B.S. Digest

When Jami and I were living in Tucson, Arizona we were doing several things to prepare food storage.   Jami bought a really nice “All-American” pressure canner.   We had been canning a few things and we decided to can some homemade ketchup as we had a bunch of tomatoes.   We didn’t start until after our son was in bed, so it was definitely a late start to be starting some canning, probably about 9 o’clock.   I believe it was a Saturday night and we had morning church the next day, so we were trying to do it quickly and figured it wouldn’t take too long to make ketchup.   Just boil and mash up some tomatoes, add some spices, can them in some jars and WA-LA we have some canned ketchup.   Might be a bit of a late night, maybe finish up around midnight, but not too bad.     The recipe is from a book called “Canning for a New Generation,” which to this day has never failed us to make delicious canned food!   And the spices for each recipe are di...

When I was in residency in Idaho, I went to a skilled nursing facility to see a couple patients with one of my preceptors, Dr. Woodhouse.  I had forgotten to bring a pen, so I asked a nurse to borrow a pen.  Shortly thereafter when we were done seeing the patients, written our paper notes, and were driving away, I said, “Oh I forgot to give this pen back to that nurse.”  Dr. Woodhouse chuckled and said something like, “Don’t worry about it.  Pens are like air, we just inhale them!”  I hope Dr. Woodhouse doesn’t mind me revealing that he is a chronic pen burglar. And in fact, Dr. Woodhouse is one of my favorite preceptors for teaching me some of the most memorable lessons of my residency.  Doctors are like vacuums for pens.  We have a well-deserved reputation.  I don’t think I have ever bought a pen since becoming a doctor.  Not to brag, but I probably could afford a bag of 20 to 50 pens, and I could even buy my favorite disposable ones. ...

Even though I don’t watch movies very much, I did like to try and give my support to the old-time video stores, the ones decimated when Red Box and Netflix became a thing.  It is just a way of reliving my childhood I guess.  When I moved to Pocatello, I needed to find a new video store, so I went to the Yellow Pages (see how old-fashioned I am), and found a video store listed.  Great!  I thought, as I was not even sure that my new town would have one.  Tucson, where I had just moved from, had a Blockbuster, but it went out of business.  Anyway, I gave them a call, in search of a movie— Iron Will made by Disney—that I had wanted to show my kids for some time and is to this day still not available for streaming on Amazon Prime (I am never going to have Netflix by the way).  I don’t remember the name of what the movie store was supposed to be, but when the girl on the other end answered she said, “Adam and Eve, how may I help you?”  “Is this the vid...

     The Church* has done away with the good old Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching callings, and switched to what is called “Ministering.”  Whether you like the new way or wish things had never changed, the idea is to switch to a more Spirit-driven program, and to try to be more in-tune with the needs of the families that we minister to.  Some, I know, were operating in this manner long before the new change was made.       One such person who was leaps and bounds ahead of her time, was my wife’s friend Kristen Robinson, now Kristen Doe.   Kristen and my wife were roommates in college at BYU.   I used to think of Kristen as my wife’s pitbull, meaning that if Jami needed defending, Kristen was ready to fight.   I hope if Kristen ever happens upon this post, she will take this as the highest compliment, for pitbulls are known for their ability to be gentle with a baby and can also be extremely ferocious with a foe. ...

     One of my favorite historical figures is Giles Cory (or Corey). The defiant 80 year-old man with a checkered-past known for being accused of wizardry during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. For those of us who are unaware of this brave man's defiant stand, I will give you a synopsis.  Giles Cory, like the other townspeople of Salem, was caught up in the frenzy that surrounded Salem in the year of 1692, and he actually was supportive of the witch trials, even when his own wife Martha was accused of witchcraft!  That is, until Giles himself was accused in April of nightly spectral appearances and tormentations to people trying to get them to sign his mysterious devilish book.  Supposedly these spectral appearances continued even after he was locked up in jail, so of course he must have been a wizard the town thought.  He knowing, of course, that he was no wizard, must have seen through the accusations by that point.  During that time of collecti...

             Due to my wife’s strong opinions, I often find myself in uncomfortable situations due to being at odds with my church congregation and co-workers.   Try being a medical worker who believes vaccines are harmful and many are created in a morally reprehensible way.   Not fun.   Standing up to peer pressure is a real difficulty for me and has been a weakness my whole life.   I would much rather just lay low and not attract any attention to myself (which is what I mostly do).   Anyway, as I was saying, I often find myself between polar opposites, with what my co-workers or congregation are doing and what my wife is standing up for.   Stuck between the diverging paths of the ease and comfort of going with the majority and going against the rough grain and getting splinters in undesirable places with my wife, I look at arguments as objectively as I can.   Despite my fear of peer pressure, I know that I am an int...

As residency ended for me in beautiful Pocatello Idaho, one of my fellow residents whom I consider a friend and good person, had a “White trash trailer party.”   Unlike most of us who were going on to buy a home, he decided to hit the road with his new wife in a travel trailer and work all over the West.   Hence the white trash trailer party.   As a side note, I’m definitely an introvert, and feel awkward and uncomfortable at most parties.   I’m not much of a mingler.   Honestly I wish I were, but I just usually don’t have much to say, or I keep my thoughts and opinions to myself around most people unless I really trust them for some reason and they allow me time to formulate my thoughts.   Anyway, we went to the white trash trailer party.   My friend, the host, was dressed up in his white lab coat, complete with a mullet wig and hillbilly, trailer trash, or red neck teeth.   The appetizers were interesting and the drinks, more medical than traile...