So I had a very irritating phone call this week. I was sitting at someones desk fixing their computer, when the main phone rang at work. The receptionist was away from her desk so I decided to answer the phone. There was a man on the other end of the phone that asked about a particular sale of almonds we had done. He wanted to know if the almonds had been pasteurized. I remembered the sale, and told him that they had been pasteurized. Then all of a sudden this lady starts telling me off. She was really upset that the almonds they purchased had been pasteurized. She told me that it was ridiculous to pasteurize them because almonds don't have salmonella, they only get it through the mishandling of almonds. She said that salmonella came from livestock, not almond trees. She inferred the almonds would only be contaminated when they are processed and if we didn't have clean processing procedures.
I almost wanted to tell her that she didn't really know what she was talking about. Where does salmonella come from? It can come from birds, snakes, lizards, and other creatures. What do we have out in the almond orchards? Snakes, lizards, birds, coyotes, jack rabbits, gophers, squirrels, mice, rats, ect. True I haven't heard of cattle or sheep in our orchards, but I can't imagine that mice and rats are any better than cattle.
Then she had the nerve to tell me that she had looked up the "law" and knew that we could sell her under 100 lbs and it didn't have to be pasteurized. First, there is no "law" for almonds to be pasteurized. The almond industry has voluntarily implemented pasteurization requirements on all domestic loads. Second, only sales at farmer's markets and at roadside stands will be able to sell almonds that are unpasteurized and only up to 100 lbs to one consumer. Third, the sale that she was part of, he had purchased 2000 pounds. So he wouldn't have qualified for that exemption. Even if he did, we do not have a roadside stand, nor do we sell at a farmer's market and so we would not have sold him unpasteurized almonds.
Anyway, she was mad because she wanted sprout-able food and now she had 100 lbs that had been treated for salmonella. She didn't want that because she was trying to eat healthy and now our almonds have been chemically treated for salmonella. I wanted to tell her that our almonds aren't organic, and have been produced with the help of chemicals.
I did tell her that we don't sell retail, and this sale was done as a favor because he was one of our bee keepers, and we only do these sales for our contract laborers and other vendors.
When she hung up the phone, she was still frustrated with the situation, but she had calmed down a bit. Ahg!! What a way to start off a day.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
So today at work I heard some disturbing news. First if you actually like almonds, you may not want to read this. :-)
Every year we have to sell/dispose of inedible almonds. These can sell for about $.20/lb. They are not fit for human consumption, however, they can be used for animal feed, primarily cattle. We will usually sell the inedible almonds to the oil stock people who will press the almonds to get the oil out of them. So, yes, this is where almond oil comes from...it comes from almonds that aren't fit for human consumption. So why is the oil okay? I have no idea.
What makes an almond inedible? First I have to explain a little about almond harvesting. When the almonds are ready, we will shake the trees to drop the nuts on the ground. Then the almonds are swept into nice neat rows. This is so we can continue to water the trees during the 1 1/2-2 weeks the almonds are drying on the ground. When the almond falls on the ground, more than likely it is still in the hull (the green fleshy part that is similar to a peach), as well as in the shell. So for a time the almonds are on the dirt. Finally they are swept up and brought to stockpiles to sit for a while longer, or they are immediately processed. While the almonds were on the tree, they were susceptible to disease or insect damage. When the almonds were on the ground, they are once again susceptible to insect damage. When the almonds are brought in, if there is a high moisture content, then the almonds are susceptible to mold.
Mold does make an almond inedible. Insect damage is actually another story. There is such a thing as good insect damage and bad insect damage. I have never bothered to figure out the difference, and bad insect damage is considered inedible. There are other things that make an almond inedible, but for this story, I don't need to go into them.
Sometime after we finished the season in February, mold was discovered in some of the bins. This is something we deal with every year. The normal course is to open up the bin to air it out and to stop the growth. Then the almonds are sold as inedible. However, when we dispose of inedibles, there are certain guidelines we have follow in order to not have to pay an assessment on those pounds. So, allegedly one of the foreman discovered the mold and decided to close the bag on the bin a bit tighter instead of airing it out. His theory was to make the % of inedibles higher so we surpass the guidelines by a lot when we disposed of it. However, too much mold makes the almonds a total loss. He apparently didn't know this, and so when he finally let us know about the 50,000 lbs, it was too late. So today we had to bury 50,000 lbs of almonds.
