{"id":3586,"date":"2017-04-24T04:59:13","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T01:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=3586"},"modified":"2017-04-28T03:20:37","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T00:20:37","slug":"beans-hotdogs-driving-and-the-amazon-echo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=3586","title":{"rendered":"Beans, Hotdogs, Driving and the Amazon Echo"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think I have solved the problem with the images with Micah’s help.<\/em><\/p>\n

It<\/strong> is Autumn in Brazil.\u00a0 The warm weather that the Brazilians think is hot, is gone.\u00a0 It no longer rains almost everyday and the weather is cooler at nights.\u00a0 Walking to work the other day, I realized the trees here never loose all their leaves, but gradually drop them throughout the year.\u00a0 I find it to be a solemn feeling, knowing the trees are constantly replenishing themselves as they continue through their lives.\u00a0 Like we do.<\/p>\n

I am learning the tricks of cooking and am proud to say I am improving.\u00a0 My second batch of beans turned out well, although I didn’t add anything to them.\u00a0 Just the kinda white beans that indeed turned brown.\u00a0 I added salt and placed them on a bed of rice.\u00a0 Simple and nice.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The third batch were black beans with plenty of potatoes, and very lean bacon.\u00a0 I wish I would have taken a picture of the bacon as it was a beautiful piece of meat, as far as beauty goes for meat.\u00a0 I also prepared another pan of cornbread, which I thought was not the sweet kind I made last time, but was.\u00a0 I am beginning to think the Brazilians do not eat cornbread unless it is sweet.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The food availability differs greatly from country to country.\u00a0 Here in Brazil, they do not like strong or spicy food.\u00a0 I love pickles, especially with my hot dogs.\u00a0 I found a jar in my household shipment but sadly they did not last.\u00a0 I bought a jar of pickles at the store down the street, but they only sell one brand which had a bland taste. Very disappointing. Maybe I should try making my own pickles, too.<\/p>\n

I bought two different brands of hot dogs to see if I could find a brand worth purchasing.\u00a0 They both were very disappointing.\u00a0 Both were different colors, and both tasted like the Vienna sausages you buy in the can in the States.\u00a0 One day when I was at the store, I noticed a section that had large sausages.\u00a0 Usually packaged two to a pack.\u00a0 So, I bought one, took it home and found them to be perfectly delicious.\u00a0 So, instead of the drab, Vienna sausage tasting hotdogs, I take the sausages and slice them lengthwise and use those.\u00a0 Very nice tasting.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My vehicle arrived a few months ago, and got it register and tagged.\u00a0 I drove it to work about 3-4 times, and only got lost 3-4 times.\u00a0 Thank goodness for GPS.\u00a0 I realize the roads are just a rough as the sidewalks.\u00a0 My vehicle is heavy, so it takes the roads rather harsh.\u00a0 I believe that is the reason why people drive slow.<\/p>\n

I still prefer to walk to work, but I will use the vehicle if I need to take something to\/from work.\u00a0 When I walk, it is 5 blocks.\u00a0 Aside from the broken sidewalks trying to trip me, (the large trees do a number on them) it is a pleasant walk.\u00a0 But when I drive, it is 14 blocks.\u00a0 There are very few places you can make a left hand turn, so when I drive to work, I have to go the opposite direction for a few blocks, just so I can turn around.\u00a0 Then I drive right past my apartment.\u00a0 I could wave to myself if I was on my balcony.<\/p>\n

Over the years I have tried my best to keep up with Technology.\u00a0 It is not easy because it comes and goes like a fart in a windstorm.\u00a0 But I did manage to grab hold of the voice-activated control that is becoming popular.\u00a0 I have several of the Amazon Echos in my apartment.\u00a0 I have them set up with several devices to do things that only a lazy man would want done.\u00a0 I use it to wake me up in the morning.\u00a0 The previous night, I will say, Echo, wake me up at 6am.\u00a0 And she will gleefully say, Okay. Alarm set for 6am tomorrow morning<\/em>. And at 6am, she will play pleasant music for me. Then I will say, Echo, turn on the coffee, and she will gleefully say, Okay. <\/em>When I get to the point that I can crawl out of bed with creaking joints and stagger into the kitchen, the coffee is ready to drink.<\/p>\n

She has control over various lights in the apartment.\u00a0 I can tell her, Echo, turn on the balcony lights.\u00a0 And she will gleefully say, Okay<\/em>.\u00a0 And the lights come on.\u00a0 Same with lights in my office and living room.<\/p>\n

I watch very few shows on TV, but I enjoy watching the re-runs of the series House<\/em>.\u00a0 So, as I come home from work I will say, Echo, turn on House<\/em>.\u00a0 And she will gleefully say, Okay<\/em>.\u00a0 And the TV comes on with the correct channel for House<\/em>.\u00a0 She is very obedient.\u00a0 More so than my kids were.\u00a0 I can sit out on my balcony and tell her to play some Opera, and she does.\u00a0 I cannot imagine my kids doing that.<\/p>\n

I realized Terese has moved on to the next level in Life and she is okay.\u00a0 I will continue on with this life until Fate calls me<\/em> to return Home.\u00a0 I cannot feel sorry for myself, and will grasp Life anyway I can.\u00a0 I am content.\u00a0 I do not expect anything else from myself other than the tasks set before me by the Creator.\u00a0 For everyone else, keep kicking butt.\u00a0\u00a0 D.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think I have solved the problem with the images with Micah’s help. It is Autumn in Brazil.\u00a0 The warm …<\/p>\n

Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2tztR-VQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3586"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3634,"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3586\/revisions\/3634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}