Posts from the ‘Front Porch Musings’ category

Friday!

This week really flew by…REALLY! Between various things with work and new computer and prepping for the “HISTORIC HEAT WAVE” … the week evaporated.

But, we started with the Summer version of the morning kitchen snuggle with Auggie.

I’m a bit more upside down than normal timewise…to bed 6:30-7:00 p.m. with a midnight-ish up and about to open up the house and take Bear down the driveway…and then a 3:45-4:00 a.m. get up and enjoy the dark and the cool before a 6:30-7:00 a.m. work start. It might not be everyone’s “cup of tea”, but it works for me and the boys in this odd early Summer heat thing.

This was 3:15 p.m. or so on this Friday. It was 89F but not that bad in the shade.

Bear relaxed and so did I … Auggie was sleeping inside… Friday!

Weekend catchup

I got the new machine completely set up in a record 2 days. AND, it wasn’t even all of the 2 days: 3 hours on Saturday much of which was downloading which didn’t require me to be sitting at my desk … 4 hours Sunday for my work environment which is a kind of tricky “do it in order” thing of primary tools and plug-ins … but again much of that time was downloading. No glitches, no pulling of hair or swearing or rending of clothes. This was by far, the easiest setup of a new machine that I’ve ever had. Maybe it feels so good because it took me 4 months to transition to the Acer two years ago.

It wasn’t all “new computer” stuff over the weekend. The “Auggie tree” was moved …by the Jeeper! (Auggie Tree)

It used to be there…

The Jeeper dragged it over to the firewood staging pile.

So much fun! Auggie was safely in the house, but Bear was in the Jeep with me and seemed fascinated as we pulled it onto the driveway and then over to the log pile. It is the first time I’ve used the Jeep for a chore. I did manage to scrape the corner of the garage so ended up doing a bit of touch up painting, but even that was fun.

A bit of baking happened also. I’ve been make these whole wheat rolls: hoagie buns, hot dog buns and hamburger buns, for several months. They are Mel’s Kitchen Café’s Fluffy Whole Wheat Rolls and I nearly cried for joy the first time I made them. I have been experimenting with various mixes to get a sandwich bun that I really liked and these are it! If Mel sees my photos, she might cry. Mel shapes her rolls to perfection! I am a LOT more casual. The key to using mostly or all whole wheat (white whole wheat) flour is to add vital wheat gluten. This dough is easy to work with and makes wonderful fluffy buns that stand up to burgers, hot dogs and subs. They freeze wonderfully – I let them cool, then into the frig overnight and then a repack for the freezer so no freezer burn.

Although we’ve had no rain since June 2 and it is scary dry, especially for this early, the days have been sunny with temps 74-80 daytime and 45-55 overnight … kind of perfect. NOAA says that will end this week as we warm up again to the mid to upper 90’s by the end of the week. Blech. So, the other thing we did this weekend was enjoy the relatively cool and pleasant temperatures before we need to retreat to air conditioning later this week.

It was a great weekend with much accomplished and also some relaxation in the shade in the quiet of a Sunday afternoon.

***NOAA’s exact words:
Next weekend through early next week, dry conditions prevail as the
ridge strengthens quickly and high temperatures move well into
the 90s for the weekend. Next Monday currently looks the warmest,
with Missoula and Kalispell forecast to break 100. Kalispell has
not seen 100 in June since record-keeping began. We will continue
to keep an eye on the exact numbers, but the overall message
remains the same: Prepare for multiple days of peak summer heat.

Rainy Day!

It rained most of the day.

Sometimes a drizzle, sometimes more.

We needed it badly!

But after weeks of mostly sun, it was a bit of a shock and we all kind of avoided being outside.

Bear does not like wet feet. Snow feet are not so bad, but feet wet from rain…when we did walk, he stopped often to clean his feet. I suggested waiting until the walk was done and doing a cleanup when we got inside. My advice was ignored.

And still, much cleanup to do once inside.

Auggie was stoic…mostly.

And finally, all gave in…

…to the rainy day!

This ‘n that

Sometime over the weekend, I noticed a new status icon on my Windows 8.1 Task bar…

A mouse hover displayed the icon hint: “Get Windows 10” !

A Click on the icon brings up the Windows 10 reservation dialog. If you haven’t reserved, there will be a reserve button in the vicinity of the red circle above. I reserved before taking a screen capture.

The buzz is that Windows 10 will start rolling out on July 29 to those who have reserved.

Color me excited!

Meanwhile, after a warm and VERY, VERY dry April and May – scary dry…we started getting rain. A couple of days about 6 drops. Then some pour little cloud released a downpour that lasted maybe 3 minutes. It was like teaser rain.

But yesterday, with flood watch warnings and a forecast of possibly severe thunderstorms with wind and hail…a gentle, steady rain began. It went through the night and continues this morning. It is the perfect kind of rain to have after such a dry spell as it is soaking in and not running off.

Not everyone in my house is as happy as me about the rain…

Kitchen Window

While it is not the “land of the midnight sun” here at 48 North latitude, at just shy of a month until the summer solstice, we do have plenty of daylight. Sunrise is 5:44 a.m., Sunset is 9:21 p.m. – add the hours of dawn and dusk and there is light in the sky from 5:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.

From now until mid-August, I don’t see the dark of night unless I am up in the wee hours.

The view from my kitchen chair most mornings has been sunshine – beautiful and I enjoy it very much.

But, this morning, I was up shortly after 4:30 and it was still darkish when I sat in the kitchen chair. It was also cool enough for my long fleecy pants which Auggie prefers for our morning snuggle.

So, we enjoyed a bit of morning quiet time in the pre-dawn almost dark and watched the sky lighten and listened to the birds sing their morning songs.