Life of a Letter Carrier: the Perils

When you start at the Post office, they warn you about some of the common things you might run into. Dogs, cars, thugs, and of course the occasional wasp or bee sting. On my first day out, I realized just how many dogs there were in the area. There are tons of them. But mostly they didn't seem to be a problem. The USPS provides it's letter carriers with some dog spray, but it not actually something you have to use much, sure... everynow and then you meet a vicious little puppy, but mostly, they're not too scary.

What really surprised me was the wasps. Almost every mailbox is seems has it's own guardian wasp. And they don't just sit back on the box, or hover around it... most of the time, they like to perch on the handle. Usually it was just one wasp, but occasionally I could tell it was bad news.

I never actually got stung, well not by a wasp anyway, but I was glad for the can of Spray that they gave me on many occasions.

My trainer warned us about the dangers of another kind of sting, but after the first week or so I thought it was a myth. The dreaded rubber band attack. We use a ton of rubber bands, and for the most part that works just fine, but every now and then one of them will snap. Usually this is mostly just annoying, but sometimes it is more. Especially when they hit your neck. Actually anywhere from the neck up is pretty disturbing. The first time it happens, you find yourself in shock. The first time it happens for the third time in a day, you're getting pretty perturbed. The secret is you don't know when it's going to happen. Sometimes I went weeks without a rubber band incident, sometimes it was minutes. Needless to say if someone warns you about a rubber band, you might want to listen... and perhaps hone your reflexes. Who knows maybe you can turn faster than it can strike.

I'm learning the secret soup.

Hey everybody, I just wanted to let you know that I am learning the secret soup. Or perhaps its the secrets of the soup.

Ok so here's the scoop,
The other day I was just sitting there, minding my own business, and I got this email. It was all about some upcoming food events in this area. Quite honestly most of them didn't really appeal to me, but then my eyes caught something. I saw a name and I was intrigued. The name was Jeff, and I happen to know that Jeff makes some of the best soup around. You've probably heard of his restaurant... the Garden House.

Well Jeff is teaching a special class on soups Feb. 18, from 4-6
and I decided that I really wanted to attend. So I signed up.
And now I am inviting you to sign up too. Not because I'm all about publicizing this, just because I think this is a great opportunity, and I think it would be fun to do it with a few friends.

Sign up through the Alive Utah South website
It's $35 dollars, but I totally think it's worth it. Hope to see you there. W

You know what's cool? The Census.

Ok I admit it, I'm just a little bit nerdy,
but I just found out that the Census Bureau is about to release the 2010 findings,
and I totally geeked out.

In 2000 our state (Utah) was the fifth fastest growing state.
We were up 29%.

If by chance we go up by about 25% this year we will finally get our fourth congressional seat.
There are a few other ways we could get one, (I'm not totally sure how the math of it works, but we would almost certainly get one if our population saw similar growth in the past decade.
The results will be posted tomorrow.
feel free to check them out with the link below.
Happy macro stalking.
Ü


2010 Census Data - 2010 Census

More of that life changing pie

That's right, "the pie that changes peoples lives" is back.

Or it's here.
I'm not sure which way it is but it's real.
The increasingly popular recipe has been added to the holiday supplement for the community interfaith cookbook (all proceeds go are donated to the local food pantry).

I thought the pie might have been in the first edition of the book, but alas, it didn't quite make it, but now, for those 6 billion people who don't know how to find the recipe (hint it's on my blog) you can get an official copy of it for you very own.

Also in case you are wondering,
here is a quick summary.

Flaky soft crust.
Almost impossible to ruin,
Also not one of those crust that you have to worry about over working,
Doesn't taste like cardboard.
no crazy ingredients or instructions (of course it has instructions... just not the crazy ones).
oh and it's goooood.