Something is strange and wrong about these poses.
Thứ Tư, 12 tháng 6, 2019
Thứ Ba, 11 tháng 6, 2019
Berry Busy
Usually I'm better at planning my days. Yesterday seemed to be the culmination of much procrastinating. It's the only explanation I have for being on my feet all day and having no time for sewing. It's not true that there was "no" time for sewing because I did take some time in the morning for slow-stitching. I nearly had the August heart completed. Before sitting down here this morning, I finished it off.
So, what had me so busy yesterday? It seemed as if I was behind on virtually everything. I needed to drive into town and get some bird seed and potting soil. Then I needed to stop at the liquor store (my motivation was pure). Then I needed some groceries to get us through until I can pick-up our CSA veggies today. I'll have to go grocery shopping again tomorrow once I see what our farmers have in store for us.
When I got home, I spent at least two hours cutting the seeds from the strawberries we bought at the farmers market on Sunday. Usually, I choose strawberries that are larger. These were fairly small, and cutting the seeds from them took forever. And thus becomes the reason for stopping at the liquor store yesterday. I'm using the now seedless strawberry centers to make strawberry ice cream. Last year, I figured out I could use the seedy sides to make strawberry-infused vodka.
If you like to imbibe, this is the simplest thing to do, and it can be done with any fruit. Just add the fruit to a jug, pour over a fifth of vodka. Leave it sitting at room temperature for 36 hours, then strain out the fruit and funnel it back into the original bottle. Refrigerate. This can also be done with gin, if you prefer. If you're using a fruit with an impermeable skin (cranberries, for example), you'll need to chop the fruit up a little bit. For blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries, just add in the whole fruit and pour the vodka over. When it's finished, use it in any cocktail that uses the original beverage. For example, a Lemon Drop cocktail can be turned into a Strawberry Lemon Drop by substituting the infused vodka for the plain stuff. Also, it's good just poured over some ice with no additions necessary.
Okay, so that took forever, and then it took quite some time to prepare the strawberries and the custard for churning into ice cream today. (It's best to wait overnight to give the custard time to really cool down. It cuts down on the time necessary to churn it into ice cream.) While I was doing that, I went through the motions of baking off another loaf of bread. My bread dough is at the extreme end of the time I can keep it safely in the refrigerated, and so I'll need to bake the third of three loaves today. Even if we don't eat the bread, it makes great croutons. These loaves always end up looking like a throw pillow, but the bread is very tasty.
No word yet on when Coyote Man will be out to set traps for the coyotes. It won't be today. When we last talked, he said he would call me and get out here later in the week. It can't happen soon enough. The kitties are bored silly. All Sadie can do is watch out the window while the squirrels run roughshod.
Smitty can't bear to look. He just keeps his eyes closed.
We haven't seen the coyotes in the past day or two, and of course, we were gone over the weekend. I heard them howling last night, but they were off in the distance. Still, we're taking no chances. We'll just let Coyote Man do his work and hope it's all over soon.
Today I'll be churning the ice cream into the frozen stuff, and then I'm going to plant some sunflowers. It's a CSA pick-up day, but I'm still hopeful I'll have some time to get back to the Chicken Buffet quilt. I'm close to having the third row of blocks sewn on, and then there will be just three more and a border to finish off the top.
If you like these heart designs, I've learned that they are still available from the designer, Nancy Huggins, even though they are not listed in her Etsy shop. You can message her right here, if you're interested in obtaining any individual month or the whole set. Before I quit for the morning. I started on September's heart.
So, what had me so busy yesterday? It seemed as if I was behind on virtually everything. I needed to drive into town and get some bird seed and potting soil. Then I needed to stop at the liquor store (my motivation was pure). Then I needed some groceries to get us through until I can pick-up our CSA veggies today. I'll have to go grocery shopping again tomorrow once I see what our farmers have in store for us.
When I got home, I spent at least two hours cutting the seeds from the strawberries we bought at the farmers market on Sunday. Usually, I choose strawberries that are larger. These were fairly small, and cutting the seeds from them took forever. And thus becomes the reason for stopping at the liquor store yesterday. I'm using the now seedless strawberry centers to make strawberry ice cream. Last year, I figured out I could use the seedy sides to make strawberry-infused vodka.
