Coconut cookies

No, I think I'll call these Coconut Morsels. This is another in a series of cookies based on cake mixes. It's so much easier gathering the ingredients and stirring up some after-meal treats when half the work is done for you.

This time i used a Pillsbury White cake mix which calls for the whites of 3 eggs. I added three whole instead. Th4n I added a cup of sweetened, shredded coconut and 1/2 Tablespoon imitation Coconut flavoring. That didn't soak up the extra liquid so I added a 1/2 cup of flour.
Now scoop the batter onto the cookie sheet with a 1" scoop and bake for 10 to 13 minutes at 3c5 degrees. For appearance sake don't let the bottom brown but it won't hurt the flavor.

These cookies are delicious right out of the oven but we found them even better as they aged for a couple of days in the cookie jar. Carolyn also thinks they would be wonderful with some sliced almonds.

Custom Guides for Microsoft Products

I wrote several weeks ago about a new laptop we purchased which came with Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. My concern was about how quickly we could become proficient with the new software. Eric, in a comment gave me a link to a site with FREE Quick Reference Guides.

It occurred to me that many of my readers may have missed the comment and the Guides are so handy that I decided to mention them again. For our use, I've printed one for each of the programs we have then enclosed them in sheet protectors.

Here's a list of what they have available. The separate items are clickable.

Microsoft Quick References

Microsoft Access Access 2007 Access 2003 Access 2002 Access 2000 Access 97	Microsoft Excel Excel 2007 Excel 2003 Excel 2002 Excel 2000 Excel 97	Microsoft FrontPage FrontPage 2003 FrontPage 2002 FrontPage 2000
Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 7 Internet Explorer 6	Microsoft InfoPath Microsoft InfoPath 2007	Microsoft Office Office 2007
Microsoft OneNote Microsoft OneNote 2007	Microsoft Outlook Outlook 2007 Outlook 2003 Outlook 2002 Outlook 2000 Outlook 98	Microsoft PowerPoint PowerPoint 2007 PowerPoint 2003 PowerPoint 2002 PowerPoint 2000 PowerPoint 97
Microsoft Project Project 2007 Project 2003 Project 2002 Project 2000	Microsoft Publisher Publisher 2007 Publisher 2003	Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint 2007
Microsoft Visio Visio 2007 Visio 2003 Visio 2002	Microsoft Windows Windows Vista Windows XP Windows 2000 Windows 98	Microsoft Word Word 2007 Word 2003 Word 2002 Word 2000 Word 97

Ward Reunion - Sunday's finale

Sunday morning was our usual Sacrament meeting. Did I say "USUAL"? It was anything but usual. For one thing our normal attendance is 130 to 140. On this Reunion meeting the count reached 273. All the speakers were former bishops of the ward and, miracle or miracles, they all stayed on topic and kept within there 7 to 8 minute allocation.

That afternoon, with the help of friends,
fellow ward members
and even family members, Dave and Judy Rosenlof put on a first class Open House.


Although there weren't a lot of kids there, the Rosenlof's had provided some first class toys to keep them busy. I suspect they do a similar job with their grandchildren.

Current ward members and

former board members spent more time remember old times with former bishops and members of the La Sierra Ward's 40th anniversary reunion.
Bishop Parker was the bishop as we joined the ward. He came down all the way from central Utah to enjoy this event.

Hopefully, we won't have to put on such an event again.

Ward Reunion - Saturday's success, part 2

While current and past members of the ward were enjoying themselves at the park, things were happening at the ward house.


Food which had been purchased one or two days earlier was brought together in the ward refrigerator and kitchen.
Equipment was solicited from ward members so that we'd have enough rice cookers ad roasters on hand.

And a grand job was done by a couple of teens in great shape putting up 225 chairs around 27 tables, then covering the tables with plastic or fabric tablecloths. We had used every chair in the building except those in the Relief Society room.

Several ward members had agreed to put together display stations for visitors and current ward members to see and enjoy or recollect happy memories from the past.


Two hours before the event was to start, we fired up the grills and the ovens to begin cooking the pork loin roasts. Carolyn purchased enough food to feed 300 although we've never had that many to a ward dinner.

