At least it is not snowing

It is not unusual for us to get a wet snow in March, but we are almost to the end of the month without it.  I don't mind the rain - we are a bit behind in precipitation this year - and it gives me an excuse to stay inside.

Last weekend I borrowed my neighbor's truck, and my SO and I brought home the scratch 'n dent freezer from Wisman's.

If you look at the lower right area of the door, you can see where we added to the damage.  We also neglected to secure the door, and on the way home; it blew open and the user manual disappeared before we could find a place to stop.  Fortunately, with the magic of the Web, I was able to download a new one.  And now that the freezer is in situ, I am finding it just noisy enough that I may end up moving it out to the garage, because the manual said, while the freezer is not meant to withstand temps above 110 degrees, temps below 32 are okay.  My garage never gets that hot and rarely falls below freezing.

We also brought home the cabinet/hutch from Furniture Crafts.

I still have not secured the hutch part to the cabinet part.  That involves drilling holes, something I have to be in the right frame of mind to do.  Then I will install the shelves and load that baby up.

And I bought a new mower (no pic, but we all know what Toros look like, right?)  It is basically the same model as my old mower (Personal Pace), but ten years newer.  It also has some improved features, like easy switch to mulch mode, easier bag handling, etc.  Crescent Avenue Gardens did not want my old mower - they don't take trade-ins anymore - so I am having it serviced and may sell/give it away.

Even though it is raining today, we have had enough nice weather to bring out the early signs of spring.  

This crocus (sorry for the lousy focusing job) has been nibbled by rabbits.

I can't seem to have enough daffodils.  They are popping up in places I forgot I planted them. 

The "naturalized" ones in the 3B (bird, butterfly, and bees) garden are so dense I am making tentative plans to lift and separate the bulbs this fall.

The garlic definitely survived the winter. 

This is my first time growing garlic.  I am anxious to see how it turns out.

Back inside, the parsley is showing signs of spittle bugs.

According to my sources (the Web), spittle bugs don't do any real damage.

"Can we go out and play?"

Soon.  Real soon.

Three left legs

My new bistro table and chairs are from Vietnam, where apparently they don't get the R and the L thing.  After some struggle with the first chair, I determined that I had to mix and match the R pieces and the L pieces.  Chair number two, however, had two L legs.  Others had offered to assemble this set, but I'm glad I did it myself because I would not have believed their tales of R and L.

I was already piqued about having to assemble the chairs in the first place.  Silly me, all I expected to have to do was put the legs on the table top; I thought the chairs would already be whole.  Let that be a warning to those planning to shop for furniture:  ask if some assembly will be required.

Sunday I repotted the basil seedlings because they were not very seedling like anymore.

I must have done something right - look at those roots!

I really don't have a good place to put all twelve of these.  For now, they are crowding about in front of the French doors in the West Wing.  The seed-starting bug has bit me, though, so I think I will buy another light fixture and bulbs.

On the way home from work today, I stopped at Wisman's and bought a scratch 'n dent freezer.  My original plan to purchase a 13 cu. ft. chest freezer fell apart when they had a manual defrost 14 cu. ft upright.  The chest would have just barely fit in the space allotted.  A corollary to that is the upright will leave enough room for a storage thingy of some sort.  Right now I am all about storage thingies.  Another thought is that I will probably be using mostly jars for freezing tomato juice and sauce, and they will fit on the upright shelves better than being relegated to the bottom of the chest.  At least, those are my thoughts on the matter.

Once home, I took advantage of the gorgeous day to prune shrubs in the front yard.  The only ones I'm afraid to tackle are the two full-grown boxwoods.  I love how big and dense they are, but how big is too big?  I would show you photos, but my camera and I are on the outs.  The above pix are all I could manage.

Mem'ries

Last night, while making a butt dent on the sofa, I kept hearing these odd noises.  It took a while, but I finally identified them as wind, rain, and thunder.  I had forgotten what they sound like, all mixed together.  The storm got going in earnest after lights out, when I was reminded of something else:  my dog hates thunder.  She trembles, pants, and drools when it storms.  Not very conducive to sleep.

The zinnias look healthy and happy, when I remember to keep them watered.

The Italian parsley has germinated, too.  Compared to the zinnias, the parsley seedings are spindly and small.

I finished cutting down the ornamental grasses and planned to do some pruning, but the weather is not cooperating.  So, time to focus on indoor things.  Like assembling the furniture cluttering up the West Wing - there is no room for yoga!  And making arrangements to pick up my new cabinet, which requires the borrowing of the neighbor's truck.  And if I am going to borrow the truck, I might as well order that freezer so I can pick that up as well.  And get rid of the old non-working freezer in the garage.  And maybe the lawn mower will be ready for pickup by then.  Yup, it is definitely time to get into gear.

