Spokane Tidbits by John Ortiz

Of Spokane Washington

July 11, 2008

Published By: John Ortiz & Assoc., LLC

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Issue #571

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TIDBITS CLUCKS OVER CHICKENS

FROM COOP TO SOUP by Kathleen Lakeland

If you have a calendar of wacky holidays handy, you’ll notice that July 11 is Chicken Day. At Tidbits, we cry

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“fowl” since one day of the year is simply not enough to properly salute America’s favorite domesticated bird. • Today’s standard domestic chicken is believed to be an ancestor of the Red Junglefowl, which was raised in captivity in India some 5,000 years ago. Those ancient birds had the same characteristics of today’s chickens and roosters: the males had large, fleshy wattles on their heads, and their tails were made up of long, arching feathers that shimmered with purple, green and blue in strong sunlight. The female had bland, nondescript plumage, so she could blend in with the scenery in order to protect her chicks. • Just like the modern rooster, the ancient Red Junglefowl had a distinct “cock-a-doodledoo” cry. Roosters use this call both to attract potential mates, and also to alert other male birds in the area that they risk a fight if they intrude on this bird’s territory. So why do roosters crow so loudly at daybreak? They’re trying to re-establish their territory after a good night’s rest. • Dieticians and cardiologists keep warning us about the dangers of fried food, but so far, that hasn’t stop Americans from enjoying a regular “bucket o’ cluck.” In fact, more than half of the chicken entrees ordered in U.S. restaurants are for fried chicken. That love of crispy drumsticks and wings is spreading far past American shores; Kentucky Fried Chicken is the largest restaurant chain in China (where it outsells McDonald’s), and Church’s Fried Chicken has announced plans to open 60 stores throughout the Middle East. • The red fleshy comb and wattles on a chicken aren’t strictly for decoration, they have a distinct purpose. Birds don’t perspire, and their bodies are covered with feathers so it would be easy for them to get overheated. Blood circulates through their combs and wattles to help keep them cool. • Can chickens fly? Poultry farmers know the answer to this question, but for the rest of us the answer is yes, they can fly for very short distances. Modern chickens are bred specifically for their breast meat, since that’s the preferred part of the bird in the U.S. The more front-heavy the chickens get, the more difficult it is for them to get airborne. • Explaining the difference between white meat and dark meat requires a brief lesson in physiology. Dark meat – the legs and thighs – contains a large amount of myoglobin proteins, which provide oxygen to the muscles. Chickens use their thigh and leg muscles frequently, so that area requires a higher supply of oxygen, which in turn results in dark meat. A chicken rarely uses its breast or wing muscles, so the meat is white. While white meat is lower in fat, dark meat contains more zinc, riboflavin, thiamin, and iron. But dark meat has more cholesterol and about 25 percent more calories than its lighter counterpart. turn the page for more!

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Stressed Out Over Exercise Q: I enjoy working out to get away from the day-to-day stresses of my job and family. My usual routine is to do group exercise classes three days a week and walk with a neighborhood friend three days a week. My stress has dropped a little, but not as much as I thought it would. Also, I thought I might have lost a little weight just by exercising. What am I doing wrong? A: Exercise can have many benefits, including reducing stress and losing weight. If you’re not seeing the results you desire, we need to identify what other factors might be playing a role. A regular exercise routine is a great place to start to help facilitate weight loss while encouraging stress relief. Stress can slow our metabolism, affect hormone levels and cause us to store body fat around our abdominal region. While exercising, take the time to relax and focus on your workout. Bringing your stress into your workout can keep you from truly using your workout time to relieve stress. If talking about what might be causing stress in your life only causes you to become more stressed, then avoid taking those feelings into your workout. Find an exercise routine that you enjoy and where can practice breathing and relaxation techniques. Stretching, mind/body classes such as Qigong, Tai Chi or yoga, and workouts that help focus your thoughts on not becoming overwhelmed Don’t take o.steoarthritis sitting down. can not only provide a great workout, but techniques you can use in everyday life. Remember to modify your workouts, as you may need to try different things at different times of your life. You might enjoy group classes this month, but become You may qualify to participate bored with them next month. Change up your routine and try something new and in a research study testing an exciting. This also can provide something to look forward to if the rest of your life investigational medication for pain is hectic and stressed. relief of osteoarthritis of the knee. Exercise and nutrition must go hand in hand. Some people use food to help deal To qualify, you must: with stress, so to keep this from becoming a factor, monitor your nutritional habits. • Be age 50 or older A healthy, balanced nutritional plan combined with regular exercise can help fa• Have been diagnosed with cilitate weight loss. However, you can exercise and not begin to see the physical osteoarthritis of the knee results because of your nutritional habits. • Have been taking pain medication for osteoarthritis for at least six weeks A regular routine of exercise and proper nutrition is a great start to reducing stress Benefits include study-related care and lab and keeping control of your weight. Keep trying each day to find a combination of test, plus compensation for time and travel. exercise and nutrition that works for you -- and avoid becoming frustrated. Exercise and nutrition should not add more stress to your life. Contact us to find out if you qualify:

