some house type plants that are in my back yard. I don't know much about house type plants but if I was to guess I would say that these are Rubber Plants.

Shot #7

I went bird hunting the other day after work. I blasted through about half a box of shells and couldn't hit nothin. Even on a good day I ain't much good with a shot gun. I did manage to shoot a caterpillar though. It was funny, while I was try'in to take his picture an ant came up and bit him on the butt. Ha Ha Ha! He was pissed off at that ant.

Shot #8

We went to see a couple of my favorite musicians last Saturday night. They were playing at theWater Street Oyster Bar in San Antonio. My wife Brenda took this shot of me and the headliner Shake Russell with her little Kodak point and shoot. We figured out that night that we had been coming out to see Shake and the various folks he has played with for about 30 years. I haven't seen a bad show yet.

Shot #9

Opening up for Shake was the one and only Claude Butch Morgan. The man of a million faces and the man of a million song and stories. I've been following this guy as long as Shake, if not longer. And again I have never been disappointed. I remember seeing him play at a small club on West Ave called Los Padrinos back in the early eighties. The club was on a really busy boulevard and Claude had just started using the new wireless technology. The club was an open air patio type of thing so Claude started running around the club and patio area singing and playing guitar. Before the song was over he was standing on the center stripe in the middle of the street playing and singing to the cars that were driving by honking and swerving around trying not to hit the guy in the street playing guitar. Thank God he was not hit. He's not quite that crazy today but still better than ever. If you have never seen either of these guys before do not hesitate to go and see them whenever you can. Check out their websites for show info.

Note: I pulled Claude's photo from his website and was not photographed by me.

On a side note, I have heard that some people may be having a hard time reading the text on this blog. If you are having any problems with either the size of the text or the contrast between the color of the text and background let me know and I'll see if I can make it better.

Well that's all I got for today. See you guys when I see ya. Be careful out there. Love ya. Bye!

SnappyBob's Mid-Week News Roundup

The first bit of news came to to me early this week from my fellow Record Breaking Guitar Picker and Luckenback Layabout Gary Woitena. According to
Gary our record breaking attempt is now official with the Guinness Book Of World Record folks certifying us as the official world record holders with the official number being 1868 pickers.

In other news. Remember this guy.

Senor Samplico, his excellency, has informed me that he is auditioning for a part in that all time holiday favorite "The Nutcracker". Now, I never knew His Excellency had any aspirations in the area of Ballet but if you have ever seen him waltzing the aisles of Walmart you would have to wonder why we didn't see this coming. He hasn't won the audition yet but the word around Off Broadway is he has a pretty good chance. Most of his chances are hanging on the wardrobe departments ability to come up with a Tutu in his size.

Caveat:
I'm just having a little fun with Danny. Actually he auditioned for a non dancing part as a favor for a friends daughter. It probably took a lot of guts. Kudos Senor.

I'm sure you've all been losing sleep worrying about how my new camera is coming along. Well all I can say is "I love It". All the versatility of my old 35mm SLR and more. I must admit it was a little intimidating at first. On my old SLR I had a knob for shutter speed, an aperture ring, a focus ring and an ASA setting. Now I have whistles and bells and menus and sub menus and on screen info telling me stuff to make me nervous as hell. All in all though I couldn't be happier with it. It does everything you would expect from an SLR and takes great automatic and programed snapshots as well. And who can complain about being able to see your photo results right away. That must take a whole lot of the anxiety out of wedding photography, not that I want to go back there any time soon. Sorry I don't have any pictures to post yet but I have been so busy getting acquainted with this thing that I haven't had a chance to upload any pics to Photobucket. Perhaps next week.

In the process of learning all about me digital camera I found a very useful website for me to get info. It's call The Nikon Cafe. It's a forum for Nikon users and photographers in general. I mention this because they have a very interesting thread that has a lot of cool pictures if you want to go look. One of the guys on the forum bought a fairly nice used lens for the purpose of reselling to make a little money. But on second thought he offered it up to anyone on the forum who wanted to use it for a week to take pictures to be posted there. The would be that you sign up on a list. The lens is sent to you when it is your turn. You use it for a week, upload your pics and send it to the next person on the list. So this lens has been crisscrossing the US and abroad for a while now. Unfortunately they cut the list off at 60 so I can't get in on it. If you want to check it out I'll put a link at the bottom. You have to scroll through a few pages of chit chat to get from one series of pics to another but it's not too bad. Have fun it's called "Seeing the World Through a Single Lens".


http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=180602




That's All Folks, See You Next Time.

