Thankful Sunday--June 30, 2013

I am thankful that Theo and Ward cleaned the gutters.

And I'm especially thankful that we've had no more water in the basement since they did this.

A Second Look--Weekend Edition, June 29, 2013

 
Okay. How did this happen? It's not that important in the grand scheme of things, but it makes me wonder. I've been going around my yard for two years now during a Second Look trying to look at things with a curious set of eyes. I've been trying to see new things among the old things and see old things in a new way. I've been trying to observe the change of things and the sameness of things.

So how is it that I never noticed the very obvious pink blossoms on one of our trees? And I didn't actually notice them. It was Wally.  The interesting part of all of this was that a few days earlier, we were visiting with my father-in-law and we drove by one of these trees. He asked if I knew anything about them because he thought they were pretty. I said I didn't really know anything except they were supposed to be messy. Little did I know I had one in my yard--a mimosa tree.

The mimosa tree is a small tree that originated in Asia and is generally used as an ornamental tree. Honey bees and butterflies like its flowers, and its seed pods are sometimes used to feed livestock. However, in some areas, it is considered an invasive species.

So what did I learn from this eye-opening experience? Don't become complacent because you never know what might be right under your nose.
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Okay, in my defense, I'd like to believe that this is the first year this tree had bloomed. And look. It's nestled between a Japanese maple and Juniper tree. Hard to see, right? :) This is actually why I keep doing a Second Look. I really don't know what I might find.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--June 28, 2013

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

CEREAL

Miss Landers gave us the last of a box of cereal that she had grown tired of and it turns out no one here liked it very well. So after sitting on the shelf for months, I finally put it outside for the critters. So far we've had a few takers from birds and chipmunks.

This Week's True Food Confessions

Some of the things we had to eat this week.

This was a good week. We only ate out once at a favorite Mexican restaurant that we go to when we visit my father-in-law. And, I actually had a detailed menu plan for three days in a row! There seems to be better success at executing them when they are written down other than just noted in my head. Surprise, surprise. :0

We also, tried a couple of new things this week. I made white chili with navy beans and chicken that turned out well, and we tried a new recipe for Greek Turkey Burgers. The recipe was inspired by this one from Prevention magazine, but had a few substitutions in our version.We worked with what we had on hand.

Greek Turkey Burgers

1 1/4 lb lean ground turkey (Ours was 93% lean,)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup chopped pitted green olives
2 oz. goat cheese crumbled
1 tsp. Italian seasoning

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and form into patties. Cook on a medium grill until the internal temperature is 165° F. Serve on buns with lettuce and tomatoes and whatever else strikes your fancy.

The verdict on the burgers: I thought they were great. Ward thought the flavor was good but they were too dry. He prefers a juicy beef burger. Also, he thought they would do better cooked in a skillet than on the grill. They kind of fell apart on the grill. Theo thought they were pretty good and Wally did not like them because of the strong taste of the olives. So the reviews were a mixed bag. I think that we'll try them again and maybe add more liquid to them from something like mushrooms so they won't be so dry and not put olives in all of them.

Until next time...

It's been two years since I started to blog and most of you (all of you) were not with me in the beginning, so I am revisiting a few posts about getting started. Today's is about when I was trying to figure out how long my posts should be.

It's been two years since I started to blog and most of you (all of you) were not with me in the beginning, so I am revisiting a few posts about getting started. Today's is about when I was trying to figure out how long my posts should be.

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Long and the Short of It

How long should my posts be? I've been pondering this since I decided to try my hand at blogging. I'll have to admit that I am behind the technology curve that has the trend of shortening everything. I don't regularly text. I tried to open a Twitter account, but kept having problems with my password. I usually use complete words in emails. In other words, it's easy to tell that I'm over thirty. I remember when I was in college, I was introduced to the book,  "CDB" by William Steig. I thought it was very clever. The entire book was just line-drawings and letters that sounded out words.( “CDB=See the bee.”) Who knew years later, that this style of writing would be commonplace.

I looked around a little* and found that different kinds of blogs, on average, have different lengths. Gossip blogs are usually the shortest (~100 words) and reference blogs are the longest (~1500 words.) Most blog entries are 100-500 words. Also, the average person spends about 1 ½ minutes reading a blog post. As an experiment, I asked Ward, Wally, and Theodore to read a well-written long blog post (not mine) for 1 ½ minutes and see how far they got. Theodore read 500 words, Ward read 371 words, and I read 411 words during our 90 second experiments. Wally said he was busy with an online meeting. It seems, from this totally nonscientific project, that bloggers have figured out how long they have an audience and write a length to match this.

What does this mean? I'm not sure except Theodore says that writing about your blog in a blog is odd. That's the short of it.

*How Long is the Ideal Blog Post?
  Post lenght-How Long Should a Blog Post Be?