I was a bit disturbed to know that someone made this type of decision without running it by management. I don't think we would have closed up the bins if we had known. The second is to know that we had 50,000 of moldy product in the same vicinity as good product. I understand that it is in closed plastic bags, but I can't see that this would be a good thing.
Anyway, it is done. There isn't much I can do at this point. The ABC employee was at work today to witness the destruction of the almonds, and now they are gone.
Every year we have to sell/dispose of inedible almonds. These can sell for about $.20/lb. They are not fit for human consumption, however, they can be used for animal feed, primarily cattle. We will usually sell the inedible almonds to the oil stock people who will press the almonds to get the oil out of them. So, yes, this is where almond oil comes from...it comes from almonds that aren't fit for human consumption. So why is the oil okay? I have no idea.
What makes an almond inedible? First I have to explain a little about almond harvesting. When the almonds are ready, we will shake the trees to drop the nuts on the ground. Then the almonds are swept into nice neat rows. This is so we can continue to water the trees during the 1 1/2-2 weeks the almonds are drying on the ground. When the almond falls on the ground, more than likely it is still in the hull (the green fleshy part that is similar to a peach), as well as in the shell. So for a time the almonds are on the dirt. Finally they are swept up and brought to stockpiles to sit for a while longer, or they are immediately processed. While the almonds were on the tree, they were susceptible to disease or insect damage. When the almonds were on the ground, they are once again susceptible to insect damage. When the almonds are brought in, if there is a high moisture content, then the almonds are susceptible to mold.
Mold does make an almond inedible. Insect damage is actually another story. There is such a thing as good insect damage and bad insect damage. I have never bothered to figure out the difference, and bad insect damage is considered inedible. There are other things that make an almond inedible, but for this story, I don't need to go into them.
Sometime after we finished the season in February, mold was discovered in some of the bins. This is something we deal with every year. The normal course is to open up the bin to air it out and to stop the growth. Then the almonds are sold as inedible. However, when we dispose of inedibles, there are certain guidelines we have follow in order to not have to pay an assessment on those pounds. So, allegedly one of the foreman discovered the mold and decided to close the bag on the bin a bit tighter instead of airing it out. His theory was to make the % of inedibles higher so we surpass the guidelines by a lot when we disposed of it. However, too much mold makes the almonds a total loss. He apparently didn't know this, and so when he finally let us know about the 50,000 lbs, it was too late. So today we had to bury 50,000 lbs of almonds.
I was a bit disturbed to know that someone made this type of decision without running it by management. I don't think we would have closed up the bins if we had known. The second is to know that we had 50,000 of moldy product in the same vicinity as good product. I understand that it is in closed plastic bags, but I can't see that this would be a good thing.
Anyway, it is done. There isn't much I can do at this point. The ABC employee was at work today to witness the destruction of the almonds, and now they are gone.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Rio
Well the golden, golden retriever passed away. No this wasn't my dog, but Lynn and Jason's dog. They had the dog for about three years. She was a great dog, she was really sweet. Phil and Sam were able to beat her up. Both of my cats are de-clawed, yet either one of them intimidated and beat up Rio. Whenever Rio came over to my house because I dog sat, I would have to pick this 60-70 lb dog up and put it on my bed in my room because she was afraid to come in my room because of my two cats. It was kind of funny. Also, I can just see Rio walking around with some stuffed animal (or not so stuffed because she pulled the stuffing out) around in her mouth. She was a really cute dog. She loved to swim. Lynn and Jason had a pool, and we would throw balls out into the pool and she would cautiously get in and then get the ball. Whenever we were in the water, she would have to be where ever we were. One time she had been in the water too long, and she was getting tired. It was like she swam over to me and expected me hold her so she wouldn't go under.
She was one trial dog though. One time I dog sat for her and had left my journal on the couch. On the fourth day of my dog sitting, she decided that she wanted to eat the purple fuzzy cover off the journal. She left the rest of the journal intact, it was the cover that she went after.
Also, she had had a couple of major surgeries while she was a puppy. She had allergies, she had the Valley Fever (only a slight case), allergies to many different kinds of normal dog food. She was one special dog.
Good Bye Rio, may you find a field of fuzzy covered journals and a mountain of stuffed animals in heaven!!
She was one trial dog though. One time I dog sat for her and had left my journal on the couch. On the fourth day of my dog sitting, she decided that she wanted to eat the purple fuzzy cover off the journal. She left the rest of the journal intact, it was the cover that she went after.
Also, she had had a couple of major surgeries while she was a puppy. She had allergies, she had the Valley Fever (only a slight case), allergies to many different kinds of normal dog food. She was one special dog.
