One of those days

Actually, it has been one of those weeks :) !

The work days were very long: combination of a short week and the first week post install of new software so lots of minor tweaks that we strive to take care of ASAP. Change is hard and frustrating for most, so the faster we are at accomodating requests, the easier it is for all to accept that which they cannot change…new software.

In a burst of optomism last week – optomism that this week would be normally paced work-wise, I made an appointment for the motorhome for service. At any rate, the week was rather full and except for the mad dash to take the motorhome to the shop, Bear and I had not been off the property for any variety of smells and experience the entire week.

So…Saturday morning: overcast and raining – even though going back to bed with a book sounded wonderful, I loaded Bear in the Jeep and off we went to town.

I should have listened to that voice about going back to bed…

It is not unusual to get a rock thrown from passing cars and trucks. Most “highways” are two lane. They are very good two lane roads with normal width lanes and good shoulders, but no dividers. And the speed limit is generally 70 mph.

Two objects in opposing directions going 70 mph and colliding….WHAMMMM!! I never saw the object but it had to have been fairly large. The impact shook the Jeep and made my teeth rattle. I’d had a good grip on the steering wheel as there was enough water on the road for the occasional hydroplaning action. The vibration and jerk gave me a good jerk as well. AND, although whatever the object was, it had not come through the windshield, the glass was broken clear through and the front passenger seat was covered with small bits of glass.

I pulled over to check on Bear and collect myself. Bear was a bit wide-eyed but no glass went to his area. He’d slid a bit into the front seat but was none the worse for anything. No glass came my way but I felt the afteraffect of the collision in my arms and chest and that disconcerting feeling of trying to run through in my mind exactly what had happened.

An auto glass place that I’d gone to 5 years ago – the last time I took a rock – was near. I stopped there and ordered a new windshield. Then I drove home, took an aspirin and went to bed … call me in the morning :)!

The remainder of the day was spent in laziness. It poured as hard as I have ever seen it pour here – a good day to be lazy and inside. By evening, the sun came out and there was a breeze in the trees that made it feel like Fall: clear, crisp and cool.

I walked around the woods with a comforting cup of hot tea, watching Bear enjoy the cool and being grateful that the worst thing from the day was a broken windshield…minor. Bear obviously had no lingering effects as when I opened the Jeep to really make sure there were no glass shards in the back, he hopped right in, ready to go again.

Writing this on Sunday morning…I had no lingering effects either – no soreness, bumps or bruises. Still, I think we will spend the day at home and I do not expect we’ll be doing much – one of those days!

Motorhome mileage at oil change 5/30: 44709
Motorhome gen hours at gen oil change 5/30: 538

Lazy livin’

The livin’s been a bit lazy these last rainy days.

It was a perfect weekend for doing not much and that’s what we did.

Indian Paintbrush in the woods

Saturday had that gorgeous morning light and then a sunbreak here and there. Sunday, was overcast, cool at 43F and it rained most of the day. The rain was a gentle, easy rain – the kind of rain that allows everything to get a long, cool drink. The woods floor glows with the color of Spring green.

I was out with Bear. He was preoccupied with a squirrel so I puttered about pulling noxious weeds and digging up thistles…you can not pull thistles unless you are my friend Hal who apparently has VERY tough skin. (a shout out to friends Kris, Hal and Magic: their amazing Samoyed puppy!)

Wandering here and there – amongst the lupins, I found a lone bloom of Indian Paintbrush.

Indian Paintbrush in the woods.

Cooking from the garden: week 2

Week 2 included: spinach, spring greens, red leaf lettuce, green onions (scallions) and rhubarb

The word of the week is PESTO!

Until somewhere in the vicinity of a year ago, if you said “pesto” to me, that meant that lovely blend of basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt and olive oil that is the classic pesto.

But when pine nuts started costing the same as gold…I said “Whoa!” Apparently fires in AZ/NM destroyed a lot of pinion pines and then supply-demand and suddenly pine nuts were VERY spendy!

Just as suddenly, many were making pesto with walnuts. Me, too. And then one week when I had Kale that needed to be used and just a little basil – I made a “kale” pesto. Further looking about the world wide web turned up recipes for “Swiss Chard pesto”. It seemed that anything green could be subbed for the basil. And walnuts appeared to be the defacto substitution for the high priced pinenuts. Huh.

So….as my own personal stock of “spring greens” threatened to overtake this past week…I searched for “spring green pesto”. Yep, others had made a pesto with spring greens. A search for ways to use the beautiful bounty of green onions/scallions I had, turned up a recipe for scallion pesto which had NO green in it at all AND noted that sunflower seeds could be subbed for pinenuts. So I searched on “pesto” which means “pounded”. Still…all of these pesto variations…an Americanization of the real thing??? I don’t know.

What I do know is that when I combined spring greens, scallions, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, sea salt AND sunflower seeds in my food processor and blizted the lot – the result was wonderful :) !

Spring Green, scallion, sunflower seed “pesto”.

Impossible to see, but this is a portebello mushroom cap used as a “pizza crust”, my pesto as the sauce, cherry tomatoes from the local hydroponic farm, kalamata olives and mozzeralla cheese.

Pesto grilled cheese: corn tortilla slathered with pesto, then cheddar and grilled…side of those cherry tomatoes.

Pesto rice: stir some pesto into brown rice, top with a bit of goat cheese and you have pesto-goat cheese rice! A perfect side to pan roasted Copper River Red salmon and roasted beets. (The Copper River Red salmon [sockeye] is just now “in season”)

I used the red leaf lettuce as I did last week in sandwiches and my red leaf/walnut/roasted beet/goat cheese salad with homemade orange vinagrette. And the spinach in a carmelized onion/mushroom/spinach combo for quesadilla and breakfast scrambles.

I included spinach in my sweet potato “hash browns” over homemade refried beans …that served as the base for a no hollandaise eggs benedict.

Cooking from the garden: week 2

***the rhubarb??? I froze it…for combining with mine in a rhubarb jam.