Happy Halloween

By Jon Marrelli

Happy Halloween everybody. I am posting this quickly as I get ready to leave work.  My place of business (Datamark) goes all out for Halloween. I have posted a number of photos to my flikr account.

I really enjoy Halloween. It is a chance to dress up, assume a persona and be a hero, a villain, a clown or a king for a day. Most of us don't get a chance to be a lot of different things in our lives, and Halloween is a great chance to vicariously be another person.

For example, today I got to steal a golden idol and out run a giant boulder.

So my question to everyone is: who do you want to be today? (Great, now I'm going to have Oingo Boingo stuck in my head all day.)

But seriously, I have always wanted to be a hero, and defeat the bad guy and rescue the damsel in distress. And capes. I like to wear capes. Halloween is a day where that is not considered an "employment liability."

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween.

Roses in October?

I took this pictures this morning of the "New Dawn" roses growing on my arbor. Thanks to Abby for giving me the idea to take pictures of flowers. Now I can enjoy these babies all winter long.

This picture was taken last month after that early snow storm that wiped out the remainder of my vegetable garden. You can see the "Chicago Peace" peeking out from under her white blanket.

This one was taken this morning of the same "Chicago Peace". Pretty resilient for a finicky hybrid tea rose.

Don't you just love this crazy Utah weather?

JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN

I have not contributed much to "Jaydine's Finer Things" because it seems too much like a homework assignment. Writing is hard for me (whine). But I'm going to try to overcome my fear of revealing my poor spelling and grammar to share with you a couple of really good books.

The first is "Stiff: The Curious lives of Human Cadavers", by Mary Roach. I actually read this book a couple of years ago but I'm planning on attending the Bodyworlds exhibit soon and my anticipation of this event reminded me that this book refers to the plastination process that they use to preserve the bodies. So I pulled it out again and reread some of my favorite chapters: A head is a terrible thing to waste, Crimes of anatomy, How to know if you're dead and Out of the fire, and into the compost bin. Entertainment Weekly described this book as "One of the funniest and most unusual books...Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting". At this point you are probably wondering at my morbid choice of reading material. But it's not that different from the humorous travel log of presidential assassinations. Despite the irreverent macabre title, Roach somehow pulls off a respectful, (but hilarious), maticulously researched account of what happens to cadavers, past and present.

The second book is an entertaining piece of new fiction entitled The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti. This book tells the story of Ren, an orphan, abandoned as a baby at St. Anthony's orphanage for boys. He is also missing his left hand. This introduces the mystery. Who is this boy? Where did he come from? What happened to his hand? The characters are vivid and the plot is a non-stop adventure. It reminded me of Huckleberry Finn (yes Donette, I read it) or Oliver Twist. This is a story full of interesting characters; scam artists, grave robbers, a resurrected giant and a dwarf that lives in the chimney. A good spooky October read!

There, I did it and it only took me 2 hours! I was unable to download the picture of The Good Thief book jacket (due to a pesky internal error).

Hi everyone - I wanted to post a picture of Alec and let you all know that there is nothing 'finer' than watching a BYU lacrosse game and you can go to their website, byulacrosse.com  to look at the schedule.  This picture was taken following a scrimmage with the Univ of Utah.  Alec had a goal and played well for his second game with the big boys.  Of course BYU won.  The season doesn't really start until spring however they are playing scrimmages with other local universities until then.  There will be two visiting Div I teams, Denver and Maryland both ranked in the top 20, coming to play on Oct 18th at Alta High School.  You can get tickets online.  IF anyone wants to go, let us know and we'll carpool or something.

One of my favorite web sites is snopes.com. They explore and research urban legends and myths. I came across a very interesting posting a few weeks ago and would like to share it. I will just give you brief summary and it you want to know more you can do your own research. Recently a 98 year old woman named Irena Sendler died of pneumonia in Warsaw, Poland. She has been referred to as "the female Oskar Schindler" for her daring and ingenuity in saving the lives or more than 2500 Jews (most of them children) in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The story conflicts a little. One says that she was a plumber/sewer specialist and smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box. Another version said that she passed herself off as a nurse. Irena Sendler was a candidate for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize but Al Gore won it for is efforts on global warming. Anyway, I was fascinated by the story. If you want to read more go to www.snopes.com/politics/war/sendler.asp or http://www.irenasendler.org/ Somebody needs to write a book. This photo is Irena at age 91.

Picture of Dad/Grandpa/Great-Grandpa

Here's a nice picture of Dad (and Julie Rabe) taken by the George Washington Taggart headstone in the South Morgan Cemetery.  Dad's lookin' good.  I wish I were that trim.  

But if I were (that trim), who would keep Hostess in business?  My corpulence is really an important part of our economic viability.  I'm just not willing to let my vanity stand in the way of supporting a fine American company and further erode a dwindling consumer confidence portrayed by the liberal media.

But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators:  "I'm not eating this Twinkie to seek their good opinion -- I'm eating this Twinkie to serve the people of this country."

[Kids, this is what happens when you mix polysorbate 60, hydrogenated shortening, high fructose corn syrup, FD&C yellow no. 5 and 16 straight hours of C-Span]

I'm not sure who the other gentlemen are, but I assure you that since they are with Dad and Julie, they must indeed be gentlemen.  The source of the picture is a blog titled "Update on Joseph Taggart.  The link is:  http://josephtaggart.blogspot.com/2008/09/fair-state-state-fair-and-fine-state-of.html

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

This makes a deliciously moist cake that doesn't taste a bit like a vegetable. I took this cake to Grandpa's house a while ago and Alan asked for the recipe so I'm sharing it with you all. By the way if you need Zucchini I have plenty. I've also had a bumper crop of tomatoes and peppers so if you want to come visit me you can take all you can pick.

1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
3 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1 Tb vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini (I peel mine)
1 recipe Chocolate Butter Frosting

In a large bowl combine oil, sugar, and eggs In a separate bowl sift dry ingredients; add to first mixture. Add milk and mix well. Melt baking chocolate in the microwave for 20 - seconds intervals, until just melted. Blend chocolate and vanilla into batter. Stir in zucchini. Bake in greased 9x13-inch baking pan at 350 degrees F. for 35 to 40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool and frost with Chocolate Butter Frosting.


Chocolate Butter Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
2 (1-oz) squares unsweetend baking chocolate, melted
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan bring butter and milk to a boil. Remove from heat. Add melted chocolate, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.