In addition to propane barbecues, we were able to borrow a wood burning grill that we large enough we probably could have put most, if not all, of the roasts. As it turned out, it proved helpful as a backup cooker.

Shortly after the start time of 6:00 Carolyn called the group to order and asked our new bishop to give the opening prayer and blessing on the food. She then explained that the program for the evening was that there would be no program. It was an evening designed for visiting.

She also suggested that the food was ready for serving so people could either get in a long line now or come get it when they want to. We figured they'd all come at once so we had set up 3 food lines with servers behind the table to serve the food. That sped up the line enough that except for right at first there really wasn't a long line.


There were a few people who enjoyed looking at the displays. Thinking back on it, it probably would have been a good idea to set up the food lines to go past the displays.



Soon the hall was full of people eating, talking, visiting, or just relaxing. Although we estimate that there were about 275 to 300 attendees and only 225 chairs we didn't have a seating problem. So many people were up and visiting that some tables saw a second and even a third sitting.


Carolyn was busy the whole evening making sure that everything worked seamlessly. Between her efforts and those of the Activities Committee and Reunion Advisory Committee, the evening went off without a hitch. Most of the ward were able to enjoy meeting old friends.

Ward Reunion - Saturday's success

There were times when the event seemed too far away to worry about. Still, we began planning over a year ago. Then it was suddenly upon us and we wondered if we had planned enough. In the end, it came together like a master chef's gourmet meal.

The first visible sign of the ward reunion was the picnic in the park. This was designed to be a relaxed, informal place to bring the family, especially the kids. Doug and Tanya headed up the ward's involvement with the picnic. They set up shade structures and pennants to indicate the presence of the group, volleyball nets and other sports equipment, and lemonade, water, and cookies (note the orange water cooler in the picture).

People came and went at different times, of course. Some brought meals, others feasted on the cookies. There were probably as many as 60 people who showed up at some time.

I'm hoping I won't live long enough to need a computer!

In one of my classes at the Renaissance Society at Sacramento State University I got to talking with a delightful woman named Leila. I was showing off my "Book on a Chip" which is also known as a Playaway that I've described on this blog before. I compared it to an I-pod or a laptop computer and asked what she had for a computer. Her answer did not surprise me a bit. She said, "I'm hoping I won't live long enough to need a computer."

I've been thinking about that answer for several days now. Do any of us "need" a computer. Could we live the lives we're living without the connections, the speed, the capacity for collecting and disseminating information as we do now. And retirement is no excuse either. I know retired people who spend hours each day on the computer staying in touch with old friends, making new friends, and pursuing hobbies that may not have even been possible pre-computer.

Of course what Leila is really saying is that a computer is either too expensive or too complicated to learn to use. She was thinking computers cost $1,000, $2,000 or more. When I indicated there were entry level computers cheaper than $500 to $600 her interest increased.

What would you suggest for Leila? I really wouldn't want to see her die to escape having to use a computer.

Helping Out Grandma

It isn't every day that your 9-year old grandson calls and asks, "Grandma, is there anything I can do around your house to help out?" After a little back and forth we decided he could vacuum the house using our built-in vacuum system. And if he had time he could use of "flip" floor scrubber to clean the tile in the kitchen. He did a pretty good job without whining or having to be overly supervised. Afterward we took him to Costco with us for a pizza lunch.

He wanted to stay at our place for as long as possible but finally Carolyn had to take him back to his own home and do his chores there.

What is XLI * XXIII? part 2

See the previous blog entry for the problem. I don't want to repeat it here. The question is: "How and why does the curious system of "Ancient Roman Multiplication" work?

The answer lies in the hint "the ancient Roman need only know how to double and half." Let's look for a binary solution. Translating 41 to binary representation gives 101001 which just happens to represent the column of numbers being halved. The 1's represent the odd numbers and the o's represent the even numbers, starting at the bottom with 1 and going to the top - 41.

Let's see what a binary representation of the problem would look like:

23-----------> 010111
41-----------> 101001
---------------______
--------------> 010111
-----------> 010111
---------->010111
-----------__________
--------->11110101111

Which translates back to 3AF hexadecimal or 943 decimal.

