Jelly Beans

Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

I have a busy day getting ready for a crowd for dinner, so I'm running a post from the files about jelly beans. Enjoy.

Jelly Beans

The techniques for making jelly beans have been around for hundreds of years, but when they were first made is uncertain. One thing that people seem to agree on is the first time they were mentioned in writing in the US, which was in 1861 by William Schrafft, a candy maker, encouraging people to send jelly beans to the troops. In 1905 they were selling for 9 cents/pound in Chicago.

Did you know that jelly beans weren't associated with Easter until the 1930s when someone decided they looked like eggs, as well as beans? Before that, they were considered a Christmas candy, and even today, after Easter, Christmas is the next most popular time for jelly bean consumption. That is a fact that is broadening my horizons because I have never associated jelly beans with Christmas. However, a quick Google search showed that there are plenty of people out there who are happy to sell you red and green jelly beans, so there must be something to it.

And speaking of jelly beans looking like eggs, when I think of jelly beans, I always think of eggs. Never as beans, which now seems curious since they are called jelly beans. However, when I mentioned the Christmas and Easter facts about the candies to Ward, he said he guesses that they could look like eggs, but he always thinks of them as beans because, after all, they are called beans. And after all of these years of marriage, who knew we had such differing ideas about jelly beans? :)

One of my thoughts for this post was maybe I could make some homemade jelly beans and share my experience. I had no idea how to make them, but it's the day of Google and YouTube, so I thought there would be some easy instructions to find. And I was right. There were several recipes involving gelatin, sugar, candy thermometers, and lots of time for drying. It would have been an interesting experiment, but I should have thought of it before last night.

I had a few more things to share on the subject, like Jelly Bellies being the first jelly beans to add the flavor to the inside instead of just in the coating, but I think this post has reached its natural conclusion. I'm hungry now, and I don't think anything will satisfy me except jelly beans. And I may not even wait until they are marked down after Easter to buy some.

Owl Pellets

 

Barn owl, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Owl/id#

As part of my job, I lead STEM programs for 4 - 10 year olds. Usually, I choose the topic and design the program. However, my supervisor asked me to do one on owl pellets for the last one I did. I said sure, even though I knew nothing about owls, including their pellets. 

If you're unfamiliar with owls, they are predators and eat small animals, primarily rodents, which they swallow whole. They can't digest the bones, fur, or feathers, so their gizzard (second stomach) compacts those parts into a pellet, which the owl coughs up. This clears room, so they can eat more. Scientists have long studied the pellets to get information about the owls and their environment. They are a favorite to use in classes, and there are companies that collect the pellets, sterilize them, and sell them for educational purposes. Armed with 30 of them, I set out to learn enough to lead a program.

I thought I had remembered that Wally and Theo had dissected owl pellets at school, so I asked them if they would like to help me. Wally said he didn't remember much about them and said no, thank you. Theo said he remembers everything about them, and no thank you! So, I read, watched videos, and began designing the project.

By the day of the event, I was well organized, even though I was not as knowledgeable as I would have liked. The kids were attentive and waited patiently through the announcements and procedure descriptions at the beginning.

Then I played the video*. I warned that they would see a mouse being eaten and a pellet being coughed up. The kids squealed squeamishly and yelled gross throughout much of the video. They were not sure what they had gotten themselves into (and some of the parents were not too sure either). Even though our pellets were dry and not squishy like the ones in the video, I had gloves and masks for those who wanted them. A big line formed immediately to get them.  

And then the dissection began. Despite their trepidation, every kid was into finding the bones in the pellet and guessing what the owl had eaten. One kid hoped to find a snake. Another younger child thought that he was finding dinosaur bones. Each participated in their own way. And surprisingly, I was able to answer most of the questions that were asked. Thank goodness they were so absorbed in finding the bones that they didn't ask many. 

The program was a success, and everyone, including me, learned something.

Here are two videos to watch if you want to know more. The first is an episode of Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs, where he collected owl pellets, and the second is a video about barn owls that goes over all the basics. (Barn owl pellets are the most commonly used for educational purposes because of their larger size. That's the kind we had.)

Dirty Jobs Owl Pellets

*Barn Owls

Unfortunately, taking pictures is not allowed in our buildings, so I don't have any to show you of the day.

This and That!

The pear trees are budding! Unlike some other fruit trees,
 the leaves and the flowers on our pear trees come out at the same time.

Most of my posts recently start with some version of I don't have anything to say and then proceed with this and that about my everyday life. I'm gonna try to change it up today, so get ready for an exciting ride!

There was no greater satisfaction this week than when we dropped off another bag of shredding at the free personal shredding place! This, of course, means that we are continuing to make progress going through our files, which is part of an effort to declutter our house. We started in the bedroom and then moved to our office. Work continues, but we are well over half done! The great thing about not regularly culling papers is that many of them are no longer relevant. Waiting for just the right moment to sort files is our tried and true method of making the job easier - at least for some of the decisions of what to keep!

But don't fear; our files will not be empty! Our recent car drama has created enough paperwork to fill at least one of the drawers alone! We are still working out all the details, but we have a new van, and things are proceeding. And before you know it, it will be settled! Hooray!