Where's the garlic?

Cut back the sedum and some of the ornamental grasses tonight (after poop patrol).  The daffodils, iris, and some day lilies are poking out of the ground.  Even the chrysanthemum has a few leaves above the surface.  But no sign of the garlic.  Mice and shrews don't eat garlic, do they?

Chili and corn bread for supper tonight.  I've been wanting chili for a while now, and if it gets much warmer, it won't seem like chili weather.  I thinned some of the cilantro seedlings and threw the choppings into the soup.

The aforementioned rain never materialized, but tonight it is spitting a bit.  Except on the north side of the house and where I created big piles, the snow is gone.  The earth still feels hard and frozen, though.

Yesterday I picked up the tall small table and chairs but some assembly required before a pic.  I still have not finished assembling the over-the-toilet cupboard.  Some tasks you just need to be in the mood for, or else they turn out badly.

Blinded by the light

At long last, the sun has appeared multiple days in a row.  I'm wondering if February went down as the grayest month in history this year.  Tomorrow the rains come, and that should be the end of the heaps of gray snow.  Margaret Roach at A Way to Garden said something about planting peas on St. Patrick's Day, but the ground has to thaw first.  Doesn't it?

Margaret also urged patience re seed starting, but obviously her warning came too late for me.  I'm about ready to transplant the basil into larger containers - they will make nice gifts, don't you think? - and I planted Italian parsley and yellow zinnias last weekend.

The zinnia seed was several years old.  I did not hold out much hope for its germination rate, so dropped 5-6 seeds in each compartment.  And of course, almost every seed has germinated.  Now I have to thin, thin, thin.  I should have performed a germination test, another suggestion from Margaret.  She is wise.

The Year of Bread has reached limbo, thanks to its delicious goodness and my bathroom scale.  Last weekend I did make some cornbread, using my favorite cornbread recipe from The Vegetarian Epicure.  Except I ran out of unbleached flour and substituted some whole wheat instead.  The result was even better!

Despite the not-quite-springlike weather, I did clean off the flower bed on the south side of the house.  If I weren't feeling so lazy today, I would hack down the ornamental grasses, too.  Much dog poop has been picked up in the meantime.

Spring can't come soon enough

February feels like the longest month of the year.  There is snow on the ground (unusual for us), but the cardinals have started their summer song.  Maybe we will have an early spring.  I took a tour of the yard yesterday, looking for swelling buds.  I think the Japanese maple will make it, but I'm not so sure about the smoke bush.  It's my first smoke bush, so maybe it is normal for it to look kind of peaked this time of year, just as it is normal for the Rose of Sharon to leaf last.  Fingers crossed.

Inside, things are growing.

Cilantro...

and basil...

... still going strong.  I have been feeding them with liquid from the worm composter, heavily diluted.  I thinned some of the basil last week, and chopped it for spaghetti sauce.  The aroma was overwhelmingly anise.  The variety is Genovese and it is recommended for pesto.  When these babies grow up, there should be plenty for pesto.

Since it is an indoor kind of day, I decided to replenish the dog biscuit supply.

This recipe from MacPherson's K-9 Cookbook is called Flea Fighter Fingers, because of the brewer's yeast and powdered garlic.  They are in the oven right now, and the garlic aroma is giving me a headache, it is that strong.  And I put in only about half the recommended amount, because that is all I had.

One nice thing about making dog biscuits, as opposed to people biscuits, is you can fudge the ingredients and the dog won't care.  Most of the recipes in the book make use of bouillon, but I have been omitting it.  Betsy will eat almost anything, and does not need the extra salt.  I limit her to two a day, so this batch will last about two months.

I am also cooking up the remaining Gold Rush apples that have been sitting in the garage all winter.  They looked a bit wizened, but when I quartered them, the insides were fine.  The fact they remained intact proves there are no critters living in my garage, which is a relief after hearing of my neighbor's problem with shrews.  I like wildlife, as long as it stays outside.

We went to the Home and Garden show this past week.  My SO needs a new roof, so he signed up to get estimates while I chatted up several vendors.  My bathrooms need some work as does my kitchen, and I'd like some kind of solution to the sun beating down on my patio in the afternoon.  It seems like each thing I discussed cost $3000.  That is enough to give me pause.  One task I am definitely going to take care of this year is two new exterior doors.  As for the rest, I will have to meditate on that a while.

