Duct Tape is the Bomb!
First a little history:
Adhesive tape was first invented in the 1920's but during World War 2, the created a green army colored version that the military used. Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division created it as a predecessor to medical tape. They found out that it was waterproof and used it to help keep moisture out of ammunition cases. Ducks are waterproof. Then people also called it Duck Tape because it had cotton "duck." This "duck" was used in cloth medical tape. Of course, with the ingenuity of our military, they soon discovered its many uses. Of course after the war, they found out that the tape was great for connecting heating and cooling duct work together and they changed the color to match the duct work and the rest is history.
So, today, my son broke his prosthetic foot again. What again? Yes again. This is nothing new. Well, this week, he has his senior awards assembly and actual graduation and a graduation party at our home... so this week is really not the best week to have a broken foot. But this is typical for us... Its ok... because this is how we roll... (get it... roll... a roll of duct tape...) (ok I never said I wasn't corny).
If he had a broken his real flesh and bone foot, I could just take him to the Emergency Room and they would just fix it, cast it and send him home on crutches. With a prosthetic leg, it is a different story... and do we have stories. So anyway, I called to get an appointment. The soonest they had was on Wednesday. Wednesday....after his awards assembly. What to do, What to do!!!
Ok.... I yelled... "GET THE DUCT TAPE!"
So we pulled the foot out of his shoe. Found out that the insides of the foot were shattered into little pieces. Good thing there is a plastic foot cover that goes over the actual prosthetic parts. It could hold it all together. So we get the foot and tape it around and around with duct tape so nothing would fall out of the foot and then added a couple old socks as stuffing into the shoe to keep it as SOLID as possible. He tried it back on and...
VIOLA...
Almost Perfect Duct Taped MacGyver Foot!
We can make it to Wednesday.
Thank God for Duct Tape!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Sweet Pickles
Growing up I was very lucky. Why? You ask?
Well, I got to eat home canned sweet pickles.
Sweet, cold, crunchy goodness.
Some people don't like sweet pickles... Not me! I love them... I actually hate dill pickles. To me a pickle should just be sweet.
It would take 11 days to make and can (jar) sweet pickles. My mom would make them... we would help. She learned from her Mom...
Growing up, I remember going to Wagner Farms in Corrales and filling up the large paper sacks with those little cucumbers. We brought them all home and scrubbed them all clean. There were a lot of them. Then we would CHUNK them and put them into the crocks. Chunking required that you make each cucumber into about a half inch piece. Then came all of the complicated stuff. It was like a science experiment. Alum, vinegar, sugar, pickling spices, boiling, stirring... once they were all done and "in the jar," then came the waiting.
You had to let them sit for a while.... after a while (really a couple of weeks seemed best), you could take a jar out of the store room and put it into the refrigerator.. the next day when they were nice and cold...
You open the jar and hear that POP of the lid. I would then reach in and take a pickle out... taste that sweet, cold, crunchy goodness... and eat another and another and another...
Growing up I was lucky. We used these pickles to make delicious tuna salad. We would eat them when we had home made potato soup! Always with grilled cheese sandwiches and Lays potato chips. Sometimes inside a Peanut Butter sandwich sliced very thin and layered on top of the peanut butter...YUM.
It has been 6 years since my mother died...and it has been more than 15 years since I last tasted a real home canned sweet pickle... I have to say that if I think hard enough, I can taste one now!
I think it is time to learn how to do this myself!
I'll let you know how it goes.
Well, I got to eat home canned sweet pickles.
Sweet, cold, crunchy goodness.
Some people don't like sweet pickles... Not me! I love them... I actually hate dill pickles. To me a pickle should just be sweet.
It would take 11 days to make and can (jar) sweet pickles. My mom would make them... we would help. She learned from her Mom...
Growing up, I remember going to Wagner Farms in Corrales and filling up the large paper sacks with those little cucumbers. We brought them all home and scrubbed them all clean. There were a lot of them. Then we would CHUNK them and put them into the crocks. Chunking required that you make each cucumber into about a half inch piece. Then came all of the complicated stuff. It was like a science experiment. Alum, vinegar, sugar, pickling spices, boiling, stirring... once they were all done and "in the jar," then came the waiting.
You had to let them sit for a while.... after a while (really a couple of weeks seemed best), you could take a jar out of the store room and put it into the refrigerator.. the next day when they were nice and cold...
You open the jar and hear that POP of the lid. I would then reach in and take a pickle out... taste that sweet, cold, crunchy goodness... and eat another and another and another...
Growing up I was lucky. We used these pickles to make delicious tuna salad. We would eat them when we had home made potato soup! Always with grilled cheese sandwiches and Lays potato chips. Sometimes inside a Peanut Butter sandwich sliced very thin and layered on top of the peanut butter...YUM.
It has been 6 years since my mother died...and it has been more than 15 years since I last tasted a real home canned sweet pickle... I have to say that if I think hard enough, I can taste one now!
I think it is time to learn how to do this myself!
I'll let you know how it goes.
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