So my food experiments are going pretty well (except the ones for the cats).

- The water filter I ordered from ProOne arrived and we've had about a week or two with it. I'm glad I only ordered the 2.25 gallon size because it is very large in person. The dimensions don't sound large (8.5"x20.5"), but somehow when you get it out of the box and on the stand it looms on the counter like a huge stainless monolith. Spouse says it looks like something from fallout that he would want to collect for scrap. I do very much like that it came with the stand and the metal spigot. I do not like that they drilled the hole for the lid knob off center, by at least .25". It's a good thing the lid is up at eye level because that stuff drives me nuts (I may eventually drill a new hole, because I still know the knob is off). Because it's brushed stainless it's very obvious that the placement is wrong due to the circular brushing pattern. Anyway, it's a lid, it doesn't hurt the function (unless you care about precision and then it is a minor travesty).

Everything went together pretty easy and I've had no problems so far, except pouring water on the floor first thing in the morning because my not-awake brain assumed that running water = sink because running water always = sink. Getting my feet wet once was enough, learned my lesson. Had to spend the first 10 hours flushing the filter three full times. With one 7" filter, it took a little over 3 hours per full flush. I got two filters but thought I'd try just one to start. It seems to be working a little faster right now - one thing I did not anticipate was being able to hear the sound of water dripping if the lower tank is close to empty. I'm not sound particular, thank god, but it might bother someone else. Seems like once it gets half full the dripping is a lot quieter. For the first hour it would make great background noise for a spelunking adventure.

The filtered water tastes much better than the tap water. That's the whole point, right? After filling the top tank, it reeks of chlorine like swimming pool water because it traps the fumes coming off the tap water. Gross. The bottom tank does not. The filtered water tastes sweeter and milder, without the chlorine or any sour metallic aftertaste. It's nice having filtered water for cooking or projects, esp since I have been messing around with syrups and drink mixers. Seems like the 2.25 gallon is a good size for us, but with both of us home lately we do end up filling it at least once a day.

When I lived in a dry cabin and had to haul in my water, I went through about one 7 gallon aquatainer a week. I had three aquatainers and I went to the water wagon for water about every two weeks when I was on the last aquatainer (water wagon its a water delivery/water access business in fairbanks serving people with no on-site water, you drive up to a small outbuilding, pay for water by the gallon and get it dispensed in your container, just like a gas station but for water). Most of that water was used for washing dishes and washing my hair and such. Some water was used for food prep and tea. I worked in town so I'd get drinkables like coffee at work. You learn pretty quick to take advantage of other available drinking sources and also to conserve your own supply, because water is heavy and the whole process of hauling water sucks, especially in the winter when all the excess spilled water at the water wagon station freezes into a slick sheet of ice, so you're trying to wrestle a 50 lb container in your car hoping you don't slip and hurt yourself. Washing dishes especially sucks, because to make the water hot it has to be heated on the stove. I did laundry at the laundromat (they had a pay shower too, kill two birds) but years later I did figure out how to do small loads of laundry by hand with a toilet plunger like device called a rapid washer, and a large commercial salad spinner. It's not a super efficient use of water, but it's a non-machine solution for laundry that works reasonably well for smaller clothing items like shirts and underwear. Basically, living without running water within about 10 miles of stable civilization is doable if inconvenient, esp in winter. I knew people who had nice greywater plumbed systems for showers and basic uses - my cabin was just very simple. Living without running water when there's no civilization would be a completely different beast with completely different priorities.

So we're using 2 gallons of drinking water a day in various beverages and foods and that's a lot if we had to haul that water in from a reliable source. Nevermind water needed for hygiene and cleaning. It's good to be aware of your normal water consumption habits.

I think the ProOne filter was a great anniversary/christmas present choice. Water tastes better, less hauling drinkables up the stairs, seems like a quality product (minus offcenter knob); mission accomplished. I do think it was a better choice over the Berkey, roughly $100 cheaper when you count the included extras like the stand and metal spigot. It's nice and I think we'll get a lot of use out of it.