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Always consult a physician before beginning an exercise program. If you have a ﬁtness or training question, write to Andrea in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475 (c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc.

CHICKENS (continued) • When it comes to recipes specifying “broilers” or “fryers,” please note that the only difference between the two is weight. Both are birds that are a maximum of eight weeks old; the only difference between the two is that a broiler weighs 21⁄2 pounds or less, while a fryer may weigh up to 31⁄2 pounds. “Stewing chickens” are hens that were previously used for egg-laying but have since passed their prime. • In the early 1960s, the owner of Johnny Reb’s Chick, Chuck & Shake in Marietta, Georgia, needed a gimmick to lure customers to his restaurant. He enlisted the help of a Georgia Tech graduate who had a degree in architecture and a job at Atlanta Steel. The resulting structure, “the Big Chicken,” still stands guard on the corner of Ga. 120 and U.S. 41. Locals regularly use the landmark as a reference point when giving directions. • In Key West, Florida, the answer to the question “Why did the chicken cross the road?” is “Because they’re protected by law.” Some 2,000 chickens roam this island community freely, a leftover legacy from the days when cockfighting was legal. Once the practice was banned, the newly freed birds wandered the island, bred, and became as common as pigeons in New York City. The novelty of free-roaming chickens increased tourism, so the local government declared the Key West chickens to be a “protected species.” • El Pollo Loco (The Crazy Chicken) is a fastfood chain specializing in citrus-marinated grilled chicken. The chain origiCommercial • Residential nated in Mexico, but now has over 300 outlets in nine states. The company is also famous for giving a young aspiring actor his first job. Brad Pitt once paid his rent by donning a giant chicken costume, shaking his tail feathers and handing out El Pollo Loco coupons. • Newlyweds star Jessica Simpson caught a lot of flak in the press when she expressed confusion over the can of tuna she was eating on her reality series. “Is it chicken, or is it fish?” Of course, most of us know that Chicken Graffiti Removal of the Sea is fish, but Jessica sort of raised a good point – if it’s tuna, why does it have “chicken” in the name? Commercial Heavy Equipment Cleaning fishermen have always referred to white albacore tuna “the chicken of the sea” because of the meat’s similar pale color and Also: Building • Concrete • Asphalt mild flavor. • Chickens can’t get chickenpox. In fact, the “chicken” nickname for the disease propHome erly known as varicella came about because it was less deadly than smallpox. However, a possible complication of chickenpox, shinCell Licensed • Bonded • Insured #BLBMOLB926LK gles, is not uncommon in poultry and can be fatal to the birds. turn the page for more!

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Deciphering Medicare Plans A neighbor of mine who will be enrolling in Medicare next year decided to get a head start in picking out a drug plan. I consider her to be very bright, but even she shook her head in amazement at the pile of information in front of her, wondering how she was to choose. That, unfortunately, is the situation for so many of us trying to make sense of all the available choices. The good news is that Medicare is spending an additional $15 million on the State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) to help us ﬁgure out our drug and health-care plans, and it should make it much easier to

sort through all the options. SHIPs are state programs run at the local level. Their purpose is to help Medicare recipients sort through their options. Trained counselors can answer questions about a Medigap policy, home health care, payment appeals and denials, Medicare rights, long-term-care options and complaints about treatment you’ve received, as well as helping you decide what health and prescription programs are right for you. This year there will be more direct help for low-income seniors who want to apply for help in paying for drug coverage. If you need help with all your Medicare options, go to www.medicare.gov and put “SHIP contact” in the search box. The information is listed by state. Another place to start at the site is the link to Learn More About Plans In Your Area. If you don’t have Internet access, you can call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) and ask for contact information for the SHIP counselor in your area. If you’re a caregiver, you can call, too. Matilda Charles regrets that she cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into her column whenever possible. Write to her in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to columnreply@gmail.com. (c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc.

