Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

     My wife, Jan, has spent the last few days baking. It was quite a monumental effort requiring her to clean the kitchen three times one day alone. I can attest to the fact that baking is a messy business. Whenever I make Mexican Quiche  I incorporate all the counter space. I'm too cheap to pay for pre-made pie crusts, so I make my own, thus I need room for the flour and Crisco and a big bowl. Then I have to drag out the eggs, a cutting board for the veggies, and bowls for the salsa and canned milk. What a mess. In any event, I was glad that she cleaned up after herself. It makes eating the cookies she's baked all the more pleasant. As you can see, she made ample amounts of chocolate chip cookies, both with nuts and without, some sugar cookies, and another kind that is coated in powdered sugar and rolled in crushed pecans. I can't recall what she called them, and I didn't have room for them in the picture, but it doesn't really matter. The bottom line is that they...

  Well, Christmas has come and gone and we're starting a new year, which I hope will be much better than the one we just experienced, although if the news is any indication of what the future holds, it may be more of the same. If last year left you with a bad taste in your mouth, please do yourself a favor and look up the Washington Post magazine article by humorist Dave Barry. I believe it's titled A Review of 2020. It was one of the funniest things I've read in quite awhile. He totally captured the year, describing it as "one long, howling Category 5 crapstorm." Honestly, if you're feeling down, having a bad day, mad at your spouse, your boss, your kids, the government, the neighbors or just life in general, please look it up. You'll be glad you did. OK. Now that that's out of the way, I'll continue on. Like many other Americans, I left Dr. Fauci flapping his gums behind an N95 mask and enjoyed a pleasant time with my family over the Christmas ho...