Halloween 2023 and First Snow

Happy post-Halloween, everyone.  It was mostly a quiet night around here, so thankfully I got only about a third of the candy we had last year.  We got just 9 trick-or-treaters this year, but were only one of 3 houses on the block that I noticed had their lights on.  The last two kids were growing mustaches and it was pretty cold so I shut it down about 7:00.  It barely got above freezing yesterday with occasional light snow flurries off and on all day for our first snow of the year, though it didn't stick.  

I carved a pumpkin again to display on the front steps last night, and today it is on the stump in back waiting to be ravaged by the squirrels and rabbits.  I have the trail camera aimed in that direction but I got a pretty good video of it getting eaten bit by bit last year.  The mummy in the windows was showing wear on the fold seams, and I was getting tired of it so this was the last year for that.  I also pulled out the mask with the moving mouth LED lights to wear again but that wasn't working right so is also in the trash now.

We had a good run, but I'm not sure I'll do so much next year.  It doesn't seem worth it for just a handful of kids so maybe just candy next year, and maybe the flickering flame light bulb again, too, since I have it just for this holiday.  Hope you had fun if you chose to celebrate.

More Sidewalk Wisdom

 From today's walk, same place as last post.  It rained hard early today so this must be new.

And an interesting epitaph for this poor bloke, from a few blocks away.  Halloween's a-coming!

Good Timing

Saw this written on the sidewalk during a walk yesterday.  I needed the smile.

Cuts Like A...

I managed to bake two types of bread on Sunday morning, classic baguettes (left) and simple French bread (right).  Thankfully I was able to keep everything straight as, of course, the timing of the steps for each are different.  I think both turned out well but for the French bread getting maybe a bit overdone.  And while the demi baguette size is handy it is more of a pain to make.  I've tried making them from smaller cuts of dough and regular size cut in half, as here.  I think I may just stick to making the full size 15-inch baguettes going forward.

The last thing I really need to figure out is the cuts.

I started with various sharp knives that we have, settling on the serrated bread knife.  It does give some good cuts most of the time, though I don't really get an 'ear' on the cuts during baking.  It's also a pretty big knife for a small job and I wanted something better.

Eventually I bought a UFO lame - which is one of the most dangerous things I think I've ever had in my kitchen.  Two round pieces of wood that screw together with a razor blade between them.  One slip when tightening and your finger would go right into the blade, or if a corner of the blade is left peeking out, or if it loosens and the blade moves outside the wood - all of these can spell bloody disaster.  I tried it anyway but it seemed to grab the dough much more than the knife, resulting in ugly and ineffective cuts.

Recently I picked up a baker's lame, which has a curved razor blade that is supposed to help in creating that 'ear' on the cuts, those raised ridges on either side.  Similar to the UFO lame, I found it grabbed the dough more than the serrated knife and also resulted in ugly, ineffective cuts.

My wife says I'm too hard on myself, the cuts don't affect how the bread tastes, after all.  But I know it can be done so I will keep trying.  I do know that it should be sharp, quick cuts, so maybe I hesitate because I'm expecting it to grab.  I think next time when it's still early in the process I will practice my slices on raw dough.

In other news, we went from high temperatures in the 80's to highs in the 50's within a week, with a frost warning last night and tonight.  Autumn is definitely upon us.  Yard work beckons but this weekend will be cold and wet, and there still should be plenty of time yet.  I did mow again today, so now I think I've mowed the whole yard 5 times and only the back yard twice this year.  I'm losing track, not that it matters.  I just find it notable for how few times it's had to be done this year.

I'm planning on going down to my Mom's on Saturday in time for the Badger game that afternoon, then coming back Sunday to relax and fix the refrigerator.  I'll talk more about the refrigerator later as I'm planning on posting about it.

My work situation has not improved, but I just deleted the rant I wrote to spare you.  Suffice it to say I am not a happy camper, but you knew that.  So on that note, I guess that's enough writing for now.  I hope everyone is doing well!

Sunflower Seeds And #1 Neighborly

It was apparent by the mess outside the back door this morning that the sunflower had indeed gone to seed and those seeds had been discovered.  Squirrels had been getting at it this morning, while the cats watched diligently and silently from inside the porch and bedroom window, just feet away.  If I was going to harvest any seeds to plant next year the time seemed to be now.

Thankfully only a small part of the seeds had been pilfered so far, so I was able to get a good amount rubbed off into a small box.  They do seem a bit moist yet so I'll have to let them dry out before storing them until spring.  My mind starts to wander thinking about different places to plant them in spring, but no sense thinking about that as it is still about 7 months away yet before they'll be planted.

