Category: soda

Keys to My Past

I saw another one of those 5 things you don’t know about me memes. Seems I’m disinclined to come up with five, though.

As I may have mentioned, when I was 17, I worked at a summer camp in northern Pennsylvania, mowing lawns, emptying mouse traps and the like. Lots of lawn mowing, so much so that I dreamed about it, and had a bizarre deja vu experience. It was a dreadful place that promised us X amount of money and ended up shortchanging everyone. My girlfriend at the time had worked there in a previous year and practically begged me not to go; a week after I got there, she too went to work there again in the dining room. Ah, young love.

One of my jobs was to fill up the soda machine with Pepsi products. After I left, I realized that I still had the special key to open the machine. I didn’t take it intentionally, but I was disinclined to send it back – and they never asked.

Several months later, I had the key in my pocket, and I was at an ARCO or Mobil gasoline station near my house that was closed for the night; there was a time when gas stations actually closed. The station had a Pepsi machine in front. I tried the key; it worked! I never stole any soda from station, but at least one other time, I used the key to see that it still worked, and it did.

Eventually, I went away to college, and my life. I came across a key chain last week that contained keys to padlocks long gone, an office key from where I worked in 1978 and a bunch of identifiable keys. Oh, yes, and that Pepsi machine key. I finally threw them all away. It was, after all this time, surprisingly easy now, when it hadn’t been the last time I came across that key chain, for some reason.

Yet I still wonder if that key would have still worked.
ROG

ROG

Domestic Bliss QUESTIONS


Dear Ramblin’:
We’ve had this invasion of ants in our kitchen. How do we get rid of them without using chemicals?
Bugged

Dear Bugged:
Our family has had some success with leaving the peelings from the skins of cucumbers in front of the back entrance. It does leave little ant corpses, though, and you need to replace the peels daily, lest they dry up and become ineffective. Oh, and when you’re picking up those deceased insects, you should sing that segment from the William Tell Overture best known as the Lone Ranger Theme, “dead ant, dead ant, dead ant ant ant.”
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Dear Ramblin’:
Our toilet is clogged up. What should I use that isn’t some dangerous chemical.
Not Going Down the Hole

Dear NGDTH:
Amazingly effective: a half cup of baking soda. Slowly pour in the cheapest white vinegar you can find until it stops bubbling.
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Dear Ramblin’:
Remember than Seinfeld commercial for American Express in which Jerry walks into a grocery store? His plastic bag comes right open, even as some schmo struggles. I’m like the schmo. Any ideas?
Frustrated

Dear Frustrated:
Water on your fingertips. My store is continually – excessively – washing the produce that I’m going to wash at home anyway. Steal a couple drops. Or, if necessary, lick your fingertips. Also helpful for those plastic garbage bags.
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Dear Ramblin’:
I hard-boiled eggs, and sometimes the shell sticks to the egg, requiring excessive time, AND I lose a lot of the egg white as a result. Any suggestions?
Eggsasperated

Dear Eggsasperated:
While running cold water on the egg, crack both ends of the egg. Last time I tried this, it worked 10 out of 11 times – the 12th was one I tried to peel the old way.
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Dear Ramblin’:
Occasionally, I drop a can or bottle of soda. Naturally, I’m afraid that I’ll take a bath when I open the container. Any suggestions?
Not Looking For A Soda Bath

Dear NLFASB:
Don’t know about the bottles, other than opening really slowly. But for cans, I’ve found tapping the top of the container with my index a dozen times is often effective.
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Dear Ramblin’:
When I make lasagna, my noodles end up sticking together, making putting on those layers of pasta a real chore. Should I just go out and buy that “no cook” lasagna, or is there another way?
Stuck

Dear Stuck:
Long before I ever heard of that “no cook” product, I used regular uncooked lasagna noodles, increasing the quantity sauce by about 20% and making sure the noodles are covered by sauce on both sides. The lasagna noodles get cooked with the lasagna and tastes great.

Have some helpful household hints? Pleaser leave them in the comments section or e-mail them to: Ramblin’s Household Hints
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As an Albany blogger, I guess I ought to note my fair city’s latest claim to fame.

ROG

ROG
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