Author Archives: Ronald D. Drobeck

About Ronald D. Drobeck

I've read, learned, been discriminated against, patronized, lied to, laughed at, laughed with, and ignored. I'm not a minority, not tall, not good looking, not skinny, not hairy, and can see 10 miles, but not two feet. I've been a paperboy, college student, licensed nursing home administrator, professional musician (country swing drummer), duck and goose hunter, fisherman, conservationist, Eagle scout, camp counselor, canoeing instructor, lifeguard, comedian, restaurant owner, licensed exterminator, insurance agent, warehouse manager, carpenter, conservative, father of 4, baseball coach, husband, worrier, writer, embryo gardener, photographer, and nice guy. now, old.
Jan8

Last of the Peppermint Stick

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Last of the Peppermint Stick

 

Good Morning,

I can’t remember if there was an occasion that brought out this childhood joy, but I think more often than not, it happened on Lawrence Welk night!
You could see the Admiral from the small dining room table when it had the leaf on the room side flipped up and you put the back down on the first lazy boy in the small living room on 1st St.
Grandma Anna would come out of the kitchen with a cold box, presented on a tray. I don’t know why!
I think, for a grin and the drama.
I’d lean so close to watch that I had to be told to “get off the table!”
It was Neapolitan Ice Cream in a box.
A crazy time for me. These people never adventured!!!!
She’d lay that box open to the pink/chocolate/white (what my mind at that age saw)
Then, so we could bear witness, she slice it so we all get some of each color, down the middle and begin to divide it in perfectly equal portions for all of us, with always the slightly larger mistake end to the grandpa.
Didn’t care!
Seems a little strange that I should ask you if you remember Lawrence Welk night, as I sit here this morning satisfying my craving for Peppermint Stick ice cream this January 8th morning.
All of this is to remind you that Peppermint Stick ice cream is quickly disappearing with the season!
We’re on our last box, so get out there and check the shelves at your grocery!
A smart grocer would use it as a loss leader and advertise, “Last load of Peppermint Stick ice cream folks!”
And then add as a postscript.
First load of Chocolate Mint is arriving, January 14th!”
Make room! rdd

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Sep30

The School of Hard Puckers

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I went to take an ‘after trip’ nap and found I needed to finish putting away the basketed clothes from the dryer still on my bed.
The dryer had created static which is a nothing to me. I’m in the bedroom next to a bathroom you see.
This reminded me of a day a year or so ago when Kathy was complaining about the static in the dress she was putting on in the same bedroom and I told her to slap it up against the bathroom faucet. With questioning eyes, she did do it, and the static went to ground, and the dress hung freely.
Of course you can put it on first and then touch the faucet with your tongue if you want (or finger) and get the spark orrrrrrrrrr, just touch the garment before you put it on! lol
So, on that day she asked me how long I knew about that trick, and I said “Probably all my life!”
Then she puckered up and scolded “You mean we’ve been married all of these years, and I’ve had this same problem and you just got around to telling me?” !!!!!!!
So, now you know the story, and for all of you people that I’m married to somehow (there is more than one way to be married to women…. it’s a possession thing I think), I’m telling you now!
Touch the friggin’ garment full of static to some grounded plumbing close by before you put it on.
You have now been told.
And, if it generates it’s own static while you’re swishing, spray the dress with the magical anti-static atomized spray that is made from old plumbing parts (I guess)! LOLOLOLOL rdd

Aug30

08/30/2019 Time to Harvest some thoughts.

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Good Morning.
Read the posts, read the news.
FOX stuck on the same few people again. Round and round we go.
Today, I’m thinking about American farmers.                            
I think it was triggered by the empty shelves in Florida where the hurricane preparations are taking place.
The food chain is a dynamic thing and we must be smart enough to support the farmers closest to our own. Especially when it’s under attack by ignorant politicians connected to big money and politics, and a world taught to grow things better, with our help.
I’m not there nor am I a farmer, but I drove the roads, saw the cycle of growing food supplies, met the people and went to school with the kids that were agriculturally oriented.
Each farm is a manufacturing ‘plant’ with individual style.
They maintain their own equipment with well worn hand me down tools and assimilated hand me down skills, taken for granted and carried for a lifetime no matter where they go.
The educated ones improve their land, don’t waste, don’t pollute, and think ahead constantly. From farm to farm, you can see management differences and skill, failures and successes.
I don’t live there at the moment, but I do go back to visit and am forced to re-absorb.
A little slower pace, a familiar palette for my eyes and ears, the roots that grow steeples, corn, silos, green everything that has a purposeful life circle.
I miss that!
I have to consciously downshift from my protective city attitude to recalibrate so, in a few days, I can become comfortable and enjoy a dose of real earth time, surrounded by dirt instead of concrete.
I have to say … it’s good for the heart. rdd

