Deborah Dolen's Open Salon Blog

Deborah Dolen Kentucky Derby 2012 Predictions

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 12:04:30 -0400

Deborah Dolen's Kentucky Derby Predictions 2012

The best chance to win big at the Kentucky Derby or any horse race is when there are a lot of horses at the gate and subsequently a slew of long shots. Last year’s Kentucky Derby was nowhere near as big as this years and the winners were fairly predictable in 2011 even though Uncle Mo did not run. Last year's Preakness taught me to pick the horse who wants to turn around just before the race and go home! That would be Shackelford. They had an impossible time getting him in the gate at the Preakness but he went on to win and beat Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom won the 2011 Kentucky Derby and was the Preakness favorite mainly because he performed so well at the Kentucky Derby. Animal Kingdom came placed in the Preakness.

On Saturday May 5^th, 2012 twenty horses will be chomping at the bit in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, provided no horses are scratched. My first prediction is at least two horses will be scratched so always have a secondary favorite handy in your back pocket. Actually last day and last minute scratches could go as high as four with that many horses.

What the Derby Experts Say

I looked at what seven experts at the Kentucky Derby 2012 predicted [which was fairly all over the place] and came up with a consensus on these – which is a pretty safe Trifecta Box: I’ll Have Another, Bodemiester, Gemologist, and Union Rags as a variable. (I box four for a Trifecta box.) After I looked at the Jockeys I just don’t see it except with maybe I’ll Have Another and maybe Union Rags in show. Photo Mario Gutierrez riding "I'll have Another."

Enter Calvin Borel, another three time Kentucky Derby winner. I just learned he found "Take Charge Indy" the owner did not find Calvin. Since Calvin almost lost all his tires in South Florida over pursing Take Charge Indy, (which is another story) I think Calvin has a investment in winning the Derby again.

After studying the jockeys, I am betting on Dullahan to win, Take Charge Indy to place and Went the Day Well to show. Union Rags I will trifecta box as a variable. It will hurt if "I'll Have Another" comes in and so I will study the horses as they go to the gate for any last minute swaps. I am also overlooking Gemologist as a favorite because I do not see the Jockey as a Derby contender.

Updated Odds Right now at the Kentucky Derby

Bodemiester, Gemologist, and Union Rags are favorites at this time of writing.

Betting Just on Names

Remember the real money is in two long shots and one expected in a trifecta box. I plan to bet a few in a trifecta boxes just because I like the names: Take Charge Indy, Done Talking, Rousing Sermon and I will box them with I’ll Have Another. Maybe another ticket boxing them with Bodemiester also.

Picking by Jockey

My last years Kentucky Derby predictions based on the jockey came closer than any other prediction method. If this is true, then it is fairly simple Dullahan with Kent Desormeaux who has already won the Derby three times, Went the Day Well with Animal Kingdom fame Jockey John Velazquez, and Calvin Borel on Take Charge Indy who also won the Kentucky Derby three times. Other notables I’ll Have Another with Candadian Jockey Mario Gutierrez known as “Marvelous Mario” on the CAD circuit. So I plan to trifecta box these four and another box ticket making Union Rags the variable because that jockey is one of my favorites from Chantilly, France, Julien Leparoux and I also cannot ignore that Union Rags won a significant Saratoga race recently and that is where I am from. I just think if any jockey other than these 5 come in it will be sheer luck. Basically any last minute long shots with these five jockeys riding them are good bets in my opinion.

Again, Shackelford taught me at the Preakness 2011 - it can pay to perhaps bet on the horses at the last minute as they come out. Shackelford went wild and did not want to go into the gate stall what-so-ever. He did go on to win the Preakness though and even whooped favorite Animal Kingdom.

If you wanna vote for the only female Jockey in the 2012 Kentucky Derby that would be horse name Mark Valeski with Jockey Anna "Rosie" Napravnik.

