I’m a little bummed about the weather right now — it’s 24F out heading to a high of only 36 and the lows are going to be in the 20s tonight and tomorrow night too. 🙁
But I saw a few little green things on the ground yesterday and some of the wild* daffodils have started putting up shoots.
* they’re not really wild — they’re at old home sites. Our county is full of those as a lot of people abandoned their homes during the (previous) Depression.
It seems colder here too, although I haven’t even looked at the temperature yet. I have an abstract for a paper that I need to finish this morning, and then I have to quickly read over some stuff for a conference call before lunch.
The “little green thing” I saw today was a Tasmanian froglet. It was in our veggie garden in the sorrel patch. The sorrel is planted just below the corn, which means it gets well watered – perfect froggy habitat.
I did manage to make a batch of dough last night for the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes thing I wanted to try…the shaped ball of dough is resting and waiting to go in the oven as I type this. (CBtE and I couldn’t wait until later to see if it works.) It was so simple- mix up 4 ingredients, let it sit for 2 hours, put it in the fridge. Pull it out this morning, cut off a hunk of dough, shape it, let it sit for 40 minutes, and then put it in the oven on a baking stone for a half-hour.
Hi Family Man! I was tempted for a moment to say, “How cold was it?” a la Johnny Carson, but realized you had already answered the question. Hope you’re feeling better.
It’s nice to see you here. I was just thinking about you – I was reading ice cream news 🙂
Ben and Jerry’s understand what we need in this time of national crisis:
One of our competitors (think funny sounding European name) recently announced they will be downsizing their pints from 16 to 14 ounces to cover increased ingredient and manufacturing costs and help improve their bottom line.
At Ben & Jerry’s we think downsizing pints is downright wrong. We understand that in today’s hard economic times businesses are feeling the pinch. We also understand that many of you are also feeling the same, and think now more than ever you deserve your full pint of ice cream. We are even more committed today to lead with our values through the quality of our ingredients and how we source them to make the best ice cream possible. So, while our competitor may be experiencing a bit of shrinkage, rest assured that your Ben & Jerry’s will still be standing tall in the freezer.
You didn’t miss me, I haven’t been asleep tonight. So, how the weather up there? Mary said it was 27 in St. Louis. We’re down to a blustery 46. Wonder how Olivia’s weather is doing?
It’s cold here too (23) but it’s supposed to start warming up today and be in the 50s by the weekend.
Olivia’s weather isn’t too bad — at least not in the sense of being walloped by snow like they were last year. But it’s definitely not spring there yet.
That’s a good plan. I wish I’d thought of it — I think I’ll go back to sleep and get up a month from now when the morning light catches back up to where it was.
Well spring is here. I’ve already got azaleas blooming and I’m not sure, but I think my bil mowed my lawn yesterday. That felt good to see the lawn mowed and know I didn’t lift a finger. I think I’m getting back into the slacker mode. 🙂
Good for you and a gold star for championship slacking in letting the bil mow the lawn! Now I must be off to my little corner of the bureaucracy for the day:(
I’m such a good person that I’ll compromise on going to the other side of the pond until spring is in full bloom to make it worth it and settle for the usual view.
Thanks you! However, you forget – spring is already here. Maybe not for you, but it is for me. OK the trees need to get somemore leaves, but otherwise it’s spring.
I was down in southern Missouri a couple of weeks ago. Every year they have an azalea and dogwood festival. But I don’t know about this year – they still have a mess from that ice storm that went through in January. Lots of trees were so damaged they just had to come down completely. It was sad looking.
The puppies sensibly piled up in the back of their shed and slept through the rain.
The alpacas, otoh, insisted on getting soaked to the skin rather than go into the shed. There was one very soggy cria this morning. Fortunately the weather is warm and no harm appears to have been done.
With the recent rains there’s a good chance our Autumn orchids will be coming up. We’re going to go look for them later today.
I’ve already started seeing the female Common Brown butterflies. They wait for the rains before becoming active, so that when their eggs hatch there will be plenty of green grasses to feed the larvae. Like several of our butterfly species, they actually lay their eggs on grasses around ant hills. The ants take the eggs into their nests and rear the larvae in exchange for the honeydew they secrete.
