Really Bad Timing

 So what arrived in today's mail?  There was a nice Christmas card from an aunt and uncle.  We wish you a Very Merry Christmas too!

Unfortunately it was offset by a letter from the Social Security Administration.  For those of you with elderly relatives who have been declared legally incompetent, it falls to their power of attorney to complete the annual Representative Payee report. For those who still have enough assets to be able to pay for assisted living themselves, the Social Security Administration cannot seem to comprehend that the pittance in benefits is nowhere near enough to cover expenses.  Hence when their Rep. Payee reaches line 3C of the form, there is nothing left of the Social Security Benefits to put in that line.  Therefore it must be completed with all zeroes.  Polite explanations are provided in the remarks column on page 2.  The less polite version is that unlike the government, private citizens cannot spend the same money more than once; additional funds from savings are used to cover items listed in question 3C.

Best guess is that once again this year, they have only scanned page 1 of the form that was completed and returned to them.  So they send a second form for "verification" and miswrite the second question in such a way that there is no way to answer it correctly.  Let me quote their question.

"You told us in question 3C that you spent $0.00 on other items for _____.  Almost all beneficiaries need some personal items, regardless of their physical or mental condition or living arrangement.  Personal items include such things as clothing, cosmetics or grooming aids, recreational items or activities, medical and dental items or services, room furnishings, candy or other snacks, and tobacco."

NO, that is a misrepresentation of question 3C.  Please note what is missing from this statement.  There should be something like "of $___ social security benefits" between the "$0.00" and the "on other items".  They way this question is written, it is a form of entrapment.  It is too much like the fabled question "When did you stop beating so and so?"

They then proceed to request/demand more information on personal finances and medical expenses that in the case of my mother and stepfather were not covered by any money received from Social Security.  As such they have no right to ask for this information.  This is a serious invasion of privacy and a glaring lack of understanding on the part of the Social Security administration of their own forms!  The purpose of the representative payee report is to give an accurate accounting of how only social security benefits were spent.  That was done, very accurately.

This is the second year they have done this.  I seriously hope that you have a much Merrier Christmas and do not receive any letters from government agencies who seem to be incapable of reading and comprehending their own forms.

No Leftovers

 

I guess that means it was tasty.

There were two blobs of pastry dough leftover from Thanksgiving day.

One of them was too big for a bottom crust, so I decided to make a savory pie.  There were about 2/3 of a pound of mushrooms left in the fridge, so I washed, dried, cut and sautéed them in butter with salt and black pepper to reduce the amount of liquid that could come out of them in the baking process.  They were dumped into a pyrex bowl to cool while a large, chopped white onion was cooked in more butter with salt and black pepper until the onion was soft.  Water was added twice to keep the onions from scorching.  Then approx. 1/4 cup of flour was added to the onions, it was stirred in well to make a roux with onion lumps.  A few glugs of cream and some milk - probably about 1/3 to 1/2 cup total were then added and stirred well until thickened.  The consistency was a bit too thick for gravy.  That was dumped into the mushrooms, a few dashes of ground nutmeg were added and stirred together.  Then very thin slices of lean beef (approx. 1/2 to 2/3 lb. total weight) were salted and peppered then browned in a little more butter just to keep them from sticking.  After turning the pieces, the (electric) burner was turned off and the meat was allowed to finish cooking with the residual heat.  The slices were still slightly rare.  The meat and all the juices were dumped into the mixture of onions, mushrooms, and gravy and allowed to sit until it had cooled a bit.  The pastry was rolled out to a diameter approx. 4-5 inches bigger than the pie tin, and it was placed in the tin.  A few slices of cubed baby Swiss cheese was added to the filling which was stirred again and added to the pan, and the excess pastry was folded toward the center of the pan in overlapping folds.  It was baked at 365 deg. Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes on the lower rack and 20-25 minutes on the upper rack until the crust was golden.  We were hungry; brunch was around noon and supper was a bit late, so the pie disappeared.  Next time, if I want leftovers, I'll have to make two.

Happy Thanksgiving to You

 We wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving.

Sorry there are no pictures of the food.  It disappeared too quickly.  There are a few leftovers.  Maybe I'll take pictures tomorrow.

Somebody Doesn't Care About the Weather

 Take me outside.

I want to prowl.

Prowling

More prowling.

The last gasp of the garden.

No Sooner Than

 the picture was taken and I checked the weather forecast for the rest of last week, the pumpkins needed picking.  Tuesday was nice, but Wed. & Thurs. had rain followed by frost advisories.  The frost wasn't as severe as expected, but better safe than sorry.