Long Shots for Kentucky Derby

At the time of this writing Optimizer is the biggest longshot 85-1 but often long shots are the horses scratched last minute. Hero of Order is another 85-1 and not sure either of these "fat chance in hell picks" are worth thinking about. The more viable long shots are Rousing Sermon 45-1, Done Talking 30-1 and the two "Daddys" Daddy nose best and Daddy long legs at 20-1 and 35-1. Went the Day Well is 20-1 and would be one of my long shot picks because of who the jockey is. Same with I'll Have Another who is at 16-1. OK, these two are "semi-longshots." But great for a trifecta box that could really pay off.

Union Rags people let me know they have a beautiful story line and a movie in mind for this horse. Please see Union Rags: An American Love Story. The full version is here on YouTube.

My Post 2011 Kentucky Derby Comments:

2011 Post Derby Results: Animal Kingdom [16] just proved you can win the Kentucky Derby even if you have never ran on dirt. No horse had done that at any prior Derby.

The beauty of Animal Kingdom was the Jockey was supposed to be Uncle Mo's Jockey. John Velasquez was tired of being scratched at previous Derby's, rode Animal Kingdom at th elas tminute and claimed the 2011 Run for the Roses as his own. My first two performance picks were on target and in order. So no more betting by lucky numbers or cool names for me!

Deborah Dolen is an author living in Palma Sola Florida with her dog Ringo. You can see Deborah’s work on Amazon book, Amazon Films, Amazon France and Amazon U.K. as well. Deborah Dolen is also on Twitter and Facebook! Her pen name is “Mabel White.” Please see some of her video’s on YouTube.

Making Balm with Vegetable Shortening - Christmas Project

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:11:26 -0500

Making Lip Balm with Vegetable Shortening Christmas Project by Deborah Dolen - Author of The Bathroom Chemist

Beyond an oil based flavor, a touch of beeswax, and cute destination pots-a container of vegetable shortening is all you need to make a very good supple balm for your lips. 10% beeswax to 90% vegetable shortening-heated together make a nice balm. 20% beeswax to 80% vegetable shortening makes a firmer balm for balm sticks. When pouring balm sticks, ensure the core is cold before you start twisting. All of the melting can be done in the microwave using a large anchor hocking glass measuring cup. Your creation is transferrred into destination pots or containers while still warm.

For a kids project this is very simple, rewarding and fun. And you can basically make 3 pounds of balm for $4-including the wax. That is a lot of balm. In fact that is enough to make 96 half ounce pots. Why vegetable shortening? Vegetable shortening usually is a hydrogenated form of soybean oil. Almost all lip balms or balm sticks are made of a semi solid oil or fat, and over the last decade many originate from soybean oil.

Flavoring Your Balm To secure an oil based flavor, you could go to the health food store and grab essential oils-such as peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint, tangerine, or even ginger. You can blend these: Spearmint oil and Wintergreen oil=Double Mint and Ginger oil and Wintergreen oil = Root Beer. You may be able to find flavoring oils for chocolate in the cake section of any craft supply center. This search may produce “chocolate” or “strawberry” and then you can mix to make chocolate mint and so on. Vanilla flavor oil based is great of you can find that.

Pipettes are one of the few things you need to transfer your warm creation and probably one of the only things you would have to get on the internet.

Coloring Your Balm

You can use cheap lipstick to tint your balm. I use the end of a toothpick and swirl the color into the warm oil if I want to tint it.

Other Variations of Balm Base

Once you master the balm base, you can make solid perfume, heal salve-cuticle salve, just about anything. In this cases you may want to up the beeswax to 1:1 vegetable shortening or even a fat like solid coconut oil.

Materials: Large Anchor Hocking Glass Measuring Cup Metal sticks for stirring such as straight skewers used for grilling For clean up simply wipe the glass measuring cup while still warm. There is no need to try to clean wax residue with soap and water. You can also wipe the metal sticks down the same way.

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Lemonade Using Entire Lemon Recipe bY Deborah Dolen

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:10:30 -0400

Lemonade is extremely alkalizing to the body. I drink it every day. Lemonade is useful even in the autumn, it can translate into Wassail which is a favorite drink of many.

