Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Baking Bread Today


For the first time in this new house and the first time in a long time I'm baking bread today.

It's a comfort activity for me, baking our bread, almost a religious experience.

We're still finishing up some of the interior finish woodwork, still moving out of our temporary dwelling, but I'm baking bread today and it feels like home.

Baking Bread with the James Taylor channel on AOL - what could be more placid?

Maybe I'll add a photo of the finished product once it's baked.

If you're curious to know my recipe/method, you can see it here: http://eightsusquehanna.blogspot.com/2009/01/baking-day-and-other-projects.html, bearing in mind that asking me much of anything is like trying to get a drink of water from a fire hydrant. It is a fun read, though, and it will walk you through exactly how I make bread.

Thanks for reading!
Vicki

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Dodged Another Bullet

Last night the weather kids very clearly stated that we were very likely to have dangerous weather between three and five in the afternoon today.

This morning Steve and I did some work in the garden, mounding up potatoes, and weeding and mulching  and then replanting the bare spots in the okra row. I told Steve not to set the sprinklers because we'd be having some rain later in the day, and oh, did we ever!

Big crazy mean tornado, grinding through Canadian County, EF5 tornado doing its level best to flatten El Reno and environs, rolling SLOWLY across I-40... long story short, leaving a long, wide path of destruction but missing us to the north...then a firing line of similar weather setting up again, missing us to the south.  The whole time we're watching live continuous coverage with color Doppler radar on our local TV station AND the interactive weather map on the internet.  For hours we watched intense weather patterns heading straight for us, only to dissipate slightly as they neared us as if opening a portal, sending the brunt of storms around to the north or to the south of us.

We did get about forty five minutes of pretty intense, no-kidding-I-really-mean-it rain right here on our little homestead, probably about two inches worth here. (I expect to see okra sprouts shortly!) Then the weather cleared out, moving on to the east, revealing clear skies and sunshine to the west, thank you very much. We had been so wrought up with watching all the color radars and being prepared to go blankets and pillows into our Safe Place that I had not made a move toward supper preparations, so when it was all done for us here, Steve said, "Wanna go up and get a Chick-fil-A or something?"

He went out to the front porch to wait while I locked up the house, and observed a small piece of torn leaf falling straight down from the sky, a little green piece of storm debris. Landed right on our porch.

Now we're back home for the night, and glad to be. Garden got a good quality watering.  There's water in the pond across the road again, and even though it isn't quite full (yet?) it's another beginning. I saw an egret circling the pond again and the sounds of little froggies already fill the air. Doesn't take those frogs long at all!

Wonder what it's going to do tomorrow?

...Looking Forward,
Vicki

Monday, May 23, 2011

Update on Steve's Shoulder

Steve is (counting on my fingers) four days post-op and is doing pretty well, due in large part to the fact that he is NOT out there trying to overdo it for once!

An outpatient, he was ready to go home as soon as he was awake enough to realize the surgery was over. He woke up HUNGRY and scarfed down about a half dozen little packets of crackers and a big ol' Dr. Pepper before he was released, and then a #2 cheeseburger, tater tots and half-Coke-half-Dr.-Pepper from Sonic on the way home, hardly any of which he remembered the next day, Versed.

The first day his arm was "asleep" most of the day because of the anesthesia they used, but he had a pretty rough night as the block began to wear off. Neither of us got much sleep Thursday night, which put me in mind of the days when I had new infants, of reminding myself to sleep when they slept, which I never seemed to remember when they were sleeping. After that first twenty four hours, though, he really did start feeling better, for which both of us are supremely grateful. I am very pleased with his progress. Se see the doc again next Monday.

A pretty girl sent us home with a satchel containing pressure wraps for his legs and one for his shoulder, along with a rechargeable pump that puffs the wraps up while he's wearing them.. The shoulder wrap has freezy stuff in it, so we put it in the freezer for an hour or so, and then put it on him to work its magic until the freezy stuff thaws out or until he's ready to get up. He's been up and about too much to get much use out of the leg wraps, but he's gotten a LOT of relief from the shoulder wrap.Someone was having a good day when they thought up freezy shoulder pressure wraps, I can tell you that.

This morning we took a leisurely walk the length of the field and back, had a bite of lunch, and now Steve is napping in front of the TV while I plink around on the computer with music in my ears thanks to earbuds and the James Taylor channel on AOL Radio.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Steve's having some shoulder work done today. He told the doctor "Once I'm all fixed up and have that 92 mph fastball cookin' again, I'd like it if you could write a note for my file releasing me from dish washing." Doc said, "Hmmm, actually, I usually prescribe 'washing dishes' as part of your post-op physical therapy..." Updates as available....