Thankful Sunday--July 29,2018

I am thankful for an afternoon with my sisters.

To celebrate my recent birthday, my sisters took me to the movies today. A movie treat is something we used to regularly do for each others birthdays, but somehow we had gotten out of the habit. Today the tradition began again. They took me to see "Mama Mia! Here We Go Again" and I thoroughly it. No complicated plot here, just a feel good movie, with fun songs, and visually stunning scenery. For this special treat and afternoon with my sisters, I am thankful.

This and That

I think most of us have a stream of consciousness that has thoughts skipping along to various places. Sometimes on a straight path and sometimes not. Here's a little of my stream of consciousness. Well not really a straight stream of consciousness, because that wouldn't be understandable to the outside world, but certainly some random thoughts that floating around in my head.

A dust kitty I swept up
this morning in the cat's room.

--While I was sweeping the cat room in the basement, I swept a lot of dust bunnies that were actually filled with cat hair. Which got me thinking, why are they called "dust bunnies" and not some other furry animal. I spent a while cruising around the internet looking for some answers with no conclusion. The term has been around for hundreds of years or was first used in the 1950's or 1960's. The most logical guess as to why they were called "dust bunnies" was that they were furry like a bunny and multiply like rabbits. Makes sense but they are called different names in other countries. In Hungry, apparently they are called "dust kittens". I think that's the term I'm going to use because my dust balls are made up of 80% cat hair.

--When did my legs get so short? Since we moved into our new house, we have not had a full length mirror, so it has been a struggle to see the bottom half of my body. Ward put one up for my birthday last week in our bedroom where I now see my entire reflection frequently. And every time the first thing that I think is that my legs are short. I've always known that I've had a long torso so I don't know why it would be a surprise to me that they are short compared to the rest of my body. Or maybe it's my imagination or maybe Ward put up a fun house mirror just for kicks.

That would be me in the middle.

--And speaking of long torsos, I've decided it's time for me to get a swimsuit that fits. I'm not a big pool or beach person, but I really should have something to wear if the occasion to wear one comes up. I've been thinking this for several years. Well, my sister told me about a online sale for swimsuits the other day and I took the plunge (pun attended). However, I had no idea what size to get. And my measurements of bust, waist, hips, and torso didn't really help. I measured a 6, 8, 10. 12 with the torso being the largest. I did my best to average out the sizes and ordered something. It hasn't come yet. We'll see if it is anything close to fitting when it comes.

--Is there preference of a floating floor vs. a glued floor when they are being installed over concrete? We've had a lot of heavy rain recently. A whole lot. In fact, we're having heavy rain right now with a thunderstorm. With all of this rain, we got some water in the basement. Unfortunately, it was in the Theo's bedroom. We ended up cutting out part of the wet carpet from there and don't plan to put carpet back down. We think the water problem came from a faulty window well, but haven't been able to get any wet basement experts out to look at it. Guess what? They're swamped (pun attended again) with work and won't be able to work us in for a while even for just an estimate. Anyway, we think we can fix the floor in the meantime and are considering our options. Having one bedroom currently out of commission is complicating the sleeping arrangements with the visitors we're having next week.

And along these lines, need to go check to see if any water is seeping in. As best as we can figure out, seepage occurs when we have wind blowing in a certain direction which is happening now. Every bit of evidence we can amass will help understand the problem.

Things look busy for a while with company and then a trip, so

Until next time....

Bird Wars

Those sweet little birds with their cheerful songs also have a dark side when it is time to reproduce. Then all is fair in love and war and reproduction. I've been seeing some evidence of this, this spring and summer in my two nest boxes. Below is some of the drama. See if you can follow along.

It all started at the beginning of May when a wren started to build a nest in Box A.
The twigs and white spots are typical of wren nests.

At the same time, a nest was beginning in Box B. It looked like a bluebirds nest
which is typified by the use of only one material in building the nest. 

Three weeks later, the nest in Box A had been lined with grass and feathers and had 6 eggs in it. Notice the cup toward the back, the sticks and white spider sac under the lining. All typical of a wren's nest.