And, by the way, the three intermediate numbers in the multiplication (after inserting the proper number of placeholders) are 23 (17 hex), 184 (B8 hex), and 736 (2E0 hex) which shouldn't surprise anyone who has been following along.

What is XLI * XXIII?

In my Ancient Rome class this week we reviewed the use of the Roman Numeral System. This system as almost everyone knows was fairly advanced for its era but lacked the digit and concept of Zero. Because it doesn't have placemarkers many times we think that certain arithmetic operations would have been so complex as to be impossible. Our instructor pointed out that, on the contrary, they had worked out systems that were workable and in some ways better or at least as good as ones we work with.

For example take the problem 41 * 23. Before we all got so used to calculators we'd set up and work the problem like this
41
23
___________
123
82
___________
943

Note that we have an "implied" 0 after 82 in the fourth row so it is actually 820.

Now according to our Professor the Romans did the following starting with the same two numbers in Roman Numerals:


This method required the ancient Roman have only a knowledge of doubling and halving. With each step the first number is cut in half and any remainder thrown away. Similarly, at each step the second number is doubled. Taking the number from the second row if and only if the corresponding number in the first row is an odd number, we obtain three numbers to add together. Try it with another pair of numbers. Now tell us how and why it works!

Strange Writing indeed

A friend sent me the following spam email:
========================================

To my 'selected' strange-minded friends:

If you can read the following paragraph, forward it on to your friends and
the person that sent it to you with 'yes' in the subject line.

Only great minds can read this
This is weird, but interesting!

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the
olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a
pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot
slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it


FORWARD ONLY IF YOU CAN READ IT
Forward it & put 'YES' in the Subject Line

_________________________________________


Now, you may ask yourself why a university would be looking at such seemingly trivial pursuits. The reason has to do with intellectual property and the need to maintain control. For example, suppose you had written a paper containing some important company secrets. The specific section containing the secrets has been redacted but the abstract of your article is open to discovery by Google or other web crawling web-bots. Now let's say you "encrypt" the abstract so that humans can continue to understand it but computers cannot. This is similar to the test blogger uses to screen out non-human comments.

One hit, one out

I looked out the window to catch the last of 2 objects flying past the window. The one taking the horizontal flight path was going so fast that I barely picked up something dark and tiny, like a miniature bat or a hummingbird. It was even more difficult to identify the second unidentified th window or something like that.
I opened the door to see this picture. It looked like the remains of our bird feeder.

Looking up I saw the hook from which we hand the feeder hook, the piece of metal that keeps the whole feeder in the air The anchor was still in the wood and the hook still hanging from it. So why the breakage?
I took a picture of the plastic piece that the hook goes that the hook goes through. Voila' Apparently it had held up over the years but today's bird (whichever it was) was just too much. I shouldn't complain, though, it's lasted well over 10 ears. Sounds like a Father's Day present to me

Attendance incentive

I know these pictures look like just normal leftovers but there's actually something special about these leftovers.

As I've posted in my blog, we're in charge of a 40th anniversary celebration. Tonight we had another planning meeting with the appropriate committee. This time Carolyn made it sort of a dress rehearsal with the menu that we'll be serving. There's a couple of menu items that we haven't completely decided on and this rehearsal gives everyone a sample of what we're going to have on the menu and to vote on those things still up in the air.

Of course I've attended meetings where there are bagels and cream cheese or sweet rolls but generally it's not a whole meal. Not only did we get a good meal but we also got good input. Now the only problem is what to do with the second pork loin roast.

Chopping DownTrees to Save Them

Have anyone else noticed the increase in the number of bills, especially monthly bills like credit card bills, utility bills, mortgages, etc. that are pushing "save the trees", "go paperless"? Now I'm no Luddite having begun to pay my bills electronically as soon as my bank was prepared to handle the process. But I also remember when the mortgage payments were pre-printed cards similar to a check that you tore off a pad and sent in with your check. Now we get a three page (or more) statement with all but the first half page devoted to advertisements of the banks services.

Same thing with utility bills. I recall getting a bill from one of our utilities in the form of a 80 column Hollerith card, also known as an IBM punch card, that was designed so that you would break it along a distinct perforation and send 5 inches of the 8 inch card back, the part of the card containing your account and billed amount information. Now that same utility does indeed include a tear off return slip but with four full pages as well.