New camera arrives today.

After extensive research on what kind of camera I could get to replace my old Sony (see previous blog where I talk about how Sony Cameras SUCK!)After looking around at the point and shoots I realized that for a little more $$$ I could get a digital SLR. Not only that, I could get a Nikon Digital SLR. You can read a review of it here.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

According to UPS it is supposed to be delivered today. I must admit I feel kind of guilty because my wife's birthday is today and here I am getting a new camera in the mail. It figures that it would have to show up today. This stuff just happened to me. I don't know why.

Anywhooooo. Look for some new pictures here on the blog in the coming days and weeks as I share my dazzling photographic flying circus. Maybe I'll post some bloopers too.

Hope to see YOU on the business end of the lens soon.
Bye

Cold Beer, Midnight Trains and Bean Dip

One night my wife and I went over to some close friends house for dinner and drinks. Being a fairly long drive, it was mutually pre-planned that we would spend the night and return home the following day. Dinner was delicious, Bar BQ with all of the trimmings, followed by a few beers, a dip in the pool and then some more beers. We played cards and watched the trains go by. The couple lived in an area next to a railroad line, and me, being a lover of trains, I took great delight in seeing so many trains at such a close proximity.
As the night grew later, everyone was getting tired and ready for bed. Everyone, except for me, that is. I was still anticipating the next train to go by and another beer or two didn’t sound out of the question. The couple assured me that I would be welcome to remain in the back yard and watch the trains and come in whenever I was ready. They only asked that I turn off the light in the backyard because it shined through the window of their bedroom and kept them awake. Having the light off was no problem for me as I like it dark when I sit in the yard at night. The lady of the house told me that if I got hungry just to help myself to any of the snacks that were in the kitchen. The couple retired for the evening, as did my wife, leaving me alone in the back yard, sipping my beer and waiting for the next freight train to pass.
It was a nice South Texas summer night. There was a light breeze, the sky was clear and the moon was shining on the pool in the yard. In between the roar of the occasional train the neighborhood was quiet and tranquil. Even the dogs had gone to bed.
As the night wore on the beers were beginning to have their effect and I needed to visit the rest room. After using the facilities I was exiting the house though the kitchen and I noticed an array of chips on the kitchen table. I thought perhaps a snack before bed would not be a bad idea. There were corn chips, potato chips, tortilla chips etc. and I DID notice earlier seeing a new unopened can of bean dip on the picnic table outside. YES, a midnight snack is just what I needed. I grabbed a bag of the, “Big Dip Fritos” from the table, a fresh beer from the ice chest outside and the can of bean dip from the picnic table outside. I then returned to my train watching spot to await the next passing train and enjoy my snack. I wondered if the train crew ever got to eat this good on their journeys riding the rails around the country.
After settling in, I opened my fresh beer and opened the bag of Fritos and selected a Frito just the perfect size and shape to allow me to get a good scoop of bean dip. The first scoop out of a bean dip can is always the best one. I found the pull tab on the bean dip can and pulled it open and tossed the lid into my little trash can of empty beer bottles. Like a child jumping into a pile on newly raked leaves I plunged my chip into the bean dip and popped it into my mouth.
At that very moment a train sounded it’s horn from around the bend. It was like an alarm warning of some impending danger that I was already aware of. The taste of the bean dip was distinct and pronounced. This was not bean dip, it was cat food. Fish based cat food. I immediately spit it onto the yard and began looking for the garden hose. It was dark and I was panicked. There was no garden hose to be found. I grabbed my beer and tried to wash my mouth out with beer but it wasn’t working. I then ran to the pool and started dipping my head under the water like a duck looking for a fish. Nothing I did would completely remove the taste from my mouth. The neighborhood dogs were now barking, the evenings tranquility was gone and my infatuation for trains had passed like the last Laredo bound Union Pacific. I took the can of cat food and buried it deep in the trashcan and went to bed.
The next morning I woke later than everyone else. I could hear the chatter of friends and family that had arrived for a Sunday brunch. I arose and headed for the bathroom to wash my mouth out one more time and then went to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Surely some coffee would help. Everyone was gathering on the patio visiting when I went outside and took a seat. The coffee was helping my somewhat dull headache. Our hostess stopped by, greeted me good morning and asked if I would like some brunch. She said “I made some tuna fish sandwiches, If you’d like one.” I politely declined. As she walked away I heard her talking to the family cat. “Are you ready for you dinner kitty? Now where is that cat food? I know I set it out here on the picnic table somewhere.”
I didn’t mention my midnight snack for a long, long time.

