Kamote Riders Patch Followup

 A Kamote rider is generally a very low IQ idiot who takes unnecessary risks driving a scooter.  Usually unlicensed, no insurance, no registration.  

The asshole who will do something stupid, get in a accident, and then quickly and loudly scream that it was anyone else fault but his own.  

The guy who will pass you while you are making a turn at a intersection, and then 6 others behind him will follow along.  Imagine taking a left turn and some asshole PASSES you on the left to beat you into the turn. 

The guy who drives the wrong way down the road cause he is so important in his own mind that he is entitled to passing everyone else.

The guy on a scooter who passes you only to slam on his brakes 300 yards later and stop at a roadside store.  

This pretty much describes 90% of the motorcycle riders here, not smart enough to judge risk/reward in his or her actions.  All do not have any sort of drivers education and arrogantly believe that they do not need any.

Generally Kamote riders are riding bikes sized between 110-175cc as they are too stupid to earn more money to afford a larger bike, or qualify for financing on a larger bike.

Trolling the Filipinos

 A Kamote rider is a idiot on a scooter, of which most are.  Kamote meaning sweet potato and somehow sweet potato is food that back woods hicks eat in the Philippines, in their stereotype.  

I used the layout of the Hells Angels vest and font to draw it.  The Wojack is a nice touch.  

Gonna put it on a tee shirt and see the reaction in the mall.  

So far my friends here are finding it hilarious.

Update on Mister Donald Trump Kat.  He is getting fatter.  He insists on sleeping in my room every night, and will scratch at the door until he is let in. No lizard or roach is safe from his hunting skills. In other words, on the job. 

 

My friends widow already has a new man.

 Damn, the guy barely in the ground and his widow already posting kissy pictures on FB with a new guy.  

Figured somethin up when they started tossing all the guys possessions in the dumpster before he even died.  

And here we are|... 

Incompetence or deliberate, the road is the same destination

 It goes without saying, to plan accordingly, and to store up a bunch of books and knowlage.

Ruminations on bread.

 6am this morning, up early.  I just wake up early now.  The number of times I used a alarm clock to wake up in the last year is nil.

Had a hankering for some bread.  So I made some.  

Along the way it got me to thinking as to why we even need to buy bread when it is so damn easy to make?

With  modern yeast, it really is only a matter of flour, water, yeast, and a bit of oil, maybe some salt.  

I do not salt my dough, as I find it rises better without, and in order to affect the taste I would need to add in a lot which would kill the yeast.  

5 min prep tops.  You really do not need to knead bread like the videos say.  Mix it until it is dough.  The rest is just time.  Time to let the water get into all the bits of flour and do its thing.  Oil adds a certain play dough thing to it and also keeps it from sticking to your hands.  Even better just oil your hands before you do a quick knead so it does not stick to the hands.  It will 'form gluten' without a lot of kneading effort.  

If you are a masochist then knead away and make some artisanal bread, but for daily eating this is easy enough to make a quick pita bread on the stovetop.

Let it go 30 min to a hour or more.  Longer you let it go, the more it ferments and makes flavor.  But you can just go for 45 min, or about the time it takes to have coffee, and read the news.

I picked up a electric tortilla press aka chapati maker.  Basically it is a non stick smooth surface version of a waffle iron.  

Just pinch off a ball of dough, put in the heated press and push the handle.  The press is only hot enough to keep it from sticking, not to actually cook it.  Too hot, and the steam makes the thing blow apart.

I paid around 25 bucks for mine at a used appliance store.  Amazon in the USA has them for 60 bucks. 

It makes pita bread, and tortillas.  Depending on your preference, there is not much different from the two other than one is thicker with yeast and the other is thinner with more oil and no yeast. 

Do not have that?  Then roll it out on the countertop.  You will have more mess to clean obviously.

Cook on a very hot non oiled cast iron pan, Comal or fry pan.  

Which makes me wonder, are we really that soft that we no longer can make our own bread in our homes?  

Growing up in a Midwest 'rural' house even then we never made our own bread except on special occasions, or it was frozen dough that was thawed and baked.  

But why?  Considering it is so simple.  

Which brings me to many other things that we buy pre-made.  Like pasta, its simply egg, flour and salt.  Or sausage, Again so damn easy to make a sausage and you do not even need a sausage casing.  just roll it in a log, and let it dry cure in the fridge.  

Same with ham, Prague powder, sugar salt, pepper and a couple days time.  I like to start it as a wet cure, then when the meat has absorbed the salts and flavors, drain it and let it cure in the fridge on a plate.  Keep your fridge clean and you wont have refrigerator smell in your food.

While I do not make the big bucks like I used to, I am definitely eating better because I am taking the time to make myself.  Which in hind sight, working for someone else to earn money to buy something is kind of crazy for a lot of things.  To make that loaf of bread from scratch is way less time than one would spend working for someone else, giving the government a commission in tax, and going to the store to buy that bread.  

Yes I know you have to buy base ingredients, but that is one trip for a 50 pound sack of flour vs 50 trips for a 1 pound loaf of bread.  (probably more like 60 loaves of store bread because water)  That is a lot less screwing around.  

Neighborhood home invasions.

 So a few months ago, the cops started stationing themselves in the local 7\11 and AflaMart convivence stores  a few hundred yards from my subdivision gate.  I guess there has been some armed home invasions at the low class poorly guarded subdivision up the street.  

