Been Hearing More Sirens This Week

It must be the week before the fourth of July, and people must be doing stupid things with fireworks and other stuff.

Another Hot Day & Doggie Dramas

It is already 86 outside, and the forecast predicts > 90.  Should be interesting, all three gardens will need watering again today.  Hope I don't melt.  On the plus side, dad's garden should have some cucumbers by next week and probably some sweet corn the week after that.  At my garden I need to put out traps; the voles seem to have moved back into the compost pile and they are chomping on the beans behind the garage - not nice.  Big thanks again to the neighbors who sent me their voles after they installed the ultrasonic vole repellers.  They didn't kill them, they just gave the problem to someone else.


At first yesterday morning Chloe looked a bit remorseful.  But since she has never shown remorse for anything else she has done, we figured it was something else.  Turns out she was not feeling well; the cat had bitten her on the foot.  We had not noticed it the night before when we gave her a bath because it did not really bleed.  The primary reason for the bath was that the cat had managed to pee in Chloe's face, a perfectly natural response when something gets bitten in the but.  Can't blame it for trying to get rid of Chloe by any means possible.  12 hours after the bite the foot was already swelling.  So with Chloe doing her best three legged dog imitation, we went to the vet.  I'm just glad she could walk; I wasn't interested in carrying her downstairs and out to the car.  $81 lighter with a rabies booster shot and a couple bottles of antibiotics we headed home.  (Our vet is really reasonable in what he charges!)  We will still have to keep a close eye on her for the next six months just in case of vaccine failure.  I wish people would actually tag their cats if they are going to run loose outside.  Maybe someone will put up a missing cat flyer and we can contact them to find out if the blasted cat was current on all its shots, calling from a public phone in case they are the vengeful type-of course.  Another stop was made later in the day to restock the Epsom Salt supply.  Getting Chloe to sit with her sore foot soaking in that was "fun".  After a day of antibiotics and soaking, the swelling seems to have reduced.  Hopefully, the antibiotics work and infection will not set in.


Have to turn off the computer now.  It's going to be a hot day.

What Sort of Idiot

puts a de-clawed cat outside to fend for itself at night where it could fall prey to larger predators?  Oh, it also had no collar, license, or any other identifying tags.  Dumped pet or stupid owner?

Watering & Miscellaneous

Picked raspberries today.  Then watered three gardens, my mom's, my dad's, and mine.  Well, mine is mostly done; soaker hoses are wonderful inventions.  Will have to catch the rest tomorrow morning with the watering can and water from the rain barrel, but it is dark now, mosquitoes are out, and my sore foot has had enough traipsing for a while.  It might be a bruised muscle or maybe a slight sprain; it just started hurting last Friday evening at the back of the arch and has been a royal annoyance since then.


Tomorrow is supposed to be a hot day, the plants should grow happily as long as they have enough water.  It will be a good day to spend indoors in the air conditioning.  The additional hand rails for mom's place are stained, varnished, and ready to be installed.  Sounds like a plan.  Handrails are wonderful things; they reduce the tendency of old folks to lean on doorknobs and bend them.  The master bedroom doorknob and the bathroom doorknob downstairs in our house will forever wobble because the previous owner was a tall man who was too proud to use a cane.


On the mom front, she actually remembered to take her morning meds today without a nagging reminder call from me!  Maybe the sugar induced fog is lifting thanks to the insulin shots.  Is there hope that she is still in there somewhere?  It would be great to have my real mother back instead of a space cadet.


Oh and Chloe's ear is healing nicely.  She is back to eating her dry kibble like it actually interests her.  Of course if you offer her a pancake and a bit of beef, she will not object - just leave off the raspberry sauce.

As the Garden Grows

Tiger lilies and vetch

 Wandering onions & tomatoes

 A voluntary sunflower

 Pumpkins & beans

 Pumpkins

More Pumpkins

 Asparagus going to seed

 Beans and sunflowers

Squash, corn, tomatoes, and various root vegetables

The Salad Bar

Some Assembly Required

Cooldown

Today was lovely.  Thankfully the rain last night was gentle and mostly straight down with very little wind, thunder, and lightning.  With the cooler weather, both hubby and I awoke this morning quite hungry.  It is funny how hot weather just zaps the appetite.  It is no wonder why people eat more during winter.  (I wonder if it would be possible to develop a formula that would predict the amount of weight gain per degree decrease in outside temperatures.)  The morning was spent catching up on some cooking for us and Chloe.