 

 

A Second Look--June 26, 2013

It had been a hot week with several days in the 90's. Fortunately, we've had a couple of thunder storms that have cooled things off in the evenings. New flowers are continuing to bloom, especially the day lilies.  But today I also found a trumpet lily. (However, as most of you know, day lilies aren't true lilies, so really my first lilies just started to bloom today.) I have figured out that there are four baby blue birds and they seem to be doing well. They certainly have a very attentive mother. Every time I open the box to look at the nest, she dive bombs me. You would think that I would get the message, but every few days, curiosity gets the best of me and I check on their progress again.

Here's what I saw this week during a Second Look.

Day Lilies

Balloon Flower

The bees love the milkweed blooms.

Trumpet lily (Lilium regal)

Day lily

Notice all of the cattle are in the shade trying to beat the heat.

Today...

Today I am going to be organized

 and not run around in circles.

Some days are more productive than others and it usually involves being organized and having a plan. I have a plan, so I am not going to get dizzy trying to get things done today.

Banana Pops

What happens when you find a sale on bananas for 25¢/pound and you buy a lot of them? Then you can't eat them quite fast enough and you are trying to save them from turning to mush on the counter. However, no one wants to bake banana bread and the last extra bananas are still in the freezer because you don't like smoothies. You make Banana Pops.That's what Wally and Theo did.






Banana Pops

1. Peel bananas and cut into halves.

2 .Insert stick. They used grilling skewers because that was what they could find. You could also use straws or popcicle sticks.

3. Melt chocolate chips in microwave. 50% power for 30 seconds and then stir. Repeat until melted.

4. If you have the right ratio of banana size to container size, dip the the bananas into the chocolate to coat. If not, dab chocolate on with a spoon.

5. Roll in sprinkles or nuts, if desired.

6. Place bananas on wax paper or parchment paper and freeze for two hours.

7. Enjoy a cold, sweet treat.

Note: This is the first time they tried this, so they have a couple of things they are going to do differently next time. They plan to cut the bananas into bite size pieces. That way the chocolate won't break off while you're biting into it. Wally, the peanut butter lover, plans to melt peanut butter and chocolate together for the coating.

Thankful Sunday

I am thankful Uncle Billy's garden.

Uncle Billy doesn't like vegetables that much, but he still grows many in his garden to share with others. Today he shared these delicious sugar snap peas with us. Thanks, Uncle Billy.

Kitty Comfort

Did you ever have one of those days when you just felt down? That's how it was for me yesterday. It started with not enough sleep and my back hurting every time I moved. Added to that, I worried about difficulties that my friends and family were having. I tried several things to break the mood including counting my blessings, but the blahs persisted. So when I went home from work, I sought the best cure I know--my kitties.

My kitties think the world revolves around them, so I had no time to worry about myself when I got home. They met me at the door meowing loudly and demanding to be fed. However after they got full bellies, they were ready for a little purring and cat napping. I sat down on the couch and they started to arrive. First, Lucky got on my lap and began purring. And then Annie joined him there. Actually she ended up half off and half on my lap, but purred all the same. Next, Leo snuggled in by by my feet, and lastly Lucy couldn't be bothered to wake up from her nap in the dresser to join us. (Oh well, three out of four ain't bad.) After we all got settled in, I got a book and fell asleep while reading. Now, all was right with the world. There's nothing like kitty comfort.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions-June 21, 2013

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

STRAWBERRIES

My husband and I were gone for a week, and I really hoped my sons would clean out the refrigerator while we were gone. However, most of what was there when we left was still there when we returned. But surprisingly, the only casualty were a few strawberries. I put the mushy ones outside and the birds and chipmunk have been enjoying them. I think the reason that more stuff didn't turn limp and slimy is that I have started to add a paper towel to produce when I store it in the refrigerator. This has extended the life of most all of it.

This Week's True Food Confessions

A sampling of what we had to eat this week

It's been two weeks since we talked about our eating. We spent one of those weeks in New Mexico and one week at home. In New Mexico, we did our typical pattern for vacation eating. We ate breakfast mostly in the hotels where it was provided, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, and a sampling of the local cuisine for dinner. The local food was generally too spicy hot for me, but my husband loved it. We have a few things he wants to try to recreate here at home. Look for those in a post soon.

Also since we've been back, there hasn't been much time for shopping, so everything we had was made with ingredients on hand. All and all and it worked out well. Some of it was "interesting" like our stacked corn tortilla bake and other things were quite good like our spaghetti. However, it was all heartily consumed.

Our schedule next week will continue to be quite busy, so some planning is in order. Wish me luck with that.

Until next time...

