Le Bien et le Mal

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all.


Some things you use fulfill their intended purpose quite well, even surprisingly so at times.  But the universe seeks balance, and other things, well, don't do much of anything at all.  So here a few things I've found in both the good and bad categories.

Le Bien

This will solve your sticky dishwashing problems like an oily wok or grill grate.  Just spray on, let it think about it for a minute, and rinse off.  Saves multiple trips through the dishwasher trying to get that grease off.

Speaking of grills, this grill guard by Outset (#QN71) is just the thing for grilling salmon or shrimp.  Marinate the shrimp, and you'll find millions of Australians aren't wrong about shrimp on the "barbie."

Spray N Forget (online or at Lowe's on a bottom shelf in the paint department) works too well to be nontoxic, but it is.  I had been removing that pesky green algae from the vinyl siding and the black whatever it is from the sidewalk with an electric pressure washer, which quit after a few years.  Plus, you get soaked from head to toe.  Spray this on either, and the unwanted plant life goes away.  So much easier.

 Zoup Bone Broth is a little expensive without a coupon, but it adds the flavor to soups and stews.  Available in beef, chicken and vegetable.  It looks like motor oil, but don't let that deter you.

 The trusty Honda CR-V (or most other Hondas or Toyotas and a few other makes).  Luxurious? Fast? Quiet? Eye-catching styling?  Well, no.  But they do exactly what they are supposed to do with no fuss, and are as reliable as an atomic clock.  You can go on a nice vacation for what the guy in the impressive car is spending to keep it going and insured.

 Le Mal

Pantech flip phone.  Sigh.  I don't want a smart phone (jeer if you must), and this is about as bad.  I replaced the battery, and it still loses charge even when not in use.  It only rings for a short while, and you can't get to it in time.  Entering contact information is like chiseling into stone -- it's that easy.  It's portable is the best thing you can say about it.

Hoover Dual Power Max Pet Carpet Cleaner, model FH51001.  Our old one had served us well, but it was very heavy.  This is designed perfectly:  light, smaller, lots of clear plastic to see what's going on and where to clean it out.  Two powered brushes.  But:  the brushes never work and break the belt over and over.  I got a better replacement brush, thinking the hub on the Hoover one was freezing up and causing the problem, and it worked about once before breaking the belt.  And worst of all, the upholstery cleaning attachment has never worked.  The dealer says it has to be primed, but how do you do that?  I have never seen a carpet cleaning machine which requires that anyway.  No help from the instruction manual, of course.  Check on YouTube to see how many others are as frustrated with this thing as we are.

Any Chinese-made fan, heater or combination.  The switches always break early on.  You're lucky if that happens before they catch on fire.


Pro-Form Treadmill sold by Sears (don't know the model number anymore).  About $850, which was a lot of money to us at the time.  Heavy as a cement truck, but I got it upstairs and going.  Plugged it into a surge suppressor as directed.  After a few months it stopped, and I figured out the voltage regular chip had failed when I unplugged it to move and clean around it.  OK, they're less than a dollar and I have a chip-pulling tool.  Guess what?  Schematics are absolutely non-existent, and being made in Asia, the chip was not labelled like it should be.  I talked to the Treadmill Doctor in Memphis by phone and he told me that yes, schematics are not available even to him, and no, he had no idea which voltage regular chip to use.  One of those "If only I had known" moments, because there are a lot of other treadmills out there.

Those are just a few examples.  How about hearing about those you've encountered?  Might as well laugh about them now (le mal) or share some good stuff for others (le bien).  Au revoir.
   

Island of Doom

Cayugas dressed in their finest

I have never found an arrowhead, which I guess is a poor record for a former Cub and Explorer Scout.  Many have been found over the years on a little island near the junction of the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers, a quiet place known as Duncan's Island.  It is barely an island anymore, with the channel between it and the west shore of the Susquehanna now shallow and narrow. You pass close by it on Route 11/15 heading north; a sign identifies it as part of State Game Lands No. 290, accessible by a causeway which you  might not know has been there a very long time.  Open to the public unlike the bird propagation sanctuary on the much larger Haldeman's Island to its south, it is home to waterfowl, songbirds and snapping, wood and painted turtles.  And a lot of poison ivy to discourage your disturbance of those creatures.

Why have arrowheads, spear points and hand axes been found by the hundreds on this sleepy, quiet islet?  Low and alluvial, it does not seem to be inviting to so much Native activity.  The reason can be teased out of the mists of prehistory, and it is not rabbit hunting -- it's much more sinister.

Called Juneauta by the Iroquois or Yuchniada by the Delaware (Leni Lenape), it was the site, as the tale was told by older Natives to early settlers, of a multi-day battle between those two constant antagonists.  The waters, they said, ran red and the Cayugas finally prevailed.  The old story was proven true during the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal a century later, when earth was moved and hundreds of skeletons were uncovered.  From Watson's Annals:  "I saw a mound covered with trees, from which were taken many cartloads of human bones...there were also among them beads, trinkets, etc."  Another century later, in 1916, an archaeological expedition found even more.