I have to admit that cleaning Chloe's ears had fallen behind schedule of late with all the time spent over at mom's house.  As a result, Chloe gave herself a small hematoma on one of her ears by shaking her head too much, because here ears itched.  So, she has been getting her ears cleaned every day and drops added.  She also has been getting a benadryl in a spoonful of peanut butter.  To top it all off, she hasn't been too keen on eating her dry dog food, so she is getting a bit spoiled on a diet of brown rice cooked with pumpkin puree and lean beef lightly seasoned with dog-safe spices.  I occasionally have looked in the fridge to find the stock of "dog food" containers diminished by one because hubby has been snacking on the dog food.  It is good that Chloe is not possessive of her food.


Went over to mom's this afternoon, gave her her shot, and went outside to pick raspberries and work in the garden.  Yesterday was a long day, and I think mom and step-father needed a day's break from me as much as I needed a break from them.  There was enough daylight left that it was possible to get some garden chores done at my house today as well!  The garden is growing really well.  Hopefully, there will be some time tomorrow to take pictures and post them.  Goodnight all.  Sleep sweet.

Could Be a Dark And Stormy Night

I predict there will be a fraidy dog trying to crawl into bed with her owners tonight.

("Ma, you talking about me again.  But I'm brave and scary to cats, squirrels, rabbits, rodents.... Oh, did you say thunderstorm... Change of plan, I'll cover your six, just in case something sneaks up on you, just watch your step or you might squish my toes if you turn around, ok.  And maybe make a beeping sound if you plan to back up.")


On the plus side, tomorrow the high is only supposed to be 80 deg. F.  Maybe some things can be accomplished outside tomorrow without melting.  Poor hubby has been working in this heat all week in a uniform made of polyester with steel-toed rubber boots and a bump cap.  He finally said to heck with being accustomed to the heat this morning and crashed in the AC room while I went with mom and stepfather to mom's doctor's appointments this morning and afternoon.  Hubby will probably spend his days off eating and trying to restore the weight he has sweated away this week.


On the mom front, thanks to advances in science insulin is now available as extended release (one dose/day) in injection pens.  I hope and pray that it works!  Drove over to her house three times yesterday to check her glucose levels in preparation for the appointments today.  I so hope she can get back to a state where she is capable and responsible enough to give herself the injection and self monitor again.

It's Hot Outside

And since the windows are open, it is hot inside too.  Time to turn off the computer before its little brain fries.  Will check back in when it cools off a little.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Well, we have had more rain.  Too bad it came and went so quickly that it is mostly running away.

On the plus side, I now know that the rain ditch & slow drainage hole that is being dug behind the garage needs to be made bigger.
The hole and ditch looked like this in mid may before the dry spell.  Just two days ago it was bone dry.

Not anymore, it was a bit full this afternoon.  At least all this water is not inside the northwest corner of the garage!

 Doubt there will be any takers on the rabbit live trap tonight, unless they have aquatic tendencies.  It is tucked behind the old chunk of plywood leaning against the garage, oops.

Once the water soaks in, there will be more digging to do.


On the plus side, all the rain has really given the garden a boost.  I really have to get the tripods in place for the pole beans before they start wandering all over.

Happy Father's Day!

This post comes late in the day, because I spent part of the afternoon visiting my dad.  As usual, the conversation was scant.  Dad is a man of few words, but has the art of relaxing on a warm summer afternoon down pat.  I tried getting a few photos of his latest hobby/small business, but have to agree with him that the pictures will turn out a lot better if we make a light box to eliminate shadows and glare.  Guess I will have another sewing project once he goes shopping for the fabric.  Here are just a few of his latest creations.  Dad makes pens.  He has been scrounging deer antlers from quite a few places, as the pens made with antler are quite popular.  Oddly enough, he gets better sales at drinking establishments and through sporting clubs than from the jewelry shop and the men's fancy suit store downtown.

 Can you guess which of the three pens above was actually made with a real 30-06 casing?

The bolt action pen is the latest endeavor, cool.

We went out for an early dinner at a Chinese restaurant;

the food was much better than the last time I ate there.

Then it was time to leave and go pick raspberries over at mom's.

The raspberries are starting at least 2-3 weeks early!

There weren't very many, but weeding needed to be done so it still took a few hours.  And dad now has a few raspberries to put on his cereal in the morning.  There is a certain degree of mischievous pleasure in picking a gift of food from mom's garden and giving it to a man she despises.  Too bad it isn't possible to make people forgive each other by proxy, oh well.  Since my sense of humor came from dad, he will probably be savoring the joke as he eats his breakfast tomorrow morning.  Happy Father's Day!

Rain

Finally!

Ain't nothing like the real thing!

