Not all who wander are lost, but this guy is.

Good sized blond Lab mix guy showed up here this morning. About six-ish, barking. I threw the door open and said, "Hey what's going on out here?"

Most wandering dogs will run off when I do that. This one didn't. So I said, "This is my house! You go home!" Most dogs that haven't run off with my first greeting will leave when I tell them to go home, but this one didn't. He backed off, but stayed, and kept barking. I told him to cut it out, go on, go home, and pointed to the road. He headed out the driveway, but would not go into the road. Every time I came inside, he would come back and bark again. The last time I went out to order him home he went toward the road, but veered left and went around the house, coming back up the other side. I turned to face him, saying, "Nice try, pal, but you didn't fool me. Go on home now" but he stayed put, with his head down and his tail between his legs.

By simple observation I noted that he appears to be well fed. He's wearing a collar, not very new, one of those nylon strap kind, red, with a tag jingling from it. He's a neutered male. Good size, a block headed Lab. Mix, I'm pretty sure. I'm not good at determining the age of a dog, and this guy, being blonde, it's hard to tell if he's gray around the muzzle or not because he's so light colored. Several years old, though. By the worn appearance of his collar and the tick on his shoulder I'd say he spends some time outside, but may be accustomed to being indoors some, too. Big ol' boy. Not as big as some of Dad's Labs, but pretty good sized.

He was not acting in a menacing manner, he just wouldn't leave. The more I scolded him, the more he had his tail between his legs. I called him to me (to see what was on the tag) and he came right over. The tag was from our local vet, Dr. Terry Wood. The dog's demeanor perked up by the small attention I gave him in talking to him and petting him (so I could read his tag).

He is clearly someone's pet - well fed, decent manners - but lost, and a little clingy. I'm thinking he may have been frightened by the weather because he seemed anxious about the distant thunder when he first arrived. Or maybe his people are out of town for Memorial Day Weekend.  I called Dr. Wood's office, but of course they're closed for Memorial Day, as are Animal Control.

This guy knows "sit" and "no." He'll go lay down when you tell him to. He seems to want to come inside, but isn't pushy about it. When I go outside he sticks pretty close to me.

The cats are not at all pleased about his presence. Not at all. In fact, they have both dematerialized.

I do not have facilities to keep a dog - no pen or fence - and he certainly cannot come inside. If he's still here tomorrow when Dr. Wood's office opens I'll call again, but I'm not interested in trying to put a big muddy dog in my little car to take him over there, so I'm not sure how that will work out.

Steve is on a long errand today, so we'll see if this guy is still here when Steve gets back.

du jour

Regular readers may remember that we plant in raised beds and raised rows. My plan for this year's garden was to make everything in four foot raised beds with three foot paths, making sort of a giant plaid garden, but I found it labor intensive to do all at once, and the season is getting old on me, so Steve tilled the second half of the garden for me again and I'm going to go ahead and do the rest of it in rows this year. 28 or 29 four-foot beds and five, maybe six rows, we'll have. I have one row pulled up and need to pull the rest of the rows up and get them planted. Beans, beets, carrots and whatever else I have out there to plant. Squash. Melons. Sweet Potatoes. Sunflowers. We have 'taters & onions in the ground. Also need to form some sort of trellis for the peas that are standing a foot tall all by themselves. This year's garden will be 2.5 times bigger than last year's! We are also planting grass in all that the bare soil around the barn.

I hope to see the Golden Digger Wasps again this year. I was fascinated by them last year, but it seemed they mostly nested in the ground where our barn now stands. There were a few around the base of the Cypress tree Genevieve, so hopefully some of those will be able to emerge and carry on with their life cycle.  Fascinating, Golden Digger Wasps. Larger than your mud daubers and your paper nest wasps, these thread-waisted wasps excavate a chamber in the ground, where they lay their eggs. They bring stunned insects such as green catydids, which they take into the chamber and install with the eggs for their babies' nourishment until they can come out of the ground and continue the cycle. These wasps are not aggressive, but if you walk a little nearer their work than they wish, they will "fly loud," hovering in such a manner as to buzz, as a warning. Live and let live. I spent hours watching these girls last summer, and hope some have survived for this season.

Going to go watch a Hallmark Hall of Fame Classic Movie now, about Lois Wilson, wife of Bill Wilson, Co-Founder of AA. Should be a real tear-jerker!

2010 Spring and Garden Report

I am thrilled to report that all my potatoes are now planted!

Pontiac Reds, because they are pretty, taste good, and are good keepers. Pontiac Reds have, of course, a red skin, and white flesh. I planted some when I got them as soon as the ground could be worked in January, and those are up now, noticeably growing daily.