Finishing touches, one by one

Slowly but surely, I am putting the finishing touches on the new construction.

My daughter helps me.  We picked out this rug and another at Pier 1, both on clearance.  The second will go under my desk in the family room, once I clean the floor.  While out and about, we also found a small-tall table and chairs at Oat Express for the West Wing.  I've been wanting to have a place to breakfast with the birds.  They had to back order the set, plus I am waiting on a cabinet for the family room from Furniture Crafts.  I'm too old to wait!

The ground is still snow covered, but somehow the sage knows spring is coming.

The potatoes and onions in the cupboards and carrots in the refrigerator are all trying to grow as well.  The sage blossoms I can explain with light levels, but all the others, especially the carrots, are in the dark.  How do they know spring is coming?  The tilt of the earth on its axis?

Who thought this was a good idea?

This sample arrived with last Sunday's newspaper.

Chocolate Cheerios sounds just plain gross to me.

And when did Cheerios become a corn and oat cereal product?  From what I have read about corn, it is not that good for human health.  Any benefits one may (see the disclaimer on the front of the box) derive from the oats are probably offset by the corn.

Last Sunday we tried another soup from Love Soup - Black Bean and Squash.  This soup went through the blender, again making me wish for an immersion blender, but I opted for something low tech and purchased a potato masher.  I really don't care if my soups are creamy and perfectly blended, as long as they taste good.  Anyway, the soup was great, especially with corn muffins from the Tasajara Bread Book.

On Monday we took a hike at McNabb Nature Preserve, one of many protected by Acres Land Trust.  My SO had stumbled upon this preserve once before and assured me he knew how to get there.  Many wrong turns and reversals later, we found it.  Lucky for us, someone had been through on snow shoes, which helped provide better footing for us.  I still managed to overwork a groin muscle.  Coming home we made wrong turns again.  I wish I had a dollar for every time my SO said, "Now I know where we are!"  At least it was a nice day for a drive in the country.

More snow fell on Tuesday, just enough to justify shoveling the driveway, but since then it has been almost springlike.  In February it is hard not to get one's hopes up for an early spring.  Maybe I will start some parsley and zinnias inside, to keep the basil and cilantro company.

Scene of the crime

Nature is not cruel.  It is just nature.

Apparently, a rabbit became a meal right under one of the bird feeders.  Besides the trampled, blood-stained snow, there were tufts of fur all about.  I'm not a naturalist, but I wonder if the snow cover is helping the predators spot prey this winter.  That might also explain the dearth of squirrels at the feeders.  It seems like there are fewer birds as well.

While we usually get some snow every year, it ordinarily does not stick around.  At least the snow cover keeps me from getting too anxious to start gardening, despite the arrival of seeds, seeds, and more seeds.

I forgot to mention that, when I repotted the chives, I got to use my new root knife from Lee Valley.  Nice tool!  I am looking forward to dividing hostas with it this spring.

Powdered sugar

That's what the snowfall looks like as it sifts from the sky.  I'm guessing we have received about 6 inches so far.  Knowing we would be hit with a lot of white stuff, I primed one of my neighbors to help out with his blower, and he did.  Or the guy across the street did.  I can't tell.  There was still enough for me to shove around when I arrived home from work, which is very therapeutic after sitting in a cubicle all day.  Tonight and tomorrow there will be more snow, and there will be blowing and drifting.  I may work from home in the AM.

Between cutting down all the silver maples in my backyard and losing the clothesline posts to old age, I did not have enough places to hang all my bird feeders this year.  I had been trying to locate more shepherd's hooks off-season, without luck, when it occurred to me to use the Topsy Turvy frame.  Poifect!  Not only are there four arms for feeders, the feeders are higher off the ground, which the birds prefer.  I don't know why I did not think of that sooner.

I've been destashing the refrigerator lately, which has led to some odd meals.  Sunday I ate a big bowl of beets, flavored with fresh dill and sour cream.  Very good, but also very disconcerting later on when I went to the bathroom.

What else is new?  I had to repot the chives because someone knocked them over and broke the pot.  I'm guessing that someone was a certain feline because I also had to clean up some funky looking puke.  Damn cat.

And I added a third level to the worm composter.  By spring, there should be plenty of worm castings for the garden.  Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

February is the longest month of the year

At least it seems that way.  We received a couple of inches of snow Friday night, most of which drifted right in front of the garage door.  It was crusty, too, so shoveling amounted to toting snowbergs.  My neighbors are a little too helpful with their snowblowers sometimes, so I felt like I had to get out early if I wanted the snow to myself.  But both of said neighbors had places to go and I was able to get my exercise in peace.

