Reading And Just A Little Of My Reminiscent Ramblings

Reading by misslatoya

jay bijwe said 1 week ago

I am addicted to reading. In spare time I used to read. Reading is fun.

 

You said 6 days ago

In reply to jay bijwe.

Yes indeed, reading is fun! And it is a wonderful and very healthy addiction to have.

 

In addition to sharing the comment above to the beauty and pleasure of good reads that can bring delight as well as learning:

I am definitely one who always enjoyed the luxury of reading as the instance came natural. In this computer age I still appreciate holding a book in my hands and turning the pages to a novel in which I can’t put down.

As a writer myself I know the beauty of vision, creativity, and originality through imagination.

I’m glad as a youngster that I grew up in a time without the internet. A time where I played and came up with things on my own and could think for myself and solve on my own.

The internet is beneficial and a great resource for communication, business, expressing artistic ventures, convenience and etc… Our cell phones and computers are very vital in this particular day and age.

However, I’m still a person who likes to talk and communicate face to face, a person who likes to think and determine for herself, a person who doesn’t need to look to the internet for inspiration, guidance, or stimulation within a mandatory or instinctual format.

I didn’t come up that way, although, it was easy for me to adapt to technology, It’s fantastic to have known the other essential productive way of life that I grew up with in regard to strong interactive skills and nurturing and utilizing various aptitudes without a global network influence.

I grew up with games, toys, cartoons, shows and literature (many that were even before my time) like Miss Pac-Man, Merlin, Simon, Paper Dolls, Barbie, Archie Comics, Tom And Jerry, Pop Eye, Woody Woodpecker, Flintstones, Jetsons, Lassie, Wonder Woman, Bionic Woman, Batman, Alfred Hitchcock, One Step Beyond, Suspense Theater, Police Woman, Streets Of San Francisco, Leave It To Beaver, Little House On The Prairie, The Virginian, I Love Lucy, Kojak, Columbo, Adam 12, Dragnet, Bank Street Readers, Babar, and so much more.

I don’t know what this shit is today. The music isn’t even as good as it use to be.

Anyhow, I miss the electric typewriters, I love the way I grew up back within the day compared to now, and I love to read a good hardcover or paperback book.

This computer age cannot ever steal away the lovely memories and experience of the late seventies and eighties culture.

 

Nuisance

Years ago, in the mid of 2000 when I use to live in my old home, there was a apartment building that had remained abandoned for over a decade and that was situated behind all of the houses located on my block.

Behind everyone’s garage that was gated and enclosed was an alleyway that separated the apartment’s yards from all of ours.

These particular attached apartment buildings were a real estate belonging to Fred Stark who had long passed away during the late eighties; the gossip was that his family and relatives were fighting over property rights.

Anyway, once the building was finally in the process of being cleaned out and reconstructed by construction workers and neighborhood volunteers who helped to dispose of the quantity of scraps, us unfortunate residents over behind on the other side had to reap the outcomes and inconvenience of the thousands of rodents nests that had been disturbed.

Loads of mice had run and relocated into the homes of those who lived on my street. A next door neighbor of mine had asked my mother while we were both standing out in front of the house if we had experienced any problems with mice, and the answer was a definite “yes”.

We even had a rat! A rather unusual one though, he would run from us whenever he saw us come around to parts of the home. I once witnessed him go get a piece of hero bread then go about his business.

These rodents were out of the ordinary and utterly out of control. I desperately wanted to get some “d-CON” rat and mice poison but my mother was worried about them expiring within the walls of our home to create a hideous or foul odor. I did not care as I knew if that problem did happen and result the smell would eventually fade away, I was going by past experience.

After I had gotten dangerously frustrated with the mice destroying possessions, leaving hazardous droppings around, and reproducing a multiple of offspring I went and did what I should have immediately did when I had the chance before the damage was done.

I purchased the d-CON poison pellets “the best rodent killer product on the market” in my opinion, it had been the best for years and immediately, almost instantly, the mice all died and disappeared for good.

