Some Kringle

for Christmas

One pecan and one cheese, please pardon the pun.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Simple Things

 

Chicken, vegetable, and potato soup

plus some farmhouse cheddar cheese, crackers, apples, and olives

Hold the carrots on hubby's bowl.

A Little Levity

 

Dear, sweet Ember let us go for a walk in the moonlight,

a lovely stroll beneath the stars,

where in the beam of a flashlight you can moon the neighbors,

and go poo poo in their yards.

Then we shall return home -

you with a look of resigned frustration plastered on your face,

because tightly tied up in a bag

is the deposit you so carefully placed.

Unlike you, I remember the civic responsibility

and the importance of not making our neighbors gag.

Another Duh Moment in News Reporting

 When statisticians and news reporters don't take into account that doctors' offices are closed for Thanksgiving weekend.

you get skewed numbers.  When on Monday the testing resumes, the reports will probably state that the sky is falling again.

Fishy-ness

Somehow all the local election results were announced around the state of WI, but they were still counting the presidential ballots?  So a bunch of people only voted for the presidential election and nothing else?!!!

I smell fish.

I wonder if Milwaukee county had a voter turnout greater than the number of eligible voters?

Puzzle

 How can an artist who carefully carved a printing block to produce a print like this, have such an illegible signature?  If you have any good guesses who the artist is, please let me know.  By the age of the frame and discoloration of the backing paper, I'm guessing it went into the frame some time in the early 20th century.  It may have belonged to my mom's friend Heidi, who moved to the USA from Germany after WWII, but mom may have also bought it at a thrift store.  Who knows?  She sure can't remember.

A Question Most Fathers

 are not likely to hear from their daughters.

Ring ring,

Hello,

Dad, may I borrow your hammer drill?

Sure.

Thanks.

There was more to the discussion, but suffice it to say dad may stop by to help with the operation of said drill as well.  Chisels and big hammers may also be involved.  Maybe I'll get around to taking pictures of this project tomorrow.

Poor Planning or Strategic Marketing?

 Have you noticed a serious shortage (as in none on the shelf) of canning jar lids at the store?  It started in June (strawberry jam season) with shortages and price scalping by grocery stores and Amazon alike.  Then the lids were all gone at the stores, standard first then wide mouth.  Next to disappear were the boxes of lids with rings.  And now if you want lids, you are going to have to buy the jars and rings too.

Seriously, are the Ball and Kerr production facilities really still shut down?  (It is probably the same factory in the USA just marking and packaging the lids differently.)  How hard is it to get the raw materials to make canning jar lids?  I seriously doubt that the supply chain for those items has been interrupted that much.   Why am I wondering if they're just taking advantage of the "pandemic" to offload old stock of jars, lids, and rings?  Surely the profit margin is much higher on those. Are they really that bad at planning, or are they laughing all the way to the bank, because they are forcing their customers to buy more jars?

I have been thoroughly disgusted with the flimsy construction of canning jar lids over the last 8 years or so.  The new "guarantee" that they will hold a seal for up to 18 months is pitiful.  That is if you can get them to seal properly in the first place without buckling and wrinkling.  I don't even try to pressure can with wide mouth lids anymore.  There is a limit to how loosely you can adjust a lid before too much of the contents of the jar end up in the canning water.  Maybe the next post will be a comparison between modern lids and some new in box "vintage" lids from mom's stash.  It is time to get out hubby's micrometer.

If someone wants to start a business making decent canning jar lids, there is no better time than the present.

Have You Noticed

an increase in accidental house fires caused by cooking accidents since the covid-19 lockdowns started?  A lot of people must be really bad cooks who usually eat out, or the news is running out of filler stories to run.  I wonder which one it is?

Zucchinis Are Like Tribbles

 

They multiply when you're not looking.

If you don't get the joke, ask your parents (or grandparents) about the original Star Trek TV series.

Here We Go Again

and again

and again

The neighbor lady's daughter is on vacation this week.

She usually stuffs the big zucchini.

If I'd known she was not going to take them off her mom's hands, I would have picked them when they were little.

Anybody want to adopt a zucchini, or two, or three?

Bye for now, I have to make some tomato soup.

Growing Things

The garden continues on its merry way, weeding and watering required of course.

Even with everything caged and trellised, it's a jungle.

Basil is doing well, and yes the rhubarb needs picking.

Bizarre Object Lesson

To quote from Matthew 6:25-27 (New American Standard Version)
"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not worth much more than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life span?"