- I made another batch of lemonade syrup with half the sugar and it was much much better. I also made ginger syrup and it came out decent for the first try. The process is not difficult, and inexpensive if you can get a bulk bag. I doubt it saves money compared to buying soda, but at least there's no corn syrup, right? Since we have the sodastream (and filtered water), making syrups for drinks on hand seems like a no-brainer. It's fun making a drink with syrups, feels like fancy chemistry. I got a jigger shaped like a miniature beaker in borosilicate glass. It's adorable - would make a great geek gift with a flask of homemade syrup and a couple recipe cards. Yeah, you can slum it with a regular 1/4 cup measuring container instead of a real jigger but mine doesn't pour clean and I hate sticky dribbles everywhere and constantly having a dirty 1/4 cup. I also got us a bar spoon, which is weirdly super useful. I didn't realize how many spoons we were constantly dirtying stirring beverages. Now we just have the one dedicated drink spoon and it lives in a tall recycled olive jar. I also got us an old fashioned glass juicer, because squeezing lemon juice with my bare hands got old real fast. It's sort of like a wide gravy boat with a reamer in the center. I like that it is heavy, glass, no moving parts and goes in the dishwasher with no worries.

I found a sugar free alternative to simple syrup. I'm not keen on fake sugar sweeteners, but I'm also not keen on the carbs from real sugar sweeteners. I figure if I make a tart version of the syrups with less sugar, then balance it with a little of the sugar free syrup to taste, that might be a decent compromise. Making my own version of sugar free simple syrup, or trying to sub in fake sugar in the syrup recipes, sounds like a miserable horrible idea. No.

- I finished making the shrubberies (fig-tamarind-black pepper, lemon-cardamom, blackberry-mint, raspberry-thyme, peach-rosemary). I haven't tried them all yet. As far as I can tell, the frozen berries work pretty well. Blackberry and raspberry have a lot of fruit flavor. The frozen peaches less so. I think fresh overripe peaches might work a lot better for shrubs, because the frozen fruit is still very firm even after days of soaking so there probably isn't much juice, and peach is a mild flavor anyway. I did use the peach-rosemary to flavor some roasted brussels sprouts and that came out tasty.

I'm working on a strawberry shrub. Thawed frozen strawberries, cut them up, mixed them with about equal volume of sugar, let sit for a couple days. Heated it up gently until simmering, mashing the strawberries. Strained the juice back in the glass. Added 2 parts apple cider vinegar. Letting it sit now.

- Apparently there is something called a ginger bug, which is a wild fermented ginger and sugar mix that ends up being a drink, not the same as making ginger beer. I must try it. I love ginger. Not interested in getting back into brewing kombucha right now, but this ginger bug sounds like a similar but less fussy version.

- You know what's good? Lentils. The big bummer about a low carb diet when food costs are rising is that the foods you're supposed to avoid are all the economical bulk staples. Rice, beans, potatoes, grains, pasta, bread. What with meat prices going up and supply chain issues, I've been trying to figure out how I can go more plant based just so if there's no meat immediately when I need it, I'm not too fussed. It's not the meat that is the problem for people. It's the psychological impact of needing something they know how to cook reliably and quickly, not able to get it and having no alternative plans. Like the cats: "Different crunchies? We are going to STARVE." A lot of Americans don't have much resilience because instant gratification has been the dominant market strategy for a good while - and when most people are stretched thin and overworked and depressed, instant gratification sounds pretty good! If a house is sky-high unobtainable, why not dream small with a cheeseburger? If supply chain hassles keep foods unreliable, people are only going to get crankier (hangrier). Grocery shopping and cooking are thankless chores, honestly, and it's worse when all you want is a cheeseburger and you can't find the hamburger to make yourself one. So uncertain food supply issues will take an psychological toll. It's the undervalued domestic work that people don't realize is so key to keep life not-so-bad. More stress for the cook, more stress on the home, and that rolls downhill for everyone. At least in the great depression people were used to cooking efficiently from scratch. Here we are 100 years later, largely dependent on premade box food, frozen bag foods and things that come in jars. Who's got time for cooking from scratch?