Now to my disappointment I found out earlier last year that the d-CON pellets were taken off the market as they were nowhere to be found, and I had searched just about everywhere pissed off as hell!

I phoned up the d-CON company and was told that due to the EPA (environmental protection agency) the product was no longer available but that they had other type of bait stations that were out for sale. I did not want any other kind I wanted my “super-duper” killing power pellets.

Twelve d-CON products were banned and discontinued by the EPA because they claimed the poisons did not meet agency safety standards posing unnecessary risks to children pets and wildlife. The manufacturer of d-CON opposed the ban then later had to voluntarily agree to cease producing twelve of the poison items by the end of last year.

Since the pellets and powders that d-CON also sold did not come packaged within tamper-resistant bait stations it was required by the EPA that all rodent control be sold to customers in protective stations.

Eight of the twelve d-CON products that were on the market contained ingredients that were supposedly more toxic and persistent in the environment compared to other particular compounds. Those specific substances had been disallowed within consumer products since the year of 2011 because of their toxicity to wildlife.

I still wish that the d-CON pellets had not been banned they should have let certain other consumers make the decision on whether or not to buy I had a beloved pet who never was put in danger by the product. For those who had children and/or pets they could purchase the tamper-resistant bait and for the ones that didn’t or who’d place the poison out of reach within their own homes they would have the the loose or unsecured bait.

Good things and products are always being fucked up, destroyed away or unreasonably disregarded. The majority, if not in fact all of the rest of the rodent control items out there on the market aren’t worth shit and are drastically ineffective, just another fabulous product that went completely down the drain and one that I will wholeheartedly miss when I occasionally encounter those nuisances of rodents.

 

Chips

I love potatoes, I always have. French fries were one of my favorite foods, especially home fries fried firmly.

My favorite potato chips of all time that I like to snack on are the Classic Lay’s as they have a distinct taste compared to the other potato chip brands.

I like the Classic Lay’s in the blue bag even better as they are lightly salted.

Charles Chips use to also be a good brand I don’t know how they are now I haven’t ate one of them since childhood back in the eighties.

What I love so much about Lay’s as well as the taste is that they are made with just a few simple natural ingredients which are also responsible for giving it that distinct flavor.

Just the potatoes, sunflower, corn and/or canola oil, and salt.

That sunflower oil I know for a fact is what brings out most of that good distinct Classic Lay’s potato chip flavor and I can tell because when I use to cook my homemade fries in sunflower oil they would always come out tasting better compared to when I was cooking them in the other vegetable oils.

Customer service over at frito lay assured me that their company had no future plans of ever changing the Classic Lay’s ingredients and I was so glad.

I called them up once to inquire since on so many occasions consumers will phone up to companies with their own personal dissatisfaction regarding a particular product that may have been just fine to someone else then the next thing you know the product is either “improved” or “completely gone off the market”.

So unfair to the smaller percentage of people out there who may have enjoyed the specific product as it was. No need to tamper with an already good thing.

I found out though that they had discontinued the Lay’s Garden Tomato And Basil.

 

Soy

I’ve never had a problem with soy, when I fry my foods I cook them in soybean oil, sunflower, or canola.

Years ago back in 1991 or 1992 I had first come across silk soy milk for the very first time at my local supermarket. Since I was a vegan at the time back then who completely did not consume any type of dairy I was looking for a milk alternative or substitute.

So I purchased the vanilla flavored soy and gave it a try.

It had no kind of taste at all or should I say a very unpleasant flavor to my taste buds (It was literally disgusting). I let my mother try some of the milk and she didn’t like it either. My dog wouldn’t even touch it. I gave it to her because I didn’t want the rest of it to go to waste and because my dog was a big regular milk and ice cream lover.

Late last year or early this year I came upon silk soy milk again at my local area supermarket. So many times in the past since that first experience I would just notice the product up on the refrigerator shelves and keep on moving.

After so many years and times of passing it by and passing it up something came and hit me, telling me to give the silk soy milk another try once again.