Jesus' monologue goes on to make some very valid points.  Strangely though, it also struck me as a bit funny, because the neighborhood robins have been partying hard on fermented serviceberries and then flying into the neighbor's picture window.  So while we've been dealing with some nasty medical stuff, the local wildlife seems to be getting drunk with the Lord's blessings.  Some days we are envious of our pets and the leisurely life they lead.  Today I think that I'm a little jealous of robins.

Have You Ever Seen

Birds loitering? 

They were literally hanging out all over the garden and the yard waiting for a branch to open up.  It was like a waiting line at a popular restaurant before the covid-crazy struck.

The serviceberry bushes/mini-trees are ripening,

and it has attracted every hungry bird in the neighborhood.

I'm actually quite glad that the birds like the serviceberries,

because I don't really care that much for them.

They were advertised as a Saskatoon "blueberry" in the seed catalog, but the flavor is nowhere near the same.

Apparently, Native Americans used them in pemmican, and they are supposed to be very nutritious.  The old adage of the worse something tastes, the better it is for you applies to serviceberries.

The cardinals were singing at each other (rather territorially).

The robins were squawking and hip checking smaller birds away.

Goldfinches were buzzing through to see the cause of all the hubbub.  There were a few other types of birds that only appear in the yard when the serviceberries are ripe.  Of course, they are so shy that getting pictures is pretty much impossible.

Hopefully my neighbors don't get terribly upset when the berries come out the other end of the birds, probably on their cars.

Oh well, this too shall pass.

Yo-Yo Weather

Note for those who live someplace other than America, temperatures mentioned are in the Fahrenheit scale.

Last week we had a three day stretch of hot weather; one day even got up to 90.  For the last couple days highs have been in the 70's and overnight lows in the 50's.  (Thankfully our part of the state missed out on the frost advisories.)  Tomorrow it is supposed to switch back to highs in the 80's again.  In spite of the yo-yo temperatures, the tomatoes in the garden are growing fine.  This is a really strange weather pattern.  It is more like September than June, right down to the tropical storm hitting the southern USA.

Finally

The car accident was last Thursday.  I called my agent who got the claim started with the other driver's insurance agency.  I sent pictures to my agent of the damage; he probably forwarded them.  I got estimates from two local auto body shops, checked with my mechanic to make sure nothing non-cosmetic was broken, and sent scans of the body shop estimates to my agent; he might have forwarded them.  The claims adjuster left a voicemail late Friday afternoon.  I called him back, but he was gone for the weekend.  My suspicion is that he waited to call me until right before he was quitting for the day.  Monday I called again and it turned out that he had yet to speak with the other driver to verify that she was at fault.     She had not bothered to call him back - terribly rude.  Perhaps Mr. Clarkson's comment about Audi drivers is accurate.  I got another call from my agent and reviewed progress, or lack thereof.  Hurried up and waited another day.  I called the claims adjuster again Tuesday, and he had finally spoken with the driver.  Their liability verified, the claim was approved that far.  He gave me the name of the one auto body shop in the area covered by that insurance.  I took my car there on Wed. for an official preliminary estimate.  It came back at 75% of blue book value, and because of that they had to do a conference call walk around with another agent from the insurance company.  So I took the car back to the body shop on Thursday, so they could video conference.  It is now a week later and they have finally decided that they will pay to fix my car.  Because of all their horsing around, the next available date to fix my car is next Wed.  So, from accident to getting my car repaired will take at least 2 weeks, probably more like 2 1/2 weeks with labor and paint drying times.  If anything, this has verified that I never want Allstate insurance.  Their bureaucracy is ridiculous.  Who cares if a loaner car is available.  I just want my car fixed in a timely fashion.  Is that too much to ask?

Something Pretty

in a world full of ugly news.

It's an election year, cue the pandemic followed by orchestrated riots.

I much prefer riots of color in my garden instead.

Things are just getting started, so for your viewing pleasure.

Columbine

And Chives

The daisies are starting too, but the light was too low and the photo over-exposed, so those will appear on another day.

And here is the garden as it gets going.

Ouch

Audi Quattro's pack a whollup.

This is my first non-animal related car accident - ever.

By her own confession, the other driver was looking at her map display, not where she was driving.

Hopefully this can be repaired;

due to the age of the car it will probably be a struggle with her insurance company.  Her bumper was barely dinged.  But I do wonder which repair will be more expensive, hers or mine?