Ain’t nature grand?
More thundery storms are predicted for this evening.
squeak and luna, or perhaps it’s only squeak, seem to have developed a really strong bond…l gotta say, she’s my fav and l’m hoping she’s the one you keep….but then, l’m not around them in person.
btw, was she the runt? l’ve always found that they almost always seem to turn in to extraordinary dogs, at least the ones l’ve had personally. my first golden was the runt, and he was a real sweetheart, as was/is Bu. something about their persona’s and intelligence/trainability has to be the product of their early with the larger sibs.
l couldn’t have asked for better more willing companions.
Squeak is very attention seeking, and very cheeky. She’s also the one who tries to bite mum’s lips every chance she gets. Also, she fights dirty, so I suspect that her siblings are only too happy to let her play with mum.
The true runt of the litter was stillborn. She was only half the size of the other three.
In terms of size, they were/are Gar (natch), Squeak, and The Dude. Although The Dude may have recently surpassed Squeak in size, as befits a growing boy who will outweigh his sisters by almost half again as much (females average 45 kilos and males average 65 kilos).
Sorry about the mess in the old one, everybody…it’s been a busy couple of days.
No problem.
I’m a little bummed about the weather right now — it’s 24F out heading to a high of only 36 and the lows are going to be in the 20s tonight and tomorrow night too. 🙁
But I saw a few little green things on the ground yesterday and some of the wild* daffodils have started putting up shoots.
* they’re not really wild — they’re at old home sites. Our county is full of those as a lot of people abandoned their homes during the (previous) Depression.
It seems colder here too, although I haven’t even looked at the temperature yet. I have an abstract for a paper that I need to finish this morning, and then I have to quickly read over some stuff for a conference call before lunch.
And then things will slow back down again.
The “little green thing” I saw today was a Tasmanian froglet. It was in our veggie garden in the sorrel patch. The sorrel is planted just below the corn, which means it gets well watered – perfect froggy habitat.
Well, that’s cool. All we see is black and white…woodpeckers at our suet feeder.
Still, a woodpecker is a pretty sight.
We don’t have woodpeckers, but we have parrots that can rip big chunks out of trees going after the sap.
But the sound of tearing is nowhere near a nice to listen to as the tappity-tap of woodpeckers.
But no picture? You should carry your camera with you everywhere. 🙂
I was gathering greens for Hector’s evening repast and it was already getting dark, or I would have ducked back in for the camera.
It’s been so dry for so long now I hardly see or hear any frogs anymore.
I did manage to make a batch of dough last night for the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes thing I wanted to try…the shaped ball of dough is resting and waiting to go in the oven as I type this. (CBtE and I couldn’t wait until later to see if it works.) It was so simple- mix up 4 ingredients, let it sit for 2 hours, put it in the fridge. Pull it out this morning, cut off a hunk of dough, shape it, let it sit for 40 minutes, and then put it in the oven on a baking stone for a half-hour.
Ah the smell of baking bread — could you post that, please. 🙂
I’m pretty impressed with how it turned out…totally worth the lack of effort involved. 🙂
Smells gorgeous. 🙂
Wow! It looks yummy! I’m impressed.
Hey I just noticed this. It looks like it belongs in a magazine!
i just read that entire article on Mother Earth News.
Must. Try. Now.
I made banana nut bread last weekend and think i may have developed an addiction to fresh bread.
Easiest. Bread. Ever. CBtY was totally impressed with my fancy-pants bakery knock-off bread when he got home from school.
I used some SAF instant yeast that RevDeb gave me. Great stuff.
It’s colder here too, and windy. It was 30 when I started out this morning.
It’s supposed to be back to the 50s for highs and upper 30s for lows by Saturday so I hope you’ll be back to springier weather soon.
Daffodils must really taste crappy! They’re one of the few things the deer won’t eat.
It is so cold down here right now. It’s 57F at the moment. I just took George out and I thought damn it too cold to be wearing shorts!