A couple of days later, the Box A nest had no eggs in it. Not a trace of the six eggs anywhere. ( I didn't get a picture of the empty nest.)

Then I checked Box B and there was a dead wren in it. Ward removed both the bird and the nest. (I did not take a picture of the dead bird. This picture is of another house wren in the yard.)

A few days later, a new nest was built in Box B like the old one. It was not a wren's nest, but it was filled with 7 wren eggs. Meanwhile, Box A continued to have an empty wren's nest.

At least six out of the seven eggs in Box B hatched and fledged. The mother/father wren was very noisy anytime I approached the nest.

Two weeks later Box A, with the wren's nest in it, has five new eggs. Currently, the mother is sitting on them. We'll see what happens.

Were you able to keep track of all of that? Let's just say that for now, the wren's are winning. This drama was mild compared to what we watched last year. I won't go into it, but let's just say, bird wars are not for the faint of heart.

But Wait, There's More:

This may explain some of the things we saw last year and this year. 

• A House Wren weighs about as much as two quarters, but it’s a fierce competitor for nest holes. Wrens will harass and peck at much larger birds, sometimes dragging eggs and young out of a nest site they want – even occasionally killing adult birds. In some areas they are the main source of nest failure for bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Prothonotary Warblers, and chickadees.

From All About Birds

Thankful Sunday--July 22, 2018

I am thankful for zucchini season.

Our current favorite way to fix them is grilling.

'Tis the season that zucchinis abound. Little ones to huge ones are everywhere. They are in the garden and they are in bags that mysteriously show up in front of the garage. Zucchinis are a versatile vegetable that can be used for many things. For this abundance of zucchini, I am thankful.

And some ideas for cooking zucchini from a previous post.
A Week of Zucchini Dishes

Thankful Sunday--July 15, 2018

I am thankful for community traditions.

Twenty years ago when we made a big move from Texas to Maryland, my sons weren't too happy with it, especially Theo. He spent every waking moment trying to figure out a way to get back to Texas. There were just too many changes for him. Even so, he was slowly warming up to a couple of kids who lived down the street.

One day, they invited him to be in a community parade with other cub scouts. Wally was excited about it, but Theo wasn't too sure. After I found out the details from their mother, we joined the local cub scout pack at the parade formation area. Wally stepped right up and volunteered to carry the banner in front of the group. Theo was still not too sure of things until he found out the little ones, which included him, got to ride on a wagon in the parade. That he thought was pretty cool and for a little while he thought his new town was pretty cool, too.

We didn't know it at the time, but that was the first parade for the town and since then, it has evolved into an annual, weekend-long celebration. It has been a long time since Wally and Theo have been in the parade, but I have carried on the family tradition marching with the local library most years. Ward joins me afterwards and we watch the fireworks together. This past weekend was another year of this fun time.

So, for this community and family tradition, I am thankful.

Theo is in the wagon and Wally is in front of the truck carrying a banner during the very first parade.

This is me, several years later, at the formation spot waiting for the parade to start.

Thankful Sunday--July 7, 2018

I am thankful for clear skies 

and summer flowers.

After a lot of rain and extreme temperatures, yesterday we had clear, moderate weather. A great day to spend outside in the yard. For this weather and the chance to enjoy our flowers, I am thankful

Celebrate!

Happy 4th of July

Note: Uncle Billy grew the yellow watermelon and Ward made the corn hole game. 

Enjoy your day as we celebrate the 

242th birthday of our Nation.

Here is a simple quiz to see what you know about the USA.

1. Using the the date when the Declaration of Independence was ratified, how old is the US today? (242 years)

2. What is the largest state according to land size? (Alaska)

3. What is the largest state according to the population? (California, Texas, New York, Florida. The first four according to the 2013 census.)