Her bumper has cameras, sensors, and who knows what else;

mine doesn't.  I am still not convinced that all the gadgets inside newer cars are all that helpful.  In this case, the heads-up map actually caused an accident by distracting the driver.

I told dad rather jokingly today that he jinxed us when he gave us his and his lady-love's Prius after they bought a new vehicle.

If the WI Department of Transportation can actually send us the new license plates sooner rather than later, that would be great.  The DMV is still mostly closed due to Covid-19.  I have already seen two cars operating on the road without any license plates.  Who knows how many people are driving with expired licenses.  The scary thing is the state is just giving licenses to new drivers without them completing a road driving test!

In case you're wondering the animal accident was several years ago, when a very large raccoon crossing the highway to get from one corn field to another tried to hide inside the air conditioning scoop of our previous Civic; too bad the speed differential between him and the civic was 65 mph.  Splat.

This Year

is the year of the Dandelion.

Unless you live in a very hot, arid climate you don't need a picture to know what they look like.

We've had some clear and dry days.  Only some of those days were spent doing gardening and the long-term summer job of reglazing windows.  The front gardens are tilled and planted.  I removed the chain link from the kennel that I had parked over the back garden last summer.  I found that birds landed on the chain link and tended to eat or just peck the blossoms from the climbing beans.  It seriously reduced yields.  At the end of the season it was also a tedious and colossal pain to remove the vines from the chain link.  Chalk that one up as a failed experiment.  The steel frame also lost a bunch of weight so that it is easier to move aside to re-till the garden.  I finished that today before it started raining again.  The neighbor lady offered me the use of her garden this summer, which is good.  Due to Covid-19, dad's adventures will be limited to day-trips this summer, so he will be taking care of his house, lawn, and garden.  As he has final say about his yard, he'll be planting different things than I would have done.  I could use the extra space, and the neighbor lady's garden could use a good going over.  Her husband, who was the main gardener, is now in assisted living.  Even if the majority of the garden gets replanted in grass, the ground still needs tilling and raking to get rid of the weeds and lumps so that the neighbor lady can walk out to pick rhubarb without tripping or twisting her ankles. 

The rest of this week was spent dealing with mom's assisted living, her doctor's office, and two - yes two separate home health care companies that wanted to give her speech therapy because she has been having difficulty swallowing.  Apparently issues with the human throat fall under the specialty of a speech therapist, go figure.  But mom needed a referral from her doctor first, and the doctor's office would not give one without an in-person appointment - no video conference allowed.  It didn't help that the doctor's office said Medicare would not "chart" a tele-visit and the speech therapy company said they would.  I still don't know which one was lying.  I did get to see mom in person; of course we were both wearing those fairly useless paper masks and gloves.  Her doctor adjusted her meds and ordered that she have a swallow study by the speech therapist.  Mom and I took a short detour to a home health care supply store where they repaired the brakes on her wheelchair; then I returned her to the assisted living.  I thought things were all set.  It turns out the speech therapist could not do a  swallow study; those can only be done at a hospital.  So I requested the referral contact information for the hospital to do a swallow study, figuring that mom's assisted living let her out once to visit her doctor so twice wouldn't be too problematic.  Then the doctor changed her mind and the orders, without telling me first.  She wrote a referral to the visiting nurses association connected with mom's PPO network to do a much simpler assessment of mom instead.  So you guessed it, here is where I had two separate companies wanting to visit mom and give her speech therapy.  Now the ball goes back to the assisted living, when I asked them if mom's preferred provider visiting nurses association could send their speech therapist.  They conferred and told me NO.  They are limiting visiting access to only two medical companies, and mom's is not on the list.  Oh, but don't worry it is fully covered by her insurance.  Sure it is, but without her PPO discount, which will add into her total coverage expense.  Follow the money folks.  They were all basically jostling over who gets paid for taking care of my mom.  They are all worshipping the sacred cow of Medicare, which is spending imaginary money.  The irony is thick.

Rain, Rain, Rain

There is a big green and yellow blob of rain appearing on the weather radar covering the entire state of WI, Lake Michigan, and parts of Michigan.  The rain barrels should both be full now.  I set them up yesterday.  Even Ember went outside, peed, and walked up the sidewalk in the direction of her usual morning walk.  Then she turned and gave me a mournful look that meant "I really don't have to poop that badly".  She then did a 180 and headed back to the house.