Hi Family Man! I was tempted for a moment to say, “How cold was it?” a la Johnny Carson, but realized you had already answered the question. Hope you’re feeling better.
Hi ID.
I’m feeling a lot better. Thanks for asking. How have you been doing?
Its been a melancholy time for us over the past week. I know you understand, having passed that way not long ago with FMom.
Yep I understand completely.
I hope you’ll feel better soon.
It’s nice to see you here. I was just thinking about you – I was reading ice cream news 🙂
Ben and Jerry’s understand what we need in this time of national crisis:
Mary how can you downside a pint? Isn’t a pint a pint?
Not at Häagen-Dazs 🙂
So they’re selling you a pint, but it’s not a pint. Sounds like you need to get an ice cream maker. 🙂
Or stick with Ben and Jerry’s.
How’s George?
He’s doing fine. Asleep on the floor at the moment. He’s in bad need of a haircut though.
awww. wake him up and tell him “hi” from me. 🙂
Do you cut his hair yourself or take him to have it done?
I used to cut it myself, but now I take him to get it cut. Oh I do cut his backend. It can get messy back there.
If I ever get another dog, it will be hairless!
Yeah, they’ve not only downsized the ice cream we like, but raised the price astronomically as well:(
define astronomically. doubled?
I recently paid 6.29 for a 1 1/2 qt. Edy’s, downsized from a half gallon at just under 5.00, IIRC, although they do run sales 2 for 7.00 on occasion.
I saw something on tv where a lot of mfgs are downsizing everything. It’s kind of stupid, don’t they think we’ll notice?
I noticed they downsized the Girl Scout cookies – fewer cookies in each box.
Well in that case I’m happy I told them to get the hell out my front yard. Just kidding. 🙂
They didn’t even try to hide it – the sleeve with the Thin Mints is too long. They just took the old sized sleeve and filled it with fewer cookies.
sigh
damn girl scouts could have at least had some shame about it 🙂
It is amazing how even the girl scouts have gotten into the money business. What next, toddlers at day care?
Hey how’s your weather up there? We’re at a chilly 57.
It’s cold. It’s 27 degrees. The Red Bud’s bloomed earlier this week but this weather won’t do them any good.
Are your flowering trees flowering away?
yep everything blooming. Some type of Japanese tree that everybody has around here is blooming and it has white blossoms. They do look pretty.
Well I think I’m going to be a geezer and head to bed.
Take care
night
Sorry and missed you (and Chatty
CathyMary).Hi Andi.
You didn’t miss me, I haven’t been asleep tonight. So, how the weather up there? Mary said it was 27 in St. Louis. We’re down to a blustery 46. Wonder how Olivia’s weather is doing?
It’s cold here too (23) but it’s supposed to start warming up today and be in the 50s by the weekend.
Olivia’s weather isn’t too bad — at least not in the sense of being walloped by snow like they were last year. But it’s definitely not spring there yet.
Guess I should warm up the car for that long commute to work;-)
Geeze ID it’s only 23. What are you going to do when it really get cold. 🙂
Stay in bed???
You know that’s a good idea. That’s what I do when it’s really hot down here. Of course I have the A/C going full blast.
I could deal a whole lot better with the cold if it weren’t so damn dark. 🙁
Didn’t we have a time change last w/e? I think I slept through it.
That’s a good plan. I wish I’d thought of it — I think I’ll go back to sleep and get up a month from now when the morning light catches back up to where it was.
Well spring is here. I’ve already got azaleas blooming and I’m not sure, but I think my bil mowed my lawn yesterday. That felt good to see the lawn mowed and know I didn’t lift a finger. I think I’m getting back into the slacker mode. 🙂
I think I’m getting back into the slacker mode. 🙂
Good for you and a gold star for championship slacking in letting the bil mow the lawn! Now I must be off to my little corner of the bureaucracy for the day:(
I would tell you to enjoy, but………
I do really think a little stroll with your camera is order. 🙂
Your still trying to get me to walk all the around that pond aren’t you? You realize you’re talking to a very lazy person don’t you?
I’m such a good person that I’ll compromise on going to the other side of the pond until spring is in full bloom to make it worth it and settle for the usual view.
