Ask Luke’s Mother-in-Law: Nicknames, Foxes, Eating of Bugs

Live in L.A.? Want to meet Luke’s Mother-in-Law tonight at around 6pm? Email toplessrobot at gmail to find out how.

Luke’s mother-in-law is former LAPD, a licensed property appraiser and a self-described crazy cat lady. None of which has prepared her for TR readers. All questions and answers are real.

Hello and Happy Thursday. If you are reading this, good for you and we have all made it to another Thursday. Luke has put together a meet and greet for tonight in Studio City; I hope to see some of you there. I think he posted all the info on Facebook. Just popping down to LA for a couple of days and to take care of some stuff that I can’t do from the Vortex of Joshua Tree. I have a cat sitter taking care of the kids at home – but I am sure many of you know how the kids behave with a sitter vs. a parent. I expect some of the house will be remodeled by the time I get back.

Here is my rant for the day: Daylight Savings Time. We are still doing this outdated time shift. My appointments generally start at about 8:30 a.m., so when I have to drive 1-2 hours to get to the appointment I leave about 6 a.m. I pass several school bus stops on my way. We are in a rural area and don’t have a lot of street lights like the city. Last week, the High School kids were standing in daylight – granted, not much, but there was light and you could see them on the side of the road. Yesterday, I had an appointment and drove the same route as always…Pitch black. Kids are still all over the sides of the road, but you can’t see them at all. At some stops parents turned on headlights when they saw a car coming; at others there were no parents to do this. How is this remotely safe? Perhaps a grassroots revolt – bring this to the attention of you local school board, then maybe it can work up the food chain.

Anyway, time to climb down from the soapbox and get on with the business at hand – your questions. I’m sure as always Luke has sent me some good ones. You all keep me on my toes.

Rx79immigrant84:
Thanx for the response LYT mother in law,
I have two questions. One, what nickname should we give you on the site or is LYT’s mother in law just fine. My second is a follow up question; when you said meet people at the street corner, were you advising prostitution?

Question One: You know, I have not really thought about a name. When I post things it is under boydappraisal – I know, not original and it was just how I signed up for the site. LYT’s mother in law is okay, but it gets rather long, don’t you think? Maybe we should start a list on this and take a vote, or you all can make suggestions and I or Luke can pick the one we like the best. Something with some flair; I don’t know. I throw down the challenge: what would you all like to call me? Please not “hey you.” LOL

Question Two: No. I was being a brat. I was on a lot of street corners when I was a cop and it is generally not the best place to meet high caliber people.

mfan010:
My question is related to this one, so here goes: Since Mother-In-Law is MIL, can we call you “MIL”LER LYT?

Well, this goes with the question asked by RX79immigrant84. Let’s toss your suggestion into the hat and see. I think a name contest is in order, for sure.

James.k.Polk:
Here’s my question. Here in North Texas, there is at least one town preparing to recycle sewer contents into drinking water.
After all the filtering and purifying that will be done, the water remaining is just water. But still some people are revolted by the idea.
What other completely sensible things could be done if people didn’t have that “eew” reaction?
For me it would be eating bugs or or animal guts like tripe or hog maws.

Yep, the eew factor is a big one. But as we run out of “drinkable” water, we have to start doing things. I like the desalinization of sea water. At my house I use grey water to water plants and trees; it then goes back to the water table and in years filters thru – so I have been told. My husband was on our local water boards for several years. Most of the water we get is not pure to start with and it has to be treated – so why not treat the sewer water? It really needs a good PR firm. Eventually the masses will accept the water or go without. Look at how we get people to drink all of this bottled water, that over the years has been shown in many cases just to be bottled tap water.

Americans have strange perceptions on things. In other parts of the world, eating bugs or various animal parts is just as normal as when we eat a steak or fried chicken. I can remember my husband telling stories of eating bugs when he was in Vietnam. It became quite normal and a good source of protein. When he came home, boy was he the hit of all the younger boys and his brothers: I heard a story recently from his youngest brother about how he would bring the neighborhood kids around to see his big brother eat bugs. John being in his early 20’s at the time was really cool to the 10 +/- set of his little brother’s friends. I know every plant and animal in my yard that you can eat if necessary. My yard is a buffet if needed and it beats going hungry. I also have lots of stored food, but what happens when that runs out?

Gallen_Dugall:
QUESTION! Cream of mushroom soup is a great base for soups, also works well in rice and certain sauces, are there any other cooking applications you’ve found for it? (I happened to have acquired some in bulk)

Totally agree. I mostly use in soup as the base, and yes, rice. I put in sour cream and it makes a great stroganoff with noodles. Great over veg as a sauce. I cook beef and chicken in it either on the stove or in the oven. I have also made a white lasagna – just sub out the red sauce. Same with pizza. Mix in some hot sauce and it works well when doing enchiladas.

