Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--May 23, 2014

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

a Carrot

One lone carrot shriveled up beyond hope this week. Luckily, the rest in the bag were good, but I promptly used them so they wouldn't have the same fate.

This Week's True Food Confessions

Years ago, Ward's grandmother gave me a set of microwave specialty cookware. She bought it for herself with great ideas that she was going to be doing all kinds of complicated cooking in her microwave. She had never been much interested in cooking, but microwave cooking (fairly new at the time) piqued her curiosity. However, she was already in her 80's and decided that if she had limited energy, she would use it to take care of her collies and tend her gardens. Thus after a little while, she passed the set on to me. I wasn't sure that I wanted it, but I took it anyway. I experimented a little and made potato chips, bacon and a cake in the microwave with some of the pieces  However, I couldn't see myself using it with any regularity, so I gradually gave it away piece by piece. The last to go was the microwave pressure cooker. Now, I am totally comfortable cooking with a pressure cooker, but I had no interest in doing that in the microwave. Quite frankly, I thought that pot was a total waste. That was until I gave it to a friend. She didn't ask for it, but she got it anyway. (That's another story.) And she was thrilled. She didn't use it in the microwave, but soon figured out that it was the perfect pot/dish to take to a potluck dinner. You see, it was a good size--not too big, not too small. It was made from thick plastic that provided insulation to keep the food either hot or cold. And best of all, the lid clamped on so it was easy to transport with no spilling. Who knew it was such a perfect pot? I didn't when I thought of it only as a microwave pressure cooker.  But she opened my eyes and then I wanted it back. However, she won't give it to me. :) I guess instead of the pot, I'll have to satisfied that I was reminded that it always pays to take a second look at things. 

Oh wait, isn't a Second Look another one of my themes? That's a little ironic, isn't it? :)

A Second Look--May 21, 2014

It's been the drama of the birds this week or maybe I should say the confusion of the birds. Or let's try that one more time. It's been the week of my confusion about birds.

The sparrows nest is getting refinements now with pine needles and feathers lining the twig frame. No eggs yet. I'm still torn as to whether or not I should remove the nest and hope for a "better" bird. On the other hand, maybe the sparrows will be happy with their spot and leave other nests alone.

The 4/5 of the bluebird eggs have hatched. However, I'm a little worried because two times yesterday they were "sleeping" when I peeked at them. I think it was probably a protective measure so they wouldn't attract attention to themselves, but they were opening their mouths wide when I looked at them earlier in the week. To tell you the truth, they looked dead to me, but I saw a parent going into feed them later, so I guess that's a good sign.

And the most curious of all were the chickadee chicks. When I checked on them last Friday, I found another nest being built on top of them. It was the same nest material as the first one, so I guessed that it was still a chickadee doing the work. My first guess was that as the chicks were growing, the parents were building up the sides of the nest to protect the chicks. However upon further investigation, I found the nest had been built on top of the babies. I removed the new nest and one of them promptly opened its mouth to be fed. I was gone for a few days, but upon checking the box again yesterday, all of the babies were gone. I hope this means that they fledged. They were certainly not ready on Friday, but things happen fast in the baby bird world. However, whatever was working on the nest before, has been working on it again. I'm going to watch it a little longer to see if it's a sparrow. If it is, there is no doubt that I will clear the nest. However, I'm hoping that it's another chickadee.

If you haven't caught on by now from reading this blog, I like to watch birds, but don't know that much about them. I've learned a lot since we put up a feeder a couple of years ago, but still have a lot to learn. Just ask Aunt Martha, my bird expert. In the meantime, I enjoy watching, learning, and being confused by them. :)

When I'm not preoccupied with the birds, I'm finding new things blooming everyday. I'm hoping soon that most of the trees will be done, and my allergies will improve. We'll see. Presently, the oak are almost done blooming and the wild cherries are just starting.

Update: While doing a little research while writing this, it's possible that the sparrow's nest may be a wren's nest. Did I mention that I still have a lot to learn?

Here are some things I saw this week during a

Second Look.

 

Baby bluebirds. They are a day or two old on the left. Notice the one on the upper right is wrapped around an egg. The picture on the right shows what they looked like five days later.

  

On the left, you can see the new nest being built on top of the old one. On the right, you can see one of the baby chickadees poking its head out after I removed most of the second nest from on top of it.

The sparrow, maybe wren's nest.

More Siberian iris are opening up. However, this is the only bed so far with them blooming.

The first bearded iris has bloomed.

The bees are buzzing around the rhododendron which is in full bloom.

This is the second kind of wild cherry to bloom.

Although their prime blooming is over, all of these flowers are still providing color.

Thankful Sunday--May 18, 2014

I am thankful for a walk along the beach.

Sometimes getting out of your regular environment can be very restoring. I am thankful that Ward and I got a chance to do that yesterday with a walk along the beach.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--May 16, 2014

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

None

Okay, maybe not None, but pretty close. There was a little lettuce that went slimy before it got used and a few almonds that I dropped on the floor at work. If it had been at home, I might have eaten them anyway, but not from my work floor.  However, the squirrels and blue jays really enjoyed them. 

This Week's True Food Confessions

You may have noticed that I haven't done a food post for a couple of weeks. I stopped taking pictures for a while, so with no pictures and no new recipes, I didn't have much to post about. I'd like to say that I didn't have any food pictures because I was preoccupied with taking pictures of all the spring flowers. But that wouldn't be true. I have been distracted by other things and paying attention to our eating hasn't been that high on my list. However, all has not been lost. I've been concentrating on working more vegetables into our dishes as well as serving more leafy greens. Also, we had some fresh asparagus from Uncle Billy--nothing like it! And we grilled our first non nitrate hot dogs. I've been meaning to try them for a year or more and we finally got around to it. They were good and while I wouldn't exactly call them a health food, they're a step up from the last ones we had. We're going to be gone for a few days, and I'm not sure what we'll be eating. However, I am taking along some healthy snacks for the car.

Until next time...

A Second Look--May 14, 2014

It's that time of year. Every time I turn around outside, something has changed. New things are blooming and the grass is growing fast enough that we're going to have to get hay cutting equipment soon if we don't catch up on the mowing. We've had a lot of rain this past week and the humidity and temperatures are rising. In fact, the last couple of days, we've had temperatures in the high eighties.

Also, I saw a fox in the yard recently. This is an unusual occurrence since they are usually out at night when I'm not. In addition, the ground hog holes finally look active with fresh digging around both the front and back entrances. And speaking of seeing new things, I put up a hummingbird feeder and have seen two of them feeding from it. We often get hummingbirds later when the tiger lilies are blooming, but I wanted to see if I could attract them sooner. We'll see if they continue to come. But the best things I saw this week are the chickadee chicks. Baby birds definitely fit the "so ugly, they're cute" idea.

Here are some things I saw this week during 

a Second Look.

The azalea continue to bloom.

The first of the Siberian iris have started to bloom.

I was excited when I found this Jack-in-the Pulpit wildflower.

Another wildflower, the buttercup, is giving a nice show in the fields now.

This is the fox I saw trotting across the yard in the middle of the day.

The lily-of-the-valley are blooming.

Five of the six chickadee eggs hatched. I don't know exactly how old these chicks are but I guess a week or less.

Meanwhile, the bluebird continues to sit on her eggs.

Across the yard, the sparrows are building a nest. Once again, I have not shooed them away as recommended. Maybe they'll leave the other nests alone if they have a good place for their own.

Yesterday, this was a tight little bud. Today the rhododendron had buds opening all over it.