Could'a, Would'a, Should'a Had a V-8

I like V-8 juice. I like V-8 juice a lot. I like V-8 juice in the morning. Sometimes I like V-8 juice in the afternoon. Sometimes I like V-8 juice too much. Sometimes I get V-8 cravings and I just have to get some. This morning was one of those times. I was at work and it was around break time anyway, well, plus or minus an hour or so. There is a sleazy convenience store across the street so I nonchalantly get in my truck to go score a can of V-8 from the sleazy store across the street but then I started to have second thoughts. Like, how long has this bottle of V-8 been sitting on the shelf of the sleazy store? I could check the expiration date if they have one but even if they do who's to say that what's his name that runs the place ( I can't ever remember his name but it sounds like -Yabba Dabba Doo- or something) hasn't been using some sleazy store technology to change the expiration dates. So I decide to go to the less sleazy store a few blocks away. When I go in I find that, as usual all they have is V-8 Hot & Spicy or one of the other flavors like V-8 Fusion blueberry or pomegranate or whatever. So, I've gone this far, I might as well go to the store that is a clone of this store down the street. Same deal, no regular V-8 just the trendy stuff that obviously nobody buys since that's all they have left and all the regular is gone. I am getting really tired of seeing only "Spicy Hot" and I'm starting to feel sorta spicy hot by this time. My last chance was to go down the street to a Walgreens. Surely they will have it. NOPE! SPICEY HOT!!!!!!! OK That's it. I'm not going to get my V-8 today. So I start driving back to work and realize I've made a big circle and will wind up driving right by the sleazy convenience store across from my work. I've been to 3 places already and nobody has it but I have to try. Sure enough they have it. I can't find an expiration date. Maybe Yabba Dabba Doo rubbed it off. Anyway I buy it and they charge me sales tax. Are they supposed to charge sales tax on juice? I told you they were sleazy.

Don't forget your V-8.

Hey they even have soup.

http://www.campbellsv8soup.com/

Where's the Nonsense and Pick'in record video

I tried to post some nonsense yesterday. I had some really good, and I mean good for noth'in nonsense. Totally useless stuff that was floating around in my head. But, I thought that it might be somewhat entertaining so I was going to post it. After all, that's part of what my product description is here, Nonsense. Well it seems that Blogger is owned by or at least run by Google and that was stirring up issues in posting. All of the sudden Blogger or Goggle or who ever was telling me that I had not authored any blogs and was inviting me to go ahead and create my first one. I was like WTF??? So it took me about an hour to figure out WTF and get it straightened out, with of course no help from Google or Blogger. I was about ready to throw this whole thing in the pissser and start over with some other blogger service and I might yet but for now I will stick it out and see how it goes. Anyway, I was not feeling too nonsensical after all that BS so I guess I'll just save that for another post. Those of you that know me, and from the looks of things, that's everybody, you know that sooner or later, and probably sooner, the nonsense will show it's ugly, juvenile, absurd and uncalled for head.

So until then, my friend Senor Samplico sent me a link to a YouTube video of the Pick'en For The Record event. You will see a lot of video's of this event on YouTube. There were a lot of people roving around taking video. I'm sure many of them wound up on YouTube. If any of you find one showing a clear shot of Snappy and the crew post a link in the comments section. Here's the link to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikMnOi-OGys

See ya

Please excuse any misspellings, it seems Blogger or Google or whoever has upgraded to No Spellcheck
WTF???