Soybeans and lentils seem like my best bet for lower net carb filler options. Still on the high end but doable with small portion sizes. Lentils are readily available, easy to store, cook up fairly quick from a dry state, take on flavors well, have good nutritional value. I think while spouse is gone I will experiment with some recipes, like fritters or patties. The idea of having a bunch of them premade in the freezer, ready to heat with tasty sauces on the side, sounds pretty good. Spouse will eat anything if it comes with a tasty enough sauce. I hear you can sprout them and that'll reduce their carb count significantly.

Made a meatloaf last night with half ground beef and half lentils. It was good!

Lentil meatloaf.

The supply chain issues became apparent in the local stores on our normal grocery run. All of a sudden it was very obvious they were moving product to fill in large gaps and out of a significant number of normal things. Very low on meat and dairy choices. There are plenty of other stores around if we truly needed something specific, but it was a reminder of what we've taken for granted. Letting the fridge go bare could result in unexpected food improvisation. So hey, you know what's good? Lentils. Always going to have a bag of lentils in the cupboard.

- My epic food battle with the cats has a new chapter. I made the no-salt, no-herbs bone broth and then I cooked the giblets in there and cut them into little pieces. I was able to add spoonfuls of it into their wet food and they ate it, but Cat wasn't thrilled and Other Cat probably ate 90%. I did some more searching for recipes and found out that cats supposedly love meat baby food. So I got a little jar of chicken & gravy baby food. Ingredients: chicken, water, cornstarch. (I use recycled baby food jars to store my spices so I can always use a new one - add a small rare earth magnet or two to the lid and you can stick them on the side of the fridge) Both cats LOVE the baby food - they got all bright eyed and licked it off the spoon. Okay. I can't feed them baby food all the time but it's good to know.

Things Cat likes:

- chicken & gravy baby food

- tuna juice

- temptations cat treats

- gravy in the canned cat food (not pate, no seafood flavors)

- cheap ice cream treats, like fudgesicles

- my ear jewelry

Things Cat does not like:

- chunks of chicken or tuna meat or giblets

- fish oil

- lickable wet cat treats

- lil gravies cat treats

- plain chicken bone broth

So I took about a cup of the plain chicken meat and simmered it in some of the bone broth. Then I put the chicken in our tiny food processor and blended it up. I added the tuna juice from two tuna cans, the giblet chunks from the broth, some of the broth, the rest of the baby food, some of their temptations treats ground into crumbs, a 1/4 tsp of cornstarch, and 5 capsules of their powdered joint supplement, just to get the flavor in there even if it isn't as strong a concentration as intended. I blended it up into a baby food like consistency. Then I made a sample tray with three little cups - one with tuna juice, one with baby food, and then the homemade food. All have some supplement.

- the baby food got sampled first, but wasn't scarfed.

- the tuna juice got completely licked up.

- the homemade food was tried and found preferable to the baby food in the end, but neither were completely gone when I took the tray back.

So basically I am winning? I'm going to crack the code of finicky cat tastebuds. I took the homemade food and spread it on a parchment lined cookie sheet, put it in the freezer and then cut it into little square portion sizes and put the squares in a bag back in the freezer. This morning I warmed up a couple squares first thing for them, and it's all gone now. I'm hoping I can get Cat used to a higher concentration of supplement with time. I'm doing all this for his gimpy back leg because he's having some trouble with stiffness. You're gonna take your supplement, Cat.

I also read a comment by someone who said he'd cook oxtail in a pressure cooker and his cats liked the clear jelly that was leftover. So that might be something to try.

- Been in a blue mood for no reason. Pretty sure it's hormones. Spouse is in an anxious funk as well. He's worried about the training and his physical fitness - he worries he's going to be the old fat guy. His imposter syndrome is creeping up. I think he'll settle down once he gets there and makes friends. He had a conference phone call with the trainee class and it made him feel better because some people couldn't figure out how to mute themselves and were getting scolded. These are people who have been sifted through the same horrible hiring process and are all supposedly bright, capable, type A individuals picked for their ability to color in the lines. Someone played Immigrant Song by Led Zepplin on the conference call audio accidently. I hope spouse gets that guy as a roommate. Yes, that's the person for us. Bring us the weirdo. Anyway, I try to tell spouse he's amazing and he's going to do fine, but I'm biased and my opinion doesn't count for much. Spouse says if he fails training he can go back to his old job, but fuck that. He hates the commute, he hates the city. Fuck uncle sam if he doesn't like spouse. We will go live in the woods and be feral. So we're down in the dumps right now. Spouse's brother was in the area for a conference so spouse drove down to meet him for dinner. I got it in my head that he was going to get in a bad car accident and was nervous until he got back safe. Like, some horrible thing is going to happen and wreck everything. Kind of a mess right now, until he is delivered to training.

