If you remember a box in the cupboard featuring a wagon with a mule team then you are most likely (ahem) a person of a certain age! From the Images of America series comes The Twenty Mule Team of Death Valley, by Ted Faye. Even back in 1892 the image was marketing genius: America was strong, hardworking, etc. It conjured up a nice image of the wild west, too. Headed west to seek gold, most passed by (and often cursed) the dry lake beads scattered with rocks (some boulder sized) of borax. This was a useful ingredient in many products (the most popular being laundry detergent) of the day so transporting it became a major industry. Huge wagons were designed, with wheels weighing up to 1000 pounds, made of iron and wood. Mules were used because they were stronger and less likely to spook than horses. The fact that the teams were so long was not really a problem since there were no sharp corners on their routes. In 1894 a steam tractor was purchased to pull the heavy wagons, but it broke down in the desert heat and had to be hauled out ... by the mules.

For another trip down memory lane (for some of us), try Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods That Changed the Way We Eat, by Carolyn Wyman. This was a delightful little history of convenience foods: meals that were easier for working moms to serve, rolls that popped out of a tube, or milk or juice from a powder. Loaded with saturated fats and high fructose corn syrups, we all know better than to eat most of them and yet, they still fly off the supermarket shelves. (I love the comment in the introduction about foods no one admits they eat!) The same author wrote Spam: a Biography found in the post of June 21, 2016. Fun!

Reading Hermit With Dog