Since Lake Michigan is pretty full already and winds are out of the northeast, Green Bay and pretty much anybody along the lakeshore are in for some trouble.

Flood Warnings

I'm pretty sure those folks would rather have more Covid-19 news coverage than having their homes flooded.

Local Adjustments

A number of local communities have extended the stay at home thing.  Brown County back pedaled a bit.  Curious, none of them have dared to extend the safer at home order past Memorial Day Weekend.  I guess they're still hoping for some tourism income.  But if you do travel, you might want to look up the local community restrictions before you head out.

Local Adjustments

Of course, there will still be a seriously limited number of things to go see, because cancelations for summer events are being announced more and more.

EAA
Iola Car Show and Swap Meet
  (They are doing a drive by version though.)
I haven't heard about Country USA yet
Life Fest (rescheduled to a later date)
Various Fourth of July Celebrations
  (The companies that sponsor them probably can't afford it this year.)

Update!
Very interesting, between yesterday and today several cities and counties have backpedalled even more and removed their extensions to the safer at home business restrictions.  Overnight, the news story was seriously edited A LOT.

Communist Squirrels and Big Onions

It is always interesting to see what plants appear in the yard in spring.  There is the usual assortment of way too many dandelions, thistles, burdock, and other weeds.  Sometimes there are pleasant surprises when a tulip grows and blooms where I never planted one.  See, our neighborhood is not unique in that the squirrels are ditsy communists.  They steal tulip bulbs from one yard and plant (store them for later) them in another.  That is a perfectly good model for planting Oak, Hickory, and black walnuts, but very unwelcome to people who plant beautiful landscaping only to have it eaten and stolen by communist squirrels.

 What I find interesting is that the squirrels don't seem to come back and dig up the bulbs from their new locations.

Big Onions!

The wandering onions are growing slowly this spring.

That gives me a little more time to harvest some before they bloom and get tough.

The only trouble is they are so tall,

that they don't fit in the bags or the fridge very well.

That's a two gallon bag.

Surprise, Surprise

The state Supreme Court actually managed to make a decision before Gov. Evers' extended lockdown reached its end on May 26th.

Wow, Government Working Less Slowly

More has been added to the "news" story.  Is this a waltz, one step forward - two steps back?  Now we get to see which local government officials are into severe restrictions and which aren't.  Brown County is having "fun" now with local restrictions very similar to the original decree, but they have been a hot spot for Covid-19.  So that isn't terribly surprising.

It is entirely too political that Gov. Evers had a chance to plan a bipartisan strategy with the Republicans before the court ruling, but he refused to play nice.  "Respectfully declining discussions" after the ruling is also not a way to get the job done.

Park the politics and come up with a solution that works without making lots of people in the state unemployed permanently.  Summer is short, winter will come back.  Living indoors, eating regular meals, and being able to pay for those things is rather important in a cold climate.

The Mothers' Day

that isn't all that motherly this year.

Mom's assisted living is under lockdown;

no visitors are allowed.

So she won't get any freshly picked flowers and sugar free chocolate.  The assisted living assures me she and stepfather are fine.  I could send her a letter, but I seriously doubt that the assisted living has been cleaning her glasses properly.  She probably wouldn't be able to see clearly enough to read it.  They have the option of video conferencing, but five minutes after the video chat was done would mom even remember it?

Generalized dementia, grr!

Anyway, Happy Mothers' Day to all the moms out there!

Hopefully, you are still able to see your family in person.

(Although if you are the mom of a teething toddler or a rowdy brood, you are probably wishing for some peace and quiet.)

Wishing you a peaceful and healthy Mothers' Day!

Spring is Trying

just not very hard.

 Peonies are sprouting

 A tulip on the south side of the house next to the sidewalk

has a bit of a head start.

 Rhubarb is coming up nicely.

Mutant violets, they are white instead of purple.

Chives are coming along nicely.

The serviceberry bushes are "thinking" about blooming.

The forecast for tonight calls for a rain and snow mix.

Other years we have been scrambling to install the air conditioners by this time.  Overnight this time the pellet stove will be running.

If You Have Run Out of Things To Do,

you can watch the sturgeon make more sturgeon.

Sheboygan Sturgeon Cams

That is during daylight hours of course.

They at least get some privacy at night.

