The good thing about today: had a nummy dinner with friends visiting. Gary made his famous spaghetti and meatballs, friends brought a super salad, we had home made focaccia with caramelized onions on top (my recipe,) wine and apple cider and some green tea someone brought that looks like a petrified moose turd but you put it in a glass pot and pour boiling water over it and it slowly opens up and blossoms into an elaborate floral sculpture underwater, made from tea leaves. Dessert too: Gary's chocolate chip zucchini cake.

And all the usual chores too, plus we replaced the boys' water trough because it was leaking. The bad thing: I'm getting farther behind because I'm being so careful writing.

So, for anyone who has been waiting patiently for more NaNo output from me (and there will be more, I promise) I offer a story written a couple of years ago, to fill in the gap:

Rabbit Food by Altivo Overo. This is furry and has a transformation in it, but no werewolves. ;p

Oh, and it got up to nearly 70F today I think, and the sky is still clear and there are stars for the first time in what seems like months.

Tags: cooking, farm, nanowrimo, weather, writing
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: exanimate

In spite of the forecast, the sun came out this afternoon. First time we've really seen daylight in what seems like a week, and with another storm system coming in tonight, may be the last time in another week.

Gary and I went on a shopping trip this afternoon, mostly for groceries but he needed printer paper and some other supplies. We had lunch at Chili's, which was OK but I can't help feeling it isn't quite as good as it was a few years ago. At least they've lowered the volume of the music so you can hear each other talking without having to shout.

I made real chili for supper, with black and pinto beans, tomatoes, lots of hot stuff, and kernel corn added. I generally use ground turkey in it, and we like it that way. The chili powder, cumin, and hot peppers overpower any meat that is used in any case.

We also had home made cornbread, and a salad that included ripe pears from our tree. I was a bit surprised this year, since we have only one pear tree left. This is the third year it has bloomed, and I was aware of three pears. Gary found six last week when he went looking after the hard freeze. It's a Beurre Bosc, those brown colored pears with a long conical top and sandpapery skin. They seemed pretty hard, so I left them sitting in a basket. Today I noticed that a couple of them were getting soft and oozing sticky juice from the stems, so I sliced them up for salad. Sprinkled with crumbles of gorgonzola cheese, and mixed greens added, they were delicious but incredibly sweet. I like pears, but there's some limit to my tolerance of sugar. ;p

I expected Tess to be grumpy after being stuck in the arena pen for so many days, but she was in a pretty good mood. I guess she likes the new hay. Other than that, I was spinning today, yarn from our own sheep. I have a lot of wool stored up and decided I need to do something with it.

Tomorrow the big loom gets a warp again. That means I have to put away a bunch of bits and pieces from fursuit construction that are in the way of using it. About time I did that anyway.

Tags: cooking, food, gardening, horses, spinning, weather, weaving
Current Location: Soggy oak grove
Mood: busy

Weekend busier than being at work. Thank goodness this is a four day week. If plans hold together, going with quickcasey to visit loriana and aerofox next weekend. Yay. Almost like a real vacation, sorta.

We had the dinner meeting. Gary got to talk to our friends that he's working with to create this map project. He made most of dinner, I did dessert and helped with the breads and that was all. It was really good: Moroccan chicken with couscous, two kinds of bread with Moroccan tomato salad and hummus, sweet and sour cabbage soup... All successful, lotsa dirty dishes. Thank goodness our dishwasher works. Dessert was Louisa May Alcott's apple slump, always successful.

Oh, and we cleaned the house some, decluttering and vacuuming, which is always a side effect of having visitors for dinner.

Successful weekend, overall, just not very restful.

Tags: cooking, farm
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: tired

To paraphrase Arthur Dent, "I just can't seem to get the hang of Wednesdays."

This one was no different. Too much to do, not enough time or energy to get it done. Work late, which I really, really hate. (I'd rather come in at 5 AM than work past 5:30 PM or so.)

Did finish the woven scarf, didn't get photos yet, but I will. Did barn chores and took Tess out for a while because Gary has classes all day on Weds. now. Dropped off a fleece at Toni's, around the corner, for pick-up by someone who wanted to buy it, since I was going to be at work. The buyer did show, paid, and took the fleece, which is good.

Went to work, dealt with various things, and as always when I have to work late, the day just seemed to drag on forever.

Explaining a bit about NaNoWriMo to an online friend who is thinking of trying it. Just one month more, folks. Sharpen up your word processor or whatever, it's almost upon us.

