Weather, Baking and Work

Today's weather report is seasonable temperatures and mostly cloudy, still long pants and jacket weather.  On Sunday we had very light snow flurries at times, still.  But the plants know what time of year it is and are coming in well.  I've even seen signs of mowing around town the last couple days.  Our lawn is getting green but always begins getting longest around the edges, so I will be strimming before mowing, but not until the weekend, maybe.

I've been baking baguette lots, even took some down to my Mom the other day along with some jam swirl bread that I made with orange marmalade this time.  I'll be making more baguette this weekend, almost a weekly thing now, but I ordered some diastatic malt powder to try adding this time.  It's supposed to help the rise, crust and flavor.  If you've baked with it let me know what you thought!  I'm hoping to keep improving and I hope this helps.

Here are our red tulips, flowering amidst tiger lilies in front and alium in back, both coming in nicely.  I took yesterday and today off to get away from work.  Things have not been going well and I have been looking at other jobs.  I just hate to have to start over somewhere else but I can't see staying where I am, either.  Not sure what will happen, only time will tell.

Have a good week, everyone.

Garden Trail Camera Video

I brought in the trail camera from the garden area to see what it may have captured, and it did capture a few interesting shots.  I changed the setting to just video hoping it would trigger better and it seemed to work.  So here's a few shots from the past week or so of critters small and big and other minor activity.

The squirrel at the beginning is just being very still, it seems the camera must make some small sound when activated as I've seen all animals notice before.  It didn't capture any of the snow the other day and the sun angle gives it a funky hue in the afternoons.  I didn't take any pictures of the firepit last Friday night, but the trail camera did.  The large flames are when I throw the black walnut leaf twigs on the fire, the same stuff I was raking up earlier in the video.  And it ends with an unknown cat on the prowl in the back yard early this morning.  I don't really like the background music, it seems to jump a bit for some reason between clips. But I'm no editor and don't want to spend any more time so it is what it is.

Now, where to place the trail camera next?

No Snow Lately, Anyway

It was another beautiful day yesterday, enough for us to do a few spring things outside.  First off, the gnome has been put out again on the decaying tree stump.  I'm not sure that will be his home for the summer yet, but he signifies the belief that winter will be gone and the hope that comes with spring.

I had a friend over on Friday night for the first fire pit of the year.  I didn't take any pictures, but fire is fire.  I did notice that I hadn't cleaned out the fire pit at the end of last year, I'm not even sure if I had another fire or not after getting another face cord of wood late last year, the way the weather went.  So no pictures of Friday night's fire but I cleaned it up nicely yesterday.  It still has some loose blocks that I haven't done anything about yet.  They haven't been a problem, but there seems to be more so I should probably try another adhesive and get it done this year.

I also took the cover off the garlic and got most of the straw out that covered them over winter.  We still have to do that to the strawberry bed, but there is time.  The raspberries are coming back well, and already escaping the garden so will have to keep them in check.  And Kate got the bed with the monster oregano plant cleaned up after this picture.  That oregano plant got moved when we remade the gardens and didn't even get replanted but just set down on the dirt in that garden.  It has gotten huge but Kate has talked about cutting it down to a reasonable size this year.  In the top middle of the picture you can see where the trail cam is set up currently, attached to the fence and overlooking the gardens.

Lastly, the skies were interesting on Friday night as the conditions must have been optimal for contrails, shown here across much of the sky.  At least two more were being created at the time of this picture, and a plane had just taken off, upper left, to join in, it would seem.

Today is much cooler and getting colder as the day goes on.  It's been raining off and on, but will turn to snow soon and continue through tomorrow morning so we'll see how much we have when we wake up.  And the foreseeable forecast after tomorrow is seasonable with high temperatures in the fifties.  So the last several days were real nice for us, but also unusual for this time of year.  Okay, time to turn the heat back on...

Spring Blogday This-And-Thats

It's starting to really feel like Spring around here.  Plants are coming up, trees are budding, and there is a new green hue starting in the lawn.  Even some crocus have survived the foot of snow and hungry rabbits.  I should really have been outside last night having the first fire pit of the year.  I can touch upon that in a bit, but I think there's a few different things in my head to come out.

• Allergy season is upon us, and after years of escalating allergies I'm using Flonase this year.  I started on it about a month ago and it seems to be working as my wife has mentioned her allergies several times recently and so far and I haven't noticed anything, really.  When I think of how miserable I got at times the last few years, well, I really hope this works well for me.
• A month or two ago I was notified by Google that I was halfway to my free storage limit.  A lot of storage left, but it has drastically changed how I take pictures.  I take much fewer and take the time to delete the bad ones now, when I just snapped away without a care before.  But I think my worry may be misplaced.  I'm years away from the current limit at this rate, and my time is finite.
• Okay, weather.  We've taken a turn for the best and will have temperatures up into the seventies later next week.  Yesterday was alternately clouds and sun and got into the fifties, today should be similar.  I considered having the first fire of the year last night but I was tired, it's still pretty damp out in the yard and firepit, and the wind was pushing my limit for a fire.  This evening looks to be better, but I might make other plans on the fly today.
• Also this morning, I'll be making baguette for the 3rd weekend in a row.  Good practice, and really good bread.  If time allows I'm considering making a second kind of bread, as well.  But it being early on Saturday morning it may not happen, honestly.
• And THIS was interesting recently.  First time that's happened to me, has it happened to you?

