The O-Zone

Experimenting with baking again, today I made some crescent rolls using rice flour and other things. They were pronouced a success.  I made two things with my dough – the first half I formed into the normal crescent shape and then I put some cinnamon sugar and raisins in the second half.  I think they will be very good tomorrow morning for breakfast!

Yummy

Mishkin loves to sit with his feet inside Dan’s slippers.  Doesn’t he look like he thinks it belongs to him?

Smug kitten

He’s up to 12 pounds now, almost 11 months old.  All the cat books I have say he won’t get his full size until he reaches age 18 months.  By then, these slippers might actually fit him.

I started a third lace shawl project a while ago, and then got side-tracked from working on it, for a wide variety of reasons.  A few days ago, I began working on it again, and I’ve reached the 25% completion mark.

Mishkin really really really wants to help with my knitting projects.  He’s quite sure that he can participate in a meaningful way.

Charted pattern using a spread sheet on my computer

This style of knitting is called Orenburg lace, from the Orenburg region in Russia, along the old silk road traveled by Marco Polo.  It is still practiced today by the Muslim women who live in the region.  This is a portion of the shawl pattern that I created on my computer using a spread sheet.  The shawl has 542 rows, each being around 290 stitches wide, excluding the border which is on all four sides, and adds another 36-48 stitches to each row depending on which row of the border I happen to be on.  The elements of my shawl pattern are all traditional Orenburg patterns, but this is going to be a unique shawl pattern.  Can’t wait until it is all finished and blocked.

Last night we had a small drama.  Mishkin caught a live mouse and was loath to surrender it.  He demonstrated that he knows the difference between his play mouse toy which he brings to us repeatedly for throwing, and a real mouse which he was not inclined to share with us.  We did finally get it away from him, without him eating it.  He was most annoyed.  But he forgot about it overnight and we are back to throwing his toy mouse.  And Dan and Mishkin are enjoying a rousing game of “Chase the Cat.”

Must be spring! Fog, cold rain, fat snowflakes, cold rain, fog.... repeat....

A few minutes after I took this picture, the drizzling cold rain turned to very fat fluffy snowflakes, and what little view we had to the west disappeared into white.  And now, another few minutes later, the snowflakes are small and mixed with at least half rain.  A good day thing we have the wood stove going, and a supply of tea with which to refill the teapot.

An excellent day for knitting and watching the world go by.  Dan is playing music for our entertainment.

Earlier this week we had temperatures hovering at or near +40 F, and the snow melted off of the rocks on the surrounding hillsides, and slid (finally) off the metal roofing.  It was very exciting to our parrots who always claim the sky is falling when that happens.  It was exciting to us as well since it felt so much like spring was coming, even surrounded by a basically white landscape.

Then we woke up to find a heavy wet snow had fallen overnight.

The sun isn't up, and from the looks of things we won't see it anyway.

Snowflakes, lots of them, weighing down the branches.

This was ok, we thought.  A heavy wet snowfall is a spring-like weather event.  We’ve seen it before, many times.  No big deal.  It stayed overcast all day but the temperatures were pretty moderate.  And then the temperature started falling like a rock.

The next morning we woke up to +10 F and a lot of snowflakes filled the air.

Thick air

Bird feeders are a godsend for our feathery friends in this kind of weather.

The last suet tree is going to be empty when this batch is gone.

Our plan was to go to town on Wednesday afternoon, after I was done working, and collect the suet we had ordered from the local hardware store.  At this point it was hard to gauge how much snow had fallen, and it looked like it was going to continue the rest of the day.  Our woodpecker friends will be coming to the house and banging on it to get our attention, and peeking into the windows wondering what is taking us so long to get outside and take care of important business.

No solar gain today!!

Thick fluffy snow covered the solar panels, sticking to the heavy wet snow that had fallen the day before.  It’s a good thing the sky was so dark, otherwise we would have felt bad about not clearing off the solar panels.

Wednesday morning the snow had stopped, and we decided to see if we could get in and out of our driveway, which had not been improved by this weather.  We were successful, the suet tree is back in business and the woodpeckers will be leaving the house alone.  See?  Humans *CAN* be trained if properly motivated.

We were right about the driveway, we barely made it out to the main road which had not been plowed either.  And driving back in was even worse.

Thursday morning it had cleared up overnight and the temperatures settled at +3 F, which is definitely not very spring-like.  The change gave us the opportunity to clear paths, and take care of some other outside chores.

Narrower, and narrower....