A Second Look--June 19, 2013

Most of the week that we were gone, there were heavy rains. However, these didn't seem to affect the yard dramatically. The grass grew taller, and more of the same flowers bloomed. There is mixed news on the baby bird front. All of the baby sparrows died in the nest while we were gone. The theory is that something got their mother. However, we have four new eggs in the bluebird nest. Such is nature.

Here are a few things I saw this week during my Second Look.

Hydrangea, Endless Summer

Blanket Flowers

This Carolina Wren sings to us every morning.

Astilbe

Hottuynia

Spirea

I saw only one mourning dove recently, and now another one has joined it. I assume they are a mating pair.

Boy vs. Girls--Legos

Before I had kids, I thought that each child was an individual, and didn't believe much in gender stereotypes in children. Little boys ran and jumped a lot because that's the kind of games they were taught. Little girls played with dolls because that was the kind of toys they were given. I thought that if all kids, regardless of gender, were exposed to the same things, they would have the same tendencies. Then I spent some time in the real world of kids and figured out that I was wrong. Possibly there were some differences between boys and girls. From time to time, I'm going to share some of my experiences that led me to this conclusion. However, so as to not bias you, I'm going to let you guess, who are the boys in the stories and who are the girls.
Today's Story

When Theo was six, I was sitting on his bedroom floor with him playing with Legos. One of us was building a rectangular structure that looked much like a tall building and the other one of us was building a smaller structure that was "flying" around the room. At first we were both concentrating on our own creations, but then Theo looked at mine and said, "You build just like a girl." He said all of the girls he had seen play with Legos, built something like I did. That surprised me, but he was quite adamant about his conclusion.

You decide: Which one of us made the building and which one of us made the flying object?
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In case you want to know: I built the building and Theo built the flying object.

Ordinary treasures

Do you have an ordinary thing, in fact something that happens everyday, that you see as wonderous? I saw one of those things today while I was pulling weeds. I found a small oak tree with the acorn attached to the root. Every time I find a plant where the sprouting seed is still visible, I feel as if I've found a treasure. 

Do you have something that is ordinary, but makes you think you've found a treasure when you see it?

BTW--Interesting that I didn't notice the maple seed on the rock when I took the picture.

Thankful Sunday, June 16, 2013-- Happy Father's Day

I am thankful for the father Ward is to Wally and Theo.

While the examples are endless of why Ward is a good father to Wally and Theo, I am especially thankful for the many hours he spent with them while they were learning to drive (thus sparing me the same duty.) : -)

New Mexico Vacation, Day Seven--Home again

We're home again after a good week of exploring north central New Mexico. Today we went from desert browns to lush greens, both pleasing in their own way. Now to feed the demanding cats that act like Wally didn't feed them all week (or at least that's what they want me to believe). The laundry can wait until tomorrow.

New Mexico Vacation, Day Six--Hiking and Dancing

We had a much needed slower day today. In the morning, we drove northeast of Santa Fe to Hyde Memorial State Park for a little hiking. The weather was cool at the higher elevations (8,000-10,000') and the trail was deserted except for us. A perfect way to spend the morning. And while the hike was great, the real treat was when we saw a prairie dog town on the side of the road. The only other time we had seen prairie dogs was at the zoo.

For the afternoon we drove back to Albuquerque where we visited the Indian Cultural Center. The Center is run by the nineteen pueblos (Indian communities) that are in New Mexico and had both cultural and historic exhibits. The exhibits were interesting for us because they brought together some of the other things we had seen during the rest of the trip. They also gave us pause to think because they  presented history from the Native American viewpoint instead of the New World settler's one. I also enjoyed reading the native legends and especially liked the one about the creator who said since man couldn't get along, he would give them different languages. That way they couldn't argue.

As we arrived at our hotel, the rain fell again. This time it came with 1/2 " hail, but was welcome all the same. Most of this week has been a very hot and dusty one. Now to find some place for dinner where I'm sure that Ward will want to have one last carne avodado burrito. I think he has already had five this week.

Here are a few pictures from today. Until next time...

View from Hyde Park Road

Hiking on Circle Trail

Prairie Dog Town. Notice the prairie dog in the back doing the classic pose of popping up from a hole.

At the Cultural Center, we saw dancers from the Zuni Pueblo.

New Mexico Vacation, Day Five--Bandelier and Downtown Santa Fe

Once again trying to beat the heat, we went to Bandelier National Monument in the morning.  Bandelier has remnants of an ancestral Pueblo community with pueblos and cliff dwellings. We got there early enough that we were able to drive into the park and not ride the shuttle with lots of other hot, sweaty people. Also a good move because paths along the cliffs were rather narrow at times and would have been difficult to maneuver with many other people around.

