MitchzKitchen

The Great Golf Ball Caper

It's tough to know the exact year, but I've been retired for for four, worked at the bank for thirty-three and the railroad before that. This is a CP Rail story so I make it right around 1986. CP's West Toronto Signal Shop

Come Fly With Me

If you read the lyrics of the Sinatra classic, it is actually pretty racy for 1958. He is trying to entice some young thing to get on a plane with him and he is outlining all the exotic places where he plans to finesse her panties onto the hardwood. Who

Jaws

There's a cartoon joke that a buddy (BL) and I like about a dog with a homeless guy. She's staring up at him going through a garbage can in the pouring rain. The caption reads: You know I could have done this by myself? On a

Mitigation Strategies

One of my least favourite bosses still managed to teach me something. She (hint) called it the 80/20 rule. "What is something easy, cheap, expedient and perhaps not the perfect solution, that we can do right now ... to make this significantly better? I know, we need to have

Pet Cemetary

Pet Cemetery If you go from PetValu on the northeast corner of Gordon and Claire to the PetSmart on the northwest corner, the differences are stark. Tony Stark. PetValue is in a converted Becker's store (ya, no one under 50 knows what that means any more), crammed full,

BETTER LIVING ...

... through chemistry. So my three new doctors seem to have settled on a nine prescription regimen to keep my immune system from attacking and further scarring my lungs. Oh, for the good old days when I took a daily prozac after I found out she was taking my kids to

Lists

Back before refrigerators were made from recycled aluminum pop cans, they were made from m - e - t - a - l. Most common metals possess unpaired electrons and are therefore highly reactive with magnets. People used these fridge magnets to stick shopping lists to their fridges. This was done for all sorts

Side Effects

It has been about a month now since my hospital stay and diagnosis. We have settled into an altered routine, filled with specialist appointments and a long list of medications. They take a significant portion of my day to manage. There are pills I must take while standing, then remain

Another Love Letter

So the summers I was 14 and 15, I worked at the K&W restaurant in Minden for my Aunt Gladys. I talked about that last year but wanted to give you a sense of the actual work. Arrive at 5:30. Chairs back on the floor, make coffee,

The Grapes of Wrath

(sung to the Hercules cartoon them song) Superham, hero of song and story Superham, winner of ancient glory Potato on the right Onions fit in tight Glaze on at the end, leftovers go with hen it's the mighty Superham! Not to put too fine a point on it,

Look At All These Dogs

Wednesday May 20, 2026 14:45 Mitch's new virologist: "Thanks Mr. Fountain for coming in and seeing me today. I have reviewed your tests and scans in detail. The good news is you do not have lung cancer nor do you have any signs of COPD. Mitch

365 x 14 ?

A funny thing happened on the way to last Wednesday. As I started my outdoor spring activities, I had been feeling winded over the slightest exertion for about three weeks. As is usually the case with these things .... they sneak up on you. Sort of a feeling at first, "

Charge Of The Light Brigade

Two weeks ago, I left you sitting on the front porch at eleven celebrating the completion of another days' coffee cycle. So coffee is an hour per day. Last week, I admitted that by that time, I had also completed the first of my two 90 minute naps for

Naps

My dad had a good long run after his retirement (35 years) but we all felt sorry for my mom. He didn't beat her. He slept. A lot. For the record, his daily grind when working in road construction was brutal. You start at 06:30 when the

Black Gold

Living. It funny how now that I'm retired, just how much time is spent, just living? Those daily tasks that used to pass without conscious effort, take on an importance that is out of line with the way I had lived, while gainfully employed. When I was working,

Have It Your Way?

As the full menu price for most take-out foods moves beyond the reach of any household not having dual six figure incomes, it becomes mui importanto to game the system wherever possible. The chains talk a big game, but just try to find out what a Sausage & Egg

Locksley Hall

It was my considered opinion that I never had the "poetry gene". As a very amateur singer / songwriter, I could certainly string together some thoughts that I could fashion into lyrics, but poetry eluded me. What I "knew" about poetry is this: There are two types.

A Love Story

The real life characters that this story is based on, were referenced in my post a couple of weeks ago. My reading on the subject resulted in an unrelated storyline about fate. About an uncaring universe where the godless (like me) still see signs of karma, or kismet all around

On A Roll

After that epic battle last week (me writing it and you reading it), I will take my foot off the gas and lighten your load. I do appreciate the kind words and a tip of the hat to David French who wrote a great piece on which it was based.

A Just War

The Donroe Doctrine What Trump just did in Venezuela and now in Iran harks back to a different time. Before the U.N., before the League of Nations, before two world wars. David French wrote a great historical retrospective in the Times how the world worked before Queen Victoria and

Here Comes the Judge

There has been some buzz from out west on judicial appointments. I have been seeing the headlines, but had not had the chance to dig in. They have a point. This is tricky stuff for any country? You do not want to enact a nation rending strategy, but judicial appointments

The Murse

There's not a homophobic bone in my body. I mean, Adam Lambert makes my skin crawl, but he does that to everybody? Not that I haven't taken every opportunity to tease the man bun, the fanny pack or Capri pants (NS). You simply cannot let that

Blood Moon

I know, I know, it is not Thursday. We don't have much time, so listen up! The sky is blue because our atmosphere blocks blue light. Got that? When the Earth gets between the sun and the moon, a black smudge will appear to take a bite out

Red Rubber

I almost always have a documentary playing from YouTube when I am resting my eyes for a few moments in the afternoon. SWMBO insists that sometimes I rest my eyes for a couple of hours while snoring? Lies. I found this great channel called Slice Experts and was watching a

The Red Planet

On May 8th last year, (in response to a Musk post about how he was going to have an uncrewed flight to Mars by 2026) I wrote about how that was complete and utter bullpucky. We are not going to Mars anytime soon. Probably not within my lifetime. Internet trolls