And while I'm thinking of it, I mowed the whole lawn today.  Only notable for the few times I've had to mow this year.  I believe it's only been: May, once; June, 1/2; July, 0; August, 1 1/2; September, once - today.  So I've mowed the whole lawn only 4 times and the back yard an additional 2 times through September this year.  Incredible, really, just absolutely incredible.

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In other news, Madison was fashionably ranked number one on yet another list.  This time it is for the Most Neighborly City in the US, 2023, after being ranked second last year by neighbor dot com.  Madison has consistently made these kind of lists and has often topped these kinds of lists in the last several years.  No matter where you live it's easy to take what is local for granted, but there are actually a lot of good things about this area.  I often seem to find more and more to take for granted around here.  More lately, I've been trying to make an effort to take more advantage of many local amenities, but there's always more that get missed.  We have a really good zoo in town that I haven't been to in years, and I feel bad about it every time I think of it, for example.

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Finally, it's the new fiscal year this weekend.  Normally not very notable but we're headed for another government shutdown at midnight due to the intellectual toddlers in Washington, and for the second straight year I have to work on a weekend.  Tomorrow afternoon I have to sign on for a few hours to get some end-of-fiscal-year work done and do some testing due to system updates for the fiscal year changeover, and I'm really not happy about it.  And since I work on government contracts but for a private company we will have business as usual if the government shuts down, but without funding it will be hectic catching up on payments once the in-fighting in the Senate and House gets resolved.

We all have to work together if we are to survive.  The way things are going now, we're doomed.

Gameday Baking

Kate made olive parmesan bread on Sunday morning.  It was a first try making it and it turned out very good.  She thawed the frozen white bread dough in the fridge overnight, then let it rise a bit more before cutting it into pieces, then mixing it with various sliced olives, shredded parmesan cheese and olive oil.  I suggested the square baking dish but next time I think she'll try it on a tray with parchment paper.

When I told my Mom some time ago that we were getting these loaves of frozen bread dough she reminded me of when I was young she'd make cinnamon rolls out of it.  I'm sure they were yummy so we may try that in the future.

Once Kate was done in the kitchen I began making baguette.  It was a couple hours before the Packer game at noon so I knew it would overlap but I can still hear the television from the kitchen.  And I often text with my Mom during the games so I texted her pics and kept her up with the process.  So, since I already have the pictures, I'll put that baguette process after the break with some narrative on the changes I made to my technique. 

It's Been Awhile...

It's been awhile since I've written much of anything online since I last posted here.  It was nothing I planned but just turned into a bit of a break, anyway.  Since then, I've had a vacation and a birthday, and, well, life just continues to happen whether we write about it or not.  Nothing bad, mind you, but I did want to break the seal and catch up with writing this weekend.  But now the weekend is almost over and truthfully I don't feel like much like writing much at the moment.

The Packers just won with a fourth quarter comeback, and you can probably tell from the picture that I was much more attentive to the game than Hamish.

My wife and I both did some baking today, and often my Mom and I text during the games so I was sending her pictures as I made baguettes.  They turned out pretty good though I've been experimenting with my technique, so I may share that here soon.  Otherwise, back to the grind in the morning and fiscal year is just a week away so the headaches are coming.  

We did go out for a fancy dinner with friends Terry and Becky last night.  The parking lot was between the restaurant and the lake, so we parked right up to the lake and I got pictures of when we arrived and when we left that we found interesting, if not quite level.  I'll put those after the break.  Cheers, everyone.

Exhausted Sunflower*

The sunflower looks exhausted.  This holiday weekend is the second heatwave since it was at peak bloom, here, and still not much for rain chances in the extended forecast.

I haven't mowed the front in a month, since August 4, but I have mowed the back since then, on the 17th.  There is still green in the lawn, though starting to tend brown in areas.

Otherwise, I worked a 12 hour day on Thursday to get some mandated overtime hours in so I didn't have to work on Saturday, only to have overtime canceled on Friday.  I still hate my job - my employer, to be accurate.  But, it is what it is for now.

I made baguette yesterday but inadvertently preheated the wrong oven, top instead of bottom, so it didn't turn out quite the same due to the missing steam.  Instead of 3 baguettes I made 6 demi baguettes to give some away, but we'll keep these.  They're still real good and I'll give it another go tomorrow morning.  It's hard to keep them short, and short enough for two per row on the tray, so the practice will be good for me.

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone.