Then we headed back to Santa Fe for a look around downtown. There we visited the Palace of the Governors which was built in 1610 and is one of the oldest public buildings around. Today it holds historical exhibits and is part of the New Mexico History Museum. One of the things that struck me while touring it was that New Mexico was being settled at the same time as Jamestown, Virginia. Having lived in the east most of my life, I thought that Jamestown was the beginning of all European entrance into our country - how Eastocentric. The museum was also hosting a very interesting exhibit on cowboys. What a hard and boring job at times.

A bit more walking took us to the San Miguel Mission Church. Another really old church (1610) that has been operating forever. It had closed earlier in the day, but that didn't matter. A miracle occurred while we were there. We felt rain! The wind stirred up and a few big drops fell! This was the beginning of a break in the weather to cooler temperatures. Yea! We hope it lasts.

Here are a few pictures from today's sights. Until next time...

Wildlife around Bandelier. It seemed as if we saw a lizard every 10 feet.

Remnants of a kiva--central meeting place. Kivas were large stone lined pits in the ground covered with timbers and dirt.

Ward climbing up into a cave room. These were carved into the cliff which is made from tuff--a soft volcanic rock.

On the drive back to Santa Fe, we saw many eroded mesas like this one.

Palace of the Governors. Besides its historic significance, it is known for the native craftsmen who line up to sell their wares.

San Miguel Misson--the oldest active church in the US and the one that brought us rain.

New Mexico Vacation, Day Four--The Road to Santa Fe and beyond

We left Albuquerque this morning to head north to Santa Fe where we are going to spend the next couple of days. We ended up going all of the way to Taos, north of Santa Fe on two scenic roads, the Turquoise Trail and the High Road to Taos. We were in no hurry and stopped when we wanted to in little towns, visitor centers, or just to enjoy the scenery along the way.  However, with forest fires in the area, many of the mountains we saw were in a haze. The most memorable stop we made was at the very beginning of our trek at the Tinkertown Museum.

The Tinkertown Museum is the work of one man, Ross Ward.  He was a carver, painter, collector, and a visionary like no other. The museum is built out of bottles and has an almost overwhelming display of things to look at everywhere. It was amazing.

Here are a few pictures from our day. For both the Tinkertown Museum and the scenery shots, the pictures don't do them justice.

The parking lot at Tinkertown was decorated almost as much as the inside of the museum.

The museum was in a house made from bottles and had 22 rooms.

The creator of the museum carved all of the figures in these scenes.

Food for thought from Ross Ward.

This church is said to contain a well of healing dirt. Because of this, over 300,000 people make a pilgrimage to it each year. It was closed when we got there, so we assumed that the dirt on our shoes from walking around outside would work also.

Rio Grande Gorge near Taos (yes, this is the same Rio Grande that is the border between Texas and Mexico - its headwaters are in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.)

The haze in the mountains is smoke from nearby forest fires. At these high elevations near Taos, most everything is green.

We are back to desert landscapes at lower elevations near Santa Fe.

New Mexico Vacation, Day Three--Trolleys and Balloons

Today was another scorcher, so we followed the same strategy as yesterday. Outdoors in the morning, indoors in the afternoon. Using this plan, in the morning we explored Old Town Plaza of Albuquerque. This area is just like it sounds-- it is where the city was founded in1706 with 15 families and a church. The original church collapsed during a rainy summer in 1792 (that's what happens when you build things out of adobe = mud) and was rebuilt the next year. That church is still standing and in use today. It welcomes tourists, so we took advantage of their hospitality and explored their sanctuary and courtyards. The rest of Old Town is full of shops featuring mostly native arts and crafts that we wandered among. However, the best thing we happened upon was a trolley tour of Old Town and downtown Albuquerque. It was run by a couple of young men who created this tour company a few years ago just out of college. They gave a fun tour going off the beaten path a few times. We really enjoyed ourselves and it didn't hurt that the trolly was open air and a nice breeze was blowing as we rode along. Did I mention it was a scorcher today?

In the afternoon during the even hotter part of the day, we visited the balloon museum. Albuquerque is famous for the balloon festival they host every October, so not surprisingly they have built a museum to go with this worldwide interest. It was a well done museum where I learned that the first balloon flight was in 1783 in France and was witnessed by Ben Franklin. I didn't know balloon flight had been around that long. But perhaps what impressed us the most was the roadrunner we saw in the parking lot. Neither Ward or I ever remember seeing a roadrunner except in cartoons. (But no signs of a coyote.)

Until next time, here are a few pictures from today.

San Felipe de Neri Church or in other words, The Church in Old Town.

Our trolley had the distinction of being the only trolley in the world with stucco on it.

One of the sights on our tour along Route 66--the Frontier restaurant. This restaurant has been featured on the Food Channel several times for its good, affordable food and unique Western atmosphere. It's an Albuquerque landmark and where we had breakfast.

A model of the Hindenburg at the balloon museum.

The roadrunner was running from shade spot to shade spot in the very hot parking lot.