If you like to imbibe, this is the simplest thing to do, and it can be done with any fruit. Just add the fruit to a jug, pour over a fifth of vodka. Leave it sitting at room temperature for 36 hours, then strain out the fruit and funnel it back into the original bottle. Refrigerate. This can also be done with gin, if you prefer. If you're using a fruit with an impermeable skin (cranberries, for example), you'll need to chop the fruit up a little bit. For blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries, just add in the whole fruit and pour the vodka over. When it's finished, use it in any cocktail that uses the original beverage. For example, a Lemon Drop cocktail can be turned into a Strawberry Lemon Drop by substituting the infused vodka for the plain stuff. Also, it's good just poured over some ice with no additions necessary.
Okay, so that took forever, and then it took quite some time to prepare the strawberries and the custard for churning into ice cream today. (It's best to wait overnight to give the custard time to really cool down. It cuts down on the time necessary to churn it into ice cream.) While I was doing that, I went through the motions of baking off another loaf of bread. My bread dough is at the extreme end of the time I can keep it safely in the refrigerated, and so I'll need to bake the third of three loaves today. Even if we don't eat the bread, it makes great croutons. These loaves always end up looking like a throw pillow, but the bread is very tasty.
No word yet on when Coyote Man will be out to set traps for the coyotes. It won't be today. When we last talked, he said he would call me and get out here later in the week. It can't happen soon enough. The kitties are bored silly. All Sadie can do is watch out the window while the squirrels run roughshod.
Smitty can't bear to look. He just keeps his eyes closed.
We haven't seen the coyotes in the past day or two, and of course, we were gone over the weekend. I heard them howling last night, but they were off in the distance. Still, we're taking no chances. We'll just let Coyote Man do his work and hope it's all over soon.
Today I'll be churning the ice cream into the frozen stuff, and then I'm going to plant some sunflowers. It's a CSA pick-up day, but I'm still hopeful I'll have some time to get back to the Chicken Buffet quilt. I'm close to having the third row of blocks sewn on, and then there will be just three more and a border to finish off the top.
Thứ Hai, 10 tháng 6, 2019
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
We're back from our family weekend getaway. It's probably not stepping out on too long a limb to say we'd all give the weekend mixed reviews. Let's start with the good, shall we? Obviously, it was good to get together for this annual gathering. We were expecting rain on Friday, and then improving weather through the weekend. We arrived to big puffy white clouds.
A flotilla of Canada geese were there to welcome us.
You might remember we rented this same floating home just above Willamette Falls for our family get-together last year. In my post following last year's gathering, I wrote quite a bit about the waterfalls and about the area. We were in Oregon City, which is historically significant because it marked the end of the Oregon Trail. If you're interested in reading more about the area and seeing more pictures, I invite you to click here to read last year's post.
We were expecting rain, but none came. The brooding skies made for some pretty sunset shots. Looking toward Willamette Falls, we saw this:
Looking in the other direction, we saw this:
Since we were expecting rain, we waited until Saturday morning to put the boat in the water. This required at least two of us, and so Mike, Erik, and I took off to do that. When we arrived back at the house, we found Matthew, Lyndsay, and Mae having a little tea party. Both Lyndsay and Mae are tea connoisseurs, and Lyndsay had an interesting collection of teas with her.
Here's something I haven't seen before. This one consisted of a hollowed out Mandarin orange skin. It had a paper cap over the opening, and inside there was tea. The tea is steeped inside the Mandarin skin, giving the tea a slightly orange flavor.
We went to a local brewpub for some lunch. While there, we made three attempts to get a family picture. I set the camera up on the table beside us and then used the timed shutter release to get all of us. In three tries, we didn't manage to get all of us in the shot. Here, Matthew's hat was the culprit.
So, he took off his hat, but then we missed Matthew in both of the next two shots. Oh well.
When we got back to the house, we all took naps, and then decided it was time for a boating excursion. This was where things got bad. As we motored away from the house, I snapped this picture. You can see we're staying in the house indicated with an arrow. The houses on either side of us are rentals, and the rest are private residences.