The color is much lighter green than usual.  Maybe last year they cross-pollinated with the Jaradale pumpkins.  That or they cross-pollinated with the cucumbers this year.  Guess we'll find out when they finish ripening and get cut open.

On another front, that same day the fridge died.  We did find a new one, and only one available.  Delivery however was three weeks out, so I had to go get it.  Many thanks to friends who helped haul the new one into the house.  I still have to haul the old one away and pay the disposal fee at the landfill, but first a new emergency has appeared.

Future posting may be light due to an emergency with extended family.

As Promised

 The progression of the volunteer pumpkin plant

Now it is just a matter of keeping an eye on the forecasted overnight lows to make sure the pumpkins don't get frozen.  There is no way that this variety will ever fully mature on the vine, because our summer isn't long enough.  Starting them indoors around Feb. or March could help with that, but only if they manage to not get eaten by a cat.  I don't even try.

Strategy, Backfiring?

 Today was the day scheduled for Duke's second deworming dose.  So how do you get a cat to eat all his worm medicine?  Well, I started with putting him outside in the yard on his leash for most of the afternoon to get him good an hungry.  That almost backfired, because he caught two voles while he was out there.  Thankfully, I got them away from him and disposed of them in the trash.  At least I hope it was only two.  Before taking him back in the house, all the cat and dog food was put away.  Then he was brought back in and I crushed his pills and mixed them into soft food.  Somehow it wasn't interesting enough just sitting in the bowl; that or the ground pill texture was too obvious.  Lacking a syringe with a fat nozzle, I tried again with a piping bag and star frosting tip.  Maybe because he is still fairly young, he started licking it off the end and ate all of what could be squeezed out.  He then bathed, napped, and started prowling the basement.  With it being fall, it is no big surprise that he found something trying to sneak in for a warm winter home.  He brought a small field mouse upstairs, and we had to get him to give that one up as well.  He's not overly happy with me, because I keep stealing his prey.  Hopefully the second dose of worm medicine works, and he doesn't reinfect himself by eating things he catches in the basement.

New Houseguest

 So a few weeks ago, I was walking Ember and came upon some neighbors from up the block gathered around this cat.

It was very friendly and appeared to be lost or more likely dumped.

Since I had a cat carrier, I volunteered to take it to the local animal shelter to get it checked for a microchip.  The microchip readers they had did not register a chip.  Note that pet microchips are not standardized, so animal shelters have to have a variety of readers to cover all the possible chip manufacturers.  So put a collar on your pet if it goes outside at all.  With it being the holiday weekend, I took the cat back home and quarantined it in the garage.  It knew how to use a litter box, so had obviously been someone's pet.

Last week, I was finally able to get the fuzzy brat in to the vet, where they determined it is an unaltered male, and that he did indeed have a microchip.  After much calling on their part they were able to contact the chip's manufacturer, which led them to another local humane society.  Apparently someone there or his then new owner named him Hot Dog.  The humane society was going to check their records and get the contact information for the people who adopted him, and hopefully get some vaccination records and the story on why he was found wandering loose in our neighborhood for at least the two weeks prior to the Labor Day weekend.  As of today, there is still no news on whether we'll get to keep him or if his previous owners want him back &/or will be allowed to have him back.

We have started calling him Duke, because he walks like John Wayne.  Other less glamorous nicknames include the Duke of Flatulence and Mr. Stinky But.  When he puts an effort into it, he can clear a room.  His tests at the vet came back negative for feline leukemia and feline aids.  He doesn't have fleas.  His stool sample didn't show any cast off worms, but my husband noticed something amiss on his backside so Duke is being treated for tapeworm, and he also has an ear infection.  He eats like he has a tapeworm, and he seems to prefer eating Ember's dog food rather than cat food.  He really doesn't need the carbs.  A hyper kitten with a carb. buzz is a little terror.  Ember finds him entertaining.  Tigger is pushing approx. 20 years old now.  She is not the least bit amused, but there hasn't been any bloodshed, just noise - lots of noise at all hours of the day and night.  We should record it and put it on a motion sensor burglar deterrant recording; it could scare the crap out of a home invader.  Duke saunters up with his chirps and cute meow seeming to say "Well, hello little lady."

Tigger's reply is to hiss and growl, basically cat speak for "Get away from me you brutish cad; get out of my house and don't come back."

The kitchen throw rug must die!

Why can't I touch the fish?

No Tomato Shortage Here

 

This is after making a big batch of salsa and some pasta with seafood and tomatoes.

The garden continues to grow, and grow.

