Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

He he he These days the young people call this style of Happy Feet "The Shuffle". If that is the case, then I have been doing a version of the shuffle since 1972 - just ask any of the poor girls who had to try and dance with me in High school.

I decided to see what all the fuss about "steel cut oats" would boil down (sorry) to when it came to becoming a part of my breakfast. Steel cut oats are whole oat grains that have a very minimal processing before we eat them - the whole oat is cut into two or three pieces as opposed to being rolled out and having the fiber crushed out. Steel cut oats help in stabilizing blood sugar. As of this writing, I am on my 4th container of   Flahavan's Irish Oatmeal. Simply put - I love it. I use the 5 minute variety - I believe they have some you need to cook for 30 minutes, but I do not have that much time to devote to preparing it in the morning - but 5 minutes works great. It actually takes about 8 to 10 minutes to bring the water/oats mixture to a boil and then simmer it for 5 minutes. Why do I like it so much? Well, for one thing I have a feeling it is good for me . Some folks even put this kind of oatmeal into the "superfood" category because of the many ...

        Oahu continued - the Pinders told us about a sunset sail from the beach at Waikiki. 2 hours sailing for $40 each. DONE! I spent most of the time up on the bow looking for whales.     Here is the lot of us captured by one of the friendly crew guys (they did flips over the bow of the boat just to keep us on our toes). NO - I am not trying to audition for Look Like A Pirate Day - I am trying to keep the sun from frying my scalp.   One of several gorgeous sunset shots Julie took on our sail. (Note: The underlined,  LARGE  printing below contain LINKS to places mentioned.) Duke's has been a staple in Honolulu since before Hawaii 5-0. Julie was thrilled to eat here because she had a menu from Duke's that her folks brought back from Hawaii way back...when a steak was two bucks. We had a great meal - more fresh fish - after our sail.   Tom and Vick enjoy a pre-sail br...

What I Did On My Spring Vacation - Part 1 of 2   Hawaii beckoned (it used my sister Vicki and brother in law Tom to do so). Having only closed our store for a week on one other occasion and being in need of a vacation, Julie and I responded in a positive way and booked our flights and made the appropriate marks on the calendars.   NOTE: I have provided some links for your edification. Click 'em and learn more.   Flying To And From Flying to Hawaii from Michigan is no biggie. C'mon - we can get all the way to the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a little more than 1/3 of a day's flying time. It was 2 hours and 5 minutes to Denver and then supposedly 7 hours to Oahu. Leaving Grand Rapids at 8 am allowed us to arrive on the island at 3:00 pm - so we had some daylight left when we got there.   Here is a tip for fooling the TSA. I was able to carry on a months worth of shampoo, 3 months worth of shaving cream and enough water to share with most of th...

INTERNET DISCLOSURE: In case you are wondering - I paid full price for these jeans. I have not received anything from Duluth Trading Company for this review. I found out about these jeans while looking for something else. Just wanted you to know I am not a shill for DTC! My wife and I have a little jewelry store, please click to take a look. A couple of years ago I heard about some jeans that were going to be manufactured in Michigan - in Detroit. I was excited - until I learned the price was going to be almost $200 a pair. Motor City Denim broke my heart. I was prepared to pay more than the $35 I pay for Arizona jeans for something made in the US, but $175 for jeans is NOT in my budget. ( I Riffed about Motor City here) I am happy to report I found an excellent alternative - jeans made in the USA for just $84.50 a pair. I found them at the Duluth Trading Company . Not only are they made in this country - by a 5th generation family run operation using domestic cott...

I consider myself fortunate to have experienced Simple Minds live back in the time when Jim Kerr and Chrissie Hynde were together - in fact I saw their bands perform together at Pine Knob on a wonderful summer night in (I believe) 1984. I have followed both Simple Minds and The Pretenders over the ensuing decades with much aural delight. I became a registered member of SimpleMinds.com a few years ago - this keeps me up to date with the band. When Simple Minds offered live recordings of their recent 5x5 tour of Australia to their members I jumped at the chance. ( Get Some Here) . I had my chance to order any one of the multiple dates they played down under and I chose December 9 at Sirromet Winery. The 5x5 tour centers around the band playing 5 songs from each of their first 5 albums. Each concert features a slightly different set list. See below for the list on this particular night. The band sounds great. Jim seems to be in fine voice - aided at crucial mome...

DISCLAIMER: I know that all Boy Scout troop leaders are not child molesters, nor are all Catholic priests or football coaches. My purpose here is NOT to cast aspersions on football, Scouting, or Catholicism. I just find it terrible and ironic, as well as terribly ironic, that boys and young men were preyed upon in settings where one would assume a child would be the most safe. I was never a Boy Scout or a Catholic and my only involvement with organized football was when Coach Dishner persuaded me to be the manager of our 8th grade team way back when. In light of the recent garbage involving the cover up of the actions of predatory pedophiles coming to the surface regarding the Boy Scouts, a huge national football program, and the Catholic Church, I had an interesting thought: As a boy of 16, 17, and 18 I was safer hanging around the homosexuals in the theatre than I MIGHT (NOTE: the word "might") have been had I been in the Boy Scouts, playing football or attendi...