Yukon Golds, because there's still a sense of novelty about them, we like the way they look, and they taste good.  Yukon Gold Potatoes have a tan to blond skin and yellow flesh. They look like they've already been buttered!  We should have plenty of 'taters this year!




Got several varieties of sweet onions - "candy", "Super Sweet," and "1015" onions. I also still have some red onions that I need to plant.

We picked up a couple kinds of tomatoes and some jalapenos and some leeks, which are in the ground. Got those planted a couple days before we had a little burst of hail storm. Had enough hail that it drifted several inches deep of little pea to marble sizes on the south side of the house. Once the garden path dried enough that I could walk out there again, I notice many little craters, which are impact marks from the hail! I was really worried about the plants I had just set out, but they all look okay.

Got a couple each of Blueberry and Blackberry bushes, still in their buckets. Still deciding where to put them, since they stay put once planted. In reading about what a Blueberry likes, I think Blueberries and we can have a very happy mutual relationship here. They are said to appreciate acidic soil, and to be mulched with shredded pine needles and oak leaves, both of which we have in abundance. I would be thrilled to displace the poison ivy with Blueberries!

Some of the new little strawberry plants are breaking ground.

I wish I was set up to make jelly, because the dandelions are blooming RIGHT NOW, but perhaps next spring.

The "sweet bushes" are in bloom, too, and man, oh, man does it smell good out here right now! We call them "Sweet Bushes" because they have something of a shrub habit, like a bush, and when they flower in spring,the aroma is nearly intoxicating, very sweet. They are also known as Silverberries and seem to be related to olives.

We have some little volunteer trees in the woods back of the house that I suspect may be peach trees. Of course they've never been tended, and are located in an area that has been in full shade during the height of summer, so they haven't fruited well, but I know where they are, now (thanks to the flowers). I'll look after them and tend them, see if I can't help them do something amazing.

We finally got to the point that we were able to move the tool trailer out from in front of the house. We'll be able to mow there, now, get the grass growing there again. and it just looks better already with that space clear.  Much discussion as to where to put it - not beside the barn, where local trailer thieves can easily see it, nor behind the barn, where it is difficult to place. I just couldn't bring myself to spring for storage fees again - they give you a decent deal on the first three months, but after that, it's through the roof! So we ended up taking it out to my folks' place, where it can be safely out of the way. (Big Sigh of Relief.)

That's all for now - Happy Spring!

Yogurt

I made yogurt yesterday, and you can too!

We've been buying those little plastic cartons of yogurt in the store. You have to read the labels on those things, because it's astonishing how many calories they can pack into one of those little cups. Even if it says "light," "sugar free," or "fat free," it can still have stuff in it I'd rather not consume. For instance, "fat free" might be sweetened with sugar or, worse, high fructose corn syrup. "Sugar free" might be sweetened with aspartame or have more fat in it than I like, and who knows what "light" is supposed to mean. It seems to be different from one brand to another, or even from one flavor to another. I haven't figured out a consistent commonality in "light" yogurts. Light in color, maybe?  Even "plain" yogurt sometimes has sweeteners and flavoring in it, so you really have to read the labels!  Suffice to say that  I read labels and I don't always like what I see on the ingredients list, totally aside from the fact that they're all packaged in plastic. And then there's the cost. Depending on brand and store, you can pay anywhere from .59 to over a dollar each for the little darlings. As much yogurt as we eat, it seemed worthwhile to look into making our own.

A great thing about this project is that you can use any kind of milk you wish, all the way from 4% whole milk, 2%, fat-free, cow's milk, goat's milk, or soy milk. I purchased a container of fat free powdered milk. That's powdered, not instant. "Instant" milk has other stuff in it to make it easier to blend with water. This powdered milk I got (Sanalac brand), not being instant, you mix it up and put it in the 'fridge and let it set for a while if you're going to drink it. I mixed up enough to make a batch of yogurt right away, plus have some to put in the 'fridge, for drinking, or to use for the next batch of yogurt.

Okay, so here's how. I obtained a couple sets of those little glass Pyrex dishes with the snug-fitting lids. For this project I used the one cup size. You will also need a quart of milk, a thermometer, some yogurt starter, and a warm, still place to allow the yogurt to culture. An oven with a pilot light is perfect for this. A baking pan with warm tap water is a good thing to have ready to set the culturing dishes in, in the oven. Have everything out and ready. For your yogurt culture, you can either purchase actual "starter" from a health food store, or a carton of plain, live culture yogurt. Make sure it's really plain, with no sweeteners or flavorings! When you are ready to start, set the yogurt out so it can warm to room temperature.

First, you need to sterilize your milk. Put it in a pan (or a double boiler if you have one) and heat the milk slowly and gently to a scald, 180 to 185 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir constantly and check the temperature frequently while the milk heats up.