Took a day off from watering here, watering at mom's,

and all sorts of other chores.

Figured it was time for a rest; it was not a good sign when yawning ensued after drinking a caffeinated beverage.

Read part of a book.

Took a long nap.

The microwave is beeping; the leftover lasagna is ready.

Looking at the weather radar, there will be a little time before another line of showers arrive to make a trip to the grocery store.

We're out of milk.

Lasagna With Swiss Chard

A few supplies:
  Small roasting pan or a very deep casserole dish (at least 4" tall
     with cover)
  Salad spinner
  Meat grinder
  Large frying pan


Ingredients:
1 1/2# lowfat cottage cheese
2 eggs
2-3 cloves garlic, run through a press or finely chopped
2 gallons swiss chard, leaves only, spun dry.
  (reserve stems/cores for another recipe if desired)

1# package of lasagna noodles, cooked only until pliable

1 can of spaghetti sauce 26.5 oz - 32 oz.

1 quart size can of whole roma tomatoes

3/4 pound of mozzarella cheese

more oregano

Extra Virgin Olive oil

3-4 pounds coarsely ground pork seasoned with the following:
   1/2-1 tsp. ground black pepper 
   3-4 Tbs. crushed dried oregano
   1 Tbs. crushed dried basil
   2 Tbs. ground fennel
   1-2 Tbs. kosher salt
   4-5 shakes of kimchee pepper flakes (or other hot pepper)


In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, add 3/4-1# of the cottage cheese (half or slightly more than half of the container) and the garlic.


Oil the roasting pan well with olive oil.  Put some of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the pan.  Then brown the pork sausage.  Once the sausage is mostly cooked, add the spaghetti sauce.  Put a layer of noodles in the roasting pan, top with 1/2 of the cheese-egg-garlic mixture.  Pile 1/3 of the swiss chard leaves on top of that.  Add another layer of noodles.  Pile another 1/3 of the swiss chard on top of the noodles.  Put the hot meat & sauce mixture on top of the swiss chard.  Add another layer of noodles.  Press down on the layers to flatten a bit.  Cover the noodles with the remaining cheese-egg-garlic mixture.  Top with the remaining swiss chard.  Add another layer of noodles.  Top with the canned tomatoes.  Break them up with your fingers and evenly distribute them over the top of the noodles.  Pour the juice from the can over the top of the lasagna.  Sprinkle with a bit more oregano.  Put dollops of the remaining cottage cheese over the tomatoes.  Slice the mozzarella, and place slices on top.  Cover the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes to an hour.  When it starts smelling good, check on it.  It will start out at a mounded height of 4-5" tall, but as the swiss chard cooks it will compress down to 2 1/2"-3" tall.


The moisture from the swiss chard and the other wet ingredients should be sufficient to complete the cooking of the noodles.  If you have the patience, let it rest for 20 minutes or so after taking it out of the oven to allow it to set-up.  As you can see from the picture, we were hungry and rather lacking in patience.

A Little Baking

Yesterday began with mixing up a double batch of pumpkin spice bread.  Then while the bread was rising it was time to grind some pork to make sausage for biscuits & gravy and some to make sausage for tonight's lasagna.  The loaves were formed and allowed  to rise.


Lunch was made but I did not keep close enough track of the time remaining before hubby had to leave for work so the sausage and gravy ended up being served over some leftover mac & cheese instead of biscuits - oops ran out of time.  It was different, but I think the crunch of fresh biscuits is preferable to noodles.  Hubby did comment after he came home at night that he wasn't hungry at all between meals; that is an accomplishment in and of itself.


While the bread was in the oven, a bit of vacuuming was done.


The rest of the day was spent at mom's doing cleaning and stuff, not exactly photogenic fun things.  I arrived at home quite late and it was too dark to take any pictures of the garden.  It is growing quite well, except for the yellow beans.  The rabbits seem to prefer that variety over the green and purple ones.

It's Safe to Go Back in the Kitchen

The hot spell has broken.  It is now 63 degrees.  It is safe to run the computer again (no AC in the computer room).  Unfortunately, we still haven't gotten any rain out of the sky.  I think it has been about three weeks since the last real rainstorm.  Thankfully, it is safe to go back in the kitchen and cook again, because store bought bread is just barely edible.  There are lots of chores to do today.  Hopefully there will be some pictures later with the day's sights.

Getting Warmer

It is supposed to get to 89 deg. F today, and tomorrow is forecasted to be almost as warm.  It might finally be time to set up the summer cave room with the window air conditioner.  Or perhaps this weekend will be the perfect time to clean the basement, the only cool place in the house.  Today will be another great day to wash more stuff and hang it out to bake dry in the sun.  Summer is here.

