Yesterday I calculated out my ingredient costs for bread. My forehead did not get very sweaty, despite such ‘solve for X’ problems as figuring out the per teaspoon costs of honey or yeast, when such things are sold by weight. Also, I didn’t have the items in front of me to measure. Some things came out ridiculously cheap, like yeast at 1.5¢ per loaf. Others were surprising. Butter and Kalamata olives come out quite expensive, while milk and buttermilk are still somewhat cheap. Currants are expensive, honey is not. Buying things in bulk makes a huge difference, and now that I’ve sourced a place to get flour for $15 per 50lb bag, my profit margin per loaf has gone way up. If I can sell at least three loaves per week, I should have enough to make equipment purchases each month to the tune of $32 and still break even. I’m not sure if this is how HP and Apple profited in their infancy, with such staggeringly huge profits. They probably started small.
We got to eat outside last night. Cool air and flickering light from the pool gave it a ‘pupus on the lanai’ feel. If we can create a more cozy outdoor room out back, I’d be tempted to eat out there every night. I tried not to notice the moths floundering in the pool, attracted by the light. If only I could get some swimming lizards to skim the pool, then retreat to the plants on the patio when I want to swim.
Baby Harbat has a bird clock in her room from the Audubon Society. We’ve had one for years in our kitchen, and I gave my wife the Identiflyer Alarm Clock a couple years ago. Every hour, birds, frogs, and birds of prey call out throughout the house. Last night, the eastern meadowlark called out from Baby Harbat’s room. A few seconds later, says my wife, the mockingbird outside sings out the same tune. Nature works! When we first got the Identiflyer, I took it outside and played the hawk noise over and over to see if it would bother the birds in the back yard (it didn’t). They were more intrigued by the purple martin and other birds. But this is the first time we’ve had true bird-clock interaction. I’d better make sure the windows are shut at night, or I’ll come into BH’s room and find the mockingbird making out with the clock. “How…could you? I thought we had something!”
Writer, architect, father, husband.
Maybe the problem was that the hawk noise wasn't frightening enough. Have you tried a Nazgul scream or an elk bugle? Failing those, Steely Dan is generally considered the "going nuclear" option to drive anything away.
nature teaches us everyday