100º Sunflower Baking

I'm not sure what the official numbers were, but I saw 100ºF actual temperature and 117ºF as the 'feels like' temperature on Wednesday.  It was over 90% humidity in the morning but was down to mid-40's at the hottest part of the day, which is still more than enough to be very palpable at that temperature.  It was our first 100 degree day since July 2012, in a worse drought that year.  Thursday was much the same, just a few degrees less.  Kate dug up an old pan to put out with water for the critters so we did that and I threw some peanuts on the stump area to help bring them in so I could put out the trail camera to see what happened.

This new trail camera shows the temperature on the pictures but not the video, which is disappointing.  I've searched through the settings a few times, but the option just isn't there.  The video below is clips with pictures here and there, all in timeline order, of that time of the week so you can take a moment to consider the temperature and time of day.  The water pan wasn't used a whole lot yet, but it was a new thing, too.

Other than that, last post was the sunflower at its peak.  I now have a bungee cord helping stabilize it as it appeared to be leaning more, and with the heat and heaviness of the bloom the top is looking a bit more droopy.  And if you look close, the small one does have an odd, small attempt at a bloom.

You can't tell, but yes, I've been watering.

I also did some baking today, trying a new recipe for the second time.  It's a very versatile French bread recipe and a full batch makes a lot of dough.  This batch I made into 4 burger buns with 4 pepperoni and cheese rolls below those, and hot dog buns and a baguette on the right.

Oh, I was off work for an appointment today, so I had the time.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Full Bloom

Eken Park Festival and 10 Foot Sunflower

We made our way to the Eken Park Festival for a couple hours yesterday.  Had a few drinks and tried to keep to the shade as it was pretty hot out.  Today is even hotter (currently 91ºF but feels like 100º with the humidity) so if it was today we wouldn't have gone.  In fact, most people at the festival were parked on the hillside in the shade, content to watch the band and other happenings.

Much smaller than Atwoodfest, but a nice local gathering, nevertheless.   It was within walking distance but because of the heat we decided to drive to a friends house a few blocks away then walk down to the festival together.

We're going to be pretty hot this week, up to 100ºF (~38ºC) actual temperature possibly, so I don't expect to be outdoors much, including my walks.  And while we had a couple rains recently there is nothing in the extended forecast.

But the sunflower is starting to bloom.  The two in the corner are dead and the one by the house may still get a small bloom, but I've loved watching this last growth spurt of the big one.  Vertically, it is just shy of 10 feet tall, but if you measure at the angle of the stem it is 10 feet tall, so I'm calling it a 10 foot sunflower.  Yes, only this one successful plant out of many seeds, but I've learned lots and the entertainment it's given me this summer is well worth it.  I look forward to next year.

San Damiano

San Damiano has been a Friary on the shores of Lake Monona since the late 1800's until 2001 when it was bought by the City of Monona.  Young seminarians stayed here to pray, study and recreate while attending the University of Wisconsin.  It sits on about 10 acres including Indian burial mounds and what is probably the largest undeveloped lakefront left on the Madison lakes.  It's interesting to look into, but I'll just leave this link and this link for you to see for yourself, if you wish.

I've been trying to get us outside for lunch on Sundays, whether it be al fresco at a restaurant or take-out food in a park, preferably on the water but not required.  Sunday we stopped and got some sub sandwiches and headed to San Damiano, a place we've driven by thousands of times but hadn't yet visited since the city opened it as a park while they figure out exactly what they're going to do with the property.

It was overcast, and sprinkling very lightly when we arrived but not enough to spoil lunch and a short walk around.  Eventually the rain got heavier, so we went on our way with our day but we do want to go back when it's a little nicer out.

I hope they keep it much as it is.  It's a very nice oasis in the middle of the city.  More after the break.

Low Creeks and Stubby Baguettes

The creek is well grown over, on the banks and in the creek itself as canoeists find as they go up the low, weedy creek.  Interestingly, the brown grass on the banks died early in the year from the drought.  Some of the first things to grow after the prescribed burn and before everything else filled in.

And I like the new baguette baking tray that I was originally hesitant to buy because of the rounded bottom (it flattens a bit on the cooling tray and is not an issue).  The tray seems to minimize the hot spot toward the back of the oven with the last row empty.  I'm foregoing any pointy ends and trying to make the baguettes more 14-15 inches instead of 16 so they can more easily fit in the bread bags I bought for freezing, as 18 inch bags appear to be standard. 

After the break is a preview of what I plan to post about next. ;)

Greenway Walk

I was this close to capturing the biggest poo bag I've ever seen.  From the horse, of course...