I found a hidden surprise the other day - 4 bags of apples! Well, actually, they weren't so much hidden as forgotten. Last fall, we made a big effort to process the apples we got off one of our trees. We did many, but when push came to shove, we put the rest into the fridge in the basement to do at a later time. So the later time is today! Most of the apples had bad places in them when they were stored, so many of them are totally rotten now. Oh, well. I plan on dehydrating what's left for good snacks!

Are you excited yet?! I tried to spice up this post by throwing in exclamation points here and there, whether or not it was appropriate for the sentence. Which brings me to one of my pet peeves. Over the last few years, I've seen increased use of exclamation points in everyday sentences. They don't seem to be saved just to indicate surprise or excitement as they used to be. This is part of a language trend that involves a lot of hyperbole, which I think dilutes the meaning and impact of our communication. I understand that language is constantly changing, but I don't like it. Bah, humbug!

The apples are calling. 

Until next time...

Trees (and Other Things) are a Bloomin'

The plum tree, Saturday afternoon

Last Saturday morning, we went to Virginia to visit my father-in-law. Later that afternoon, we came home and saw that the plum tree was in full bloom! Saturday morning, it was mostly bare branches, and voila, that afternoon, it was full of blossoms. Spring is like that. 

I have been thinking about this post for a while now and was going to feature trees and their new growth processes. But every day, the post I write in my head has to change because nature always seems to be one step ahead of me. So below, before everything skips the rest of spring and becomes summer-like, here are pictures from the past few days around the yard. 

Forsythia. We have a long hedge along our back fence. While it is pretty in the spring,
it grows like wild and requires a lot of upkeep to keep under control. 

The Bradford pears are in bloom everywhere.
This was one we had in our front yard until a storm took it out a few years ago.

The ornamental cherry trees are blooming everywhere, too.
We're lucky that we get to see our neighbor's tree right over the fence.

Our cherry tree is fruit-bearing and hasn't flowered out yet. 

Quince bush. This was much like the plum tree.
One day, it was bare, and the next, it was in full bloom.

Daffodils 

Daffodils

The phlox is just starting to bloom.

The warm weather last week was followed by temperatures in the 20s some mornings, and several things, like these mums, got frostbitten. 

I have to work all weekend, but we're supposed to have flooding rains on Saturday, so that's a good day to be inside. What's happening at your house?

Until next time...

Annie Laurie's Hellebore

 

This week, I found my hellebore blooming. I brought it from the old house and planted it here under a big pine tree among various vines. It's not an ideal spot, but it is surviving despite the vines enveloping it every year to the point that I've put a flag up to find it. The plant makes me smile every time it blooms. Below is a previous post that explains why. 

________________________________________________________________

I first met Annie Laurie at the library, where she had been a long-time volunteer for over 30 years. She came once a week and did whatever was needed, and before she left, she picked up a bagful of books to read. Reading was her passion. Then, she developed breast cancer, and eventually, she was not well enough to volunteer anymore. That's when Beth and I began to take bags of books to her house, primarily mysteries, which were her favorites, and stay for a visit. In the comfort of Annie Laurie's home, I learned what a character she really was. She was opinionated, strong-willed, and very funny. We always had a good visit with lots of laughter, even when her health was rapidly failing at the end.

One of our most memorable visits was when Annie Laurie took Beth and I on a tour of the flowers around her farm house. Flowers and plants were another passion of hers. Rail-thin and hobbling with her cane, she showed us lilies, daffodils, and hellebores. The hellebores were the favorite of both Beth's and mine. Over the years, Miss Annie Laurie had developed a forest floor of them. Under the shade of large trees, she showed us the many kinds she had. I didn't really appreciate all the different varieties she was showing us, but I did appreciate the unassuming, downward-facing, simple blossoms I saw.

After that, Beth and I fell in love with hellebores and wanted some for our gardens. But you know how it is: We never got around to getting any. That is why we were both so thrilled and honored when her sister, Dot, gave us some from Annie Laurie's garden after she passed away.

I carefully chose a shaded spot by my front door to plant mine. It didn't take the transplant so well, and its large leaves flopped. However, it seemed to be surviving. Beth and I exchanged letters with Dot from time to time, and she always asked how our hellebores were doing. I said mine was doing fine. I didn't think that she needed to know that maybe I hadn't done such a good job transplanting it and that it was struggling. Then, a few months ago, she said hers were blooming and wondered if ours were. I told her not yet because I didn't have anything more than one small bud forming at the base of the plant. I figured when that bloomed, I would take a picture of it to send her and carefully crop out the flopping leaves.

Bloom on the end of smashed stock

Well, the stalk with the bud grew and grew until it was about 6 inches tall and ready to bloom any day. And that's when it happened. A workman at the house stepped on it. I was upset but worried more about what I was going to tell Dot. However, a few other buds showed up, and they actually bloomed this week. And the best part of all is that the stalk that got stepped on also has a flower on its end.

Now, I could say something about the tenacity that Annie Laurie had in her life and how that was represented by my hellebore's blooming smashed stem. Or I could say something about the blooms and how they were a sign from her that she was still with us in a way. However, I would really like to think about my hellebore in terms of how much Annie Laurie, Beth, and I would have laughed during the story I would tell about the hellebore I tried to plant and how it got smashed. :)

But wait, there's more - After I first wrote this, the hellebore plant got stepped on again, but it survived!