Posts from the ‘Front Porch Musings’ category

It’s Thursday ???

Yes, Thursday.

I’ve struggled with my work hours this week.

I need a monster day tomorrow, Friday and I’ll still need to work a bit over half a day Saturday. Not my favorite, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

I’m blaming it on the Yellow Jackets.

You heard me…Yellow Jackets!

Last Sunday, there was one in the house. Auggie made a flying leap after it. I grabbed Auggie and then a paper towel and after a brief battle in the window sill rail I persevered and 1 dead queen went in the trash.

I did some reading and found out that the queens emerge in March and April.

YIKES!

I ordered some traps and attractant. The attractant shipped but the traps were backordered.

And THEN!! Yesterday as in Wednesday…ANOTHER yellow jacket in the house. I won that battle also.

After some online research noted that Home Depot in Kalispell had the traps in stock, I decided that I would head there first thing this morning and get the traps.

Each queen yellow jacket is an egg making machine capable of laying up to 5000 eggs.

Right.

The mission is to trap as many queens as possible BEFORE they start the egg laying thing. According to Scott at Bug Hunters, Inc., the queens emerge about the time the day and night hours become equal and temperatures are about 40F. As in now.

As scary as it was to have the two queens in the house … and I had doors open at the time so they might have flown in… it gave me some notice as to timing. Outside, the queens are sparse enough, I doubt I would have noticed.

So, this morning, off to Home Depot Bear and I went.

This has nothing to do with anything except that this truck was parked in the contractor pick up area and I noticed the dog.

And I laughed.

The truck is an extended cab and the dog is in the back, hanging out over the cab window and lounging on the tool box.

I’m partial to Northern Breed dogs and also it just looked so funny to see the dog casually half out of the window, resting on the tool box…waiting for the person.

Ok.

So, I got the Yellow Jacket stuff and some other Home Depot stuff and a quick stop at my favorite natural food spot: Mountain Valley Foods and then home we came.

Funny.

I thought this was a good supply of stuff.

Then I read the instructions.

The instructions say 8-16 traps per acre.

GAH!

Well, we will see if we get any queens with this lot and if so I’ll consider more.

Srsly.

I do NOT want a repeat of last summer.

Maybe we will have to run away in the motorhome…

But we are so comfortable here.

And we have an island.

It’s Thursday ???

***Really, though, I am so grateful every day for all we have. I’m grateful for Bear and Auggie and this house and the woods. There is so much truly horrendous stuff happening in the world. Every night, before closing my eyes, I tell Bear and Auggie that I love them, I send a prayer of honor to Bob, Karl, Gus, Zack, Jake, my Papa and my grandparents, and I give thanks for another day on earth. It’s Thursday and I’m behind on work and the yellow jackets…but in the whole scheme of things…Life is so very good!

The wearin’ of the orange…

So… this is my own, somewhat infamous (in my family) St. Patrick’s Day story.

Many, many years ago – 1967 or ’68, I was in charge of decorating a St. Patrick’s Day bulletin board in the Science classroom of my Junior High (7th & 8th grade). I was a straight A student, never in trouble and the Science teacher was the football coach. I was left to my own devices to do the board with no supervision whatsoever.

There was no green construction paper.

I remembered my Grandmother Ruthie telling me that some ancestors were Orangemen and she was probably just yacking, not really thinking I’d be taking all of this in… In the Irish religious wars, the Protestants were the Orangemen and the Catholics were the Green. We were Protestant, i.e. Orangemen.

There WAS orange construction paper.

So, I decorated the bulletin board with orange shamrocks.

Remember, it was the late ‘60’s.

My mother was called.

Thankfully, my family thought it was funny – I have no recollection of any ramifications other than the joking.

We all wear orange on St. Patrick’s Day ! …well, I would if I had any orange clothes. I don’t have any green either, though.

A good weekend, good food, good drink, good times to you and your families no matter what color you wear on the day! (Comments are open … :) )

Meanwhile…on the food front…Here in the U.S.A., whether it is truly Irish or not…corned beef and cabbage is the food of the day on March 17. I love both corned beef and cabbage and both are always on sale for March 17.

Last year, I departed from the package instructions and cooked my corned beef like I cook a pot roast and it was good.

This year, based on a recipe for pastrami from Tori Avey (recipe here) and a bit of perusing around the internet, I put my briskets in a roasting pan, with water, tightly covered and roasted them at 290F for 6 hours. Oh my!!! Fork tender, moist and delicious corned beef.

At the moment, I’m stuck on corned beef with cabbage/carrot/green pepper slaw and melty mozz on my own black bread**.

I will make the rounds of corned beef hash, etc. before it’s done. I have 2/3 of 2 briskets in the freezer and 1/2 of the 1/3 still in my frig. It will be a good eating week!

**Black bread: I really call this pumpernickel even though it is not a traditional pumpernickel recipe. I haven’t had a good deli pumpernickel in many years and might be remembering wrong, but this tastes like pumpernickel to me :) !!

1 3/4 cups white flour ( I’m using Wheat Montana White )
1 1/4 cup King Arthur Perfect Rye
1/2 cup buckwheat flour (I’m using Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat flour)
1 T molasses
1 3/4 (almost 2) cups warm water
1 T salt
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp fennel
1 pkt yeast (I’m using SAF Instant)

**Edit 3/17 morning…forgot the caraway and fennel – I crush them together with a mortar and pestle and add with the flour.

Mix all well. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm spot for 4-12 hours. Refrigerate for up to 10 days.

