Bugs and puppy chow
Oct. 6th, 2002 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raybearJerusalem Crickets
Jerusalem Crickets? What the fck are Jerusalem Crickets? Oh! Potato bugs! That's what they're called in the South. I had many family members who did battle with Potato Bugs in their gardens and farms, including my Uncle David (to whom I recently came out and wrote about here). My grandfather might have been the first person who taught me the term -- he had a significant garden patch behind his backyard, and I would go out with him and pick strawberries and blueberries off the bush. I always wanted to eat them right away, but he insisted we always wash them off inside first. He spent much of the time just looking at stuff. I never understood what. But then again, I was six. I didn't understand he was looking for evidence of said potato bugs who would have eaten up his potatos the night before, since they're nocturnal (as I recently learned). My grandaddy was a tall old-school deep south type of grandfather. He wore dress pants all the time and button down short sleeve shirts when casual. He always wore an undershirt and carried a pocketknife. He died when I was seven. I was given a chance to pick an item of his out of a drawer, and almost took his harmonica but instead chose a pocketknife that had a small blade on one end and a ballpoint pen on the other. This seemed like the coolest tool ever.
I still regret not taking that harmonica.
Purina Dog Chow
Churches are big on potluck dinners and such. There's always the bucket of KFC which goes fast and one must be near the front of the line to get a crack at drumstick. I loved KFC because I loved fried chicken and also because my family never ate there, so it seemed like a special treat. But my favorite dish at church parties was the "puppy chow" -- a dessert-y dish that involved chex mix stirred into melted chocolate and peanut butter, then dusted with powdered sugar. It resembed dog food when sitting in the bowl. But it tasted amazing -- melting in your mouth, crunchy and sweet and rich. I wish I had that recipe -- I haven't had puppy chow in years.
My second thoughts on Purina Dog Chow are more recent and involve the conspiracy of cheap pet food. Purina is either the best of the worst or the worst of the best, depending on how you look at it. Veterinarians really DO recommed Science Diet and Eukanuba and IAMS. Pedigree was at the bottom of the list, and that's the premium version of Purina. People don't know that buying the cheapest food is bad for their pet, or even when they think they are spending more money on middle of the road better food, it's still not good for them. Such class and education bias. The worst story was told to me by MelRo, about Whiskas cat food which was proven to cause urinary tract infections in cats, but no one hears about such things. We noticed that Whiskas now markets a new food that contains "ingredients to help urinary tract health!" Hmmm. Sounds like they either put in counter-medication to battle the problems the food causes, or maybe they were finally forced to change their recipe, but rather than owning up to the fact that thier food CAUSED the problems, they're focusing on the positive.
Jerusalem Crickets? What the fck are Jerusalem Crickets? Oh! Potato bugs! That's what they're called in the South. I had many family members who did battle with Potato Bugs in their gardens and farms, including my Uncle David (to whom I recently came out and wrote about here). My grandfather might have been the first person who taught me the term -- he had a significant garden patch behind his backyard, and I would go out with him and pick strawberries and blueberries off the bush. I always wanted to eat them right away, but he insisted we always wash them off inside first. He spent much of the time just looking at stuff. I never understood what. But then again, I was six. I didn't understand he was looking for evidence of said potato bugs who would have eaten up his potatos the night before, since they're nocturnal (as I recently learned). My grandaddy was a tall old-school deep south type of grandfather. He wore dress pants all the time and button down short sleeve shirts when casual. He always wore an undershirt and carried a pocketknife. He died when I was seven. I was given a chance to pick an item of his out of a drawer, and almost took his harmonica but instead chose a pocketknife that had a small blade on one end and a ballpoint pen on the other. This seemed like the coolest tool ever.
I still regret not taking that harmonica.
Purina Dog Chow
Churches are big on potluck dinners and such. There's always the bucket of KFC which goes fast and one must be near the front of the line to get a crack at drumstick. I loved KFC because I loved fried chicken and also because my family never ate there, so it seemed like a special treat. But my favorite dish at church parties was the "puppy chow" -- a dessert-y dish that involved chex mix stirred into melted chocolate and peanut butter, then dusted with powdered sugar. It resembed dog food when sitting in the bowl. But it tasted amazing -- melting in your mouth, crunchy and sweet and rich. I wish I had that recipe -- I haven't had puppy chow in years.
My second thoughts on Purina Dog Chow are more recent and involve the conspiracy of cheap pet food. Purina is either the best of the worst or the worst of the best, depending on how you look at it. Veterinarians really DO recommed Science Diet and Eukanuba and IAMS. Pedigree was at the bottom of the list, and that's the premium version of Purina. People don't know that buying the cheapest food is bad for their pet, or even when they think they are spending more money on middle of the road better food, it's still not good for them. Such class and education bias. The worst story was told to me by MelRo, about Whiskas cat food which was proven to cause urinary tract infections in cats, but no one hears about such things. We noticed that Whiskas now markets a new food that contains "ingredients to help urinary tract health!" Hmmm. Sounds like they either put in counter-medication to battle the problems the food causes, or maybe they were finally forced to change their recipe, but rather than owning up to the fact that thier food CAUSED the problems, they're focusing on the positive.
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Date: 2002-10-06 11:00 am (UTC)Puppy chow!! You must share! You can bring it over and we'll make a batch.