Thanks you! However, you forget – spring is already here. Maybe not for you, but it is for me. OK the trees need to get somemore leaves, but otherwise it’s spring.
I know it’s spring tempwise but I meant being very green.
I was down in southern Missouri a couple of weeks ago. Every year they have an azalea and dogwood festival. But I don’t know about this year – they still have a mess from that ice storm that went through in January. Lots of trees were so damaged they just had to come down completely. It was sad looking.
Don’t be a chicken. Come on over to the FFF and show us how yellow you can be. 🙂
Sorry I missed all the other morning people. It was good to talk to you Andi and ID. I think I’m going to try and get back to sleep.
Stay warm.
Hi FM. Have a good nap. It’s 23 degrees here right now but they say 40 is on its way. Woopee!
Wow, I slept in a little and now I fin out I missed all the fun.
Big girls make their own fun. 😉
Not after they’ve been snored at since 4 am…. 🙂
Well then, your problem is that you didn’t start making your own fun early enough.
Why before you know it, the squirrels will have to be out there mowing.
click for larger
Squirrels mow?
‘Night all – enjoy you Saturday.
Well you know how persnickety those chipmunks are about how the neighborhood looks.
Night.
Morning Andi; looks as if everyone is sleeping in today.
And apparently taking very long afternoon naps. 🙂
Ah yes, the chipmunks can be cruel task masters.
It’s a lovely morning here. We had nearly an inch of rain in the last 20hrs. Most of it overnight. Woo and hoo.
Hoping western Australia shared your soaker.
Hoping eastern Australia shared your soaker.
Wonderful news on the rain. Did the puppies enjoy it?
The puppies sensibly piled up in the back of their shed and slept through the rain.
The alpacas, otoh, insisted on getting soaked to the skin rather than go into the shed. There was one very soggy cria this morning. Fortunately the weather is warm and no harm appears to have been done.
With the recent rains there’s a good chance our Autumn orchids will be coming up. We’re going to go look for them later today.
I’ve already started seeing the female Common Brown butterflies. They wait for the rains before becoming active, so that when their eggs hatch there will be plenty of green grasses to feed the larvae. Like several of our butterfly species, they actually lay their eggs on grasses around ant hills. The ants take the eggs into their nests and rear the larvae in exchange for the honeydew they secrete.
Ain’t nature grand?
More thundery storms are predicted for this evening.
Oh I hope you get lucky with the orchids. Can’t wait to see the pictures.
Even from mere centimeters away, Squeak still can’t figure out how mum does this ‘party trick’.
I’ve been trying to make a comment that isn’t lewd, crude, and rude. And … oh never mind.
It’s easy if you try, heh.
Yeah, easy for you — you’re a nice person. 😉
Thanks, but you might change your mind if you saw me licking my nose.
=:o
Heheheh. Yep, there are just too many jokes on the subject.
I got a million of them kid. Watch this!
squeak and luna, or perhaps it’s only squeak, seem to have developed a really strong bond…l gotta say, she’s my fav and l’m hoping she’s the one you keep….but then, l’m not around them in person.
btw, was she the runt? l’ve always found that they almost always seem to turn in to extraordinary dogs, at least the ones l’ve had personally. my first golden was the runt, and he was a real sweetheart, as was/is Bu. something about their persona’s and intelligence/trainability has to be the product of their early with the larger sibs.
l couldn’t have asked for better more willing companions.
Squeak is very attention seeking, and very cheeky. She’s also the one who tries to bite mum’s lips every chance she gets. Also, she fights dirty, so I suspect that her siblings are only too happy to let her play with mum.
The true runt of the litter was stillborn. She was only half the size of the other three.
In terms of size, they were/are Gar (natch), Squeak, and The Dude. Although The Dude may have recently surpassed Squeak in size, as befits a growing boy who will outweigh his sisters by almost half again as much (females average 45 kilos and males average 65 kilos).
Damn, I need more fiber in my diet.
Happy birthday Maryb!
Go with the flow? Good as gold? All that glitters …
click for larger
Ooh, that looks like a good one for a new cafe…I’ll meet you there?