Oh, and as of today when this posts I've been blogging for 14 years.  In some ways it feels like longer, in others not so much.  I'm glad I still do it, I enjoy the outlet of writing and being somewhat creative at times, and I'm thankful for the few connections I've made that encourage and support what I do here.  After all, it wouldn't really be worth it if no one read or provided occasional feedback.  Thank you.

Here We Go Again

There was no snow on the ground when I went to bed last night, and I woke up this morning to heavy snowfall.  The last I heard was to expect 1-4 inches, but we were on the edge so hard to predict.  I mentioned recently that we average 7 inches of snow in March, but it has been an above average year.  We got that in one snowstorm earlier this month, then a few more inches here and there, now about another 9 or 10 inches on top of that.  That's as high as the opening on my snow blower.

This picture was taken just after 8 this morning.  I went out to clear snow about 9, and it finally stopped falling about noon.  Thankfully the ground is warm enough that it's melting now on the pavement so I don't have anything more to clean up.  I expect all of it will be gone in a few days, but as for today, it's a good day to stay in and bake bread.

My last attempt at making baguette was a different recipe and did not turn out that well, it was bland bread shaped like a baguette, so I went back to the recipe I used the first couple times.  My technique has improved in that when I split the dough I weighed it to get it more even between the 3, and my dough handling and shaping technique I feel has also gotten better.  

But I think the biggest improvement is that I had bought a spray bottle so I could mist the loaves and the inside of the oven at the start of baking.  Between that and the pan of boiling water in the bottom it seems I finally got enough steam in the oven to get the golden crispy crust that I've been striving for.  We've just been snacking on one of the loaves, and I should wrap the others and put them in the freezer now.  I'll put a couple more baguette pictures after the break.

*Edit:  Officially, we had 12.1 inches of snow in 9 hours, a new record here for a day in March.

Badgers And Harmony

The Badgers men's basketball team is still playing, even if it is just the NIT, and they played today at 11 a.m.  Today is sunny and finally supposed to get above freezing again after another temperature plunge, so I thought I'd get out of the house and go watch the game at The Harmony Bar and Grill, that I've mentioned here in the past.  A good neighborhood bar, and not too busy during the daytimes, usually.

It was cold when I set out, 25ºF/-4ºC, and I wasn't even actually positive I was going to walk at first, but I didn't do the treadmill yesterday and I felt this was a good alternative today.  A brisk walk, with what breeze there was coming straight down the bike path at me, but in less than 20 minutes I was there.  It was early yet, they open at 11 and the game started immediately at 11.  There were no other customers until at least quarter past noon, and I wasn't even a paying customer until just after 12 when I got food and drink.  The Badgers were up a couple points at halftime by that point, but it was a back and forth game.

I took advantage of no other patrons and got about a 240º or so panorama of the place.  I was first here about 30 years ago, but more often in the last half of that since we've lived nearby.  I won't say his name here, but I don't think the bartender will mind me posting him in this picture.  It continued to be a close game until the end when the Badgers held on to a slim lead to win and extend their season by at least one more game.

On the walk back it was a bit warmer, 35ºF/2ºC, and there were lots of people out and about, on and off the bike path.  Still cold, but we're used to it and I'm sure most have spring fever like me.  Still too early for any activity in the community gardens, which were covered in several inches of snow just a week ago and some dustings since.  The seeds I saved from some type of tall wildflower around here last fall went moldy, so I bought some sunflower seeds I plan on growing this year for the first time and hope to document here.

The rest of this Sunday looks to be a lazy day, relaxing and catching up on reading, videos, or whatever.  I hope you're having a nice weekend, too.

February This-And-Thats

We are in the throes of winter, stretches of sun and temperatures leading to thoughts of spring then snow, ice and cold again.  The local groundhog, Jimmy, predicted 6 more weeks of winter for us on February 2nd, Groundhog Day, and so far it has been proving accurate.  Snow will arrive here in probably a couple hours and for the next almost two days will be off and on with wintry mix and ice mixed in for good measure.  Well, at least the days are getting longer and, overall, the weather is getting better, right?

Still not a whole lot going on around here to write about except the weather, but I can think of a few different things to touch upon...

