10/16
Edgar Allen Poe story... Hop-Frog... men dressed in orangutan outfits set on fire, the perils of drinking wine, and why you shouldn't piss off a dwarf, even if you are a king.

Mmm.... Mexican sugar skulls.

I lost a game of world war to the palmtop...Mongolia finished my last landmasses in Asia. Before I knew what I was saying, I muttered "F-ing MON-GO-REE-ANS!". I need a great wall to keep 'em out.

I've seen no sign of Oktoberfest anywhere. I missed it! German-American Club (warning, tacky embedded wav), you're slacking with the advertising. I want a hot pretzel with mustard, and a beer! I guess I'll have to enjoy Bavarian music and chicken dancing in the privacy of my own home.

Looks like a rainy day today... I'm all for that... I just hope it doesn't make me too sleepy!



Is Thomas a Rhymer? A Peeper? A Doubter? A Tank Engine?

Hmm. Now the Netscape hosted images are temporarily broken, and live journal’s servers are bumpy. Bigfoot email is grousing at me that I get more than 25 emails through there a day now...we'll have to see what's up with that.




sasparilla...a lovely herb.
General - stemless perennial; a single leaf (up to 50 cm high) rises above the short flower stalk, both produced from a stout woody rhizome.

Leaves - a single, long-stalked compound, basal leaf divided into 3 groups of 3-5 leaflets; leaflets elongated lance- to egg-shaped, finely toothed on the margins.

Flowers - numerous, in 2 - 7 (usually 3) umbrella or ball-shaped clusters on top of a leafless stalk; individual flowers very small, with 5 greenish-white petals; naked, flowering stems hidden under leaf; appearing early summer.

Fruit - berries, nearly black when ripe, in a cluster; edible but not palatable; ripening mid-summer.

Habitat- Common; occurring across a broad range of forest habitats and soil/site conditions, especially in dry to moist hardwoods and mixed-woods, less often in coniferous forests and on moist/wet sites.

Notes: The rhizome was used by North American Indians both for medicine and as food. European settlers made wine from the berries and a form of root beer was made from the rhizome. In the 1800's, sarsaparilla was popular as a spring tonic.

Height: 24-36 in. (60-90 cm) Hardly a tree, methinks!

Bloom Color: Pale Green / White

Bloom Time: Late Spring/Early Summer

Herbal Usage - Hormonal precursor which is used to increase energy, protect against harm from radiation exposure, regulate hormones, and it also contains diuretic properties.. Useful for frigidity, hives, impotence, infertility, nervous system disorders, premenstrual syndrome, and disorders caused by blood impurities.

Not to be confused with -
Menispermum canadense - Common Names: Moonseed, Canada Moonseed, Texas Sasparilla, Yellow Sasparilla

Description: Woody twining vine grows to 12 feet. Large broad leaves are 8 inches long and slightly lobed. Grape-like fruit in clusters and is bluish black with a crescent-shaped pit. May be confused with wild grape.

Toxic Part: Fruit.

Symptoms: Convulsions.

Now then... my favorite application of the good kind... Though I've never brewed my own.

OLD-TIME ROOT BEER

These recipes are from a very brittle New England Housekeeper Cookbook, published 1894. It would require great dedication to embark (pun intended) on making either of them. In any case, they're fun to read.

ROOT BEER

1 small handful bloodroot
1 small handful prickly ash bark
8 large handfuls spikenard root
8 large handfuls sasparilla
1 handful hops
2 handfuls cherry bark
2 handfuls popple bark
4 handfuls burdock root
4 handfuls dandelion root
1 cup yeast
Sugar to taste

Wash roots and barks thoroughly, and cover with water in a large kettle. Boil slowly until their strength is extracted. Strain, dilute and sweeten to taste; when cool add yeast and let stand 24 hours. Bottle or cork tightly in large stone jugs. If spruce twigs or wintergreen can be obtained, use them also, for they will improve the beer.

OLD-TIME ROOT BEER ("old-time" by 1894 standards!)

1 part black birch bark
1 part wintergreen, leaves and stems
1/2 the quantity of spruce twigs
1/4 the quantity of Prince's pine
1 small root fennel
6 gallons water

Pour the cold water over the herbs and roots, bring to the boiling point, and boil till the strength is extracted. Strain, and if there is too strong a flavor, dilute with water. Add 1 pound of sugar to every gallon of the mixture, and 1 cup of yeast, while lukewarm. It should stand 24 hours and be stirred frequently. At the end of this time, bottle or pour into a small keg. This makes a refreshing and wholesome summer drink.


Newton the insane was rowdily running around, leaping from the laundry bin and out like an obstacle course. I went to take a piccie of him, and he made a dash for the bookcase... I caught him hanging out on the middle shelf, ducked down in pounce mode, then stretched up, and took great interest in the copy of Nightmare of Ecstasy... quite a fun read., and a real glimpse at the man.

THE 1836 MASSACRE IN FORT LAUDERDALE
The Killing of the Cooley Family

PLUS:

Fort Lauderdale's first industry: How to prepare coontie starch

"Cooley was reported to be growing coontie (arrowroot), and he had a mill to make it into starch, the manufacture of which appears to have been the area's first industry. By 1835, coontie starch was bringing eight cents a pound in northern markets."

The following text is exactly as it appears in the original:

FROM THE CHARLESTON COURIER

SKETCHES OF THE PENINSULA OF FLORIDA -- By Dr. Strobel.