Rainy Day, Blustery Night

It has been raining and raining.  Now on the backside of the storm swirl, the winds are supposedly N NE 18 to 21 mph, gusting to 37.  The way the wind is howling between houses and through the power lines, I think NOAA's estimates are a bit low.  Thankfully, the trees haven't leafed fully yet, or there would be a lot more broken trees to clear in the morning.   I hope you all are warm and dry.

Simple Things

This loaf

is almost gone.
It is really big because I made a double batch of dough
and kept out some for pizza crusts, obviously not quite enough.

The grocery store does have bread again,
but I am the "victim" of my own success.
Hubby enjoys being spoiled and doesn't want to go back
to grocery store bread.

Oddly, now the big grocery store seems to be having trouble getting mushrooms.  I can only guess that the mushroom pickers are staying at home, because the mushroom farms are cool, cramped work environments - perfect breeding grounds for viruses as well as fungi.

Take Me With You

Keys jingle and Ember comes running.

The demanding stare, translated means - roughly -

"I know your are going somewhere.  Take me with you!"

But I'm only going to mail something.

"I don't care, take me with you!!"

So after a ride to the post office and a detour for a walk in the park,

we are back home.

Normal chores to resume shortly,

while Ember crash naps in the bedroom.

Contemplation

In the bright sunny moments of yesterday afternoon

I contemplated shaving Ember's hair

down to her late spring mohawk.

Then we had thunderstorms with high winds.

When I took Ember for her pre-bedtime walk,

there were earthworms crawling on the sidewalks

while snow was falling from the sky.

The haircut will be contemplated further,

probably for another two weeks at least.

Oops He Did It Again, Etc.

Except it wasn't accidental.  Gov. Evers couldn't be outdone by the governor of Michigan after all.  Gov. Evers extended the stay at home order in Wisconsin for another month until Memorial Day.  Others are investigating legal means of curbing his dictates.  We'll see what happens.  It is unfortunate that the Covid-19 situation has turned into a battle between mostly Democrats who are trying to take over the world, because it's what's best for you (and they assume they are more intelligent than the rest of us idiots) and Republicans who are freaking out about the economy breaking "like forever".  There must be a less unhappy medium somewhere.  The only ones totally happy right now are the dogs with 24/7 attention from their people.  Ember may rethink that one when I clean her ears, brush her, and bathe her.

It is unfortunate, but things in life keep changing.  Sometimes it is due to government interference.  One example is all the breweries that closed in 1920 when Prohibition was enacted.  Remember, others opened after it was stopped.  That didn't make it any less painful and frustrating for the owners and employees who had their livelihoods stolen.

Cream City Brewery was just one of many.

Epidemics have come and gone in the past, leaving dead or damaged bodies in their wakes.  This is earth, not heaven.  Any pretense that this is "totally" controllable is a delusion.

Perfection isn't possible here, contrary to the automated nagging provided by the doctor's office.  "Schedule your annual procedure for ____ so that you stay young and healthy for as long as possible and continue to pay us lots of $ for regular doctor's visits, because it's protocol.  Oh wait, you can't schedule that right now, we're in lockdown.  The doctors are laid off, and your physician will likely be taking maternity leave again in December or January.  We have contemplated changing her name to Mrs. Rabbit, but it would cost too much to change the letterhead and business cards."

In the meantime Ember and I will probably take a nice walk.  With the winds today, any breaths we exhale will be quickly diluted and flying over Lake Superior in a few hours.

Silly question, but are IRS employees essential or non-essential?  The state has returned our tax refund, but the feds are dragging their behinds.  Nevermind the "stimulus check", when will the IRS cough up our refund?  Sorry about the pun.

Not Much In Between

My sister-in-law emailed me the other day with a request.  See ladies with fancy hairdos aren't the only ones who can't go to the salon any more.  Their dog can't visit her groomer either because of the Covid-19 lockdown.  So they have ordered a clippers and she asked me for some hints on how to shave their dog.  I sent her a very lengthy reply with detailed instructions, perhaps too detailed.  I'm sure she'll let me know.  This was a far cry from the first haircut job I did on the family dog.  See mom had been working long hours at the nursing home as a nurse.  She was very sleep deprived when I mentioned that Pepper our poodle-lab mix needed his hair cut.  Keep in mind that sleep deprived mothers can have serious lapses in judgement, and her reply was a perfect example.  She turned to her eight year old daughter, handed her the clippers with one hand and a statuette with another and said something to the effect of

"Make him look like this."

Those were my instructions.