When the temperature of the milk reaches between 180 and 185 degrees Fahrenheit, remove from heat. Now you're going to let it cool down a little bit. You can go do something else for a little while, coming back to check the temperature of the milk about every five minutes or so. It needs to be cooler than 120 , but warmer than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. About 100 is a good, safe, middle range.

Measure out 2 Tablespoons of  the plain yogurt, or the prescribed amount of health food store yogurt culture and whisk into the warm milk, blending well.

Pour into the glass dishes, one at a time. As you fill each one, cover tightly and place into the baking pan. I filled five one-cup dishes slightly less than full. When all your little tightly covered yogurt dishes are in the baking pan, add warm tap water to the level of the milk in the dishes. Carefully set in the oven with the pilot light. This should provide just enough warmth to culture your yogurt. LEAVE THEM ALONE for 8 to 14 hours!

When you bring them out of the oven, place them in the refrigerator. They should keep comfortably for as long as a week, but you'll have them eaten up before that, I'm sure. 

If you like it plain, have it plain. If you like it sweetened, you may sweeten it with your sweetener of choice. If you like fruit or other things in your yogurt, you can add fruit and flavorings all day long and twice on Sunday, and YOU know exactly what is in your yogurt!  Fresh fruit in season, frozen fruit, thawed, whole, chopped, or mashed. You are in charge and in control of what is in your yogurt. You don't have to worry about Mystery Ingredients, you don't have to worry about the brand-to-brand nuances of definition in terms of "fat free," "sugar free," and "light." And you don't have to worry about the little plastic containers, which could be a whole 'nother post all by themselves. Maybe another time.

Oh, and the money - I got the big container of Sanalac for $9.75 at my neighborhood grocery store. That container has 39 servings in it. One serving of reconstituted milk makes one serving of yogurt. $9.75 divided by 39 servings is 25 cents per serving.

My plan is to do up a batch of yogurt after supper so it can do its thing in the oven overnight. You may be surprised, as I was, at how thoroughly pleasant a still-warm, freshly cultured cup of yogurt is! Flat knock your lights out in a bowl of oatmeal!  You will see that a little liquid separates from the body of the yogurt. You can either pour that off (CAREFULLY or your yogurt will slip away with it!) or stir it in.

So go on - give it a try!

Hippo Birdie and Other Cards

This day is overcast, temp in the 40's and windy, windy, windy, but I got outside ANYWAY and moved some dirt into four-foot square patches for this season's garden. Nowhere near done yet, but it's in the works. I have planted five squares of Pontiac Red potatoes, one square of "candy" onions, and one square with some sugar snap peas, some spinach, some radishes, and some lettuce. The garden book says all these things can, yes, be planted as soon as the ground can be worked, so that's what I did...even though WeatherBoy says we're supposed to get snow overnight and tomorrow.

Inside, I'm stacked up to here with paperwork, and out in the multi-purpose building I have some insulation to hang in my very own soon-to-be studio, so there's always something to do!

Steve asked me what did I want for my birthday and I hadn't thought about it all that much, but I said I believe I'd like a steak dinner at Cattleman's, so, weather permitting, looks like that's what we're gonna do Friday night.

That heading, Hippo Birdie, is from a birthday card I got many, many years ago, and it's one of my favorites. It's a pictoral pun, with a drawing which depicts "Hippo, Birdie, Two Ewes." This has now become a standard birthday greeting in our house and in our close circles. So in case you didn't already, now you know about Hippo Birdie.

Another favorite birthday card contained a drawing of a piece of bread, animated like a little stick man, only bread instead of a stick, with a toaster in the background. This bread-character is holding a table knife with butter on it, and saying, "You're not getting oleo, you're getting butter!"  Some who know me and my love for sweet cream lightly salted dairy butter will appreciate the humor.

Speaking of cute cards, early on in Steve's and my relationship, he gave me a card that had on the front, a drawing of a little red lawnmower up on a hill, and when you opened the card it said, "Each day I love you a little mower." We've had so much fun with that over the years!

So Hippo Birdie to my friend Lisa on the 25th, and thanks to everyone who has already wished me a Hippo Birdie while you were thinkin' of it. Y'all are a big ol' bunch of sweethearts!

Mud Season Update

In my last post I mentioned that WeatherBoy was threatening winter weather (again). You can see by the picture the little darling delivered as promised!  This photo, taken January 29, 2010, depicts about six inches of snow. With ice under it.  Out at our place the ice was only about a half inch on wires and tree limbs and such. On our concrete surfaces the icy underlayment was more like two inches because of the way the precip evolved from freezing rain to sleet to snow.   