When about half way between New river and the Miami, our water suddenly shoaled, and we were under the necessity of getting out, and dragging our canoe over. This place is called by the people the Dividers, the water south of it running towards the Miami, whilst that on the north empties itself at New river. It appeared to be nothing more than a sand bank running from east to west

As we approached New river, the land upon our right consisted of the same sandy pine barren as I have already described. The Indian arrow root, called coonte, is found here is great quantities. We landed, and collected several roots, which were very large, weighing several pounds. This is the Indian's principal bread stuff. It is met with in most of the pine barrens in this section of Florida, but it grows in such profusion in this neighborhood, that they come from considerable distances to procure it. Mr. Cooley (whose wife and children were so inhumanly murdered by the Indians a short time since) was engaged in the manufacture of this article, and had brought it to great perfection. The following is the manner of preparing it: A sufficient number of roots being collected, they are peeled, washed, and grated, in the same manner as potatoes, and thrown into large tubs of water. After remaining in soak for a certain length of time, the water is stirred and strained: by this process it is greed of the feculent matter. The coarser portion, thus separated, may be given to hogs, whilst the finer portion, which passes through the sieve, is allowed to settle. The farina, which is almost insoluble in cold water, subsides at the bottom. The water is drawn off, and the yellow portions which remain on the top are removed. The white arrow root, which from its specific gravity, is found at the bottom, is collected, and repeatedly heated with fresh water, until it becomes perfectly pure and white, of a granular, glistening, crystalline appearance. I am inclined to think that , when thus prepared, it is very nearly, if not quite equal, to the Bermuda arrow root, not only as a starch, but also as an article of diet. And here I may as well mention the circumstances attending the murder of Mr. Cooley's family, as they are calculated to illustrate the treachery of the Indian character. He had resided among them for many years, spoke their language well, and treated them with uniform kindness and hospitality. Indeed, such was his friendship for them that he named his sons after two of their chiefs. Standing in this relations, and confiding in their profession of friendship, which had led him into a fatal security, he left his home for a few days, and returned to find it desolate. His wife and children had been murdered, and the smouldering ruins of his house lay before him. It is a remarkable fact, that the villains who did this deed had not the hardihood to scalp the poor wife and her three innocent children. Was it the recollection of former friendship that induced them thus to spare? Or were they conscious that their own savage colleagues would have blushed for the chivalry of those warriors who could find no work more becoming their tomahawks and scalping knives than the cruel butchery of women and children? The unfortunate schoolmaster shared a different fate; to him they owned no obligation of friendship: he was a man, and, as such, capable of resistance; his scalp was, therefore, torn from him, and borne off as a testimony of their cruel and savage triumph.

It should be borne in mind that, in their devastation of his other property, Mr. Cooley's manufactory was spared. This, no doubt, will be serviceable to them hereafter, in preparing their food. I have no pretensions of being a military man, but it appears to me that it would be well to place a sufficient body of troops between Cape Sable and New river, to cut off the supplies of the Indians from that quarter, and to prevent them from escaping into the everglades, from whence they may readily pass to the Florida Keys. If they once cut down into the everglades, they will scatter like a covey of partridges, and each one will have to be hunted up separately, which will be an interminable task.

Towards night we came up with several Indian hunters, who were lying around their fire. We went ashore, with the determination of joining them. On our approach, a dog sprung out, and uttered a noise between a yell and a bark, which echoed and re-echoes through the woods. In an instant the Indians were on their feet; but a whoop from JOHN soon brought them down upon their haunches. We went up and seated ourselves around the fire

They at first seemed to take no notice of me, as they sat on the opposite side of the fire, their dusky faces partly obscured by the current of smoke. Occasionally they eyed me sulkily and by stealth. A few words, chiefly monosyllables, passed between them and JOHN, but they did not enter into any length conversation. A silence of some minutes having elapsed, which induced me to believe that I was not a welcome guest, I concluded that something must be done to conciliate. I therefore told John to inform them that I had something to eat, and some fire-water, and that we must be good friends. This information acted upon them like a charm. They began to snuff the air like a parcel of hungry dogs, become more sociable and conciliatory, brought out some fresh venison, which they placed over the coals to broil, having first run a stick through it. To keep my word, I produced my cold ham, and biscuit, and gave each (they were in number three) about a gill of gin; the instantaneous effect of which astonished and alarmed me. It was almost miraculous: from being silent and demure, they became talkative and forward. They insisted upon having more whiskey, and endeavored to possess themselves of the bottle by force, and I was obliged to conceal it. They were now unable to repress their flow of spirits, and began to sing, and dance, and to make the more horrid faces, thrusting their tongues out of their mouths, and rolling their eyes in every direction. As they reeled, and danced, and yelled around the fire, throwing themselves into the most ludicrous attitudes, they resembled a parcel of infernal spirits, or the furies. This sport they continued until perfectly exhausted, when, one by one, they sank upon the ground, and fell into a sleep. I place my buffalo skin on the opposite side of the fire, covered my head with a cloak, and slept soundly until morning. The Indians were up betimes; they rose from their lairs, shook themselves, kindled up the fire, and ate a scanty meal. Upon the subsidence of the effect of the liquor, all their former reserve seemed to have returned. Having collected some coonte, they placed it along with their venison in their canoe, paddled rapidly up the everglades, and were soon out of sight. It being now time for me to think of returning, John and myself took the opposite direction, and paddled back for Cape Florida, and, as we had nothing to delay us, arrived at the Cape about 3 o'clock in the afternoon: there, according to agreement, I found Mr. Dubose's boat in waiting for me. So that I was enabled to reach the Light-house about six o'clock in the evening.