DDIY - DON'T Do It Yourself

Let me tell you one thing that happens as the days dwindle down to a precious few. Relatively speaking, that is. Clearly I don't have as long a future in front of me as, say, Justin Bieber.  Although if he keeps throwing eggs at his neighbor's house, and his neighbors are anything like people I know who have been egged, I wouldn't place a bet on being around for my eulogy either.

Here's the one thing I have found as I was dragged into entered my sixties:  Sometimes, it's better just to let other people do things.  It saves your time. For instance, why spend time getting your knickers in a twist over political issues, sports events or weather forecasts calling for snow?  A quick walk down Facebook Street will introduce you to thousands - millions! - of people who are all worked up over those very things, leaving you time to worry about how much quinoa is enough, and whether Kathie Lee Gifford is getting a little, well, strange, and how does one pronounce quinoa, anyway?

Case in point:  You like pickles?  Same here!  Make mine dill, please, and put 'em in a salad or on a burger or alongside some patootie salad with fried chicken.  Good stuff!

Now, here is a web page that shows you how to make your own dill pickles.  All you have to do is run to the store and buy some "pickling" cucumbers (as if there are "non-pickling" cucumbers) and then run down the spice aisle for sea salt and dill weed, down the glass aisle for vinegar and then back to Produce because you forgot you need fresh garlic.

Then you go home and find an old quart Mason jar, like the one that spaghetti sauce - or even pickles - came in.  You wash it out nice and clean, and add the ingredients and WAIT FIVE DAYS for your pickles to finish marinating.

There are 7200 minutes in 5 days.  How long does it take you to run to the Food Clown and buy a jar of Food Clown® Brand Kosher Pickles?

Moreover, by the time you purchase cukes, garlic, salt, dill weed and vinegar, and add in the value of your own time (just for argument's sake, let's figure on your hourly salary being that of the brain surgeon or corporate attorney you might have become) and those homemade pickles of yours will wind up costing you roughly $14.37 per spear.

I hope they're tasty!