Three Inns

Recently our computer mouse started to behave erratically.

It would move — all by itself — from one side of the screen to the other. More troubling, at various intervals it would click (without human interference) whichever icons or menu item the cursor happened to be on.

Naturally we Googled for information about this problem, and we did find many solutions — none of which applied to our situation.

We read about the need to clean the mouse. Ours is a cordless, infrared contraption (no balls, that is).

Someone said we should update de mouse driver, or the software program that came with the Logitech Mouse. So said, so done, to no avail. (We did learn that Logitech’s customer support doesn’t impress us — at all).

A few people suggested we use another mousemat, since the current one may confuse the mouse. Yeah, right.

One joker stated (we’ll never know whether or not he was serious) that a re-install of the operating system would take care of the problem…

In the end we lucked upon the solution. We tried an old mouse, one with a cord, to see if that one had the same problems. It did not. Then we plugged the cord that feeds the corded part of our cordless mouse (uhuh…) into a different USB socket.

And voila! Our mouse worked just fine.

It was only then that we realized the problems had started soon after we installed a VOIP phone. For some reason, that handy gadget and our mouse did not get along — at least not in when they were plugged into those sockets. Simply using different USB sockets fixed the problem (which we were able to re-create with the old plug-in configuration). We don’t know why this is so, but we do know everything now works as advertised. (And we’re still not — not at all — impressed with Logitech’s so-called ’support’).

We LOVE chili peppers, so this story naturally made our eyes water…

The world’s hottest chilli pepper does not come from a tropical hot spot where the locals are impervious to its fiery heat but a smallholding in deepest Dorset.

Some chillis are fierce enough to make your eyes water. Anyone foolhardy enough to eat a whole Dorset Naga would almost certainly require hospital treatment.

The pepper, almost twice as hot as the previous record- holder, was grown by Joy and Michael Michaud in a poly- tunnel at their market garden. The couple run a business called Peppers by Post and spent four years developing the Dorset Naga.

They knew the 2cm-long specimens were hot because they had to wear gloves and remove the seeds outdoors when preparing them for drying, but had no idea they had grown a record-breaker.

Some customers complained the peppers were so fiery that even half a small one would make a curry too hot to eat. Others loved them and the Michauds sold a quarter of a million Dorset Nagas last year. At the end of last season Mrs Michaud sent a sample to a laboratory in America out of curiosity. The owner had never tested anything like it.

According to Mrs Michaud, the hottest haban~ero peppers popular in chilli-eating competitions in the US generally measure about 100,000 units on the standard Scoville scale, named after its inventor, Wilbur Scoville, who developed it in 1912. At first the scale was a subjective taste test but it later developed into the measure of capsaicinoids present. The hottest chilli pepper in The Guinness Book of Records is a Red Savina habanero with a rating of 570,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).

» Read on…

Mrs Michaud was stunned when the Dorset Naga gave a reading of nearly 900,000SHU. A fresh sample was sent to a lab in New York used by the American Spice Trade Association and recorded a mouth-numbing 923,000SHUs.

Mrs Michaud said: “The man in the first lab was so excited — he’d never had one even half as hot as that. The second lab took a long time because they were checking it carefully as it was so outrageously high.”

The Dorset Naga was grown from a plant that originated in Bangladesh. The Michauds bought their original plant in an oriental store in Bournemouth. Mrs Michaud said: “We weren’t even selecting the peppers for hotness but for shape and flavour. There is an element of machismo in peppers that we aren’t really interested in. When the results of the heat tests came back I was gobsmacked.”

The couple are now seeking Plant Variety Protection from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which will mean that no one else can sell the seeds.

Mrs Michaud, 48, has run the company with her husband at West Bexington, near Dorchester, for ten years. Mr Michaud, 56, has been a regular on the television chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage series, advising on vegetable growing.