I really hate this pandemic. I haven't had much feeling about it because it's just a thing that happened. Whether the source is natural or manmade, who cares. We were going to get a true pandemic eventually. We could have taken appropriate measures and handled it. Covid was controllable with good protocols. We could have been back to mostly normal a whole year ago, if people followed guidance and we had a culture that really cared about life. But here we are, wallowing in delta variant, sitting ducks for the next new improved variant. You fucking morons. The more people get sick, the more chances for mutation, the more likely we'll get something really scary and we'll have to scramble for a whole new vaccine. It's so stupid. But that's on humanity, not the virus. The virus is like the weather. I don't get mad at clouds when it rains.

But I was thinking about what I'll do once spouse is safe at training and I started realizing all the things I lost and the toll it has taken, and all the things I will have to work so hard to get back. I really hate the pandemic. I hate wondering if we have what we need. I hate speculating if it's going to be worse or better in 3 months. I hate trying to figure out the impact on my future profitability. I hate trying to figure out a strategy for future interactions with strangers when I find out they're antivax or antimask or whatever. Hey, thanks for doing your part to ruin the country for everyone, dipshit. Good job. You tweedle-dumbed us all into tedious purgatory. I'm not going to tattoo you because I don't trust you not to rub your fresh tattoo in the nearest cow patty and blame me for the infection. That's what I'd like to say. If you can't wear a mask, it's likely you can't follow aftercare instructions properly. If you cry about the mild discomfort of a mask, you're going to be a champ at holding still so I can rapid fire hundreds of thousands of ink filled holes in your skin, I am sure. Bet you're a twitchy flincher wiggle worm and I'm going to be chasing you around the table in an hour.

So there's that.

Spouse is going to take the laptop to training so I have to get all my files and such and move over to the raspberry pi, which has been the plan since like dec/jan, I was just lazy. The one hitch is I have yet to figure out how to get the scanner to interface, but perhaps someone has figured something new in the past 8 months. I can use spouse's desktop in a pinch, and I have a really ancient laptop I should cull the SSD from, but really I'd love to just port myself over to some flavor of linux for the foreseeable future and stay there. What can I do to get myself shifted to open source as much as possible. How can I streamline the technology I use.

An excellent side effect is this will force me to break my current browsing habits. Like, I've always looked forward to the big changes in my life because it gives an opportunity to completely reevaluate. Once you get stuck in a groove it's so much harder to initiate real change. If you pick yourself up and dump yourself in a new environment, all of a sudden so much growth becomes possible. It forces learning and fresh perspective. If you move to a new state, new job, new home, new friends, all of a sudden you have such freedom to remake yourself. All the changes you've been pondering can bubble to the surface and manifest. Why not take the unknown path? Why not? And then you land on your feet and you earn some real confidence.

I've been cocooning hardcore since the pandemic. Super hardcore, I barely touch my phone and it's on silent. The timing has just not been right. I think subconsciously I was still digesting on my own identity, plus the resurgence of delta variant didn't do any good. I'm going to have to stop cocooning but I don't really know what that looks like yet in practical terms. Do I just put out a PSA that I'm officially a tech hermit now and communicate mostly via snail mail unless we can meet in person? Is that what I'm comfortable with? Accept my eccentricity or kick rocks?

Shit, my handwriting is terrible. I'm going to have to practice my script. On the bright side I already have fountain pens and a lovely selection of colored inks (because of course I do).

The thing about being eccentric is you have to make it worth the hoop jumping, so that's on me. Like, I better have nice penmanship and include a watercolor sketch or something.

Taking my vitamins and such and feeling physically good. I'm somewhat confident in saying the headaches are under control, but truly only time will tell. Staying away from hard seltzers.