Got home, thought the kitchen smelled good but a bit odd. As if Gary had made sauerbraten or something, which is rather beyond the range of his usual culinary efforts. Turned out he had picked a recipe from my files for pork chops. He read it hurriedly, and used apple cider vinegar to steam the rice and the chops, rather than the sweet apple cider that was called for. The result was just fine though, and we're making a note to try it again with slight modification.

Tags: cooking, nanowrimo, sheep, weaving, work
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: sleepy

Lovely weather today, ruined by the continuous snarl and crash of a chain saw next door as the Brit neighbor continues his vendetta against trees, any trees. One could hope that the ents will show up and stop him by any means necessary, but I'm afraid it won't happen.

I'm also afraid he's going to forget where the property line is some day and start in on the ancient oaks that line our side of it. The seeming border between our lands is laid out by a creekbed in the southern half, where he has been "working" lately. But the creek meanders of course, while the property line is straight. At some points, he owns both banks, but for most of the way, we own both banks of the creek. In the woodlot, we own 18 to 24 feet beyond the creek, on his side. I'm sure he has forgotten this.

The man's a fruitcake. He seems to hate all trees. Why he bought five acres of heavily wooded land I just can't imagine. The previous neighbors there had deliberately let it grow up and even planted more undergrowth to encourage wildlife. They had walking paths through it, but beyond that, never disturbed it. Gary says he has some "pioneer" notion that he's supposed to "clear the land" but I really think he's just plain nuts. This afternoon I chased the oldest of his dogs out of our arena, where the irritating beast was digging holes in the floor apparently looking for chipmunks or something.

Spent an irritating hour at Walmart this afternoon. I've been keeping a divided shopping list, with items I know are less expensive at Walmart listed separately for when I get a chance to go there. The store was mobbed. It seemed that every shopper had at least two unhappy kids trailing along. Plus store personnel were doing inventories or something that involved removing every item from the shelf and putting them back. Perhaps they were looking for someone's runaway hamster? ;p The produce department is always frustrating. Generally overpriced, poorly arranged, and not always in the best of condition, most of Walmart's produce may well best be avoided. Their meats are mostly prepared, precooked, ready-to-microwave. Huh? Once again I'm reminded that no one seems to know how to cook any more. They also put meats out in huge packages that may be great for a family of six with teenagers, but are impossible for a childless couple. I was pleased when I noticed that my receipt had a code and URL on it to file your reactions to the shopping trip. Alas, when I went to express my thoughts and opinions, I found that the survey consists of loaded questions that can't be easily answered, and no way to convey my suggestions or concerns. Of course.

Tomorrow, the Freeport Steam & Antique Engine Association show. This year featuring "horse power" (hard to say just what they mean by that) but I want to go see. Hopefull it will not rain.

Tags: cooking, shopping, weather
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: sleepy

Somehow it doesn't feel like much, but it's still sort of giggly like having had too much champagne. I became an official "author" today, according to Amazon.

Here it is, complete with photo.

Yes, that's the real me hiding behind the bearded collie (whose name was Sarge, and he was father to my Simon.) Obviously, it's a few years old as the only gray is in my beard, and now the snow is accumulating on my head too. ;p

Thanks to Alex at Bad Dog Books for triggering this appearance, as it were. It's both amusing and kinda surprising to be named as one whose work was purchased along with that of Kyell Gold. Not that I think it means much other than that we both happen to write furry stuff, and there's not a lot of that on Amazon.

Today was a beautiful day, sunny and breezy. Tess went out in the morning and came in when the flies got bad. We went to Woodstock and had lunch on the square, then did a little shopping, but Gary still has a bad cold and grew tired quickly. I baked the promised apple pie, which we haven't yet cut into but we will. We went up River Road to Cody's Farm Stand, ostensibly to inquire about hay, but the hay man was out cutting. So we bought sweet corn, a canteloupe, and some zucchini instead. The corn was good, we had some for dinner along with steak(!) on the grill and baked potatoes to celebrate the spiritual end of summer. An inexpensive Australian shiraz went with the steak. (No, I don't often eat steak, but maybe a couple of times a year it's a celebration of some sort.)

And tomorrow? Back to work. At least it's now a short week.

Tags: books, cooking, food, horses, pets, weather, writing
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: cheerful

Went to Elgin early to watch the half-Marathon (I guess that's what it is) run past doug_taron's house and talk gardens, apples, and bugs as we generally do the morning of this day each year. Then we hurried back to meet the farrier here so Tess could get her split hooves fixed up.