Dear sister-in-law,

you have my apologies if my instructions were verbose.

Mom's instructions were the other possibility.

Pom, pons on the ankles are optional.

Traction Ass-ist

It has been a long winter, and it isn't done yet.  Daytime temps are in the 30's and night time temps are going to drop into the 20's; that's degrees Fahrenheit for you international readers.  Yesterday the pellet stove feed motor shaft slipped its chain, and the pellet stove stopped feeding pellets.  Hubby checked it out and found that the shaft on the motor is getting wobbly, hence the slip.  He got it working again, so we didn't have to resort to feeding the dragon in the basement (old boiler converted from coal to oil in the 1950's).  Since this is the first part that we ever replaced on the pellet stove, it isn' surprising that we need to replace it again.  Now we have a timeline to predict when we'll have to do it for a 3rd time.

Getting to the story now, I had to take a drive out to the pellet stove parts department yesterday.  Yay, they were open because they are considered essential.  (Keeping from freezing to death is so essential that even Gov. Evers can't object to their staying open).  They had the part I needed.  I explained that we really don't want to try installing another cast iron pellet stove, because it is so heavy.  We have probably replaced every moving part and the control circuit board already.  Now we are on the 2nd round.  My dad initially helped us install the pellet stove we have, because he has ballast.  (In his prime, I sewed him a windbreaker jacket.  At that time his back measured 30" shoulder to shoulder under the armpits.  That easily gave him a 60" chest.)  So he, my husband and myself managed to get the pellet stove up onto the platform using ramps and a dolly.  but the platform needed to be pushed a bit closer to the wall in order to connect to the exhaust pipe.  Dad sat down on the floor and started pushing the platform with his legs.  He then proceeded to slide backwards.  He braced with his hands and slid backwards again.  We had a friction problem, or lack thereof.  Thinking quickly, I went to the kitchen and grabbed two of those rubber pads used to open stuck jars.  Dad sat on them and was able to gain enough traction to push the pellet stove the last few inches.  The sales clerk replied, "So you had traction ass-ist?  I'll have to remember that trick."  I giggled until he came back with the part.

Strange Stats

I generally don't put much trust in the blog stats provided by blogger.  But from the stats, either somebody in the Ukraine was trying to hack the blog, or they looked through all my recipes in the sidebar.  I hope that you were reading the recipes and that you enjoy cooking them.  Otherwise, shame on you.

Happy Easter

Yes, it really is Easter Sunday!

No group celebrations, so do something special.

Crank up Handel's Messiah on the stereo and celebrate.

It really isn't a Christmas cantata, it was written for Easter.

Or if you prefer try reading the accounts in the gospels and quietly contemplate Christ's sacrifice for your eternal salvation, that works too.

There are a few flowers blooming in the neighborhood, just not in my yard yet.  One neighbor up the street has an awesome display of crocuses in a raised bed.  Another neighbor has a big bunch of daffodils blooming already; they're planted on the south side of a house next to what is probably a very drafty basement window, hence their early start.

Here are some stock photos for your enjoyment.

Precipitation is falling now.
It has yet to "decide" if it will be rain or snow.

Eventually

Gov. Evers will run out of things to close by executive order.  He's still trying; this time it is the state parks.  His excuse this time is excess trash, vandalism, and not enough cleaning supplies for the bathrooms.  How is that any different from usual at the state parks?

Checks and Balances

The system still works, apparently.  Wisconsin will be voting tomorrow.  So, yes, folks get your ID's ready, no cheating allowed.  And wear your most fashionable PPE as you visit the polls.

Just Because He Says It

doesn't make it law.  So the day before the polls were scheduled to open, Governor Evers has rescheduled the spring election to June.  How long has it been since this virus scare started?  He could have gone through proper channels proposing a bill to the state assembly and the state senate postponing the election.  Did he bother to follow the rules?  No he did not.  I smell a rat, because this spring election has among other things, the Presidential primary, a heavily contested state Supreme Court judge selection, and important local referendums.  I wonder how many absentee ballots will get lost and how many dead people will miraculously resurrect in the Milwaukee and Madison area just in time to vote by absentee ballot between now and June?

So far the city website still has tomorrow listed as the day for in-person voting at a large, but consolidated location, because of insufficient poll workers.  The lack of poll workers is understandable, because most of them are retirees at higher risk from covid-19. Time will tell, but a lack of sound planning and leadership on the state level has probably left the city with a big rental bill for the facility and the additional expense of face shields and other PPE.