So I say, "Companies, clean up your act and save some trees by cutting down your billing package before asking the customers to save trees. Your actions speak louder than your words."

Meals on Wheels Assistant

It may look like a 99 cent reusable grocery bag (and it is) but to me it has become a necessary and reliable assistant. The bottom is exactly the right size for one hot meal and one cold accessory pack and no matter how hot the hot meal is, I can still carry both items with one hand leaving the other for my cane or a handrail. In fact not having a hand for the handrail was the final straw for me.

I just wish I had thought to use it long before it became necessary. I don't have any couples right now but I have had as many as three couples on my route. Trying to carry four food packs sometimes got to be a real balancing trick. But with the bag it would have been a snap. I think Meals on Wheels should have some printed up and distributed to the drivers as required equipment.

A Northern California Seed Catalog

What you see in the rest of this blog entry is NOT a seed catalog but actual pictures taken in our yard this afternoon. That's right, all of you who still have snow in the corners of your lot, eat your heart out. Of course, even if you have more temperate weather you might still be envious of me for having a wife like Carolyn who really has an eye for raising an absolutely fantastic flower garden. I also want to point out that you can click on each of the pictures for a larger view or to use for your computer background or screensaver.

Enough from me. You can now look at the pictures or the pictures and commentary (if I can get Carolyn to do one):


We have Calla lilies in the front flowerbed. I need to divide them so let me know if you would like a few for your garden.

This is one of several iris. They are always a surprise because someone shared bulbs with me and didn't know what they were. I'm delighted with each new color and variety.

Another peek at an Iris



This is the color I remember from my childhood. My mother had many flowers including a bed of Iris.

This is the beginning of our blue berries. I hope the fruit is as prolific as the blossoms. Notice how patriotic we are - red, white, and blue on one plant.

This is a step back from the blue berries so you can see the foliage.

These are just a few of our many roses. Our backyard currently has an arbor full of yellow blossoms.

The front flowerbed has a more sophisticated yellow rose. It isn't so rambunctious.


These are perennials that have survived from previous years. Sometimes they do much better when they have been around for several years.

This is a closeup. I don't have a lot of plan for my flowers, it is more of a 'see if they survive.' They have to cope with neglect and when there is a bare spot, something gets stuck into the ground.

The red roses have these wonderful long stems and when I take them to R.S. or work the ladies think I've purchased them from the florist instead of collected them from the garden.


This rose is a favorite. In the bud it is very red but as it opens up it becomes red and yellow and then on to white with a hit of pink. It is also very fragrant so my cubicle smells wonderful when I take these to work.

This is another view.


This is a sedate white rose in the front garden. Very prim and proper flowers. Actually they hold their color nicely and fill out bouquets.

The Pansies have been around all through the fall and winter and are putting a wonderful show before the weather gets too hot.


The snapdragons are big and boisterous. They've been in barrels with the pansies and looked lovely in the fall but now they are putting on a Spring Finale .

This bush looks pink but it is decidedly lavender in real life. It is the first rose to bloom and it does it with gusto. It will continue to bloom during the summer but the best show is the first show.


The lavender rose up close

These are more of the pansies. Notice the lady bugs on the flowers.


These are some new geraniums I have planted on the front porch.


They are in a large pot so there is plenty of room for three or four varieties

This geranium is an old timer from past years

This is one of the new geraniums. Is it cheating to photograph the blossom they came with from the nursery?


These are a new selection -- couldn't resist the pretty flowers at Costco. They are Nemesia and Bacopa. I've never tried them before but hopefully the will bloom and thrive.

These are another view of the Nemesia


Another color of Nemesia

The Pansy pot.


A not so 'purple' pansy

These are more of the snapdragons (they are so much fun to play with-want to come and sing with the snapdragons).

Just another snap


A few more pansies


Pansies trying to outdo one another

This is a very pale Iris


This is a carefully framed shot - you can't see that the arbor needs to be scraped and repainted.

The rose arbor from down under


This flower is abundant and flashy but it goes through it's cycle rather quickly.

You can almost smell this rose (careful, your nose is leaving a smudge on the computer screen).

This is another Iris surprise