That went better than I'd feared. A few drops of blood were lost but she's still not limping and now her feet are trimmed down close to take the excess pressure off those side areas that had cracked. No shoes were needed, at least not this time. Unfortunately John couldn't stay for dinner. We had hoped Linda would come with him and we planned grilled chicken with mushrooms and Vidalias, baked potatoes, sweet corn, and green salad from the garden. Alas, Linda had unannounced visitors and couldn't get rid of them. So we gave John coffee and cake and let him go (he wouldn't stay by himself.) Then we made the dinner anyway, since it was already to cook. Turned out well, and the leftovers will make a second meal this week.

I happened to be wearing one of Foxfeather's tagua pendants with a running horse on it, and John was very interested. He wanted to know where I got it, so I passed on the particulars. A little surprise there.

Tess was very good. John was irritated with her a couple of times, but considering all of it, I couldn't blame her. She has definitely become "my" girl. I love it when she buries her face in my chest or rests her chin on my shoulder. When I got her almost seven years ago, she hated having her hooves done or even touched. We've come a long way. She stands quietly now and mostly cooperates. No cross-tie needed or anything, I can just hold her halter and talk to her. It's good that way.

Chilly and gloomy, but that's keeping the fireworks noise down so I don't mind. All the rain we had was a short sprinkle just when John got here.

Tags: cooking, horses
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: pleased

Today was a day for cooking. Not that I shouldn't have been doing other stuff, because I should have, but for some reason I got into the mood. Waffles for breakfast, black bean salad and home made pizza for dinner, strawberry rhubarb pie...

Oh, and for lunch we shared the leftovers I brought home from dinner on Friday. I ordered chicken fajitas and they brought a huge portion of everything.

Nice weather, though it's getting really crispy at night, with patchy frost warnings. The apple blossoms are nearly done but we don't need a freeze. I dunno if any pollination happened, I never saw a single bee of any kind near the trees. They sure smelled nice though.

Milestone. Today Tess remembered and came to me when I stood at the pasture gate and called her. We worked on that last summer until she was pretty reliable, but I thought she'd forgotten it over the winter. Today she did it on the first try. A couple of pauses to grab a mouthful of grass, but once she started toward me, she didn't change direction and came right to me. Yay.

Now it's time for bed. Work tomorrow. Sheep shearing on Thursday. Anyone want some raw wool?

Tags: cooking, farm, horses
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: cheerful

At least the weather was nice. Made it up to almost 60F, with sun and little wind.

Actually I progressed on one thing, I ordered garden seeds. And a yummy dinner has been simmering in the crockpot all day.

Tags: cooking, gardening, weather
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: lazy

Workshop starts Wednesday morning. Spent the afternoon measuring the warp, that's completed. Hope to get it beamed yet tonight (wound onto the back beam of the loom.) Then I can thread tomorrow and sley on Tuesday, with any luck.

Also made golubky or stuffed cabbage rolls for dinner. That's a traditional Polish dish, and my recipe is fairly close to tradition except I usually substitute ground poultry for the beef or pork. Instead of baking in the oven, we use the microwave, but that makes little difference since it's a closed casserole dish and the final baking is more a steaming than anything else. Baked in an open pan, the cabbage leaves turn to tough dry papery stuff. It's a dish with many steps, though mostly not difficult. The only tricky part is separating whole leaves from a head of cabbage. My mom used to hack out the core and steam the cabbage whole for 15 minutes, which makes the leaves pliable. It also makes them scalding hot, so you have to wait a long time for it to cool enough to handle, so I don't do that. Instead I carefully separate the outer leaves from the raw cabbage, then steam them in the microwave so they become pliable enough to roll up. Some get cracked in the separation process, but usually I can still make a roll from them. The filling is ground meat cooked with onion and garlic, mixed with cooked rice and a beaten egg, and seasoned with fennel seed. Then a sauce of tomato, with vinegar, brown sugar, red wine, and dill is poured over the top, and the whole baked or steamed for 15-20 min. It's very tasty, and pretty healthy too if you use poultry in the stuffing or else my vegetarian filling which is based on brown rice with some cheese and a lot of seasoning. Serves four, or two twice. Leftovers!

Tags: cooking, weaving
Current Location: Snowy oak grove
Mood: busy