Many Oklahomans lost power in this storm and as of the first week of February, some 28,000 of them were still waiting to be reconnected. Most of those folks are in Grady County, around Chickasha, about 33 miles south-southwest of us. I am grateful to report that we did not lose power during the storm, big-sigh-of-relief.  

Last post I was waiting for the Propane man and of course he was swamped. I think we may have been triaged a little farther down the list than I would have liked. Complicating that, they lost a family member (another one in a year's time), so they not only had their usual customer overload of frantic customers dreading a winter storm, they also had another funeral to plan in the midst of all that weather.  Always wise to have a good solid Plan B in stock, and fortunately we had our contingencies lined up. 

In a small twist, we kept power through the storm and once the melt was well underway we had an outage. It was in the middle of the day for about two and a half hours earlier this week. I got a little frantic about it at first because the propane man hadn't been able to get out here yet, and it was the day of their family member's funeral, so I knew he wouldn't be coming that day either. But good ol' OEC located the trouble and fixed it and we were back on well before dark. Yay OEC! 

This picture was taken one week after the one above. in one week's time, this shows significant melting in a particular form we call "Mud Season."  This is way too wet to walk on unless you don't mind getting in up to your ankles or deeper. I know from personal experience that this mud is soft enough to suck the shoes right off your feet, not my favorite thing. 

Just because I can't get right out in the middle of it doesn't mean I'm not planning this season's garden, though!  I'm thinking about starting a few plots of Square Foot Gardening.

Now WeatherBoy is saying rain tonight and tomorrow, which may melt the rest of this snow, but then more snow tomorrow night. Sigh. Criminy, where does he think we are, Central New York?! 

That's okay. We can use the moisture. And I do know, to quote an old friend, who is probably telling all the angels in Heaven now, "It too'll pass, Hon!" It'll be Spring soon.

Happy birthday shout outs to my Dad,  my nephew Jordan, my friend Roxanne, my old pal Chad, and to Judy.

I "friended" Judy on FaceBook ages ago, but it turns out the Judy I friended, while from Texas, is not the Judy I know, which I discovered when I went to her wall to post a happy birthday message to her. There was a picture of a woman I didn't recognize, and a little girl who might have been Judy as a child, but something was off. This woman appeared to be about my age, too old to have been Judy's mother when she was a little girl. Then I realized that the pictures of the little girl were recent instead of from the time period when Judy would have been a little girl. Then I looked at this Judy's other friends and did not recognize a-one of them. Not one. I realized that I have friended a Judy I do not know. Oh, well. Judy, wherever you are, Happy Birthday!

Channel 9 weather boy was going on and on about a winter blast that's headed our way. About the fifth time he went through his routine I thought, okay, enough. Let's see what Channel 4 has to say about it, and it was like they had co-authored their scripts. Supposed to be getting a wintery blast with precipitation about Thursday or so. They're predicting freezing rain (which makes ice wherever it lands) and then sleet and then maybe some snow. We are in the big fat geographic middle of the rather wide band that they think will get 6 to 12 inches plus drifts, after the sleet, after the freezing rain.  Yuck.

So I checked our propane levels and called our propane people. Nice folks out in Minco. The kind of business where you call 'em up and say your name and they know who you are. I like that. I said to her, "We're at about 33% and the weather boy is calling 'Blizzard! Blizzard!' this coming weekend," and she said to me, "I know, I'm gonna fire him!" I laughed and said, "Yeah, I didn't like what the first one said so I changed channels, see if I could get a different report, but they're all saying it!" So we're on the list for a fill up before Thursday. I'm also working on a contingency plan in case we get a power outage, which is a distinct possibility when we have an ice storm. 

The good news is that it should only be in the thirties and twenties for a few days once it arrives, instead of low teens and single digits. It may be difficult for some folks to see any distinction there, but there is a difference. Don't know if I've mentioned it, but I have lived to see the day that 20 degrees seems warm, comparatively speaking.

In other matters, Muffin the cat was camped out soakin' up some  rays on top of Mommy's notebooks.  Ordinarily I would not begrudge him a nap in a sunny window, but I need to work in here today. I said to the old darling that a nap in the sun is a great idea, and I know right where you can get all the sun in the world, and set him outside. What does he do? crouches under the steps IN THE SHADE and tries to run back inside every time anyone opens the door. I think it's not so much the wanting to lay in the sun as it is that he's feeling a little clingy lately. Looking out this window I see a great spot he could curl up and be quite toasty, but I guess he wants to nap in the sun AND be within arm's length of Mommy. I believe that if I got one of those baby carriers and packed him around all day he'd be happy as a clam. Sorry, pal, no can do.  Paperwork to do, errands to run, preparations to make! We got a blizzard a-comin', weather boy says so!

Speaking of which, I gotta sign off and make busy!  Thanks for reading.

V~