I’ve been busy.
I “had to” play bartender at our house for Christmas dinner. Yeah I know, tough job, but…
And before that, this friend of mine gave me a virgin fruit cake about a month ago, with the only instruction being,
“Just add rum.”
“Lots of it.”
But, I’m thinking I just might have overdone it. A lot overdone it. You see, after the first fifth, the excess kept running out the sides of the damn thing, until…
I was hoping to grab the beast as it floated by and was about to donate it to some poor street urchin—you know, in the holiday spirit, and all. Lots of holiday spirit, as it were.
But, then I caught a story about a 70-year old fruitcake that just sold to an Arizona man for $525, supposedly as an investment.
“We were a little surprised to learn bids for the fruitcake made by the Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. came in from all over the globe, including Japan, Australia and England.”
As the cake was reported to have been soaked in alcohol, maybe the guy figured he was investing in rum futures.
In a mostly unrelated story that deals with the subject of how our society seems to have a propensity to “go big,” I read a recent report that the United States Coast Guard is changing the rules for ferries.
“Coast Guard vessel stability rules that took effect nationwide Dec. 1 raised the estimated weight of the average adult passenger to 185 pounds from the previous 160 pounds, based on population information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
“During the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and about one-third of American adults are now considered obese.”
The intended result was to greatly reduce the number of passengers that a license ferry could transport with the goal,
“With that many passengers, the ferry wouldn’t tip over even if everyone ran to the side at the same time to look at a pod of killer whales.”
Or, possibly a rum-soaked fruitcake floating by.
Enjoy your New Year’s food and drink extravaganza. Just remember…that floater is all mine.
Happy Trails and see you next year.