Good Bye Rio, may you find a field of fuzzy covered journals and a mountain of stuffed animals in heaven!!
Dentist
I have to find a new dentist. I have known this for a couple of months, but am not really sure where to look for one. The current dentist I have is a referral. There are two reasons why I am leaving this dentist. First, I want to say that he is a very nice person and has a great bedside manner. His office is clean and efficient and his staff are very friendly and helpful.
With this said, every time I have a cavity filled the dentist has to give me multiple shots of Novocaine in order to complete the filling. It is like he doesn't give enough in the beginning and so when he starts to drill, I feel it. I immediately let him know and he will then give me another shot. I have had to do this a couple of times in the past. In February, I had another cavity and went into to get it filled. He shot me up the first time and we waited about 10 minutes for it to take effect. When he started drilling, I immediately let him know that I was feeling it. So he gave me another set of shots and then started back on the drilling. By now, my eyeball was starting to feel numb, and I could feel my neck starting to go numb, but yet, I still had problems. So he had to give me a third shot. This time I felt him go under the tooth and I jumped. He said something like that was the nerve that hadn't fallen asleep yet. So then he started drilling again. By this time, I figured that as long as I wasn't going to scream or hit him from the pain, I should just grin and bear it. My thinking was I would rather have a few moments of discomfort in the chair rather than have him continue to dig around looking for another nerve to hit with his Novocaine needle.
The other reason why I need to change dentists is that he is no longer in my insurance PDP, and so it won't be fully covered.
I am now having a problem with one of my teeth and need to find another dentist, but am not really sure where to start.
With this said, every time I have a cavity filled the dentist has to give me multiple shots of Novocaine in order to complete the filling. It is like he doesn't give enough in the beginning and so when he starts to drill, I feel it. I immediately let him know and he will then give me another shot. I have had to do this a couple of times in the past. In February, I had another cavity and went into to get it filled. He shot me up the first time and we waited about 10 minutes for it to take effect. When he started drilling, I immediately let him know that I was feeling it. So he gave me another set of shots and then started back on the drilling. By now, my eyeball was starting to feel numb, and I could feel my neck starting to go numb, but yet, I still had problems. So he had to give me a third shot. This time I felt him go under the tooth and I jumped. He said something like that was the nerve that hadn't fallen asleep yet. So then he started drilling again. By this time, I figured that as long as I wasn't going to scream or hit him from the pain, I should just grin and bear it. My thinking was I would rather have a few moments of discomfort in the chair rather than have him continue to dig around looking for another nerve to hit with his Novocaine needle.
The other reason why I need to change dentists is that he is no longer in my insurance PDP, and so it won't be fully covered.
I am now having a problem with one of my teeth and need to find another dentist, but am not really sure where to start.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Cake Decorating
So last week I signed up to take a Wilton Cake Decorating class. I figured that it would be best that I start taking classes. This would be the second cake I am making this year that is for an actual event I really don't have anything to do with. The first was a Sweet 16 birthday. Next month I have a wedding cake to do for a friend. She came up to me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would do her a favor. I wasn't really sure where she was going with this, considering she is the choir pianist, and she has asked me to fill in for her a couple of times. I am not really good at the piano playing, so I was hesitant to say yes to her favor. Then she mentioned that she had heard that I do cakes and wondered if I would do her wedding cake. I told her that I am not that good, and I didn't want to ruin her big day by not having a perfect cake. She then told me that this would be her second reception and that she would already have had her perfect cake during the first reception in Phoenix. This reception was for the Bakersfield area, and it would be more for her husbands family. She didn't care if the cake was perfect. So I agreed. Shortly after that, I decided to go check out Michael's to see if they had a class I could take. I felt that since this is the second time this year that it would be good to take a class on cake decorating so I would feel more comfortable when asked to make a cake for friends.