When did it happen and why, at such a great cost?  We do not know, but I would guess it was after the Great Peace of 1700, when the Iroquois of central New York agreed to end their relentless attacks on French Canada and turned their attentions south.  The Tuscaroras had  moved to Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio from North Carolina after their 1713 defeat by the colonial militia, and after a period of probation were accepted into the confederacy as the Sixth Nation.  This alliance gave the Iroquois a perfect excuse (which they really did not need) to expand their power down to the head of the Chesapeake Bay.  Captain John Smith was the first Englishman to encounter them there; his impression was "they had a hellish voice, sounding from them as a voice in a vault."  Oddly, they used no lip sounds but spoke from the throat.  "..They made war with all the world."

Colonial farmers eventually moved onto many of the river islands, and on one the Duncan family built a mansion (In the 19th century, suffragist Lucretia Mott stayed there).  A causeway was built up early on to move grain to the mainland by pack animal and later by wagon.  A small village, Benvenue, grew up but there remains nothing but the name today

But do the spirits of the warriors remain while all else has passed away?

The Lion's Last Roar

A Leo in all ways (photo by Leslie Jewell).

For the past year and a half or more, communications from Gene went from very occasional to silence.  Removal of a large kidney tumor preceded by months of illness with no real diagnosis had knocked him out of contention.  But for a big spirit like Gene's I thought he would surely come back, if not roaring, still as the master of his world.  The onset of Parkinson's Disease changed any hope of that in a permanent way.

Gene Richard Snow passed away in hospice care on May 11, 2020.  His ashes will rest out in the Virginia countryside beside his mother, which is beautifully appropriate as they were always quite a larger-than-life pair. The Snow family lived a few houses away when we were high school age.  I clearly remember his mother owning a white 1957 Cadillac hardtop.  Intelligent, confident and loud, she was more Elvis than Doris Day.  As an adult living in Richmond (Gene told me from his treasury of stories) he knew he was being followed.  Mom told him the reason for that: she was seeing George Wallace (he proposed but it was not reciprocated) so they were both on a Federal watch list.

Gene began classical piano lessons in childhood and was diligent in practice to develop his talent.  But he felt it was not an early enough start to lead to a professional career.  In his last year of Music and Composition at the University of Richmond, a professor confirmed that fear by stating he was not going to succeed in his goal.  Gene was devastated.

The arts still called as he found himself again as an actor.  I still -- and hope a few others do -- remember him owning the stage in Marat/Sade at the Virginia Museum Theater.

As roommates on Park Avenue by the VCU campus, we had an uproarious life.  Erik from our old suburban neighborhood joined us in the Great Late Ape Show as we hooted and caromed like chimps from the open third floor windows at the hapless rush-hour commuters below.  Some rude gestures from the audience showed their lack of appreciation for our presentation.  Ah, misspent youth.  We all three moved to a large first floor flat in an old Stafford Avenue house with porches front and back.  There is a picture, taken by frequent visitor and friend-of-all Leslie of Erik and I studying at the kitchen table on a hot evening -- we actually did that, but there was always time for something else less, say, productive.  Gene immersed himself in music still, listening to a huge classical LP collection.  I greatly appreciate his introducing me to one exciting new book after another, often on animal and human behavior.  Quite apropos, upon reflection.

Many years later Gene moved back to Richmond from Norfolk and fate pointed him unknowingly to Leslie's neighborhood.  A chance re-meeting led to marriage and they happily completed an arc begun long before in a different time.

One of that Stafford Avenue gang of four is now gone, taking his memories with him.  A piece of the foundation is missing and that is something you cannot ever replace.

Rose Outlook

Put an accent on the "e" of Rose.  The past two months have been pretty much a loss.  In a lot of cases, a disastrous one, if you have lost people or nearly all your financial security.  So for a moment, let's look away from all this fear and pain.

We had a week of wind and rain, likely to be followed by more of the same, but this weekend (like the future, we hope) is blue skies, sun and bursting growth -- the Bee Balm plant has shot up to three feet already.  In time for this lovely break in the gloom, we received a shipment from Wine Insiders to help chase those clouds away.  In the past we just chose their case selection divided evenly between reds and whites, but after proving ourselves loyal customers, they have been providing more detailed offerings, more into the fine French, Spanish and New Zealand vintages.  But they were right, we had to be educated first.

The fourteen bottles included some real delights and new territory to explore (or terroirs, I guess).  The Bordeaux rose above is made from Cabernet Savignon and Merlot and you must look for it.  It will not be returned to the refrigerator half empty.

Two other roses beg for attention:  Racine Pays d'Oc 2018 made from Grenache and Cinsault (France) and Marques del Turia Bobal Rose.  The latter is a dramatically darker color than most roses, from the dry landscape of southeast Spain.  The origin of the name Bobal is the Latin bovale, bull -- because the grape bunches resemble a bull's head.  Cinsault is found in Rhone blends and Provencal roses; it's floral and fruity.  By itself it is said to pair perfectly with escargot, but I for one don't intend to go there.

And the versatile, diverse Tempranillo from the Navarre and Rioja regions of northeast Spain (around since about 800 B.C.!), represented by Terra Sara Cuvee de la Familia, 2018...  I had to argue a little once with a sommelier for Tempranillo instead of what he suggested.  This light red wine's cherry, plum and tomato fruit, medium tannins and acidity as well as smooth finish aren't just friendly with your Italian, Spanish or Mexican food, it proposes marriage!

There is dawn after the darkness.  Get ready to enjoy life again.