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that crack split and the leading skin therapy for people who work with their hands o keeffe s also makes a tub of cream just for feet but we find that as advertised working hands is great for both hands and feet you need to apply a minuscule amount a few times a day rub it in and enjoy the relief after about three days it will have worked its magic and you can put the little tub away until the next episode if you have this problem try working hands we found our first tub at a local hardware store but we think tractor supply also carries it check it out online and see where it s offered near you it s probably on amazon as well and it s both affordable and long lasting we bought a second tub as backup but are still on our first years later perfect pomegranate cocktails december 30 2014 posted by ourfriendben in recipes wit and wisdom tags asti bubbles pama pomegranate pomegranate liqueur sparkling water add a comment silence dogood here you ve heard that pomegranates pomegranate juice basically pomegranate everything is good for you right so it had to only be a matter of time before someone developed a pomegranate liqueur our friend ben and i discovered this on christmas eve when we d been invited to celebrate with good friends and our hostess surprised us with a christmas present a bottle of pama when we opened the bottle we immediately noticed the heavenly fragrance and brilliant red color we could tell from the smell that this was going to be sweet way too sweet to drink on its own for us anyway we needed something bitter to tone it down and bubbly to cut the syrupy texture mandarin orange sparkling water to the rescue the chilled carbonated water was exactly what the pama needed think a goblet of 1 8 pama to 7 8 sparkling water beautiful red holiday color and light effervescent texture if you d like something a bit sweeter you could swap out martini asti or yellowtail white bubbles for the sparkling water in the same proportion or whatever pleases you there are more recipes with the bottle and no doubt still more online what a great way to celebrate the new year with this simple cocktail perhaps adding some pomegranate seeds and an orange slice would be the perfect finishing touch til next time silence is the bell still ringing round your house december 23 2014 posted by ourfriendben in wit and wisdom tags christmas goodwill pope francis salvation army scrooge 1 comment so far to paraphrase the two gentlemen who accosted scrooge on christmas eve in charles dickens s beloved a christmas carol at this festive season of the year the poor feel want more keenly as the cold bites hard and the well to do rejoice our friend ben and silence dogood love the scene in the musical scrooge where you see poor bob cratchit trying to pull together christmas for his impoverished family against a backdrop of well to do victorians and what they re able to buy it would be enough to give even a scrooge as mrs cratchit points out a piece of her mind to think about the great divide between the rich and poor in the victorian era was as great as our own today but there was a difference the scrooges of the past didn t have to see the poor unless they wanted to they were shut away in workhouses and poorhouses and coal mines and factories the oliver twists another great dickens creation of the world deprivation and dirt were ways of life katniss everdeen of the hunger games lives this kind of life at home in district 12 today the poor aren t kept away from us we see them shopping at wal mart or eating a big mac painting their nails and using their electronics just like us they don t look thin or hungry cheap but filling convenience store food usually makes sure of that unless they re homeless and they re certainly not begging but that doesn t mean they re not suffering just this week we read about a grandmother who was caught trying to shoplift a carton of eggs to feed her multigenerational household because the carton cost 1 75 and she only had 1 25 and was desperate the policeman called to the scene bought her the eggs and she tried to give him the 1 25 in the ultimate happy ending scenario she wasn t charged and the townspeople started sending in food for her family and other needy people in their area also this week we read about families who had to choose between food and health care every month pope francis is building baths in one wing of the vatican so the poor and homeless can take regular baths and feel better about themselves and the soup kitchens and rescue missions are as busy as ever while the rest of us have been documented throwing out an ungodly amount of food 48 if memory serves not even bothering to compost it or say feed it to the chickens or earthworms our friend ben is sure pope francis s favorite birthday present this year was the massive amount of meat a spanish meat organization donated for distribution to the poor in his name getting back to the point of this post for many years around this time everywhere our friend ben and silence went we would encounter the jolly santa and the black salvation army kettle his bell ringing furiously as he doubtless froze to death in front of one local pharmacy santa had been replaced by caroling kids whatever the size of our offering we were always happy to give but for the past three or so years the black kettles and their tenders have been gone whatever happened to them we used to have a thriving goodwill in the shopping mall in the closest little town to us it was always packed with people most of whom appeared to be buying clothes shoes toys and the like for their families most of whom were poor most of whom spoke a language other than english our friend ben and silence dogood loved the goodwill going there was like treasure hunting you never knew what you d find and as noted it was as crowded as cabela s a godsend for people for whom wal mart was a luxury a thriving business then one day it was gone we were horrified but what must the people who depended on it to clothe and entertain their children think just yesterday we went to drop off some clothes at one of those drop boxes in a pharmacy parking lot only to find that it too was gone and nobody seemed to know where another one was why and where had it gone in areas where just getting from one place to another is an issue if you don t have a car having stores like goodwill just pack up and leave is a real hardship for those of us who d like to bring a little warmth and good cheer to those in want during the christmas season failing to find santa with his bell and black kettle on every corner is really demoralizing if the bell s still ringing round your house please give to keep it going for us it s one of the happiest sounds of christmas and please don t waste food this year while others are going hungry try a red roo this christmas december 15 2014 posted by ourfriendben in recipes tags campari champagne cocktails holiday cocktails simple champagne cocktails sparkling rose add a comment silence dogood here this past saturday i was reading an article in the wall street journal called the tippling point the article was about the rising popularity of champagne cocktails how they were breaking out of the mimosa brunch category and turning up at parties and suppers according to the article this was because good champagnes were becoming so affordable that people could afford to use them in cocktails unthinkable with expensive estate champagnes that