BrandoLars:
Oddly enough my Daughter asked me a question that I might as well ask here.
Why is Chilly called Chilly when it is actually hot. I tried to explain to her it’s called Chilly because of the peppers used to make it. They are called Chilly Peppers.
Is that what makes it hot Daddy? she asked me. I answered Yes. SO then without missing a beat she asked me. Daddy why are Chilly Peppers called Chilly when they are really hot?
I had no answer to this So instead I pose the question to you. My Daughter is 6 BTW.

Ah, quite perceptive question for a 6 yr-old. Love those “stump the parents” questions. The “why” stage can really make you feel so stupid and get the creative juices flowing. I still get them from time to time from my 25 yr old. Keep in mind what goes around comes around, you did this to your parents too. Perhaps we should write these things down and then pass them on to our kids so they have a reference book when they have kids. Of course we also keep a copy, as the grand kids will get us with them later on down the road.

But back to your question. It was all a trick. There was a little princess, much like your daughter, who did not like hot things. She would not try anything that was hot or was called hot. Her parents were running out of things for her to try and like. One of the favorite foods of the kingdom was a dish made with beans, beef, tomatoes, onions and a magic potion that started with a very small red or green treat: the pepper. Well this pepper was spicy when you tasted it. So when the magic pepper was first grown to have more of the kingdom use it (it was growing all over the place) the wise king named it a chilly to get people to try it. The trick worked and the kingdom loved it.

Gallen_Dugall:
QUESTION – As we all know there are many disturbing things on the internet chief among them is Aurora Spenser (whose insane Youtube work has been featured on this site many times) and who most people assume is a deeply disturbed “man” dressing up – but who? Rob Bricken was the prime suspect until Rob died and was assumed into a hellish undeath by Mr Potato Head yet the videos continue to get posted on a regular basis and now here’s LYT taking over where the later left off. Given your history with LYT is there any chance he is in fact the person behind the Aurora Spenser persona and is there a fund we can contribute to in order to see that he receives the appropriate psychological care? Preferably with lots of shock therapy.

Ah you got 2 questions this week – very good. Well I can say it is NOT LYT – he would never fit into the fox costume. He is over 6 ft tall and does not have the same figure. I liked the 2014 Happy New Year One. Yeah, the ones I have seen a a bit sexy, but mostly they are sort of cute, colorful and make me giggle. I’ve seen worse on Youtube. Keep spreading the word about Topless Robot – that always helps the bottom line.

TheLastStarFighter:
Dear Mrs. Luke’s Mother in Law,

Since you raised a bunch of nerds yourself is there any part of the nerd life/culture that you do like or think is weird?

Well I like most of the nerd culture except for maybe the math aspect. My dad was an engineer and worked for MIT. He pulled his hair out trying to teach me math. He loved the space program and we loved watching Star Trek together. Some of the monsters are kind of weird – but I’m a girl, so that explains a lot. I think it is lots of fun to dress like your fav characters and go to Comic Con; maybe someday I will get to go. I would love to go and man a booth for TR if the powers that be above Luke want to do one – I work cheap. I love comic books, have lots of old ones and all of the Dark Shadows series.

Bonus question. How did you become a (self professed) crazy cat lady? Did it just sort of happen or do you treat cats like Star Wars figures and you just have to collect them all?

I have to collect them all. I have 3 indoors, all rescued. The garage is full of more cats. Currently there are 4 generations in the garage. They all have names and love to see me when I bring out food and water. In turn they keep down the desert bug, snake and rodent population. They are my babies and comfort blankets. They know when I am sad and snuggle up and make me smile. They give unconditional love. I am a proud crazy cat lady.

Brando Lars: At the end of the episode “Arena” from Star Trek TOS how many of the command officers should have new boots?

This was a good one with the Gorn. As Kirk won the battle and he was the only command officer involved then the answer should be one. Everyone else of command was on the ship and thus boots did not have the possibility of damage. Kirk was fighting on the planet and thus the boots could have been damaged.

Well, group, that is all for this week. Hope to see some of you at the meet and greet Thursday evening. If anyone is out in the CA desert the desert flowers are starting to come out: lots of pretty purples and yellows so far. Take care all, be good to each other. Huggs

If you’d like to add your questions to the pile – or submit a possible nickname! – for Luke’s mother-in-law, leave them in comments below.