Wet hands. I bake 1/3 at a time and use a foil medium bread pan lined with parchment. Gluten cloak per Artisan Bread in 5 minutes per day.

Cover and let sit/rise for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven and baking stone at 460 for 30 minutes. Brush top with a bit of cornstarch wash and sprinkle with more caraway seeds.

Bake at 460 in pan for 20 minutes and then 10 on the stone for an additional 10 minutes.

Email me if you want to make this and are unclear. Above is a “summary” of the method. If you are used to the no knead method, it makes sense :) !!

Auggie waiting

When Auggie does not go on a walk with Bear and I, he is ALWAYS waiting for us to return…

I hurry to the front door and call Auggie. He comes outside and looks for Bear to return – usually from the front porch wood pile.

Auggie comes along on an ever longer mid-afternoon walk. He is doing very well! He is Mr. Sociable, loving to be wherever Bear and I are. I hope this continues. He does a bit of exploring on his own but never far from one of us and when we walk, if Bear runs to move deer off the property, Auggie stays with me.

Auggie is VERY aware of large birds. Although ravens pose no threat and eagles have passed over when we’ve been out, it is owls I worry most about. This morning (9:00 a.m.) when we were out a local rooster crowed – sounding maybe a bit owl-ish. Auggie jetted inside. Bear gets after large birds if they are around so if Auggie stays near, I know Bear will do his best to keep Auggie safe.

When Bear and I go out early morning or late evening, Auggie is not interested in going out in the dark. I love that he enjoys being out with us during the day but is happy to stay in at night. And I think that he is getting plenty of exercise so settles easily at bedtime.

Happy Friday!

Sunshine-y Wednesday

A sunshine-y Wednesday started with prepping a crisp slaw of cabbage, carrot and green pepper dressed with a tangy olive oil, vinegar, sugar, poppy seed dressing! This slaw goes with almost anything – it is refreshing, fresh and crispy sweet and sour! This Wednesday it went with some shredded chicken for my supper.

Sun in the sunroom after a midday out and about for all.

I’ve been brainstorming with my folks and with my neighbors about the walk to the garage. The planks are a thought to maybe be built upon by sections of decking that can be moved here and their during meltdown.

The river Summers has dried up and become the driveway once again.

So… an Auggie out and about update.

For the last 4 days, Auggie has been invited to walk a short walk about with Bear and I.

I usually put Auggie inside when Bear and I go for our walks but I thought that Auggie would eventually come along and this is the preliminary “training”.

Auggie LOVES coming along. He stalks Bear, bounds to me, back to stalking Bear…it is a grand Adventure!!

He sticks with us while exploring a bit along the way – perfect.

But after the walkabout, one’s toes must be attended to!

Nice afternoon.

Sunshine-y Wednesday.

My second pair of Bogs Boots. The first pair went 3 years. This pair is heftier and they have a spiffy lining! I put an Uggs sheepskin sole in them and they are easy on/easy off barefoot boots. They are warm, they keep my feet and calves dry, they are perfect!

*** my arm is better

***** I am a bit undone about the Malaysia Airline missing airplane. It is top of my mind and prayers.

Chores

It has been snowing since early afternoon: very fine flakes but a LOT of them coming down. A Winter Storm Watch began at 11:00 a.m. and continues until 11 tomorrow (Monday). NOAA is particularly specific in a caution to take an emergency kit if travel is necessary. A bit unusual and I’m not sure if it is due to the storm or the flack that NOAA, et. al. took after the Atlanta fiasco. At any rate, WE HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

Me, I don’t need to go anywhere. Bear and I took our usual weekend run to town early on Saturday morning and there is more than enough food for all of us for some time.

Back at home…Sunday…a few pre-storm chores:

I always take extra care to stock the firewood carrier on the front porch and the inside supply when there is a Winter Storm Watch or Warning. My giant wheelbarrow makes the chore easy…except that the front tire is/has been low and I keep forgetting until I try to push the first load on a soft tire. I’ve been just pushing and saying bad words…

Today, though, I got out the air machine and just did it!

In short order, the tire was inflated to stated 30 p.s.i. and the wood stocking proceeded with only good and happy words.

Auggie had a grand time following me around, playing in the garage and sometimes checking on Bear…

…who stayed out of the fray on Beardog point!

And while I had the air machine out, I filled the new exercise ball that has been sitting…deflated…in its box.

The OLD exercise ball met its demise by Auggie’s claws. The OLD exercise ball was temporarily in the corner of the room. Auggie jumped on it from a nightstand and as it rolled, he dug in. End of OLD exercise ball. I was going to patch it, but the OLD ball really was OLD…as in over 10 years old. It had travelled a lot, been outside a lot. Since a new ball was the grand sum of $16.99, a NEW exercise ball was procured.

YAY!!

NEW exercise ball, fully inflated and ready to go. It is being stored UNDER the table in a spot that cannot be jumped on by a certain kitten. We’ll see.

Is there a cat that does NOT “help” make the bed???

Such fun.

Chores. I always have lots of help.

Late Winter Light

By the calendar, there is slightly less than one month of Winter left.

Late February, like late August…the light changes.

In late August, the light becomes more Fall-like.

In late February, the light becomes more Spring-like.

Late February light.

I brush off the chair from time to time and now that Auggie is out with Bear and me…it will not be long before a morning coffee or afternoon tea or glass of wine – is enjoyed from the chair.

Late afternoon in the house.

In the sunroom.

Today, Saturday, was sunny, cold and perfect.

Late Winter Light.