Pies

Pizza Pie

and mock cheesecake pie

It is good the weather is nice today.

We'll need to walk off some calories.

Papers Please?

So far hubby has not been stopped by the police for being out driving on his way to & from work, but just in case he now has a permission slip from his employer stating that his work is "essential".  Being children of the Cold War, we heard stories of restricted travel in the Soviet states, and of course there were all sorts of WWII movies about Nazi Germany.  It is disconcerting to know that government officials have and will likely continue to go to the extreme of road blocks and officials asking for "papers please".

It reminds me of the lines from Living Daylights.

Border guard: "Do you have anything to declare?"

Bond & Bond girl: "Just a cello...cello.....cello" (as they slide down the mountain past the border checkpoint in the cello case)

Keep your sense of humor handy in these ridiculous times.

All's Quiet Again

Temperatures dropped back into the 30's and the motorcycles went back into hiding.  Hey this is Wisconsin, snow is still possible.  Snow, ice, and motorcycles don't mix well.  It may have been the same amount of traffic.  Motorcycles just seem to make more noise.

Hubby's vacation is done, back to the grindstone, so far.  Our prayers are with those folks whose jobs have evaporated at the moment.

The Streets are Alive

with the sound of motorcycles.

Motor assisted social distancing, helmet "face mask" included.

It isn't all that surprising to hear them.

It is the first fairly nice day of spring-ish weather.

At least it is better than the last three days of steady rain with temperatures in the 30's and 40's.

Miscellaneous Chocolate

What a way for hubby to spend his vacation

practicing social-distancing, moving heavy appliances, and watching rain fall from the sky.

So to make the week special there have been plenty of home cooked meals, and treats, plenty of chocolate treats.

The brownies are an old standby.

The recipe is in the sidebar.  Unfortunately, this week there seems to be a definite shortage of eggs at the grocery store, so that creativity and egg free recipes are a bit more necessary.

Enter, black bottom canolli pie.

Black Bottom Canolli Pie

Ingredients:

One prepared chocolate crumb crust, store-bought works fine.  (If you make your own, you may need to increase the amount of filling, because store bought crusts tend to come in smaller pans.)

1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix

  (finished mix normally uses 2 cups milk)

1/4 cup Dutch Processed Cocoa

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pound container Ricotta cheese

  (divided between bottom & top layers, see below)

1/2 cup whipping cream

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. allspice

zest of 1 fresh lemon, chopped very finely

a few handfuls of mini-chocolate chips or shaved dark chocolate for garnish

Bottom Layer:

1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa

   (Callebaut can be purchased in bulk online,

   Hersheys is a bit too alkalized for my liking - to each his own.)

 Sift dry ingredients and mix together before whisking in

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

 When fairly thick add approx.

1/2 cup ricotta cheese from a 1pound (16 oz) container

 Whisk until smooth and spread evenly over bottom of crust, chill.

Top Layer:

1/2 Cup heavy whipping cream, whisked until soft peaks form

3/4 Cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Allspice

Sift dry ingredients & mix to eliminate lumps before adding to the whipped cream.  Whisk further until stiff peaks form.

Zest of 1 lemon, chopped very finely

Fold in the lemon zest and the remaining Ricotta Cheese from the 1# container and stir till smooth.

Put on top of bottom layer and sprinkle with mini-chocolate chips or shaved dark chocolate.

Chill for a few hours before serving.  Top layer is fairly soft.  If a less fluffy consistency is desired, reduce the amount of whipping cream &/or add unflavored gelatin to maintain body.

Haircuts & Washing Machine

Ember clean and dry

"Dad, help me my scrunchie is too tight.

I can't move my eyebrows."

"Mom, you're never going to find that scrunchie,

and don't you dare blind me with the flash."

Another washing machine.

You know you are getting old, when the list of appliances that you have worn out can fill a rather large piece of paper.

I hope that this one lasts longer.  If/when it ever does break, hopefully there isn't another "pandemic" occurring that makes it impossible to use the warranty again.  Hopefully the manufacturer has sourced the motor from a more reliable vendor this time.

It is one of the few brands that still has a center spindle going all the way up to the top.  It does more than just pretend to wash the clothes.  It actually does it.