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Tidbits® of Spokane Washington CHICKENS (continued)

• Chicken wings used to be castoffs, offered in bulk at a discount by butchers for folks who wanted to make soup. One night in 1964, Teressa Bellisimo (co-owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York) broiled a batch of wings she’d been saving for stock in order to make a snack for her son and his buddies after a long night of bar-hopping. She coated the wings with Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and served them with celery sticks and blue cheese (the house dressing). Thanks to Teressa, butchers can now make a profit from a part of the chicken thought to be useless. • The Internet has made “viral marketing” not only a catch phrase, but also a sales tool. Burger King managed to get a chicken involved in one of its more bizarre promotions for the TenderCrisp chicken sandwich. Log on to www.subservientchicken. com, and you’ll see a man in a chicken suit. Type in a command (“dance,” “lay an egg”) and he will do your bidding. Really! The End

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Recipe of the Week COMFORT FOODS -- Made Fast and Healthy! By Healthy Exchanges Lemonade Muffins A muffin that is great for breakfast or alongside a salad for lunch. You are sure to please whenever you choose to serve it. 1 1/2 cups Bisquick Heart Smart Baking Mix 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Splenda Granular 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 (6-ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed 1 egg, well-beaten, or equivalent in egg substitute 2 tablespoons Land O Lakes Fat-Free Half & Half 1/4 cup I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light Margarine 1/4 cup chopped walnuts Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray 8 muffin wells with butter-flavored cooking spray or line with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine baking mix, 1/4 cup Splenda and baking powder. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cu p lemonade concentrate, egg, half and half and margarine. Add lemonade mixture to baking mix mixture. Mix gently just to combine. Fold in walnuts. Evenly spoon batter into prepared muffin wells. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Place muffin pan on a wire rack. Lightly brush tops with remaining lemonade concentrate and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon Splenda over top of each. Remove muffins from pan and continue cooling on wire rack. Serves 8. • Each serving: 203 calories, 7g fat, 3g protein, 32g carbs, 495mg sodium, 126mg calcium, 0g fiber; Diabetic Exchanges: 1 1/2 Starch/ Carb, 1 Fat; Carb Choices: 1. Visit Healthy Exchanges at www.healthyexchanges.com, or call toll-free at 1-800-766-8961 for more information about the only national food newsletter for diabetics, heart/cholesterol concerns and healthy weight loss. (c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc. • “If you use a hair dryer to dry your hair, put a little of your favorite perfume on the back of it, near the air intake, and your hair will take on the scent of the perfume.” -- S.H. in Ohio • Another use for Alka-Seltzer: Got insect bites? D.K. from South Carolina swears by dissolving two tables in a small glass of water and dabbing the solution on minor insect bites. • “To preserve the life of your cupcake pans, make sure to put water into any unused cups. I make cupcakes/muffins, and I like them larger than the recipe calls for. As a result, I usually only fill two-thirds of the cups. My pans have lasted a long time because I take good care of them.” -- Amy, via e-mail • “Take 1 tablespoon of vinegar in a small glass of water after a meal for no heartburn and no more expensive heartburn medicine.” -- F.F. in Colorado • Here’s a tip from C.S.R. in Florida: Washing produce takes a lot of water, which you can reuse. Catch it in a dishpan, and use it to water your outdoor plants! • “ This is an awesome way to clean silver. Take an aluminum-foil pan -- the disposable kind -- and line it with a piece of aluminum foil. Sprinkle in some salt (I use sea salt, but any kind will do), then add a dash of dish soap and fill the container with boiling water. Put your silver, including jewelry, into the mix and, voila, it cleans instantly. Of course, you’ll have to turn the larger pieces, so be careful not to burn yourself.” -- L.N. in B.C., Canada

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Tidbits® of Spokane Washington