Aug25

Ron’s World Famous Emergency Holee Guacamole Morning Toast on Sourdough

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Ron’s World Famous Emergency Holie Guacamole Morning Toast on Sourdough

 

One Jalapeno gutted and chopped ( I wear plastic gloves because I get the essence in my eyes, up my nose, and on my lips)
One Lime well squeezed
One nice size Roma tomato, gutted and chopped
Some chopped Cilantro to taste (1/2 cup)
A couple cloves of Garlic finely chopped
Green pimento Olives 1/3 cup chopped into 1/8ths.
Your choice of chopped onion but purple works well.
Fresh ground mill pepper. A touch of your salt style.
A good Bear squirt of honey.
Three fair sized, just soft, avocados, your choice (not too ripe)

Don’t fine chop anything except the garlic
De-nut the avocado and scoop the meat into a mixing bowl with a flat bottom so you can crush the avocados with a manual potato smasher. (I have a vintage Cutco smasher with the square holes … perfect! Don’t mush it all into paste so don’t over crush, leave some pea size chunks.

Now, toast your best local ‘real’ sourdough like Goldminer Cracked Wheat Sourdough, until it’s crisp but not burnt. So I toast one end and then flip it end for end in the toaster and let the heat dry it out for a minute and then toast that half until just the way I like it. Crunchy!
Butter and add a thin drizzle of raw honey on the toast.
Slather this breakfast guacamole on each half, slice in two and enjoy with your coffee or whatever.

Now Guacamole tends to oxidize a bit. Don’t worry about it. Mix it up.
By the second day of marriage in the refrigerator, I tablespoon enough breakfast Guac into those smallest 4oz. glass condiment containers from Ball, date them and freeze these servings for the rest of your week.
I nuke them for 25 seconds and then 12 to thaw them while the toast is toasting. All gets done about the same time.
When I get down to three left in the freezer, I make a fresh batch, use that for two days, freeze that and use the earliest dated ones first.
It’s actually good for you!!! LOL … Try it and let me know what you think.

Aug13

My World Famous Flakiest Pie Dough

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My pie pastry with lemon
(if you get this right, I promise the flakiest dough you’ve ever made)

3 cups of flour
1 1/2 tbsp. of sugar
1 1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/8 cups of shortening
2 small eggs separated
1 1/2 tbsp. of lemon juice
3/8 cup of milk

Combine dry ingredients
Cut in the shortening
Combine the egg yolk, lemon juice, and milk
Stir into the dry ingredients with a fork to make a soft dough just enough stirring to make a ball.
Roll out the pastry between two sheets of waxed paper
as needed for bottom and top
Flute the edges and brush on the spoon whipped egg white
and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Don’t forget to slice in some steam release holes in the top crust for apple or cherry pie.

Aug11
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“Even if we purged these United States clean of illegals, prosecuted the criminals of the world, and all dedicated ourselves to our religion du jeur, so that your personal choice was the only one lawfully allowed, the sub-species of criminals, killers, and aggressive religions would still leak into America and cause amazing grief.
It is human nature by mass, to find the paths of least resistance and greatest mental and physical comfort!
All others be damned!” rdd

All Others be Damned

Jul2

Proper Bitching

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Instructive Creative Writing:
Proper Bitching

You’ve agreed to meet somebody 15 minutes from your home, you start early to make sure you are there when they are.
Over time, the occasional tardiness due to traffic, lights etc. is expected and met with understanding.
In more time, you notice the irregularity in their arrival times growing from five minutes to seven minutes until one day, after waiting twenty minutes, you call to make sure they weren’t in an accident.
The phone call comes back, “We’re on our way!”
Ten minutes later they arrive.
I waved, received my passenger, and drove away.
I was in no mood for conversation.
There are occasions when, if I had bitched, let’s say at the 15 minute mark, this 30 minute late mark, wouldn’t have happened!
Being nice and patient with people is a good thing … until it isn’t.
Sometimes I practice the art of ‘shut up’ and other tactical things that work to my advantage …, but in that bag, I have a special place for ‘Proper Bitching’!
When done right, it saves embarrassment, time, hard feelings, and mis-trust, far outweighing the mistake.
Having said that, I need to mention the nooooomerous times I hear them remark back “What’s amatter with him? He’s never like that!”
LOLOLOL … Yes I am! You just pushed too far. rdd