Ken Steinhoff, Author at Cape Girardeau History and Photos

July 7, 2023July 8, 2023

I Smelt Up the House – Once

When I was wandering around the freezer section in Schnucks the other night looking for something new to fix, I saw a frozen package of smelt that screamed that it was fresh caught and had a fresh taste.

I walked on.

On my next pass, I stopped a couple on the other side of the freezer case and asked if they had ever had smelt. The man said he had. He looked at the woman who was with him, and she nodded her head in the affirmative.

I should have asked if they had ever had it twice.

I solicited advice

Wife Lila penned a query: “Publix has a special cooler for fish bait and the like. Are you sure you stopped at the right cooler?!?”

Foodie Jan Norris posted the question to her hive, which came back with some recipes.

I followed one that told me to run cold water over the frozen fish just long enough to get the ice crystals off them, then roll them in a flour / salt / pepper concoction.

Didn’t want to risk it all at once

I put a quarter of the quarter of the smelt I had extracted from the package into my air fryer basket.

(I didn’t want to take a chance on getting the whole batch wrong.)

I set the temp and timer

I followed the directions to set the time and temp for 390 degrees and 10 minutes.

When I opened the pot, the fishies weren’t as crispy as I had hoped, so I gave them another four minutes.

I polished off that batch without being impressed.

I raised the temp to 400 and increased the time to 14 minutes for Batch Two. It was better, but I’d have been better off to have thrown them on my Blackstone griddle sans breading.

(Actually, I’d have been better off to have fed them to Phoebe the Bleeping Cat.)

The In-Laws get a gift

I called sister-in-law Marty. “I understand you’re going camping and fishing this weekend. I’m going to gift you something that might be an experiment, or it might be bait for Don.”

I presented them with a vacuum-sealed bag of what looked all the world like a bunch of headless minnows.

For the record, the fish lived up to their name: they smelt up my kitchen. They had a long lifespan, too. I had them for breakfast, and am still belching them 12 hours later.

July 1, 2023July 2, 2023

Flickers and Mother’s Flashlight

I went to bed uncharacteristically early Friday night, which caused me to wake up around 5:15 a.m. I went into the kitchen for something to drink and decided to watch a little TV.

I hadn’t been there long when the kitchen went dark. That can happen if I try to use two high-wattage appliances at the same time, but nothing big was running.

The blackout was followed by a few encouraging flashes, then total darkness. The whole block was dark. The radar was clear and it wasn’t storming. (It reminded me of the blackout during Y2K.) Scanner traffic said that power was out around the Mt. Auburn neighborhoods, too.

I have little dollar flashlights hanging strategically in every room in the house, so I had enough light to wander back to the bedroom where I grabbed Mother’s old faithful bedside flashlight.

I bought it for her 25 or more years ago, and she always kept it next to her bed. She loved it because of its bright yellow color, but also because the shape made it easy to grab and to carry. It had an easily pushed button that would project a beam straight ahead, or at your feet.

We debated burying it with her, but figured she’d be mad that we wasted such a useful gizmo. I inherited it with the house.

Held off on the generator

I bought a Champion tri-fuel generator last year, but didn’t get around to extending the natural gas line and electrical hookup until AFTER I lost power for 16 hours and 38 minutes in the winter.

I gave some thought to hooking it up, but the house was cool enough for sleeping, and I decided it would be easier to do it after it was light, if the power hadn’t been restored by then.

As it turned out, that was a good decision because things started coming back to life at 6:06 a.m..

So, the generator is patiently waiting. Its battery is trickle-charged, and it’s wearing its GenTent cover ready to spring into action.

Ready in Florida

I bought a little 3000-watt generator after Hurricane Hugo, and didn’t use it until a series of storms rolled over Florida ten years later, starting in 2004.

I gifted the small unit to Son Matt, and bought a larger one that I adapted to run off propane and natural gas. It sleeps in our backyard shed, along with hurricane panels, tarps, sleeping bags and other storm supplies.

Generator’s only good if you can keep it

There’s a story that may or may not be apocryphal about a guy who parked his generator right outside his bedroom window so he could make sure it was still there.

In the middle of the night, he could hear it humming away, but his room was getting hot. He went out to find a thief had substituted a running lawnmower for his generator.

There are some stories that should be true, even if they aren’t.

Here’s how we secure the Florida power supply. A thief could still make off with it, but he’d have to have the right tools and a degree of determination.

(If he leaves a lawnmower, I hope it’s one of equal value.)

THIS was a surprise

The region was under a severe thunderstorm warning a big chuck of the July 1 afternoon. It blew through fast with some gusty winds and rumbles of thunder, but only about .03 inches of much-needed rain.

I heard scanner reports of trees down and power outages, but I thought we had escaped any excitement on Kingsway.

I went out to pick up a limb that had fallen off a maple tree several days ago, and was surprised to see this splintered walnut tree. It’s leaning against another tree, and isn’t in a place where it would damage anything except a concrete birdbath.

I’ll let God and gravity take care of it.

June 27, 2023

Time to Gripe about Walnuts

When I walked out to the car a couple weeks ago, I saw some marble-sized walnuts on the ground, just about the size that would hurt if you stepped on them with your bare feet.

Saturday, I noticed that a branch had snuck its way under my tarp car cover. When I grabbed the clippers, I saw that we’re going to have an early walnut season this year.

I’m not a big fan of walnuts

Griping about walnuts is a perennial topic for me. See my musings.

June 15, 2023June 16, 2023

Tuning Up Rosie

Erica and Glenn Hamilton tune Rosie the piano at history center 06-13-2023

Erica and Glenn Hamilton came to the Cape Girardeau County History Center in Jackson to tune “Rosie,” an 1879ish Brazilian Rosewood piano, Serial Number 17919.

Rosie getting ready for Sallie Ann

Rosie is getting in shape for the Welcome Home Sallie Ann tea party on June 17, at the history center at Jackson. The doll, which dates back to the 1840s, passed through the family for generations before coming home to Jackson and the History Center. (Sallie Ann is on display in the background of this photo.)

The tea party will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Special refreshments will be served, and Antebellum textile expert Hope Eddleman will talk about the doll’s clothing.

Lots of pieces and parts

Mother always wanted me to learn how to play the piano so I’d be the life of the party. I demurred, grumbling that I hardly knew how to play the radio, let alone a complicated musical instrument. Besides, being the life of the party was the last thing in the world that would appeal to me.

Because of that, I never had much occasion to peer into the innards of the music machine. I was surprised at how modular it all was. The keyboard, with the hammers that hit the strings, pulls out like a kitchen drawer, for example.

Tools are relatively simple

I didn’t stay for the whole process, but the tools I saw being used were things that most of us have in the kitchen junk drawer – basic screwdrivers.

Most of the rough tuning seemed to involve hitting a key and seeing if it caused the hammer to hit the right combination of strings.

Once the striking part was on target, it was a matter of a trained ear getting the string tensions where they made the right sounds. If Erica and Glenn used any fancy electronic gizmos, they wheeled them in after I left.

I’m sure Sallie Ann will be pleased.