I did plant the cilantro and today we have germination.  The basil seedlings have their secondary leaves now.

I am using these self-watering systems from Gardeners Supply, but the wick on the one I let dry out is resisting its purpose in life.  Maybe it needs a good soaking to get primed again.

Otherwise, not much happening around here.  How's it going with you?

A quick note

The Caramelized Cabbage Soup is GOOD, especially with a dollop of sour cream.  The original recipe is vegetarian, but I used chicken stock for the broth.  I think it could use some bacon, too.  What can I say?  I'm an omnivore!  Now to finish off that apple pie.

Did the pioneers eat sunflower seeds?

This week's bread is Pioneer Bread, from The Bread Book.

The loaves look a little lopsided because, per usual, I did not know what I was doing.  You bake these in cake or pie pans, and there is a certain skill to making the dough pear-shaped, then plopping it into the pan pointy end down in such a way as to produce a uniformly round loaf.  I have not quite mastered it yet.  The odd shape does not affect the flavor, which is wonderful.  And there are sunflower seeds in it as well.

I also made soup today, Caramelized Cabbage Soup, from Love Soup.  I have never caramelized cabbage before.  Like many things, it was not difficult, just time consuming.  I can't tell you if it made the soup any better because I did not realized two things:  1) the soup requires milk to finish it, and 2) the milk in my refrigerator has a distinctive odor that matches its sell-by date.  I will finish the soup tomorrow night and report back.

Friday I was home sick.  One problem with cooking from scratch using primarily fresh ingredients is that sometimes you want something quick and tasty but there is no such thing in your kitchen other than scrambled eggs.  Pie is not quick but it sure is tasty.

This is French apple pie, courtesy of Betty Crocker.  The crust got a little overdone, but it was great nonetheless.  I like the crumb topping better than crust.

While not cooking, I keep an eye out on the avian visitors in my backyard.  Yesterday I saw a rather large bird fly past the patio door.  Thinking it was a mourning dove, I tiptoed into the West Wing to get a better look.  Mourning doves are ground feeders but there was no mourning dove under the feeders.  Probably because there was a HAWK on top of the shepherd's hook the feeders are suspended from.  I didn't notice it until it flew away.  Hoping it had landed in a nearby tree, I crept up to the window to peek out.  Again, I did not see it, until it took off from the neighbor's swing set.  I think it was a Cooper's hawk.  Exciting stuff!

(FYI - The Bread Book is out of print.  If you are looking for a copy, don't stop with Amazon because their resellers are asking a small fortune.  I bought mine through a reseller at Barnes and Noble, and there are other online used book retailers to try as well.)

 

Used books

I don't know if this is a misconception, but we seem to have a plethora of used bookstores in this town.  Some cater to college students, buying and selling primarily text books, but the rest have a wide variety of just about anything you might be interested in.  My SO and I spent a lazy afternoon perusing the offerings (do we know how to have fun or what?)  Here are my purchases:

I have the Tassajara Bread Book, the pages of which stick together (a sure sign of a successful cookbook), so I was willing to give the Tassajara Recipe Book a chance.  Haven't tried any of the recipes yet, though.



I'm always looking for cheap and easy garden improvements.  That Newspapers, Pennies, Cardboard and Eggs for Growing a Better Garden is published by Rodale (think Organic Gardening) is a plus, too.



My son expressed an interest in woodworking.  I thought he could explore his interest by building bird houses, so I bought The Bird House Book for him.



The Solar Food Dryer Book is the final book I picked up.  It describes how to build your own solar food dryer and how to use it to dry just about anything, almost year round.  Stella Andrassy designed the device and experimented with it in New Jersey, which is about the same latitude as Indiana, so I'm anxious to give her dryer a try.  Once I find someone to help me build it.  Like maybe that son of mine who is interested in woodworking.

In other news, I tried assembling the cupboard that goes over the toilet in the laundry room, but the floor slants up a bit near the wall, threatening to topple said cupboard.  The legs need to be shimmed and the top fastened to the wall before it will be safe.

We had our January thaw last week, which melted all the snow and revealed this maze:

Something had been tunneling beneath the snow.  I'm guessing shrews or mice.  Which would dig this burrow?

On the indoor front, I finally put up the grow lights for the basil plants.

The poor little seedlings have not been doing well.  For one thing, I let the self-waterer dry out, which kind of defeats its purpose.  For another, the plants were sitting next to the patio door.  I was thinking they would get more light, but it is also very cold there.  Now they are off the floor and under the lights and the water problem has been remedied.  Maybe I will start the cilantro next.