We took a walk through the Dixon Greenway on the way to try a new place for lunch on Sunday, but the mounted police picture is from a day or so later on another walk.  The native plant restoration project is coming along nicely with many beautiful wildflowers.  I'll put a couple pics after the break.    

Sunflowers Update

The big sunflower is over 8 1/2 feet tall now, almost as tall as me standing on the landing outside the back door.  Certainly taller than my lovely 5 foot 4 inch wife who kindly agreed to pose next to it for scale.  

All of the sunflower plants, even the smaller ones and the barely alive one behind the one in the corner, are finally starting to grow their flowers.  Whether they all come to fruition we'll find out, but I expect at least the big one to bloom eventually.  This has been an interesting experiment, and I look forward to growing sunflowers again next year, though maybe a different type.

Low Mow Summer

We got some rain early last week, some beneficial rains for a change.  The first things to start growing back were crabgrass and all the other weeds before the grass started greening up again.  Me, being pragmatic, first attacked the weeds by pulling and spray before attempting to mow for the first time in a long time.

To backtrack, this year I mowed the whole lawn for the first time on May 13, then mowed just the back yard on June 4.  So an unusually long time between mows with a one mow May, a half mow June, and zero mow July.

The state of the lawn yesterday.

After tending to weeds for a couple days and after a day grace period to give the spray time to work, I tried to start the mower and it wouldn't start.  It was really hot out, so I figured I'll try the next day.  The next day was the same.  It was even hotter out but I texted a mechanic friend who told me anything carbureted would run like sh - poorly in this heat, so I waited but was still unsure.  The following day, last Friday, I tried it again in the morning but it just didn't seem like it was getting any gas, so I called the service I've used to come out and tune up this and the snow blower every couple of years.  They came out on Monday this week, diagnosed the mower and tuned up the snow blower.  The mower went back to the shop and I hadn't heard back all week until this morning, and they delivered it back around midday.

A relatively simple fix, if expensive by having home service and delivery.  After 14 years a little dirt in the gas tank and carburetor and a pump that stopped working was preventing the engine from getting fuel, so a clean carburetor and tune-up and it starts on the first pull, as it normally has except for the first start in Spring.  I could have gotten a new mower for the price of this whole episode.  Not as good of a mower, but still my next mower may be electric to basically eliminate these maintenance costs.  No gas, no oil, no spark plug, so essentially no engine maintenance and I can sharpen my own blade.

So I finally got the lawn mowed this afternoon, after 61 days.  Pretty incredible for this time of year.

Atwoodfest 2023

With Kate having a 'dad' day on Saturday we went to Atwoodfest on Sunday this year.  Thankfully the heat broke right before the weekend so it was warm but not uncomfortable and the sky was blue with puffy white clouds here and there.  A beautiful weekend for a neighborhood festival.  We got there early today, shortly before noon, so we had to wait just a bit for the beer to be sold and the bands to start playing at noon.  On the main stage at noon was local band Steely Dane and they have a following so that crowd had their own area, with smaller stages at the top and bottom of the street of the few blocks closed off for the festival.

We got lunch from a few of the several vendors/food carts while making our way up and down the street a few times.  And we were surprisingly good at resisting the temptation to buy many, varied wares that we just don't need.  A nice outing, and a much needed walk for me after not walking much in the last week due to the heat.  Hope you had a nice weekend, too.

New This, New Thats

I don't believe we've had any rain since I posted about it last, but we did have a couple minor air quality warnings that didn't amount to much.  Mostly in the 'Moderate' category so nothing like what we had a couple weeks ago.  It's still a thing and still affecting other areas too so we may get another bad spell, we'll see.  Anyway, a few new things happening around here lately.