“Years have gone by maybe the company has improved the product by now”, I had reasoned with my own logic. “It has been out on the market too long for it to still have that same dreadful old taste”.

So for the second time ever in my life I purchased another half-gallon vanilla flavored silk soy milk. And this time when I brought the beverage home I was not disappointed.

I was very much delighted.

Especially since I could never go back to drinking cows milk again, I am just so turned off by it nowadays more than ever, the smell of it is enough for me.

I even got my mother hooked on drinking silk soy milk (chocolate is her favorite very vanilla is mine). She was very hesitant at first but I had to convince her that the product had improved.

We even like the soy ice cream frozen dessert by the “so delicious” brand. I loved ice cream but I have not eaten dairy ice cream in two whole years straight now. And I will never go back to it.

We do not consume these soy products constantly, however, we do enjoy them on a now and again basis.

Before I purchase an item I always check out the ingredients regardless of how long I’ve been using the product. I had been drinking Silk soy milk for a while now and was disappointed when I noticed that they’d taken out the carrageenan and replaced it with gellan gum.

I immediately phoned up the silk/white wave company some months back and asked for an explanation and I was told that due to overwhelming consumer pressure in regards to carrageenan and it’s supposed dangerous and/or risk causing health effects it was removed away from the product.

My Customer Support At Keebler/Kellogg’s

I like Keebler Town House crackers. As a vegetarian I am very particular about the certain things that I consume. I do not eat foods that contain any beef or pork derivatives.

When I am concerned about a product that I am not totally sure about I will call up the company to where the item is manufactured from.

So I phoned up the Keebler crackers eight hundred number requesting information regarding their ingredients.

I was told by one of the operators at customer service that the item I was inquiring about was not listed under “vegetarian suitable”. And that they did not have any further knowledge other than what was included on the label.

I am very aware that some products have hidden ingredients that are not listed on the contents label. Usually a company will have more detailed information that they are able to look up or acquire.

When I did not get a satisfied answer I went to the Keebler website and sent a “contact us” email, it took about a week before I got back a response and that was understandable.

I believe that was a reasonable amount of time for me to have waited, considering how busy their schedules may have been and considering the other consumer inquiries that they may have had to answer.

Upon receiving my email I was extremely pleased with the outcome. I was sent a professional well thought out message that specifically gave me the answers that I had wanted and more.

This was how everything went:

 

Latoya,

We are so glad you took the time to connect with us. Your interest in Keebler® Town House® Original Crackers is appreciated and we are happy to share more information about animal derived ingredients and beef flavoring with you.

This product does not contain any animal derived ingredients. Our ingredient listings on packages and our websites are the best place to check for animal-derived ingredients. Some of the recognizable animal-derived ingredients in our products include milk; milk ingredients such as whey, casein, and cheese; egg and egg ingredients like egg whites and albumin. There are other ingredients that may be less obvious like gelatin, Vitamin D, glycerin and some enzymes. Please note, the enzymes and glycerin we use in our products are not from an animal source.

Kellogg’s® uses only vegetable shortenings. No lard or other animal fat is used either as an ingredient or in the preparation of equipment. All of our suppliers of vegetable oil have certified that the oil supplied to us is free of animal fat and is prepared on equipment where no animal products are processed.

For any remaining ingredients not listed above, we are often unable to provide detailed information regarding processing and sourcing since many different suppliers are used. However, if you have a question about a certain ingredient, feel free to contact us further.

Thank you again for reaching out to us. We hope this information answers your question completely. If there is anything else we can help you with, please contact us again by calling 1-877-453-5837. You can also visit us online at http://www.keebler.com to learn more about our foods and determine which ones would work best for you and your family.

Sincerely,

Ruby G.
Consumer Specialist
Consumer Affairs

Feedback from customers like you is truly appreciated. However, please do not reply to this e-mail. Replies sent to this email address cannot be answered. If you have additional comments, please click here.

Latoya wrote:
I’d like to know if this product contains any animal derivatives such as Lard (pig/shortening)or any beef flavoring.