Saturday miscellany

Maybe subtle in this photo but the truth is, it got very ugly today…warm, rain and ultimately freezing rain and sleet. Fortunately, at least for my day, the worst happened this afternoon after Bear and I returned from a shopping expedition.

Part of the shopping was for a new snow blower…oh, yea…you might be able to tell that my driveway and turnaround was plowed. It was not blown…The blower made it 3/4 of the way down the driveway – first pass – before the auger quit… AGAIN!!

Anyway…I found my dream machine but it may be a dream for another year. Oh, well. Currently it is 38F and the formerly beautiful snow is now slush and could not be “blown” anywhere with anything. Blech!!

On the home front, Bob and Bear progress. If I wasn’t such a wimp they would probably be fine…maybe some mutual avoidance but I think they are at the point of at least grudging acceptance.

Actually, I think Bear is intimidated by Bob and prefers to pretend that he does not exist.

See… Bob on his table, Bear knows it, the gate is open…no one cares. The main problem is me. I’m working on it.

And I made crackers. I’ve been making crackers at least a couple of times a week for months now. I made a batch over a year ago and dealing with thin dough…seemed more trouble than it was worth. But then I got hooked on La Panzella Rosemary Garlic crackers – they are very spendy and not always available here.

What to do??? I happened on this video …

I ordered the little silicon roller, the Silpat …

And the pastry wheel…

Now I make my own rosemary garlic crackers and they are very good! It takes me about 10 minutes to mix the dough, roll it out in the pan right on the silpat, score them with the pastry wheel and get them in the oven.

These turkeys have nothing to do with the weather or Bob and Bear or crackers. But they were here today and I took some delight at how often they shook in the drizzle…darn, messy birds! …their footprints are funny, though :)!

Saturday miscellany.

Seasons

This dog, Bear…I am so thankful that he is my dog. For whatever reason(s), these last several weeks, the loss of Karl has hit hard, yet again. Maybe because I came so close to losing Bear. Maybe the time I’m spending in the woods, again closer to Bear to reinforce training. Maybe just a cycle of the grief thing. I really don’t know.

It is not that I am sad. It is that suddenly, out of the blue – that Karl is not here – it feels overwhelming.

But, then Bear comes to me or I go to him…or to Bob…or I take photos and peace returns. It is maybe a season, like Winter is a season.

Winter decided to make an appearance. A little late and even later in my corner of Montana and with less ferocity than most parts of the northwest.

This evening, as all was done that needed to be done – and the light was clear – Bear ran and jumped and played in the snow. We were out several times today. It was very cold when it snowed so the snow is like sugar. The sun was out this afternoon and lit the edge of the snow covered trees forming a border of light against dark clouds over the mountains to the east.

As I watched Bear – after our play – resting and watching, snow started falling again…light, medium sized flakes, softly falling.

Snowy day

Last evening, shortly after I wrote that the wind was howling and it was snowing heavily…it stopped. Bear and I were out for our last outing about 8:45. It was still and clear with starlight to see by. No new snow overnight but it has been snowing all this Wednesday – lightly. I don’t think there is yet an inch of snow on the ground.

Promises, promises…Wayfarer’s Park

So…we’ve been under either a Winter Storm Warning, Winter Storm Watch or Winter Weather Advisory since Saturday. So far a lot of bluster, a few squalls, a few flurries.

I took Bear to Wayfarer’s at lunchtime.

Not really a “picnic by the lake” kind of day…

It was as cold as it looks…not so much the temperature, but the wind.

Even blowing from the south-southwest, it was not a warm wind. But it was strong and from that direction, it certainly riled up the lake at the Wayfarer’s end.

The heavy snow has reportedly started in the Idaho panhandle and western-most Montana. NOAA reports that some areas are getting a foot of snow in a hurry and some areas nothing. Huh. At one point they forecast 4 to 8 to 12 inches in Flathead Valley.

We’ll see.

This evening, as I write this, the wind is howling and it is snowing heavily… :)!

Fire crackling in the woodstove. Bob and Bear and I are cozy inside. It is mid-January – barely a month into Winter. Let it snow!