Mortgage Foreclosures Bring Out Vultures

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While the number of mortgage foreclosures NO Credit Requirements Call Today! soars, so do the inciNO Intrest Rate (509) 924-7334 dents of foreclosure scams. Here are some of the signs that a mortgage foreclosure scam is in the works: Low Monthly Payments 808 N. Pines Bailout specialists promise to “rescue” the homeowner “You Could Be Driving Today” from foreclosure in exchange for fees that can run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Little work is actually done except for a few phone calls. All your protection In the rescue scam, the homeowner is told to sign cerunder one roof. ® tain loan documents that will take care of the impending foreclosure -- except that the documents actually sign Cory L Tesarik, Agent the title over to the scammer. The homeowner is left with no house and is still responsible for the mortgage. 4408 S. Regal Street Spokane, WA 99223 In a variation of the rescue scam, the homeowner is ctesarik@amfam.com told that the scammer will make the payments and take (509) 448-0224 American Family Mutual Insurance care of the foreclosure, and the homeowner can rent the (509) 448-5542 Fax Company and its Subsidiaries house until he’s able to buy it back later. The end result is Home Office - Madison, WI 53763 that the homeowner is evicted when the scammer colBC-208008 - 4/08 lects the rent, defaults on the payments or sells the house to someone else and pockets the profits. If you can’t make your mortgage payments and fear losing your house, talk to your lender. The earlier Bring your Horses, ATVs or Fishing Boat you do this, the better your chances that arrangements can be made to avoid foreclosure. Hunters Welcome Here are some more tips: Relax in the mountains in your own • Never sign any documents that have blanks, no matter how you’re pressured. Don’t sign any docuprivate cabin just 40 miles North of Spokane. Cabins are adjacent to ments before you read (and understand) every word. horseback riding trails, hundreds of • Don’t respond to calls or mail about foreclosure rescue. There are companies that scour courthouse miles of ATV trails and within minutes of several popular fishing lakes! records to collect names of homeowners in trouble. Completely outfitted kitchen, 1-bdrm, • Never pay a fee for mortgage foreclosure assistance or services. Call a HUD certified counselor, but 1-bath with W/D, all linens & sleeps 4 comfortably! even then be careful. See the Web site at www.hud.gov. Overnight stabling is available for guest horses and covered parking for ATVs or boats. • Don’t agree to send payments to anyone but your lender. Call Lorie for more information or to make a reservation • Never make any verbal agreements or trust anything that is not in writing. (509 209-3520 or www.grousecreekbedandbreakfast.com • Know your state laws. Length of time of the foreclosure process varies. • Contact an attorney who specializes in consumer law. Most important of all, don’t sell your house at a low price just to get rid of it, especially if the buyer is offering to “take it off your hands” and save you from foreclosure. Enlist the help of a real-estate agent to help you determine the true value of your home.

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David Uﬃngton regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Write to him in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475, or send e-mail to columnreply@gmail.com. (c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc.

Home & Garden Rotting Window Sill Isn’t a Simple Fix Q: I try to maintain my home as well as I can by myself. However, there are some things that even the most determined body cannot do. The sills on my outside back windows, which face south, are rotting away. I hope that something can be done simply, but whenever someone gives me advice, they seem to think all the windows and frames need to be replaced. Any advice would be appreciated and considered. I’m a senior citizen on a limited budget. -- Bonnie M., via e-mail A: Normally, when a wooden window frame begins to show significant rotting, it’s best to replace the entire frame -- you get a well-fitted, better-insulated window that will last for decades. But it isn’t cheap, and the project is beyond many do-it-yourselfers. It’s a tough call, without being able to look at your exterior sills, as to whether you can make temporary repairs to them and hold off on replacing the entire window unit. Take a close look at them: Is the rotting only affecting a portion of the exterior wood? Does the rot go through to the interior side? Does the wood crumble away with light pressure? A rotting window frame can result in a lot of other costs -- water damage from moisture seeping through the compromised wood, and high energy bills from poor insulation. If the rot is limited, you can buy a little time -- a year or two, max -- by filling the cracked surfaces with a two-part wood filler. This product is mixed together and then applied to the damaged area with a putty knife. After it dries, it can be lightly sanded and painted. Once that’s done, though, start pricing out replacements. The temporary seal will give you a little extra time for this. With parts and labor, you may only be able to replace one frame at a time, but the replacement will be well worth it in the long run. HOME TIP: To check how well a window seals, slip a dollar bill under the sash, close it tight, and try to slide the bill out. If the bill comes out easily, weatherstrip the window. Send questions or home-repair tips to homeguru2000@hotmail.com, or write This Is a Hammer, c/o King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. (c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc.

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