I was at a World's Fair when I saw a vendor making fresh squeezed lemonade with the entire lemon. I found that fascinating since I was using 12-16 lemons to make a gallon of lemonade a week. Now I use only 6 lemons, because I facilitate the entire lemon. I do not think it became "do-able" however, until the Ninja appeared in many U.S kitchens. The Ninja is like a blender, more like a K-Tech blender in my mind, and has three blades going up the router. This is good news for those wanting to macerate lemons like I do. I have not tried apples yet, but you can bet that is coming next!

Choice of lemon can matter. I have noticed buying bright lemons is best and that pale lemons seem to be bitter. It does matter. Bright lemons impart a very slight essential oil which is also very good for you. Lemon oil in slight amounts is a tonic. I think pale lemons are lacking in a lot of attributes. Organic is great, but washing a good lemon with a natural liquid soap can be just fine. A Ninja type blender is probably needed and a few large vessels for straining twice. It would be very difficult to give lemons a hard time with a small chopper and maybe impossible with an average blender.

The result of all this effort? Really good tasting lemonade.

Lemonade Recipe Using Whole Lemons - Makes 3/4 Gallon

6 Bright Lemons washed, cut in half

3/4 Gallon of Distilled Water

Use enough water to fill up the Ninja for the first round of lemons. I can macerate all 6 lemons in mine on the first shot. Leave head space when adding water-like two inches at least.Macerate the lemons in the water using a Ninja type blender.

Use a chinois to strain. A chinois is a very fine strainer often used by French chefs. If you do not have a chinois, use a permanent type coffee filter-the metal mesh kind. A paper coffee filter may be too fine and not work out well. Recently I found it is faster to use a normal mesh strainer, on the first round--(I can get it all strained in one fell swoop) and then re-strain with a chinois. You may need a few large vessels for the straining.

Sweetener - You can sweeten your lemonade a lot of different ways. I use a few teaspoons of white stevia powder, or two cups of Splenda, or at least two cups of sugar - depending on what I have on hand. The strained remnants of the lemon go down the garbage disposal very well.

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Amazon Kindle Fire Review by Deborah Dolen

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:10:14 -0400

As an author of 28 books on Amazon, 50% them on Amazon Kindle as of this year, I am well acclimated to Amazon’s Kindle generations. The new Kindle Fire is so awesome, I am buying Kindle Fires for all of my close friends as gifts for the holidays. I am also buying them a few e-books to have preloaded so they want to learn to use it. The Bible was my first choice to load on mine and to preload on gifts I am giving to friends.

I like the Kindle Fire is because it looks as sharp as an iPad, although a bit smaller, I prefer the size Amazon selected more than I do iPad. The new Kindle Fire also displays four colors and I have been waiting a very long time for that feature. Since I write craft books, showing color in the books is often a real need-like a color blending chart that is one of the most downloaded items in my work.

The price of Amazon’s Kindle Fire was unexpectedly affordable, and I am not exposed to ads on Amazon’s new Kindle Fire. The screen can be read in the bright sun and that is a major plus since I like to work outside as often as I can.

“Silk” is the operating system and browser for Amazon Kindle Fire and runs on a customized version of Google’s Android mobile operating system. The Amazon Kindle Fire is faster because it uses Amazon’s Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2), in part, to speed up efficiency when using the web via Kindle Fire.

I like Silk as a browser because it remembers the 3-5 web sites I like to visit every day, preloading them to save me time. I am positive Amazon’s Kindle Fire is going to be a bigger hit than any former Kindle.

Visit Deborah Dolen on Twitter! See Deborah Dolen's work on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Dolen/e/B00457BI2S or here at Deborah Dolen Amazon.

Deborah Dolen author also loves to shop in Sarasota Sarasota, FL. See Deborah Dolen at Sarasota Farmer's Market in Sarasota Florida Decemebr 14th, 2011. Deborah Dolen is an author from nearby Bradenton, FL.

