Pleasant Compost

Most of what you see on the left is pulled weeds.  I've been busy with the weed puller.

Normally I remove the fresh soil from one side of the compost bin in fall, while the other side gets used all year then filled up with fall cleanup.  Then when winter begins we switch to using that empty side and let the full one sit.  Recently my wife added scraps to the full side, which brought about thought and discussion.  Moving forward we'll change that time to spring, the dirt will be removed for the gardens then we'll start using that side and let the other sit.  This way, we will add the wetness of kitchen scraps on top of fall's dry yard plants all winter.

That's the thought, anyway.  Either way it will compost itself.  Any opinions?

I have not mowed the lawn yet.  In fact, I haven't even switched its place with the snow blower yet, but this weekend will be that time.  In the back right now you can really see where the crocus are in the lawn.  Hard to see back by the gardens here, but that view was on the recent crocus post.  They get bushy after they flower.

Sure didn't take long for the fire pit to fill with sticks again.

No more storms recently, we've had some nice, calm weather this week.  Next week will cool to more seasonable, in the 60'sºF.  I made my fifth batch of tortillas after work today so we could have fresh tortillas for a taco dinner tonight.  Turned out well, and gives me ideas for more improvement.  The cats turned 13 on the 20th, I forgot to post anything for them.  I even forgot that day, remembering the next.  I think I may plant sunflower seeds inside in another week or so, while my wife wants to start other plants inside, too.  (We've been saving toilet paper tubes since fall!)

This is a pleasant time of year.

Hail, No!

Yesterday's hail, probably the biggest I've seen, and some of the damage it caused us. Still, there were tornadoes around so we may have gotten off easy.

Green & Rain

The lawn has turned green, the lilac and trees have buds, and the flowerbed areas have come alive.  Spring is here, helped by good amounts of rain and thunderstorms.  Today will be our warmest day yet, getting to about 78ºF.  We had sun earlier today, but I didn't get a picture in time and now the clouds have moved back in and will be staying awhile.

Somehow it seems fitting that I have a terrible cold, just my luck.  I felt it coming on Friday and Saturday, but still felt good enough to stay active and get some things done.  I've been down for the count ever since.  I'm trying to feel better today, my wife even got me out of the house for a short walk.  I should be able to work tomorrow, but it may be a very long day.  I mentioned recently that I wanted to take a day or two off before my May vacation.  Well, this is it, I guess.

Last night's storm was pretty bad in areas, with downed trees and power outages across southern Wisconsin.  The warm temperatures will fuel more storms this evening, continuing overnight, and looks like plenty of rain yet tomorrow.  We'll have to keep an eye on the basement, but there's not as much to get up off the floor as there used to be.  Just two rugs, I think.

We saw the creek was pretty full on our walk, and flowing pretty well.  You know it's full when you can't see the rocks on the sides anymore.  Might be worth checking tomorrow evening after several more inches of rain.  I don't think we'll have any flooding issues like we had several years ago, 2018, but this is a lot of water in a short time.  Only two ducks spotted on the creek today.  And no spring burn this year, but not unusual because they did it last year and I believe they only do it every other year.

Not much else to say.  I'm feeling a bit better though still pretty tired.  I have until tomorrow morning then back to work, better or not.

Sexy And Seventeen - Blogday!

This blog is seventeen years old today, a rare beautiful and sunny day at almost 70ºF (21ºC) outside.  Super windy, but I'll take it.

And congratulations to Delcatto on his recent 20th Blogday!

We likely got a bit of snow here overnight, wiped out by rain very early this morning.  I'm so ready for spring, and some time off work.  My next vacation is in May but I may look at taking a day or two soon.

Easter And Tortillas

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter.  It was a three day weekend for me starting with Friday off.  My wife has a part time job now and had to work Friday and Sunday, so I had plenty of time to myself.  My next vacation is in May and I can hardly wait.  Anyway, I went out for lunch yesterday then came home and watched the Brewers in the afternoon.  So, a good day, but didn't really feel like a holiday.

I normally make myself a list of things to get done over the weekends.  It had been a while since I posted, so I had 'write' on my list, but other than more about the weather I had nothing to write about all weekend.  Then yesterday I made tortillas again, the fourth attempt.  Now, every recipe gives you a choice of fat; vegetable oil, butter, shortening or lard.  First attempt was with vegetable oil, rolled and fried.  Then I got a cast iron tortilla press.  The second attempt was a different recipe and I tried butter as the fat, and used the heated press to try and press and cook at the same time.  My results were very poor.  On the third attempt I went back to the first recipe and used oil again.  I also used the cool press to form them but fried them in a pan.  Not bad, but I still didn't like the greasy look and they had to get bigger.

For this fourth attempt I used that same recipe, doubled, and with shortening.  I also increased the dough balls from 50 grams to 80 grams, and added just a touch of baking powder.  Again, I used the press to form them then fried in a pan.  So far I got my best results yet, though I may increase the weight to 90 or 100 grams next time.  

I'm not sure why, but I didn't try one at the time.  They looked and felt really good so I just trusted that, I suppose.  Well, tonight we're going to have tacos for dinner so we'll know for sure if I'm on the right track.  I'll wait to post this until after dinner, then leave a few more thoughts after this pic of my assembly line.

Well, not too shabby for just the fourth attempt.  Pretty good, even.  Leftovers from attempts two and three have been tossed out now as these are easily better.  The next try will be larger tortillas and I may omit the baking powder to see the difference.  All in all, a good batch.  Practice makes perfect, right?