Things were going along fine as we headed up the river. The worst we could say was that we were getting a little windblown.
We managed to save the boat and get it out of the water, where we waited around a half hour for the remaining water to drain from the hull of the boat. And here's where it got ugly. Checking the damage underneath, we discovered that some skegs on the bottom were torn loose, and that's where the leak was. It could have been so much worse. The damage is confined to the flat bottom portion of the boat, rather than the section that forms a "V".
Mike says this portion will be much easier to repair. Nevertheless, the propeller and drive shaft are also damaged. Until we can get it to a shop for repair, we won't know the full extent of the damage. And that brings me back to the good. Fortunately, this is covered by insurance. It's a bummer to have the boat damaged before summer has even arrived. We're hopeful repairs can be done quickly, but we'll have to get this all figured out.
With all that manual pumping of water, everyone was pretty hungry by the time we'd settled ourselves into this new reality. It was time to smoke some salmon. Copper River Salmon was available at our local grocery store this past week, and so I picked up two big fillets. Erik concocted two delicious rubs, and he and Mike smoked and grilled them together.
One of the things I love most about these get-togethers is our devotion to good food and good eating. Here, the two barbecue and smoker chefs discuss the finer points of smoker food.
When it was ready for eating, it looked like this. We cut it into smaller pieces. Mae provided a couple of sides, and we had quite a feast.
Sunday morning, we decided to check out the farmers market nearby.
There was something for everyone there. We had breakfast and then just wandered around. There were some beautiful flowers. I've never seen calla lilies in so many pretty colors.
Mike and I were looking at the strawberries when I got the idea to make some strawberry ice cream.
We picked up a half flat, and I'll get after those today. These are Oregon berries. Aren't they beautiful?
With boating out, I had plenty of time for slow-stitching, and I finished off the July heart.
I'm nearly finished with the August heart too, and that's what I'll be working on next.
There's so much to do today it isn't even funny. Of course, I need to get some things done outside...some watering, filling the bird feeders, checking the greenhouse. I have sunflowers that absolutely must get planted within the next few days or there's going to be trouble afoot. But first, I need to figure out what we're going to eat for the next couple of nights, and I'll have to make a trip into town. So...time's a-wastin'. Better get going.
A flotilla of Canada geese were there to welcome us.
You might remember we rented this same floating home just above Willamette Falls for our family get-together last year. In my post following last year's gathering, I wrote quite a bit about the waterfalls and about the area. We were in Oregon City, which is historically significant because it marked the end of the Oregon Trail. If you're interested in reading more about the area and seeing more pictures, I invite you to click here to read last year's post.
We were expecting rain, but none came. The brooding skies made for some pretty sunset shots. Looking toward Willamette Falls, we saw this:
Looking in the other direction, we saw this:
Since we were expecting rain, we waited until Saturday morning to put the boat in the water. This required at least two of us, and so Mike, Erik, and I took off to do that. When we arrived back at the house, we found Matthew, Lyndsay, and Mae having a little tea party. Both Lyndsay and Mae are tea connoisseurs, and Lyndsay had an interesting collection of teas with her.
Here's something I haven't seen before. This one consisted of a hollowed out Mandarin orange skin. It had a paper cap over the opening, and inside there was tea. The tea is steeped inside the Mandarin skin, giving the tea a slightly orange flavor.
We went to a local brewpub for some lunch. While there, we made three attempts to get a family picture. I set the camera up on the table beside us and then used the timed shutter release to get all of us. In three tries, we didn't manage to get all of us in the shot. Here, Matthew's hat was the culprit.
So, he took off his hat, but then we missed Matthew in both of the next two shots. Oh well.
When we got back to the house, we all took naps, and then decided it was time for a boating excursion. This was where things got bad. As we motored away from the house, I snapped this picture. You can see we're staying in the house indicated with an arrow. The houses on either side of us are rentals, and the rest are private residences.
Things were going along fine as we headed up the river. The worst we could say was that we were getting a little windblown.
I took this picture of Matthew, aka Guatemala Man. It looked like a good social media profile picture to me, but we tried again after he adjusted his hood to uncover some of his face.
