(See what I did there?)  The Oscars aren’t the only folks in La La Land–it’s painfully beyond awkward to spend more than five minutes watching news of our clueless demented “leader”.  Also it’s hard to watch from the position of kissing your ass goodbye.  It takes some real contortionist skills.

There you have your current events segment.  Now back to your regularly scheduled trivia.

From our food section today, we bring you a hearty split pea vegetable soup (from scratch), and an Indian-spiced casserole, by YT.  I’m becoming an expert on stretching basic cheap staples into a balanced diet.

For plant geeks, courtesy of our local wildflower group, here are slightly more obscure lifeforms found around Ohio recently–a liverwort, and a club moss/ground cedar.  As much as I love wildflowers, I find these more primitive botanical species most fascinating.

And from our fauna desk, courtesy of a local wildlife rescue org, we have a spotted turtle, a threatened species which has declined due to their natural wetland habitats being destroyed here in Ohio, and a rescued baby fox squirrel.  Fox squirrels start being born this month.

Last but not least, in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day, here’s something I haven’t had in my bar in a while.  I used to routinely stock all the basics, but that’s one more luxury I no longer take for granted.  So now it’s a special treat.  As is this different take on bourbon (which the Irish replaced).  Who says bourbon can’t be a food group?