• A couple months ago we got a new vacuum, a Bissell Pet Hair Eraser, and boy does it get up the cat hair.  We've stuck with Oreck for a long time now, but I'm glad I decided to try another brand.  This small house, and I still have to empty it halfway through - and we only have the two rugs, no carpet!
• Speaking of the cats, they got a new cat tree same as the old cat trees.  Availability of them have been sporadic, so a year or two ago when I saw it available again I ordered another.  We had a nice one when they were young that they outgrew, now we're on the fourth cat tree of this type, one of the few cat trees I've seen that I'd say is for adult cats.  They've not been as hard on them as they've gotten older, 11 years old last April, so not sure if we'll need another.  The old one from the front windows is now the porch cat tree, I disassembled it just enough to put it back together with the best of the used sisal rope pillars as I've done before.  The cat's don't care.
• 
  A few months ago my wife's phone, same as mine at the time, bricked.  She just woke up and the phone was dead, but luckily and thanks to Amazin we had her another phone late that very day.  Since then, my Pixel 3XL has had a couple hiccups.  Nothing major, just acting up slightly, and I was due for an upgrade so I got a new Pixel 7A.  Now, transitioning to a new smart phone is always a pain in the butt, right?  Not anymore.  First off, Google pretty much owns me - gmail, blogger, youtube, chrome, fitbit - all that and more.  Much of the reason I got us Pixels last time.  But upgrading from an older Pixel to a new one is the easiest transition you can imagine.  The new phone showed all the same backgrounds, and all the icons in all the same places like it was the same phone.  You have to download them again, but they make that really easy, too.  I think I'll be sticking with Pixels as long as I have a smart phone.
• But, on September 14, 2022, Google notified me that I had used 50% of my 15GB storage.  Now last week they notified me that was up to 70%.  How?  I've deleted a ton of old emails and drastically reduced the amount of pictures I take since then.  Now I will go through my old pictures I have in Google photos and delete everything unnecessary - I'm up to January 2017.  I'd always taken many more pictures than needed so I could pick and choose the best ones, thinking it's all digital anyway, but that seems to have caught up to me.  And I DO NOT want to have to pay for storage.  The alternative is to just not back up my photos in Google, just on my hard drives.  Also a real possibility.
• Not a lot to report on the new trail camera yet.  I tried giving it a go a few times with no success until I finally figured out the new SD card had a little switch to protect it that I must have nudged after the first use.  It's currently out in the garden watching over the pepper plants which have gotten munched on by critters, likely rabbits, due to how dry it's been.  The peppers are now caged again and I haven't had any other use for the trail cam yet so I've let it be for now.
• Later this week I have new sandals coming, a new kitchen faucet, and a new baguette baking pan.  I found a new recipe for french bread that is supposed to be very versatile and it makes a lot of dough so I expect to have a couple baguettes, some buns or rolls, try my hand at pepperoni rolls, and maybe a round loaf.  So a day of baking coming up this weekend.

The garlic will be early this year due to the weather.  My wife checked it last weekend and it was almost ready to come out of the ground, so we'll be checking it again this weekend.  And the sunflowers are doing good.  Well, one is doing great, another not too bad, and two others seem stunted but so far I'm letting them grow to see if anything will happen.   I just went out to grab a picture, and it is now officially taller than me!  As you see here, the leaves always seem to get a bit droopy in the late afternoon sun, but they always come back.  Cheers!

Correction edit:  My wife picked all the garlic while I was on my walk this afternoon.  I just noticed now!

Lakeside

There were several things I wanted to write about today, but after a visit to the lake for lunch the pictures have prevailed.  I can write about sunflowers and other things later this week.

A moored sailboat, rocking greatly in the waves and wind, framed nicely.

It's been a beautiful day today; sunny, not too hot and a good breeze - very nice with the windows wide open.  We took a short trip toward downtown, stopping off to pick up some sub sandwiches, and went to Tenney Park to have our lunch.

Random sunflower by the waves, kitesurfer top center, and a whipping flag on the breakwater.

Madison is the only U.S. Capitol built on an isthmus and one of two U.S. cities on an isthmus, the other being Seattle, Washington.  It's amazing and wonderful to live so near such large, beautiful lakes, and easy to take for granted.  It was nice, sitting there, and I have plans for similar outings yet this Summer.

The breakwater was much needed today, and the tiny red bit at right is where the lock is.

Today there were several fishermen scattered along the lakeside and on the breakwater.  A few families, some with kids swimming in the lake at the small beach area.  And a surprisingly strong wind whipping straight across the lake right at us.  It was bearable long enough to sit for a bit while we ate and take a short walk down to the lock, but we likely would have lingered longer but for that very strong breeze.  We certainly felt a bit windswept after we left.  But all in all, a good part of the day.

Rain!

We finally had some beneficial rain yesterday, and a couple more good, shorter showers today.  

Yesterday it rained pretty good most of the day from before midday to later in the evening, officially 1.68 inches in Madison.  And right now the second of two good scattered rainshowers is finishing up.  I'm not sure how this will affect our drought status of D3 (Extreme Drought) yet, but I'm sure we still need much more.  The site linked under the blue words in the last sentence (and now in the right column) reminded me of 2012, when we were even drier so far in the year, to the 2018 floods and high lake levels, and here now in 2023 a drought again.  

The pendulum swings...