I was lining up to take the picture, and had the camera in front of my face with my finger poised over the shutter release when
Crrrrrrrrruuuunnnnnnchhhhhhh!
Here's the picture I took in the moment.
Holy $h*t!!! What just happened? We were stopped dead in the water, having hit an unseen submerged object. Mike turned off the engine instantly when we hit. We were all a little stunned, although no one was injured. Fortunately, we weren't going very fast. After ascertaining that everyone was okay, I started wondering about the boat, and I said to Mike, "Are we okay?" And he said, "Oh, yes, we're okay." And for whatever reason, I couldn't get my mouth to say the right words to convey my concern, and so I asked again, "But...are we okay?" And I'm worrying about the integrity of the boat...in other words, are we sinking? And finally, Erik came up with the right words, "Are we taking on water?" YES!!! YES, WE WERE!!!
Well, as luck would have it, we'd just passed by a Clackamas County Sheriff river patrol boat, and so we headed back, the engine vibrating badly, and told them what was happening. Here, I can't say enough good things about their professionalism. They accompanied us to the boat launch, and then gave Mike a ride back to the house so that he could get the truck and trailer. But this was about a 20-30 minute turn-around. In the meantime, they handed Matthew a manual bilge pump. He went to work with that while Erik went to work sucking up water with the Super Soaker water toy we had on board. Together, they helped the boat's own bilge pump keep the boat afloat until Mike could get back with the trailer.
Lyndsay took over for Erik at one point. The Super Soaker took a lot more muscle than the bilge pump, which was intended for this purpose. Matthew was able to continue pumping for the duration.
We managed to save the boat and get it out of the water, where we waited around a half hour for the remaining water to drain from the hull of the boat. And here's where it got ugly. Checking the damage underneath, we discovered that some skegs on the bottom were torn loose, and that's where the leak was. It could have been so much worse. The damage is confined to the flat bottom portion of the boat, rather than the section that forms a "V".
Mike says this portion will be much easier to repair. Nevertheless, the propeller and drive shaft are also damaged. Until we can get it to a shop for repair, we won't know the full extent of the damage. And that brings me back to the good. Fortunately, this is covered by insurance. It's a bummer to have the boat damaged before summer has even arrived. We're hopeful repairs can be done quickly, but we'll have to get this all figured out.
With all that manual pumping of water, everyone was pretty hungry by the time we'd settled ourselves into this new reality. It was time to smoke some salmon. Copper River Salmon was available at our local grocery store this past week, and so I picked up two big fillets. Erik concocted two delicious rubs, and he and Mike smoked and grilled them together.
One of the things I love most about these get-togethers is our devotion to good food and good eating. Here, the two barbecue and smoker chefs discuss the finer points of smoker food.
When it was ready for eating, it looked like this. We cut it into smaller pieces. Mae provided a couple of sides, and we had quite a feast.
Sunday morning, we decided to check out the farmers market nearby.
There was something for everyone there. We had breakfast and then just wandered around. There were some beautiful flowers. I've never seen calla lilies in so many pretty colors.
Mike and I were looking at the strawberries when I got the idea to make some strawberry ice cream.
We picked up a half flat, and I'll get after those today. These are Oregon berries. Aren't they beautiful?
With boating out, I had plenty of time for slow-stitching, and I finished off the July heart.
I'm nearly finished with the August heart too, and that's what I'll be working on next.
There's so much to do today it isn't even funny. Of course, I need to get some things done outside...some watering, filling the bird feeders, checking the greenhouse. I have sunflowers that absolutely must get planted within the next few days or there's going to be trouble afoot. But first, I need to figure out what we're going to eat for the next couple of nights, and I'll have to make a trip into town. So...time's a-wastin'. Better get going.
Old kitties like shopping bags, too
I found Benny resting on some reusable shopping bags that were on the floor.
Thứ Sáu, 7 tháng 6, 2019
Signing Off for a Few
It's been a busy couple of mornings, and this morning will be busy too. I've been preparing food for our family weekend. If you're new to this blog, then I'll share with you that our family plans a weekend get-away in lieu of exchanging Christmas gifts each year. This will be our fifth year doing it (I think), and it has turned out to be a wonderful way to spend time together and catch up. Matthew made a move to Las Vegas last month, and so I'm not sure what the future holds for these get-togethers. For this year, at least, he's here for the entire weekend. Lucky us!