It is time to enjoy it while it lasts,

because sunset keeps arriving earlier and earlier.

Winter will be back all too soon.

Perhaps the next post will be time lapse photos of the attack of the killer pumpkin plant from the compost bin.

I guess that I didn't bury the seeds deep enough.

Why is it

that when I use my salad spinner, I think it would be really cool if someone made a motorized centrifuge for kitchen use?  Then I wonder what liability lawyers would do.  That is probably why we don't have motorized centrifuges for kitchen use. 

Pretty Color

 

It took two tries to get it to gel

(about double the pectin of normal jelly recipes),

but the rhubarb-currant jelly finally set.

Finally Rain

 We finally have some rain.

The garden is enjoying it.

A few carrots that survived winter are going to seed nicely.

Garden gone wild, again.  It is a sea of green including borage, sunflowers, tomatoes, bush & pole beans, eggplant, jalapeño peppers, celeriac, peas, carrots, beets, a handful of kohlrabis needing transplanting, turnips, rutabagas, cucumbers, and radishes.  Unfortunately, the rabbits have done their best to mow the Swiss chard planted around the compost bin.

The lavender, basil, and rosemary are doing well.  So far we don't have any tomatoes ready to go with the basil.

The folks setting up tents and other things at EAA are probably not enjoying the rain and hot weather nearly as much.

Mighty Big

 Especially for a brussel sprout.

The nursery owner where dad and I bought plants was having trouble with tomato plants not matching the varieties that the seed packets claimed to be.

I guess somebody sold him cabbage seeds in a Brussels sprouts seed package too.

Has anybody else had a problem with incorrectly labeled seed packets this year?

Starved for Activities?

 Attend Polka Days

Record Breaking Attendance

Covid lockdowns have made people a bit starved for things to do.

Happy Independence Day

 It's a hot and humid day.  The windows are closed and the AC is running.  It is hard to imagine how hot and muggy the weather was in Philadelphia while the signers of the Declaration of Independence were hashing out the details of what it would say.  They did it in suits, without the benefit of fans, air conditioning, or a swimming hole.  Although apparently their bar tab was quite large.  They had more patience than I would have had.  If I had written the letter to mad King George, it would have probably been very short and included rude suggestions about where to stick the scroll when he was done reading it.

The shoreline areas of Lake Michigan have air quality advisories for ozone.  We're outside that range, but the fireworks smoke tonight will definitely make the air thicker.  Ember is keeping track of my location, just in case she needs to run to me for comfort from the noisy fireworks, because when there are fireworks hubby just won't do apparently.

One fire truck has already gone past the house today.  It must have been a non-fire 911 call, or it was a minor problem, because they headed back to the fire station within 15 minutes of their initial call out.

We hope you all can enjoy the festivities without accidentally burning down anybody's house, blowing off fingers, or causing car accidents.

Greetings to brother and sister-in-law in Britain from us revolting colonists here in the USA. 

Still Growing

 

Only a few of last night's photos turned out alright.

I'm still trying to find the correct balance between the camera's automatic settings.  In bright light, detail is good but color accuracy is horrible.  In low light, colors are better, but like with old fashioned cameras, the "exposure time" is a bit too long and things get blurry.

Timing is Everything

 

This photo was taken in a fleeting moment when the light was just right and the violets were still blooming.  My dad gave me a different camera to replace the old Mavica which was getting fussy about whether or not it would save images or recognize the discs.  The pop-up flash had died first.  The new-used camera works.  But it tends to get creative about colors, which are rarely true to life.

That was last month.  My how time flies.  I missed getting pictures of the peonies.  They opened, we had a hot spell, and a week later their blossoms were already fading.  Before I knew it, I was deadheading them and putting the cans on the curb for yard waste pickup.

Today is a very rainy day.  Once it stops raining, maybe by tomorrow, I'll get some pictures of the garden.  It is growing really well, now that we have had some real rain.  Of course once the lawn actually dries out, it will have to be mowed - or baled more likely.

I Wonder

 if their neighbors were playing with a trebuchet?

Hail or something else?

More Duh News

Somebody missed the point 

There are simply fewer deer to vehicle collisions because there have been fewer deer, not because they were "scared" by the wolves.  If they are inside a wolf's tummy, they won't be running in front of cars and trucks.  You also don't really want scared deer around either.  They are just as likely run through glass doors and windows on buildings or run into roads without looking than run into a swamp with deep water to avoid being chased by wolves.

So the next question is, will there be a concerted effort on the part of car insurance companies to join forces with unlikely allies like wacky environmental groups to push again for the protection of wolves?  Those would make some mighty strange bedfellows.