(An aside:  if you live in a house long enough, especially one with a garage and/or basement, over the years you will accumulate enough stuff that when faced with a problem, like needing a grow light, you will find you have a light fixture, S hooks, pliers, a timer, and a grounded surge protector, all of which will be employed in the creation of a perfect environment for plants.  No duct tape required.  This time.)

Green soup, no ham

They say one is more likely to cut oneself with a dull knife than a sharp one, but you can't prove it by me.

If one bleeds into a vegetarian soup, is it no longer vegetarian?  That's just a rhetorical question.  Really.  And besides, I used chicken stock instead of vegetable broth, so it wasn't vegetarian anyway.

Today's soup is Green Soup with Sweet Potato and Sage, from Love Soup.  Instead of waiting until late in the day to start cooking, I decided to get it all over with this morning.  And since I needed to eat lunch anyway, I sampled the soup.  Tres bien!  Except for the grit.  Apparently, I did not wash the kale well enough.

This recipe raised some interesting questions.  Ingredients include "one bunch of Russian kale (8 oz.)" and "one bunch of green chard (8 oz.)" and the instructions said to remove the woody stems.  Question number one is, is that 8 oz. before or after removing the stems?

I don't think my kale was Russian, but once the stems were removed, it did weigh around 8 oz.  I didn't weight the chard, but there was a lot less of it in its bunch.  Its stems were not woody.  In fact, they are like celery and I munched on them while I cooked.  So, should I have left them in?

The directions said to saute the onions for 30-40 minutes.  Sure this was a misprint, I searched the Web for errata, but could not find any, nor could I find anyone who questioned this instruction.  So, yes, I sauted the onions for 30 minutes.  This was step 3.  By the time I started step 3, steps 1 and 2 were complete and the soup was waiting for the onions, so shouldn't the onions have been step 1?

This is one of those soups that is pureed in a blender.  After I pureed soup all over the kitchen wall, I decided I need one of those immersion blenders Anna Thomas keeps mentioning as an alternative to a regular blender.  Anyone ever use one?

The soup is finished with lemon juice, which REALLY HURTS WHEN IT GETS IN A CUT, and a swirl of "fruity green olive oil".  I have searched high and low for this FGOO and cannot find any.  While in Fresh Market, I did identify a brand (California Olive Ranch Arbequina) that described itself as "a fruity and fragrant varietal", so that is what I went with.  Does anyone know what this FGOO is?

Somewhat exhausted by now, I decided against a yeast bread, and made the corn bread recipe from The Bread Book.  Also very good, but.  It has caraway seeds in it, which give it an odd flavor.  Not a bad flavor, just different from what one expects when one bites into a hunk of corn bread.

And now my tummy is full and I feel a nap coming on.  I think I deserve one, don't you?

P.S.  The owl was back last night, and it occurred to me that maybe my neighbor with the new puppy should be made aware of said owl, and the daytime hawks as well, just in case that dog looks too much like a meal to avian eyes.

Quickie

Last weekend I assembled the bookcase and put it in the West Wing.  Most of the stability is provided by the cardboard backing, so I anchored it with knitting books.

The clock was an xmas gift from my son.

And I did bake dog biscuits, but forgot to take good pictures of them.

These are Plaque Busting ones - extremely crunchy - and should last at least a month.

Tonight we went to Lowe's and I bought a cupboard thingy for over the toilet in the laundry.  More furniture to assemble - yay.  I also bought grow light bulbs.  Still looking for a retractable clothesline.

And I ordered some seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds.

Mysterious visitors

I'm not an animal tracker of any sort, but I enjoy creating stories to go with the tracks left in the snow by unidentified creatures.

This snow stitchery must be a bird, but what kind and what was it doing?

The marks in the middle look like tail-dragging, the side marks wing-dragging.  A snow dance?

Then this mark in the snow occurred all by its lonesome.

Did something (a hawk?  I've seen a couple hanging around) swoop down and snatch dinner right here?

From the house, these prints looked like they were made by a human trespasser.

But I'm guessing a squirrel was hopscotching across the yard to the bird feeders.

The past few days have been warm enough to feel springlike, but we all know that is a lie.  Yesterday seeds arrived, from Pinetree Garden Seeds and Seed Savers Exchange - that was quick!  Maybe today would be a good day to sort through leftovers and see what is still viable.

If I bake today, I am going to limit myself to dog biscuits.  Maybe.  That German Three-Grain sure was good.

And easy!