About Deborah Dolen is an author who lives in Palma Sola are of Bradenton Florida, whose work is exclusively sold on Amazon’s platform. She lives in Bradenton, Florida with her dog Ringo. See Deborah Dolen Amazon and her work is also sold under the pen name Mabel White. See Mabel White on Amazon. Deborah Dolen is frequently on Twitter, for DIT updates and neat ideas follow Deborah Dolen on Twitter. Deborah Dolen’s DIY books are also now available on Amazon France and Amazon UK, please visit the authors pages. Click her for her video Demo’s on YouTube that can be purchased on Amazon’s Instant Download film program.

Bradenton Farmers Market Open 2011

Sun, 9 Oct 2011 09:10:47 -0400

by Deborah Dolen, local author, Bradenton, FL

The Bradenton Farmer's Market is back for the season 2011-2012. The Bradenton Farmer's Market is open every Saturday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. The Bradenton Farmer's Market runs until well into May of each year, being closed for the summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The Bradenton Farmer's market welcomes dogs and visitors will see many beautiful dogs being walked in the market.

My dog Ringo and I have been huge supporters of the Bradenton Farmer's Market until 2007 when I moved briefly to Houston-only to be hit by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Now home, I am active once again with the Bradenton Farmer's Market. This last Saturday Ringo Dawg and I cruised over and walked with a few other golden retrievers. Ringo was rescued from Katrina, a big red dog pressing 95 pounds, with huge web paws-children cannot help but want to ride him.

Very comforting to see the Bradenton Farmer's Market back in action on a cool and slightly breezy morning. There were a lot of vendors which is always important to a good market. One of my favorite merchants was a family who made real fresh squeezed lemonade. Two daughters, Hannah and Leah, Parents Tina and Glenn. They had a very busy operation making genuine squeezed lemonade and the kids were able to learn industry as well as quality customer service. The lemons were actually organic!

Making Lemonade Using the Whole Lemon

I explained they could facilitate the whole lemon and it would result in double lemon juice production as well as a better product. I had seen a company do this at a World Fair and tried it at home. They simply cut organic lemons in half and macerated the whole fruit. It was awesome, imparting some quality essential oils of the lemon rind with it. The equipment enabling me to do this is the new "Ninja" blender that has three blades going up the router. 6 Lemons, cut in half, 3 quarts of distilled water, blend it up and strain with a metal mesh coffee type filter, two cups of Splenda is my recipe. Lemon is so great for the digestive tract and very alkalizing to the entire body. I make a gallon every week.

Autumn at the Bradenton Farmer's Market

Back to the fun at the Bradenton Farmer's Market, I met my Assistant and had breakfast with her and her red Golden Retriever. There are many little bake shops open that line the perimeter of the market. The streets are all old brick set and paver bricks. It is so fun, like eating at a bed and breakfast and then shopping to see the many gifted artists that display their wares at the Bradenton Farmers Market.

I will be there every Saturday Morning as my schedule permits. Supporting your local community and artists is so paramount as we enter economic challanges - happiness will be defined by what support each community has for its residents, or "neighbor." It is your chance to get out and sincerely meet other people...even if you don't live in Bradenton, FL! :)

Many thanks to Kevin and Catherine who now run the market. Thanks also to Mayor Wayne Poston, his wife Mickey.

Deborah Dolen author also loves the Sarasota Farmers Market in Sarasota, FL. See Deborah Dolen at Sarasota Farmer's Market in Sarasota FLorida Decemebr 14th, 2011.

Click here to see more images of Bradenton Farmer's market taken by Deborah Dolen Photo Credits in this article, photographer Deborah Dolen. Join Deborah Dolen on Facebook or follow Deborah Dolen on Twitter! Click here to view Deborah Dolens Library.

For a more recent article about the Bradenton Farmer's Market, click here. http://open.salon.com/blog/mabel_white/2011/10/25/deborah_dolen_visits_bradenton_farmers_market