Spring-ish

 

The peonies don't look like much right now.

The purple violets are outnumbered by the white ones.

The rhubarb is doing its thing.

It is May.

 Spring tried to appear for two days, then the weather went back to being cool.  Frost advisories are issued for tonight.  The violets are blooming now.  I might take some pictures after chores are done.

So, I should probably clean the pellet stove again, but I doubt that it is time to seal it up for the summer yet.

It's April, Not May!

 What is up with advertisers pushing Mother's Day gifts already?

It is freaky enough having an early warm spell causing the violets and daffodils to bloom early.  But when advertisers start pushing Mother's Day presents a month early, it makes a person double check the calendar.  Time is flying, but not quite that quickly.  Today's weather is back to normal spring brrr for Wisconsin - back to the winter coat.  It was only a couple years ago that we had a massive snowstorm in late April.  I must remind myself not to trust the weather to stay warm and to resist the urge to plant anything in the garden.

I Did My Part

 to improve the solvency of the postal system, this time at no cost to myself.  See, today's mail was all junk mail, but there was this handy postage paid return envelope from AARP.  They'll be getting their application back (uncompleted in pieces) along with some other handy information like who not to vote for in the spring election, a super deal from Spectrum, etc.; you get the picture.  You have to be careful though, if the envelope is too full, the post office probably won't deliver it.

The Robins Will Be Happy

in the morning.  Overnight temperatures are above freezing.  It is raining, and the night crawlers have come out of hiding...for now.  The robins will be feasting.  But spring isn't really here yet for sure.  We could still have a few more snowstorms.

You Never Know

what strange things you will find when you step outside your house.  Hubby went outside the other day to get the mail and found packages of jerky scattered down the sidewalk.  It was like someone had gone shopping and walked home from the store with a bag that had a hole in it, dropping a package every few feet.  I wonder how empty their bag was once they got home?  We picked it up and put it in another bag with a note.  No one claimed it for two days, so it went out in the trash.

It was an interesting, but strange change from empty soda bottles, candy wrappers, cigarette buts, and empty alcohol containers hidden in the plants and bushes along the sidewalk.

Remider

 to all those environmentalists and politicians who keep blocking pipeline construction.  Oh and to one particular politician who owns lots of stock in the rail line that hauls petrochemicals when pipeline construction is blocked - you should have no say in the matter!  That is one serious conflict of interest.

Hauling propane by rail can be very dangerous.

Remember Weyauwega

Melting

 This was day five with daytime temperatures above freezing.  There are lots of puddles.  At least the gutters and downspouts have thawed!

Somehow

 I get the feeling that the DNR's estimates of the wolf population are lower than the actual numbers.

Good Job Hunting Folks!

Big Fish

 It is Sturgeon spearing season again.  The cold temperatures and lack of rain have made the water a lot clearer than last year.  The downside is that the season will be shorter as a result, because quotas are being met more quickly.  So for those of you whose shanties are warmed by propane heaters and are probably warmer than some houses in Texas, good luck while the season lasts.

Sturgeon season almost done

Finally

 Farmers' stock, deer, children at bus stops, and pets up north may finally get some relief from wolf predation.  Hopefully this time the wolf hunt stays.

judge-orders-dnr-to-start-wolf-hunt-this-month/

Oh, Yippee

 I wasn't sure if the weather had actually gotten slightly warmer, or if I was just getting used to the cold temperatures, so I checked the NOAA website.  It is actually warmer today by a little bit.  The temperature is actually above 0 degrees Fahrenheit.   Oh, Yippee.  Of course when it warms up, then it tends to snow.  It might do that tomorrow, and Friday.

You Know It Is Cold When

The snow squeaks under your feet.

Even the dog wants to get the evening walk done.

You contemplate whether or not the rolly-plastic-garbage-bin will crack or possibly even shatter when the garbage truck's automated pickup jaws give it a hug in the morning.

You contemplate how many BTU's are contained in that squishy, stinky bag of freshly deposited dog poo.  And then you think someone would have to be truly desperate to think about using it as a hand-warmer.

 

The Weather Appears To Be Stuck

 In frost fog mode.

We Hope Your New Year is

Clean and Bright.

Well Ember, we've managed the clean part, but I doubt you'll be getting any brighter this year.  But then you're a stubborn dog; you don't have to get any wiser than you already are.  Unfortunately, people are stubborn too.

Ember would probably comment that B.A.T.H. is still a four letter word.  She would then request more comforting from hubby for the traumatic experience in the bathtub.

I hope this new year is better than last year.