Yesterday morning I started out baking this Muesli Toasting Bread. We'll have it for breakfast tomorrow. I'm also making a Chili Egg Puff. Someone gave me the recipe for the Chili Egg Puff a long time ago, and so I was kind of surprised to find it online. It's easy to mix up, and it doesn't take a lot of ingredients. I usually make just half. We'll toast the bread and have it on the side.
Also, I made up a Mexican Corn Salad. I'll be adding some stuff to the salad. I'm not linking to the recipe since it's a new one to me. There are lots of recipes online for different versions of Mexican Corn Salad. The one I'm making is from Cook's Illustrated, and so we'll see how it goes. This morning I'm making Enchiladas Suizas. I'll make up the sauce and the enchiladas and keep them separate until I'm ready to bake it this evening. We'll pair that with the corn salad and this Tequila Slaw with Lime and Cilantro. That's also on this morning's agenda. So dinner tonight is taken care of along with breakfast for tomorrow. We'll be smoking some salmon on Saturday, and I don't know what else Erik and Mae have planned. From there, we'll be winging it.
When I had my kitchen stuff done yesterday, I needed to fill the bird feeders and check the greenhouse. I noticed that the lavender is very close to blooming.
Also, the first tomatoes are showing themselves. I plant all sauce tomatoes. Romas are my favorites, but I couldn't find any starts this year, and so these are San Marzanos.
Also, the roses are blooming. This little bush is a floribunda, and it's covered in buds right now. I'm hoping they'll still be here when we get back in a few days.
While I was out, I encountered this little critter happily eating the strawberries.
He wasn't sure he could trust me, and so he hopped on the sidewalk to make a quick getaway, if necessary. This is a little red tree squirrel. They are about half the size of the more problematic grey diggers.
Apparently deciding I posed no threat with my camera, he hopped back over to the strawberries.
"Thank you for planting these. They are sublime."
The poppies are fading, but more are coming. I'm especially interested in the seed pods now. They are almost as pretty as the poppies themselves.
Despite all the kitchen work, there was some time for sewing in the afternoon. Sadie had already claimed the quilts-to-be-quilted pile before I even entered the room.
She really hopes I'll just keep quiet because there is serious napping afoot.
The next row of blocks is finished now, and two of the three blocks for row three are also sewn together.
I had a little scare with this Chicken Chow Mein block. The machine embroidery was only about 1/2-inch from the edge of the block...plenty for a seam allowance, but I'd forgotten there was a flange here too. It meant fudging about an eighth-inch with the placement of the flange, but it worked out.
With that little scare behind me, it seemed like a good place to stop for the day.
It was a pretty sunrise this morning. We're expecting rain later in the day, but the weekend is looking good.
Knowing I would have very little time this morning, I've already done my slow stitching for the day. The July heart was started yesterday, and I've stitched it this far now.
I'm afraid he is, but help is on the way. We've hired a Wildlife Control Operator to come in next week and set some traps. Mike and I were discussing this coyote issue yesterday evening, and pieces are starting to fall into place. If you've been reading long enough, you might recall that we lost our kitty Maggie to coyotes (presumably) almost exactly two years ago. Back then, we started seeing a coyote pair running across the road and in other places. We started keeping Smitty in back then while we built the catio for him and Sadie (who hadn't yet joined us). It occurs to us that this breeding pair has probably been raising pups successfully in our woods each year for a couple of years, and so it makes sense they would keep coming back annually.
Last night we watched as they crossed the field near the fence, pausing to hunt some gophers...or moles...or squirrels...I don't know what they're hunting, but I'm certain cats are on the menu as well. Whatever. We're hopeful they can be rounded up and "removed" soon enough. Smitty and Sadie are probably resigned to at least a couple of more weeks of confinement until we get the all clear sign from our guy. It can't happen soon enough. We've tried to live cooperatively with all of our wildlife in our 17 years here, but enough is enough.
Okay, so much to do, and those enchiladas aren't going to make themselves. I'll be back here by Tuesday to tell you about our weekend. Until then, sew on.