We started out with wide shoveled paths, and as the winter has progressed they get progressively narrower.  It is almost wide enough for the wheelbarrow loaded with split firewood, now.  Any progress made with snow melting the first part of the week was erased entirely by the fluffy six inches of snowfall.

Friday morning the skies had cleared and the temperatures had climbed to +10 F.

White Mountain casting a shadow on the landscape.

Any sign of rocks on the surrounding hillsides had been erased entirely.  Early morning sunrise is so pretty here, especially on freshly fallen snow.  The sky changes color and it reflects off the hillsides, subtle pastels shades of blues and pinks which our camera is unable to capture.  A better lense or camera might work, but people will just have to come and see it for themselves.

All tracks have been erased, and trees hold snow on thei branches again.

Even though the temperatures are mid-winter cold again, and Mother Nature had fun reminding the inhabitants of this part of the world that She is in control, the birds don’t seem to mind.  Pairs are hanging out together, and flocks are chasing each other in and around the snow-covered woods, singing and carrying on.

Dan cleaned off the solar panels and they are humming.

With skies this clear, our solar panels will have filled up the batteries by 1 PM, and we can do fun things like run the washing machine and dryer, and vacuum cleaner, without any drain on the batteries at all.  The panels produce more than sufficient power to run all those appliances at the same time.  I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of the magic of producing our own electricity.

This morning, it being Saturday, it is warmer yet, +15 F, and we are snug inside.

My favorite thing to watch in cold weather is flames dancing.

Turning my chair around so I can watch the fire in the wood stove is one benefit of having a comfy chair that swivels.  We both love the heat that is generated by a wood stove.  Mishkin loves to watch the flames dancing too.  He puts his nose close to the stove and stares in fascination.

The skies are high overcast, but yesterday Dan plowed the driveway and we can drive in and out with much more certainty that we won’t get stuck halfway.  It’s the little things in life!

A couple of days ago we awoke to find an inch of snow had fallen overnight, and the world was coated with frost.  It was a very wintery sort of day, with dark clouds and no sunshine to brighten our day.  It suited my mood.

A very frosty Ponderosa Pine tree

The weather is definitely moderating and the past couple of days we’ve seen temperatures above freezing, and the sun has come out to provide some much welcome power to the solar panels.  Even the chickadees are more cheerful sounding when it is so bright outside.  It is obvious they have spring fever; they sing and chase each other for the sheer delight in zooming in and out of tree branches and twigs.  Dan also has heard a Great Horned Owl claiming its territory in the mornings when the sun is just starting to peek over the horizon.

The snow is softening and looks all melted in drifts.

Still plenty of clouds to provide textural interest to the sky

The morning after our recent snowfall, we went outside to split some firewood for the stoves, and discovered tracks from a recent visitor.

He was staring at the house, wondering what the racket was all about

This cat has been a regular winter visitor and we have seen him, or her, twice so far.  On the recent visitation, it must have been before the sun was up as our parrots didn’t raise the alarm call.  They object greatly to all sorts of wild animals who cruise by the front of the house, from bobcats to deer to bears to goshawks.  Picky.

We sat out on the front deck and enjoyed the early spring sunshine.  It’s really hard to imagine but there will be hummingbirds here in only 10 weeks.

Smallest hummingbird in North America, Calliope

My goal this year is to get some hummingbird pictures on our front deck.  I imagine it will provide me with many hours of “entertainment” while I attempt to get them to cooperate and sit still for just one half a second.

We had Violet-green Swallows and Western Bluebirds in our yard, checking out the nest box on the front of our house.  That’s right, on March 8th, there were migratory birds here.

What brought this timing issue to my attention was whining about spring, which is what I was doing yesterday.  To cheer me up, Dan looked to see when the birds arrived last year, and told me of the impending arrival in only three weeks.

But, there’s two feet of snow on the ground out there!!!

Little white dots in the picture are fat lazy floating snowflakes

While our seed feeders provide sustenance for the chickadees and their regular winter friends, swallows and bluebirds eat bugs.  There are spiders making their way into the house in pretty large numbers, providing great hunting opportunities for Mishkin, as well as the occasional snack.  But there is a distinct lack of the type of bugs which would feed migratory insectivores.

Solar panels with the latest sprinkling of flakes, and more falling

So… in three weeks this will all be gone, right?  Hmmmmmmm

The question is what to do in the meantime?  Our driveway is still pretty much a mess, but the inside of the house is cozy, and it is Sunday, and I’m making pizza for lunch.  Life is good, even if it is still winter outside.