other sparkling wines like cava and sparkling rose and asti and prosecco were becoming available in dry versions that were even more affordable then champagne and delicious in cocktails they also pointed out that champagne cocktails went well with any food were very light on the stomach and left you feeling refreshed the following day as opposed to hung over the article interviewed seasoned mixologists about their and their patrons favorite champagne cocktails i noticed that while the champagne or its equivalent sparkling wine may have cost only 30 a bottle there were bazillion uber expensive or unavailable ingredients in the form of liqueurs or say fresh squeezed meyer lemons and where will you get those or homemade simple syrup infused with 10 super expensive elusive spices and strained through god knows what after cooking geez by the end of it all you might as well just show up at the party with a bottle of champagne what i did notice however was that the basic recipes for the various champagne cocktails included liqueurs bitters and typically fruit and fruit liqueurs strained reading that you have to shake and strain a cocktail is enough to make me break out in hives can t you just pour it in the damned glass and drink it but i digress my favorite liqueur is campari the beautiful red herbal bitter aperitif typically i drink a splash of campari with mandarin orange sparkling water and a splash of key lime juice but i was inspired by the wall street journal article to invent a champagne cocktail of my own one that s affordable flavorful and beautiful bless our friend ben he d recently surprised me with a bottle of campari and a bottle of pink bubbles a dry sparkling rose it s made by yellowtail whose symbol is the yellow tailed kangaroo thus the roo in red roo i find it delicious as is chilled of course and you can get a bottle for 9 99 around here can t beat that price campari will set you back a bit more as in about 28 99 a bottle but you use so little in a red roo that a single bottle will see you well into the new year using just a little campari is key here it s bitter sweet and complex and you want it to color and add some flavor notes to your red roo not overpower it try a jigger in your wine glass to start with then fill the glass with chilled pink bubbles do not be put off by the too cute name this is good stuff i promise the color should be a perfect christmas red and the flavor should be delicious with a light texture and that luscious sparkly finish if you find you have a taste for campari you can always up the amount you put in your red roo but not to the point where you weigh it down or make it too sweet please unlike everyone in the article i read i don t happen to own a set of coupe glasses or champagne flutes i don t have room for glassware that can only be used for one thing and i have better things to do with my money so i use plain old wineglasses for my red roos and they look both beautiful and festive and taste amazing try some this holiday season cheers note i thought up a complementary holiday champagne cocktail to offer holiday guests the green roo you d substitute absinthe the green fairy for the campari and bubbles yellowtail s sparkling white also dry and quite good on its own for the pink bubbles i d think a tray of these red and green sparkling cocktails would be an amazing kickoff to any holiday gathering assuming the absinthe remained green and clear absinthe is an herbal aperitif like campari and it got a bad name after so many french artists died after hanging out in clubs and bars drinking it it was considered the opium of its day as a result it was banned here until just recently when someone finally figured out that it wasn t the absinthe per se but drinking until their livers failed that killed all those idiots despite absinthe s reprieve i can t recommend the green roo simply because i ve never had absinthe and i have a bad feeling that i read somewhere that when you add it to a glass it becomes cloudy which would hardly enhance a sparkling cocktail much less give it a green color but then why did they call it the green fairy if anyone knows the answer to these mysteries please let me know meanwhile enjoy your red roos til next time silence keep your christmas plants alive december 7 2014 posted by ourfriendben in gardening homesteading pets tags care of christmas plants cyclamen keeping cyclamen alive and healthy keeping poinsettias alive and healthy poinsettias add a comment our friend ben and silence dogood were determined to get some poinsettias and cyclamen for our mantel and christmas table yesterday we didn t want anything fancy just two white cyclamen and two scarlet poinsettias for our mantel and one large red poinsettia and two smaller white poinsettias for our christmas table we ve found that the mantel plants are perfect with our christmas tree with its red balls and twinkly white lights and the kitchen table is too small for anything more elaborate than our poinsettias and two red candles as we were driving back from another classic display the goschenhoppen historians christmas market we passed a small greenhouse that had been on the road from green lane to red hill just about forever it was a classic mom and pop operation its signs said it was open and one of them said they grew their own poinsettias a real rarity in this age when most greenhouses groceries and the like buy theirs as plugs started plants from one or two enormous poinsettia greenhouses silence and i screeched to a halt turned around and returned to the little greenhouse it was a horrible cold drizzly miserable day the kind where you just can t wait to get back inside and crank up the heat or turn up the fire no wonder we were the only customers and grandma was the only person minding the store but the plants were gorgeous and grandma was full of good easy advice for keeping them healthy since we only bought the cyclamen and poinsettias this is what she told us to keep cyclamen fresh and healthy don t water them until the soil is dry the leaves may wilt but the second you water them they ll perk up and the plant will look beautiful including those gorgeous patterned leaves choose plants with plenty of buds coming on look at the base inside the leaves and you ll have gorgeous blooms continuing through easter as for poinsettias grandma said the only thing that could make them wilt was to overwater them we ve heard that before too that you can kill poinsettias by overwatering them but otherwise you ll enjoy them through the summer our small white poinsettias free from our local bank last christmas lasted through the summer who s to know what these will do let us know how yours hold up shiny hair at home december 3 2014 posted by ourfriendben in homesteading wit and wisdom tags hair treatments homemade hair treatments yogurt hair treatments 1 comment so far silence dogood here i was just reading an article on how to protect your hair from drying brittleness and a lifeless look now that winter is sucking humidity out of your home and your home s heating system is making the situation worse their experts suggested making an infusion of vinegar fresh mint leaves fresh rosemary and lavender then pouring boiling water over it and letting it steep once it had reached room temperature you were supposed to strain it then pour it over your hair after shampooing work it in and then rinse it out with cold water no thank you it s horrible enough to get into the shower when it s...