4. What are the top exports of the US?

(Food, beverage, and feed according to the US Commerce Department in 2017. You will find various answers to this question depending on how it is calculated. And this just for a interesting tidbit, not to start a discussion about trade policies. :) )

5. Speaking of foods, what is the most common vegetable consumed in the US? (Potatoes followed by tomatoes according to USDA research. Yes, I know that technically tomatoes are a fruit. My sister just pointed this out:) )

6. No more questions for now because I've run out of time. We have to get the ribs on and the cherry cobbler made, two of the things on our menu today. Have a great day whether you are having a picnic or reading a good book.

Cucumber Soup

Sunday I posted about cucumbers I had been given and the the cold soup I made from them. Anne at Cooking and All that Jazz asked for the recipe. I almost decided that the posting could wait for another day when I wasn't so wrung out from the heat. But there's not a break in the weather in the foreseeable future, so now is as good of a time as tomorrow or the next day, or the next day.  Too bad my husband finished the rest of the soup, because some cool cucumber soup would hit the spot right now. And I would have had a picture for you.  Oh, well. It was very easy, so I'll make some more. Here's the original recipe that came from Epicurious.com. I've cut and pasted so spacing, etc. may look a little wonky.

YIELD

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1. • 5 cucumbers
   • 1/2 cup chopped parsley
   • 6 scallions, chopped
   • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
   • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
   • 1 quart buttermilk
   • 1 pint yogurt
   • Salt and freshly ground pepper

   • PREPARATION

     1. 1. Peel cucumbers and cut them in half, scraping out seeds. Sprinkle the cucumbers with salt and let them stand 30 minutes. Drain excess water.
        2. Chop the cucumbers coarsely and put the pieces in the blender along with scallions, dill, lemon juice, buttermilk, and yogurt. Blend at high speed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill well before serving.

My sister gave me this recipe. She and I both modified it with the these results. 

She used two small onions instead of 6 scallions. This had little effect on the taste, but the green tops were not there to add color. She left out all of the parsley. That did change the taste of the soup, but it did not suffer. It was just different. She used 7 oz of Greek yogurt instead of 1 pint of plain yogurt. These are roughly equivalent and didn't change things much. She did not add the whole quart of buttermilk.  She only added about 1 1/2 pints of buttermilk because she thought the soup was already too thin. Her version was very good and was both refreshing and filling at the same time.

I changed a few things, also. My husband doesn't like onions, so I left out the scallions/onions altogether. However, I did add in all of the parsley. The parsley was pretty strongly flavored so it more than made up for the lack of the onion. In fact, I may add just a bit less next time I make it. It did add a nice light green color to the soup. I also did not add all of the buttermilk. I think that would have cut down on the cucumber taste too much and made the soup too thin.

My sister used her food processor to blend things and I used my blender. Both worked well.

I think this would be a fairly forgiving recipe to tweak with what you have or what you like.

I do know that I am going to make some again very soon. As soon as I get more cucumbers.

Good luck to all who try it. What other versions of cucumber soup do any of you make?

Thankful Sunday, July 1, 2018

I haven't checked in for a while, so here are some of the things that have been occupying my time.

We've been picking cherries. 

We've been harvesting and freezing cherries from our sour cherry tree and I have the cherry-stained hands to prove it. We were a little late, so we didn't get as many as we had hoped, but there are some in the freezer.  For the prospect of cherry pies ahead, I am thankful.

 

We hosted a picnic for the people I work with and their families.

We had good food and a relaxed time visiting with friends and their families. As a dark cloud approached, everyone hustled and we got inside with the food before the downpour started. It was great teamwork. For this fun afternoon, I am thankful.

Ward had surgery.

Ward had surgery this week. He was in and out in a day and is recovering well although his activities are limited for a while. Times have changed. When his father had this same surgery years ago, he was in the hospital for a week. For Ward's successful surgery, I am thankful.

Uncle Billy shared cucumbers.

Uncle Billy and Aunt Martha shared cucumbers from their garden with us. I made a cold cucumber soup with them which has been refreshing to have on these days of oppressive heat. For the gift from the garden and the cool house to enjoy them in I am thankful.