Vegetable Confession

     I'd like to start off by thanking those of you that have taken the time to respond. I've received some compliments, some complaints and some suggestions. All of it much appreciated. I'd like to thank Susi , my former neighbor and forever friend for her letter about calling the Pogonip or freezing fog "the Crawling Eye Fog". So named after the the early 50's movie "The Crawling Eye".Good one Susi! I watched the movie again after you sent that and it brought back lots of memories. As a bonus, in the movie there's a tram car that went up the mountain that is identical to the one I used to work in at Heavenly Valley. So yeah, fog, mountain resort, tram car, crawling eye, it all works for me!
    My sister Linda wrote me about my hatred of Brussel sprouts back when I was a mere sprout myself. When we lived in the Santa Cruz mountains , the rule, for me anyway, was "you can't leave the table until you clean your plate". I had no problem with the meat and potatoes but with the creepy disgusting vegetables, there was a problem, big time!
    I tried feeding Brandy our boxer dog the vegetables under the the table but got caught right away. The dogs big floppy jowls and slurping sounds were a dead give away. So as my Mom was busy in the kitchen and everyone else had left the table I was there left alone , staring at the Lima beans or some other disgusting green abomination. So I came up with this.
    I'm sitting there all by myself at the table , just me and the lonely vegetables. I grab a fork with my left hand, place Lima bean in the curved part of fork, bend back wrist and place right index finger on tines of fork, then while releasing finger and flicking my wrist  the Lima bean takes flight. I always aimed for behind the couch and usually made it, if I didn't , Brandy would snuffle up my error.
    Now I was successful at this for quite some time until I tried it out with a Brussel sprout. The weight and round shape gave this little green flyer a much further trajectory. On my first attempt with a brussel sprout it hit the living room wall leaving a green smudge and bounced off, landing on the couch. Our dog having watched all this saved the day and gobbled up the sprout. I had to come up with a new tactic.
     My favorite game at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk was Skee-Roll. You roll a wooden ball up this ramp and it hits a little bump and flies in the air to hopefully land in the center bulls eye hole where you get the most points . So my Skee -Roll abilities come into play to rid my plate of  the dreaded green spheres. When no ones looking I give the sprout a mighty underhand hurl and watch it bounce across the living room floor headed for its new home under the couch.
     This went on for some time and then the day came when we were moving and taking out the furniture. Uh oh! As the couch is moved into the truck my Mom sees all the dried up vegetables. "Whats this? It looks like little Lima beans and green beans and are these brussel sprouts?". I say, "Well mom, I guess I better go out and help Dad load the truck". Once again I didn't get in trouble for my bad behavior. I was just lucky I guess.What I do know is this ... I bet that old Boxer dog was eating healthier than I was!
      So that's my vegetable confession. Nowadays I  like my little green and yellow buddies and I sure as hell don't have a problem "cleaning my plate". What my Mom said , like so many moms said back then, "their are people starving in Asia, eat your food". Well what a turn around thats become! China owns America and people are starving here. Who'd have thought that would become a reality ?
       The rain snow mix continues with about 4 inches of heavy snow so far. Take care , and eat your vegetables, Bob