I always loved tempura, but never thought about fixing it.  I was reading through my cookbooks looking for uses for alternative flours, for instance rice flour.  Imagine my surprise when I found that tempura batter is traditionally made with rice flour.  The recipe I have from “Joy of Cooking” also called for flat beer but a lack of anything remotely resembling beer in the house meant consulting with a friend who cooks to see if she thought water would work or if I needed to find another alternative.  Water was the verdict.

I have no pictures of the results as we ate the evidence!

Tempura Batter

1-1/3 cup rice flour or all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon melted butter or vegetable oil

2 beaten egg yolks (reserve the whites for later)

Combined the above together, mixing well.  Then add gradually, stirring constantly:

3/4 cup flat beer (or water)

Once all is combined well, cover the bowl with plastic and let it rest in the refrigerator covered for 3 to 12 hours.  Immediately before you want to use it, beat the egg whites until they are stiff, and then fold into the batter.

Heat oil to 360F and dip vegetables or fish or shrimp or scallops into the batter and then fry until lightly browned.  Serve with soy sauce.  Vegetables such as mushrooms don’t need to be blanched first, but things like asparagus, cauliflour, broccoli, green beans, carrots, onions, etc, need to be.  Make sure any foods are dried off before dipping into the batter.

This much batter will coat 2 cups of ingredients.

Totally delicious!  Burp.

Earlier in the week, even though it was snowflaking (not snowing enough to stick to anything, but giving a good imitation of it), the sun came out in time to feed the solar panels.  And it was a cheerful sight indeed.  We didn’t mind that it was mid February and we still have a good two feet of snow on the ground, the sun was shining, chickadees were tuning up their vocal chords for spring, and there were sparkles on the snow.

This morning it was still snowflaking, and the sky is heavy with mist and clouds, and alas no solar gain to be had.

There's mountains in them thar' clouds

The solar panels always look forlorn when the sun isn’t shining off of them.

Standing at attention, but not a ray in sight

Still, even in blah condition, it’s still pretty outside on the deck.  We can’t imagine green, though.  White has seared itself into our consciousness.

Looking due north off the front deck

A cheering thought comes from looking due north, the knowledge that it will be green here before it is up there! 🙂

This morning we woke up very early, before 5 am.  I think we must be practicing for that most annoying event – the switch to Daylight Savings Time.  Whoever thought that up initially should be ashamed of themselves!  We hate having our bio-rhythms messed with, but that’s just a pet peeve.

Having awakened so early, there was really only one thing to do.  Pancakes!!  There was much rejoicing, not to mention much munching.

Blues Berry Pancakes

When you have the blahs, the solution is blues.

The other solution is a judicious application of nap time.

A suspicious lump under the covers

Whenever our Mishcreant is being quiet, just like any adolescent, one must always see why things are so quiet.  He’s been sleeping most of the morning, and will be a holy terror all evening.

I have been working on a new theory regarding cats and higher mathematics.  I think their mothers are instructing them in the joys of geometry and trigonometry with their first milk.  To us it sounds like purring….  Have you never noticed how a cat will study your movements and then swiftly calculate your trajectory and leap to intercept your feet?  It is uncanny.  Perhaps I can get a government grant to study this further.

I must be bored.

The Polaris Ranger got the new spark plug it was whining about and now it’s not complaining about that particular issue.  Since the forecast is for additional snowfall and our driveway was just about to the point of no return, Dan fired up the machine and took off up the driveway, pushing snow as he went.

Hi ho, hi ho... Off to work he goes...

While he was starting up for the first pass, I got my sorrel boots on, my heavy wool coat, and a hat and gloves.  I wanted to go for a ride now that it is fixed.

Looking very serious and concentrating on not running off the road

This machine is a 6-wheel drive and has a heavy duty winch on the front which holds up the snow plow blade attachment.  Ingenious, really.

Pushing snow down the driveway. Up... down... up... down

Piling up the down-the-driveway batch of snow next to the garage

This pile of snow is now well over five feet tall, and it will be some time before it all completely melts.

At this point I joined in the festivities as a passenger, admiring the techniques involved in moving massive amounts of snow.  Shoveling the driveway by hand would be feasible if we were both about 30 years younger.  Using the Polaris is much better, and driving in and out of the driveway using one of our vehicles is going to be less exciting now that Dan has done this work. We always try to go for less exciting.

Life doesn’t always cooperate with this goal.  While we were at the end of the driveway, closest to the county road, the cable from the winch broke.  If it isn’t one thing, it is another.  This the main problem with machinery – it tends to break when it is least convenient.  Dan left the snow plow blade down and finished the driveway.  And now we’ll just have to make another trip to town for the clamp he needs to re-attach the wire cable to the hook at the end which is attached to the snow plow blade.