So then a couple weeks ago, got word from a friend that a house in my subdivision was robbed.  The person stole a bunch of vintage film cameras, which they think is a inside job.  Burglar also smoked weed and left some behind in the house.  

So that part of the subdivision bumped up security.  

Since my subdivision was built in 3 phases over the course of nearly 40 years, each development phase has a different HOA because of incorporation rules etc.  Each phase has its own security also.  

Last week someone broke thru the perimeter at tried to rob a house in my phase.  They came thru a area that is hard to fence off cause it is the storm drainage canal.  

So now the HOA has gone all out on additional concertina wire, and another roving guard with a 12ga patrolling on foot.   Apparently the new rover is doing his job as the dogs go nuts many times a night as he passes by the house.  Dude is armed for a firefight too, with a big bandolier.  Looks like he is carrying a Mossburg500 or a Mossburg Maverick riot gun.  Hard to tell the difference without looking at the safety position.  Both are common here.

My house is already pretty well hardened up since the CCP virus start, so not much additional I can do there.  

Its just interesting that I see more armed foot patrol activity that I saw on our bases in Iraq.  

Solar Problem and Canning Tomato

 So it is looking like I got some issues with the solar battery.  It is not keeping much of a charge now and the bill has gone up.  

I will grab the battery load tester and see if one or more of the batteries went bad.  Considering that they were used cell tower batteries to begin with, and it is 2 years already, I guess I got my money worth.

I am looking at the prices of the lithium batteries, but still its gonna be roughly 2 grand to upgrade, or I swap out with lead acid, will see.

It is tomato season again.  Roughly 25 cents a pound right now.  

I got 17 kilos from the guy the other day, let it ripen more in the kitchen and canned yesterday.  I pureed it, vit c, salt, usual.  Strained out the juice from the pulp, canned the juice separate, it is more like a tomato broth.  I always see people doing videos and they throw the juice away, but why?  It makes a excellent broth and cooking your spaghetti in it makes a wonderful flavor.  

I do not have many spare jars, as they get re-filled with something or other when used.  The food stock is surprisingly robust, even after eating off it for the last year.  

I also picked up a substantial amount of processed Kraft edam cheese the last few weeks.  It is a seasonal Christmas thing here, and now that Christmas is over, it is on a 2 for one special, which comes out to less than the cheapest of the cheap processed.   

I been grabbing it as money was available, and pretty much have bought out the entire shelf of the stuff.  The freezer is well stocked with cheese.  This cheese came out to a price a bit lower than chicken, by weight. ($1.66 lb)

Yes I know freezing changes processed cheese texture.  Last time I froze it, it got crumbly and was still delicious.  It is already wrapped in foil, so just toss in the fridge.

Sales so far this year is only 4 plastic shredders, and some lumber.  It was a rush job as usual.  Waited on machined parts, that arrived Thursday afternoon.  Then had to bust our ass to get it ready for a Friday Afternoon delivery, which turned to a Friday morning and Friday Afternoon shipment for two units.  One was online sale, and the other is to be assembled this week and shipped.  

The soon to be ex has been off galivanting off around the countryside, party party with her friends the last few weekends, leaving me with some peace and quiet.  Along with some dishes to wash.

 It is always some excuse.  Thursday she begging me for money, and I told her I didn't have any cause I had to pay the electric bill and buy grocery.  She kept insisting that attending her moms birthday party was more important than the electricity bill.  

Not the first time either.  A few years ago maybe 4 or 5 now, back when I was giving her the bill money, she diverted the electric bill money to use for going to a birthday party at her moms house.  While she was away, my power was cut off.  On a Friday afternoon no-less.  So no way in hell I could get that turned back on until Tuesday.  Being that it was too late to hit up the power company Friday, closed weekend, and then up to a day to get it re-connected after paying the bill.    This was before I put in the backup stuff and solar, so it was a very shitty weekend, not to mention having to rush out and buy ice to keep the food in the fridge from goin bad.  

Meanwhile on the car situation.  

I thought I would be clever and wrap the car in vinyl.  Bought the best I could get.  Paid a guy to install it.  Except the seller hosed me and sold me indoor vinyl, not outdoor stuff and the UV light killed it in a few months.  

Lacking money, I let it go way way too long to remove it.  But finally I broke down, busted out the razor blade, and wire brush to remove it.  Along with the adhesive remover.  Although the adhesive remover did not work half as well as the epoxy paint reducer.  

I masked the car and gave it the ol roller paint job with epoxy paint.  Couple coats of epoxy primer, and couple coats of top coat epoxy enamel.  

So before you laugh, it came out not too shabby.  It was the exact shade of light grey I wanted that hides dirt.  But I am not done, as the next step when funds allow is to roller on a gallon of bed liner on it.

Seeing as it is a 18 year old 1000 dollar car, I do not see the need to spend 600 bucks on a professional paint job, I just needed it to look less shitty, as the vinyl had made it into easily the shittiest looking car in the parking lot at the mall. Which is kind of a big deal, as I live in the fucking Philippines. So the bar is not that high to begin with.  

Bed liner paint jobs are kind of getting some popularity around here anyways.  Mostly on high end SUV and pickup trucks,