Don't Let the Smoke Out

Because, if you do, the electrical appliance will not work.  In this instance, the motor on our washing machine decided that now was the perfect time to quit working while making the basement smell like burnt varnish.  Technically, the "assembled in Mexico" motor was still under warranty - parts & labor covered, but with all the Covid-19 restrictions, there is zero chance of getting anyone to actually show up to do the work.  Knowing that I tend to wear out two washing machines for each clothes dryer we have owned, we figured that discretion was the better part of valor and just bought a new one.  Of course, we had to haul the old one out ourselves, take it back to the store, and haul the new one down to the basement and install it, because you guessed it - social distancing restrictions due to Covid-19 have limited deliveries to dropping the box in a driveway or garage.  Why pay for a delivery charge, if they don't put the machine where it will actually be used?  Somehow in the rush, the salesman managed to get our names wrong on the invoice too and I didn't notice until after we got home.  Hopefully they will be able to print a correct invoice tomorrow and mail it to us, if they're still open.

Wednesday, Gov. Evers has enacted even more restrictions.  (Sorry, he looks too much like my stepfather who has Alzheimers, right down to the creepy grin and vacant stare.  His appearance just doesn't inspire my trust in his judgement - maybe my bad, but the resemblance is just too creepy.)  Since when did he get the right to decide what is essential and what is non-essential business and travel?  Businesses and individuals are capable of making that decision for themselves, and generally they err on the side of caution.  What kind of punishment can he enforce if there is a disagreement over what is essential?  Will he start having people punished for walking their dogs too much, for fishing alone at a park, for letting their children play outside in their yard, or for taking a scenic drive through the countryside to buy cheese at a family run cheese factory whose owners need to do something with all that milk that the cows keep giving?  Technically, that last business still falls under essential, because they are making food.  How can he decide how far is too far to travel?  Where will his restrictions end?

On the plus side, when I visited the big grocery store this evening, it wasn't busy, and they had pretty much everything on my list.  Traditionally, Tuesday evening is a good time to visit that store, because it takes them Monday to restock after the weekend under normal circumstances.  The last few weeks have been anything but normal.  Thankfully, I only shop there every 2-3 weeks, so hopefully this will blow over before I have to go back there again.

So far, the grocery store in town has been good about keeping milk in stock.  But the last time I visited to buy milk, they were decidedly short of flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate chips.  I would guess that children in town are getting tired of sandwiches and are now making lots of chocolate chip cookies.

Maybe later I'll post pictures of the shiny, new washing machine.  The other one was looking a bit worn, but it is an awfully expensive way to get a shiny, clean one.

Oh, and pictures of Ember's spring haircut will be posted too, if I can get her to sit still long enough to get a picture.

And It Continues

One of hubby's coworker's family owns a bar/restaurant.  At 5:10 p.m. on St. Patrick's day they were ordered to close.  It might have been nice if they'd been given a bit more advance warning.  They were stuck with $5,000 worth of food.  Some of it may have already been cooked in preparation of the evening dinner rush, which didn't happen.  Unlike regular restaurants that can easily do carry out, bars can't really send their customers on their way with dinner and tap beer in a cup with a cover and a straw - open container laws and such.  Multiplying their losses by all of the other bars and restaurants in Wisconsin paints a very grim picture for the economy.  As said before, this had better be worth it.  Why couldn't they have waited 4 hours until dinner was done and just had places close a little early?  There were already restrictions on how many people could be in the restaurants.  It seems excessive.

On his drive home from work yesterday hubby noticed all the closed restaurants and the dark and vacant parking lot of the not so gentlemanly club.  He said it was the first time in his life that he felt sorry for the strippers.  I wonder what the line is like at the unemployment office, and the questions - "Occupation?"  Nix that, the unemployment office probably does everything online or over the phone now.

When hubby stopped at a gas station the other day, a man was busy filling his truck and his fishing boat.  Gas prices seem to be dropping from lack of demand, which makes it the perfect time to fill up that gas guzzling boat.  When hubby walked Ember this morning, he spotted a bucket sitting in someone's front yard.  Curious, he took a look.  It was full of minnows.  It looks like I'm not the only one planning to do some fishing.  Too bad it is raining like mad right now.  Men are going to be stuck inside today with their wives and very bored children, who have no new library books to read or videos to watch.  How many games of Monopoly can you play before getting bored or throttling that one family member who cheats and wins all the time?  Pray for domestic peace.  It's true the police are probably getting bored from lack of speeders and bar closing time DUIs to catch, but that doesn't mean that they really want to answer calls for domestic disturbances.