Meanwhile, inside the house, laundry is being done courtesy of the sun.  The batteries are all full and ‘floating’ and the solar panels are producing more than sufficient power to run both the washing machine and dryer at the same time.  We will get all the laundry done well before the sun is done providing power.  Very cool.  We get such a kick out of producing our own power.

Tough kitten

Mishkin goes into full Halloween Cat posture when he wants to play.  Me coming back upstairs from the basement where the washing machine and dryer live is an exciting event in his little world.  I’m shorter than him and get progressively taller, and he really thinks that’s cool.  So I got the camera and tried to capture this posturing.  Of course, he immediately would sleek down and sit there looking dignified, trying to  spoil photographic evidence of his silly behavior.  He did let me capture this one picture as he was slimming down and the ridge of hair on his back smoothed down.  We know he’s trying to be tough but mainly he just looks ridiculous.

There are definitely clouds on the western horizon, and it looks like snow is in our immediate future.  We’ll have to go see about a new machinery part on Monday.  Oh well, such is life in the middle of nowhere. 🙂

Yes, for the first time in YEARS we will be watching. We were trying to remember the last time we watched a game, and since neither one of us can recall, it has been a while. Or we’re getting old which also has taken a while!

This morning I made pancakes for breakfast using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix. I fixed it with egg replacer, and almond milk, so it is as allergen free as possible. It is also not as good as my own recipe, but it was edible.  The parrots knew I was making something, and there was quite the riot until I divided up one of the small pancakes and shared the fresh hot bread with them.  The riot consisted of Opal squeaking, Oro making a whining baby bird begging noise, and Terry saying “Want some breakfast?  Want some foooooood??”  She goes for the direct approach.

Now it is all quiet and the sound of happy parrots playing with toys and gritching their beaks.

Mishkin followed me around hoping for his share, and complaining a bit about species discrimination when he didn’t get anything.  So now, after that disappointment is forgotten, he’s running around the house doing “halloween cat” postures and trying to entice us into throwing his mouse.  As we are well trained humans, we comply.  His reflexes are simply amazing and continue to improve.  If his mouse reflects off something, like the stair bannister which I am sure I couldn’t hit if I was actually aiming at it, and rebounds into a different direction, he can switch his trajectory and snatch it out of the air while leaping more than his length when he is  standing straight up on his back feet.  It’s quite impressive.  I’ve no doubts that either of the super bowl teams would love it if their receivers had even  half of his abilities.

I’m making pizza for lunch today.  We love pizza.  Last night there was a show on television about the history of pizza and we found it quite fascinating.  This evening while the game is on, I think we’ll just snack on corn chips and a five-layer bean dip.  I’ll make that sometime today; leftovers can be made into burritos for tomorrow’s lunch.

Looks like it is going to snow today, which is bad news for our driveway.  And it means we won’t get any solar gain from our panels.  They are standing there looking up at the sky, and they seem sad with the thick clouds looming over them.  It was above freezing temperatures yesterday, albeit briefly, for the first time in a couple of months.  We heard from Dan’s brother that he has daffodils poking up out of the ground.  Ours might be doing that as well but it is hard to see them under two feet of snow.

Definitely looks like snow in them thar' clouds

This is our picture of domestic bliss for the day.  Hopefully all who read this are enjoying a similar day!  But maybe with sunny skies instead of snow.

A couple of evenings ago, we had a very nice sunset, all pastels.  And I actually went outside to take a picture of it instead of being lazy and sitting on the couch merely admiring the view.

Late January sunset

Other than the usual things around here, splitting firewood, cooking, working on the computer, and vegging out watching television or movies, not much is happening up here.  It’s been very quiet.  A couple of knitting projects are keeping me entertained.  And the kitten would love it if I would let him be entertained by the knitting projects as well.

Keeping a beady eye on the photographer

Terry is never sure what to make of a camera being pointed in her direction.  She would also love to be involved in knitting projects, but she would be even less help than the cat.  Sorry, bird.

The snow on the roof which is above the parrot cages is probably going to fall off this weekend, if the weather gets as warm as promised.  It has really warmed up today, at least 20 degrees warmer than earlier in the week.  When it does fall off, we’ll hear all about how the sky is falling.

A friend sent me a quote that I dearly loved:

“She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.”
– Mark Twain

The super bowl is this weekend, and while we didn’t follow the play during the season, we did watch some of the playoff games, and will watch the game on Sunday.  I’m thinking of cooking something, but right now feeling singularly uninspired.