Anyone wanting to try the Dorset Naga will have to be patient as chillis are harvested only from July on. In Bangladesh the chillies grow in temperatures of well over 100F (38C) but in Dorset they thrive in polytunnels.

Aktar Miha, from the Indus Bangladeshi restaurant in Bournemouth, said that even in its home country the naga chilli was treated with respect. “It is used in some cooking, mainly with fish curries, but most people don’t cook with it. They hold it by the stalk and just touch their food with it,” he said.

“It has a refreshing smell and a very good taste but you don’t want too much of it. It is a killer chilli and you have to be careful and wash your hands and the cutting board. If you don’t know what you are doing it could blow your head off.”

FROM HOT TO NOT
Scoville Heat Units

• Pure capsaicin: 15m to 16m
• US Police-grade pepper spray: 5m
• Dorset Naga: 923,000
• Red Savina habanero: 577,000
• Scotch bonnet: 100,000-325,000
• Jamaican hot pepper: 100,000-200,000
• Cayenne pepper: 30,000-50,000
• Jalapeno pepper: 2,500-8,000
• Tabasco sauce: 2,500
• Pimento: 100 to 500
• Bell pepper: 0

- Source: The chilli so hot you need gloves, The Times, Apr. 2006

By the way, if you can’t get chillies and chilli peppers where you live, you can order lots of hot stuff online.

This story has had a big impact on the way we live our lives:

My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister’s bureau and lifted out a tissue wrapped package. “This,” he said, “Is not a slip. This is lingerie.” He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached. “Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is the occasion.” He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me. “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion.”

I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister’s family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn’t seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special. I’m still thinking about his words, and they’ve changed my life. I’m reading more and dusting less. I’m sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I’m spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings.

Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I’m trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them. I’m not “saving” anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom. I wear my good blazer to the market if I like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing.

I’m not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party going friends. “Someday” and “one of these days” are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.

I’m not sure what my sister would’ve done had she known that she wouldn’t be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted. I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food. I’m guessing - I’ll never know.

It’s those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with - someday. Angry because I hadn’t written certain letters that I intended to write - one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn’t tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them. I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is… a gift from God. If you’ve received this it is because someone cares for you. If you’re too busy to take the few minutes that it would take right now to forward this to ten people, would it be the first time you didn’t do that little thing that would make a difference in your relationships? I can tell you it certainly won’t be the last. Take a few minutes to send this to a few people you care about, just to let them know that you’re thinking of them. May love litter your life with blessings! JUST SEND IT!! You’ve got to dance like nobody’s watching, and love like it’s never going to hurt.” We can never see the path of our life if we are too busy focusing on the pebbles under our feet. *There are times when we have to stop and look for vistas.
- Source: A Story To Live By, by Ann Wells, Los Angeles Times

On this site we keep snippets of information found elsewhere… answers we searched for, things we don’t want to lose, and information we’d like to share with others.

We believe this stuff to be in the public domain, but if we inadvertently included something that belongs to you please let us know. We’ll remove it immediately.

I forget where I found this, but I think it’s good enough to keep:

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky.

The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. “God, how could you do this to me!” he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.

“How did you know I was here?” asked the weary man of his rescuers. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn’t lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground —-it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

We think of Three Inns as a ‘virtual inn.’

Diverse guests comes and go. During their stay they may entertain us with their stories, educate us with their knowledge, or inspire us with their wisdom and beliefs — precious gifts, indeed.

In time each of these guests move on, leaving behind good memories — or stuff for the Lost & Found cabinet.

All this to say that the Three Inns blog will include a diversity of information from a variety of sources.

We think of Three Inns as a ‘virtual inn.’

Diverse guests comes and go. During their stay they may entertain us with their stories, educate us with their knowledge, or inspire us with their wisdom and beliefs — precious gifts, indeed.

In time each of these guests move on, leaving behind good memories — or stuff for the Lost & Found cabinet.

All this to say that the Three Inns blog will include a diversity of information from a variety of sources.