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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 20 (2025)

My KitchenAid mixer was a Christmas present. My husband bought it at a local discount store called Pechins. It’s gone now.

Pechins was in the county between my county and WV. It was expanded when more space was needed. People said that it was built over a creek which could be seen between the floorboards. You could walk down an aisle and be faced with the end cap of another aisle.

The food was cheap. The meat was cheap and fresh. It was so cheap that someone would roll a bin to the floor and people would swarm to it. Nothing stayed long enough to go out of date.

They sold quality, name brand shoes. I bought all my shoes there until the day I noticed a dirty footprint in a pair of Dexters I was trying.

They had a restaurant. You could get a burger for well under a dollar and a meal for.less than 2 dollars.

I don't know how they could sell things so cheaply or where they got things. Maybe they bought from wrecked trucks and burned stores and factories. People still miss the store.
 
I heard Ursus has that there Turret's Syndrome.

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DANG! RATS!!! GOLL DARNIT!!
 
I won't be around all that much today, but I wanted to wish you all a happy New Year! May 2026 not suck as bad as 2025!
 
I got my KitchenAid mixer in 1986. I can't imagine how many rotations it's made, but until I lived by myself, I used it at least once a week, more before I went back to work. As contractors say, "you have to use that iron so it can pay for itself". This mixer paid for itself many times over.

Don't use yours to make mashed potatoes. It's too powerful. Use a potato ricer instead.
We've got a KitchenAid mixer that my mother bought in 1982. It gets used every week and it's still running like a top. I was curious to see how much it costs to buy a new KitchenAid

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ :wow:
 
The bowl on my KitchenAid mives up and down with a lever. It was top of the line at the time. I broke it once. I replaced the beater because the white coating was exfoliating. I had the pasta extruder attachment but it made the motor work too hard.
Even the attachments are pricey.


Don't get me wrong, there is no better baking appliance available but they know what their product is worth and price accordingly.
 
Do expect to see & hear fire works in your neighborhood tonight ?
 
Do expect to see & hear fire works in your neighborhood tonight ?
Probably. Seems to have become a thing the past decade or so. Didn't used to be until fairly recent years.
 
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I have posted about this event and mural before. There is a town south of here where groups of residents travel around town firing black powder rifles and muskets to welcome the new year. The shooting is ceremonial, not violent, and is meant to bring good luck and chase away bad spirits. It usually starts around midnight and continues into the morning, following a set route and long established customs. It has been going on forever, which is documented on their website as "one of the oldest traditions still continuing in the world", and at least as long as I have been alive, people who do not participate or who recently moved to the area think it should end.


One of my favorite quotes that came out of a local news interview some years ago. I might have the year wrong, but it went something like this.


Young mother who was relatively new to the area: ā€œIt’s 2003 and you’d think we’d find a better way to ward off evil spirits that didn’t wake the baby and scare the crap out of the dog.ā€


Old male participant in the tradition: ā€œWaking the baby and scaring the dog is how you know it’s working.ā€
 
My mom gave Mrs. P her old standup mixer - I forget the brand at the moment. Mom hadn't used it in years but couldn't get rid of it when she moved up here.

We plugged it in and tried it out. It was running and then started smoking. Quickly turned it off and placed it in the cabinet. I need to find a place to repair it. I'm almost sure it just needs cleaning inside and a new cord.
 
Went to my buddy's house last evening & we rubbed 12 racks of ribs, 4 briskets & 2 pork shoulders. Steamed a few oysters too - checking quality control.

Kinda a light fare this year, but there are less people coming I heard.

They should be on the smoker by now. I'm going to check in around lunch.
 
Soon, I'll have a pot of red beans simmering. The house will smell good and the cooking will warm the kitchen.

Well, the house already smells good. I'm rendering bacon fat for sauteeing the vegetables. You know what the byproduct of that is. šŸ˜‹ šŸ„“
 
My wife killed a kitchen aid mixer. I had to replace some gear inside that wore out.
 
Put a deposit down for our 2027 trip. šŸ„¶ā˜ƒļøšŸ„¶šŸ„¶ā˜ƒļøšŸŒØļøšŸŒŒšŸ§¤šŸ§£ but now I am thinking why the heck would we go to a cold place in the winter??
 
Just talking to a coworker about how when I was a kid/teen and was grounded (i.e., had to stay inside), I was still allowed to go to school, the park, errands, library, bookstore, and any previously-scheduled events. I got to thinking: those things, and work, are the only reasons I leave the house now. I guess I am still grounded. 😊

What the parents should have done, but never did, would have been to talk reading away from me. THAT would have hurt and been the one thing that would have sucked/had an effect. They took away everything BUT that, it seemed, at some point. They would take away things I didn’t care about or was indifferent toward (like TV), but never reading
My folks took away my encyclopedia set one time. I was heated.
 
Google just congratulated me for being in the top 10% of Vietnamese restaurant reviewers.

(The restaurants are Vietnamese. Not me. )
 
Looking at calendars. Checking dates for various happenings next year.

I won't be going to Detroit this year unless there's a big change.
 
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