I have taken a class before when I was about 15. I can't remember what it was really about. Also, when I was 12, my Grandma B. decided I would learn how to decorate cakes. She brought me to the lady that decorated cakes in the Albion, IL area. I sat with her one afternoon and learned a few things. She gave me a cake recipe that I tried a couple of times, and wasn't ever successful at making it. Anyway, a box cake is just fine. So after that lesson, we went back to Grandma's house in Chicago and she took me to the Wilton store and purchased some cake decorating supplies for me. Grandma was always trying to get us grand kids to learn new things. She taught me how to crochet, and taught Diana how to cross stitch. Ever since that time, I was in charge of making all the b-day cakes for everyone in the family. At this point, I really am not a cake fan. However, I do like cake batter. Every time I actually made the cakes, I wouldn't eat a piece. It is kind of funny that I would cook it, but couldn't stand eating it. I guess there are worse things than not liking cake. :-)
I have taken a class before when I was about 15. I can't remember what it was really about. Also, when I was 12, my Grandma B. decided I would learn how to decorate cakes. She brought me to the lady that decorated cakes in the Albion, IL area. I sat with her one afternoon and learned a few things. She gave me a cake recipe that I tried a couple of times, and wasn't ever successful at making it. Anyway, a box cake is just fine. So after that lesson, we went back to Grandma's house in Chicago and she took me to the Wilton store and purchased some cake decorating supplies for me. Grandma was always trying to get us grand kids to learn new things. She taught me how to crochet, and taught Diana how to cross stitch. Ever since that time, I was in charge of making all the b-day cakes for everyone in the family. At this point, I really am not a cake fan. However, I do like cake batter. Every time I actually made the cakes, I wouldn't eat a piece. It is kind of funny that I would cook it, but couldn't stand eating it. I guess there are worse things than not liking cake. :-)
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday School
So I was able to teach the lesson in Sunday School this weekend. Mike had called last Sunday and asked if I would be in town. I never leave....in fact, I really don't go anywhere. That is sad. I think I need to start figuring out some vacations for myself. Anyway, so I was able to teach on Mosiah 18-24. This was about Alma (the elder) and him teaching the Nephites that were in the wilderness with him. He then was able to baptize them. Then it went onto what happened to King Noah and how he was killed according to the prophecy. Then it went onto King Limhi, King Noah's' son, and how he was a just man and that he lived in peace with the Lamanites for two years before they attacked his people. Then it was how King Limhi's people escaped and met up with the people of Zarahemla. Then it went back to Alma and how they had to suffer the consequences of their past sins even though they had repented by then, and had been living righteously.
The lesson went pretty well. I did bring cookies to give out when the lesson seemed to get stuck. In order to have a successful lesson, you need to have plenty of participation. During the last 15 minutes, the attention seems to wane, and you need to have something that brings their attention back. So I had hid my cookies and only brought them out when I wasn't getting the participation I needed. It worked pretty well. However, I think I would rather just stick to teaching in Relief Society. It is a bit less intimidating.
I do think it is funny that people thought I had brought them the store bought Lofthouse sugar cookies. I actually had made them. They just didn't believe me. :-)
The lesson went pretty well. I did bring cookies to give out when the lesson seemed to get stuck. In order to have a successful lesson, you need to have plenty of participation. During the last 15 minutes, the attention seems to wane, and you need to have something that brings their attention back. So I had hid my cookies and only brought them out when I wasn't getting the participation I needed. It worked pretty well. However, I think I would rather just stick to teaching in Relief Society. It is a bit less intimidating.
I do think it is funny that people thought I had brought them the store bought Lofthouse sugar cookies. I actually had made them. They just didn't believe me. :-)
Shopping
Well, I really am not a fan of shopping at stores. I rather buy it online and have it delivered instead of facing crowds and pushy sales people. However, a friend asked if I would go to the outlet mall in Tulare with her and her roommate. I decided that I really had nothing better to do and it would be nice to get out of town. I realized that it was a long weekend, and kept thinking the traffic coming back would be horrible. However, since I wouldn't be driving, then it couldn't be so bad. So we got there, and I looked in a few stores. I am getting kind of excited as I lose weight. I am able to fit into sizes that the cute stores have. My regular store, Lane Bryant, is starting to not have clothes small enough to fit me. While that makes me happy, I am a bit sad because I have found plenty of cute things in that store. So the three of us shopped for about four hours. I thought that we were never going to finish. Just about before we were going to leave, we stopped in at the Rocky Mountain Fudge Factory. It smelled so good. However, I looked at the things behind the counter and none of them looked like they would satisfy my chocolate craving. Plus, I have told myself that if I have been good all week, I would be able to give myself a serving of my favorite chocolate candy and not feel guilty for eating it. So far this has worked. I know that I should not be rewarding myself with food, because that will get me back into the bad eating habits that I have, however, I want to be able to eat some sweets and not feel guilty because I am breaking a diet, or that they are high sugar or fat. So I think that is okay that I can eat it once a week, in moderation, and I shouldn't feel guilty for eating a serving. :-)
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