Yesterday morning I started out baking this Muesli Toasting Bread. We'll have it for breakfast tomorrow. I'm also making a Chili Egg Puff. Someone gave me the recipe for the Chili Egg Puff a long time ago, and so I was kind of surprised to find it online. It's easy to mix up, and it doesn't take a lot of ingredients. I usually make just half. We'll toast the bread and have it on the side.
Also, I made up a Mexican Corn Salad. I'll be adding some stuff to the salad. I'm not linking to the recipe since it's a new one to me. There are lots of recipes online for different versions of Mexican Corn Salad. The one I'm making is from Cook's Illustrated, and so we'll see how it goes. This morning I'm making Enchiladas Suizas. I'll make up the sauce and the enchiladas and keep them separate until I'm ready to bake it this evening. We'll pair that with the corn salad and this Tequila Slaw with Lime and Cilantro. That's also on this morning's agenda. So dinner tonight is taken care of along with breakfast for tomorrow. We'll be smoking some salmon on Saturday, and I don't know what else Erik and Mae have planned. From there, we'll be winging it.
When I had my kitchen stuff done yesterday, I needed to fill the bird feeders and check the greenhouse. I noticed that the lavender is very close to blooming.
Also, the first tomatoes are showing themselves. I plant all sauce tomatoes. Romas are my favorites, but I couldn't find any starts this year, and so these are San Marzanos.
Also, the roses are blooming. This little bush is a floribunda, and it's covered in buds right now. I'm hoping they'll still be here when we get back in a few days.
While I was out, I encountered this little critter happily eating the strawberries.
He wasn't sure he could trust me, and so he hopped on the sidewalk to make a quick getaway, if necessary. This is a little red tree squirrel. They are about half the size of the more problematic grey diggers.
Apparently deciding I posed no threat with my camera, he hopped back over to the strawberries.
"Thank you for planting these. They are sublime."
The poppies are fading, but more are coming. I'm especially interested in the seed pods now. They are almost as pretty as the poppies themselves.
Despite all the kitchen work, there was some time for sewing in the afternoon. Sadie had already claimed the quilts-to-be-quilted pile before I even entered the room.
She really hopes I'll just keep quiet because there is serious napping afoot.
The next row of blocks is finished now, and two of the three blocks for row three are also sewn together.
I had a little scare with this Chicken Chow Mein block. The machine embroidery was only about 1/2-inch from the edge of the block...plenty for a seam allowance, but I'd forgotten there was a flange here too. It meant fudging about an eighth-inch with the placement of the flange, but it worked out.
With that little scare behind me, it seemed like a good place to stop for the day.
It was a pretty sunrise this morning. We're expecting rain later in the day, but the weekend is looking good.
Knowing I would have very little time this morning, I've already done my slow stitching for the day. The July heart was started yesterday, and I've stitched it this far now.
As I'm sitting here, Smitty is sitting in the window beside me, glaring, and hoping he isn't headed for another day cooped up inside.
I'm afraid he is, but help is on the way. We've hired a Wildlife Control Operator to come in next week and set some traps. Mike and I were discussing this coyote issue yesterday evening, and pieces are starting to fall into place. If you've been reading long enough, you might recall that we lost our kitty Maggie to coyotes (presumably) almost exactly two years ago. Back then, we started seeing a coyote pair running across the road and in other places. We started keeping Smitty in back then while we built the catio for him and Sadie (who hadn't yet joined us). It occurs to us that this breeding pair has probably been raising pups successfully in our woods each year for a couple of years, and so it makes sense they would keep coming back annually.
Last night we watched as they crossed the field near the fence, pausing to hunt some gophers...or moles...or squirrels...I don't know what they're hunting, but I'm certain cats are on the menu as well. Whatever. We're hopeful they can be rounded up and "removed" soon enough. Smitty and Sadie are probably resigned to at least a couple of more weeks of confinement until we get the all clear sign from our guy. It can't happen soon enough. We've tried to live cooperatively with all of our wildlife in our 17 years here, but enough is enough.
Okay, so much to do, and those enchiladas aren't going to make themselves. I'll be back here by Tuesday to tell you about our weekend. Until then, sew on.