More Washing

Mom has way too many clothes.  There are more to wash yet.  And even after sorting out the ones that no longer fit her and are out of style, she still has way too many clothes!  Maybe if I put another load out to dry it will actually rain today.  After a while, the thrift store may no longer be happy to see me.


Have to give mom a good scrub down today as well, so bye for now.  Have a great Friday!

Yesterday Was a Wonderful Day

After stopping at the polls to vote, we picked up some Chinese take-out and went to the park for a picnic lunch.  It was really nice to have the afternoon off from cooking.  After lunch we found that the fishing at that park was a bit off because the yacht (glorified sailboat) club was having the weeds cut in the cove where the sailboats are moored.  They looked tired from all their work, but happy that this year they were actually given permission to cut the blasted weeds by the DNR.  Last year the cove was a horrible, weedy mess because the DNR had banned all weed cutting.


We went to the park by the library and found that the fishing was almost as bad.  The carp are spawning; if we'd only had some spears.  Just as we were running out of shoreline for casting, I caught a 15" bass.  Some folks from down south would say why keep such a little bass, but up here that is 1" over the minimum size limit.  Bass just don't get very big here.  Since there was nowhere left to fish in that park, we headed home.  Hubby was so chivalrous that I did not get a chance to take a picture of my catch before he had it filleted, oh well.  He once again expressed displeasure at using the flexible boning knife to fillet fish.  I had to agree with him; it is not the ideal tool for the job.


With the fillets soaking in water and the remaining parts buried in the yard, we headed out to do a bit of shopping.  The farm supply place was out of stock tanks, so it wasn't possible to buy another rain barrel; besides this summer with so little rain so far the money might be better spent paying the water bill.  We browsed the fillet knives, but did not really trust the ones they had to keep a decent edge, so we passed on buying one of those too.  Their loss, we bought one packet of seeds and a box of .22 ammo; last of the big spenders - not!


So we headed to another store that sells a lot of cooking supplies and good knives and found a Wusthof fillet knive.  We gulped a little at the price, wished each other a Happy Anniversary, bought it, and brought our new treasure home.  Even though it was quite sharp out of the box, hubby went to work polishing the edge a little more.  I could tell he was done when he started testing the blade's sharpness on a sale catalog by slicing off little bits.


We had the bass and leftover spaghetti for supper.  For desert we topped some reduced fat ice cream with the first picking of strawberries from our little patch behind the garage.  After watching a really dumb movie, we checked the exit polls to find that Scott Walker and Rebecca K. were leading.  The next morning we checked the final results.  It is official; they won!  A perfect end to a wonderful day!

Things To Do Today

1. Celebrate Anniversary (private)
2. Call mom & remind her to take her medications & vote
3. Vote for Scott Walker and Rebecca K.
4. Celebrate Anniversary (cook gets day off)
5. Perhaps a little shopping at man-friendly stores
6. Enjoy a warm sunny day with a walk in the park &/or
    perhaps a bit of fishing.

Note to Self

Avoid wearing sandals while hanging out laundry after dark,
otherwise itchy mosquito bites will be found on feet.
It is really difficult to get a good night's sleep with itchy feet.

Anniversary Time Again

It's that time of year again

when lots of people get married,

cause face it,

it is way more fun to throw a bouquet

when it will not be frostbitten upon landing in someone's hands.

Years and years ago hubby and I walked down the aisle as single people and walked out married.

Woo-hoo!

Is It Saturday Already?

My how time flies.  Been busy helping over at mom's house.  Yesterday saw the installation of the closet structure and some more sorting and cleaning.  Anybody need patterns and fabric from projects dreamed that never got done on mom's round-tuit list?


Had a nice lunch with hubby today; sorry, it disappeared before the camera could capture its image.  Lunch was salmon (from the freezer) with a spinach and radish salad, semi low-fat mac & cheese (the stuff from the box made with low-fat whey powder because hubby's diet doesn't allow him the real thing), and more fresh snow peas.


The day started out with clear blue skies and rather brisk winds.  The laundry that was hung out last night is quite dry now.  This afternoon clouds are developing.  Maybe we'll get some pop-up thundershowers.  It would be nice if the sky watered the garden today.  That would be one less thing on the to do list.


The garden is coming along nicely, the radishes, beans, and peas are all popping out of the ground.  After the rain, (if there is any), I should spray the seedlings with the hot pepper/clove water to dissuade the rabbits from eating them.


There is more work to do over at mom's place, and it doesn't do itself.  Until Later, Cheers.