• During a recent nice stretch of weather my thoughts turned to walking outside, before the weather again said no.  I have been back in the habit of getting on the treadmill for a time almost every day, but outside would be better.  Yesterday I got in my first official outside walk of the year, going to the vet's office to pick up Basil's medicine.  Hopefully more outside walks soon, they are certainly preferable to the treadmill.
• Good motivation for keeping it up is to try to lose weight.  I lost 10 pounds from having Covid in December and so far have kept it off.  But I've only maintained that and I'd like to lose a stone or two this year.
• I've still been using the trail camera in various places, but nothing interesting to share.  It seems to get triggered easily for things up to about 8 feet away from it, but anything past that doesn't seem to trigger the camera.  I'm not too fond of that, at all, but I didn't spend a whole lot on it.
• 
  Not much breadmaking here recently, just pizza crust and pre-made white bread.  I tried a different pizza crust and it turned out well, nice and crispy enough.  This time I made the pre-made white bread in the slightly larger, metal loaf pan and it turned out very good.  Also, I think I decided to try a different baguette recipe the next time I make it, I'm just not sure which one yet.  Bread, buns and all but one baguette are gone now, so I'll surely be baking something soon.
• Neighbor Dave's kids have been cleaning out the house the last couple weeks, off and on.  Most of it seems to be going in the dumpster though I'm sure they're keeping what is important.  I haven't spoken to any of them since I talked to one of his sons before the funeral.  It will be interesting to see what happens with the house.  I know it's in pretty rough shape right now.
• I won $400 on a Super Bowl pool I forgot I was on at a bar and grill we frequent.  I was on a different pool there and took a picture so knew my numbers had lost on that one, but had forgotten about this bigger pool I got on a few weeks earlier.  I went into the bar for lunch on Saturday and had a very nice surprise waiting for me!

We get several three day weekends in the beginning of the year now, including President's Day, yesterday, but now we don't get another paid holiday until Memorial Day at the end of May.  But at least the days are getting longer.  Wait, I already mentioned that.

More Bread Stuff

Still cold and snowy, but at least it will get above freezing this coming week so everything should melt.  Until I have other things to write about, here's more of this.  At least it beats more writing about cold and snow.  Breadmaking has made these mundane winter days more bearable.

As stated last post, I made baguette again last weekend.  I think I did better shaping them the first time, though, and I need to work on dividing the dough evenly.  But this time I had the new cast iron pan for the boiling water on the low oven rack and before putting them in the oven I brushed the loaves with water.  I also cautiously baked them 10ºF lower than the recipe called for and I may have taken them out a bit early, but they are fully baked.  They remind me of the take-and-bake baguette we can get from the store, so can be warmed in the oven for several minutes to be like fresh baked.  I like the color a lot better and it tastes very good still, but I promise I will get better at this yet.

I also noticed my wife had put buns in our online grocery cart, so rather than buy those buns I baked some on Monday evening.  This is the recipe I used, and they turned out really very good.  Like the baguette, though, room for improvement.  First, I think I flattened them just a bit too much as they are a bit bigger around than I'd like, and while the recipe calls for brushing them with butter just before and just after baking, I think I'll just do it before baking next time.  The recipe also said you could divide into 6 and use the bun pan instead of the 8 shown here, but I'm sure they would have crested the rim and looked like muffins, like the cheesy burger buns I made earlier.  I think I will continue to use this recipe for when we want buns, and I may even try to shape them differently for brats and hot dogs when we need those.  Start to finish in less than three hours is pretty good, too.

We picked up that same grocery order mentioned above on Tuesday afternoon, so on Wednesday I made one of the store-bought frozen loaves of white bread dough.  If they had wheat I would have tried that, but this white bread is still really good.  Again, maybe a bit underdone, it is very soft, so I may be being too careful in not wanting things to get overdone now.  The directions called for an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan and the one we have is pyrex, which may be why the sides and bottom were less done, but we also have 9.5 x 5 metal non-stick loaf pans and they may work better for this so I'll use one of those next time and we'll see.

More bread related purchases recently, a container for a loaf of bread to keep the sandwich bread protected and fresh, and a pastry mat that can be used as a work surface for bread dough.  I've also previously bought an 8" cast iron pan, bun pan, dough scrapers, and oven and food thermometers.  So, not including ingredients, I've spent just about 100 bucks on these items specifically related to my new breadmaking hobby.  Not too bad, actually, I expected more.  I wonder what I'll think I need next?  

This weekend I'll be making no bread, for a change.  At least I'm not planning on it.  We have baguette, buns and sandwich bread so my work is done for the moment.

Of course, with new buns made there is another double smash burger pic after the break!  ;)

And no, we don't have these quite as much as it may seem, but we had to test the new buns out!

My Breadmaking Beginnings

So much for moderation, I've been baking some kind of bread every weekend recently.  We had the last baguette out of the freezer with dinner last night and, being a bit more removed from making them, they actually are really good so I will be making them again next.  Baguette is the bread we normally bought more than any other bread.  This will be the first good bread I'll be making for a second time.

I started my breadmaking late last fall with a couple different, simple no-knead recipes.  Quick and easy seemed a good way to start.  This is the first recipe I tried, Peasant bread, but if I do it again I think I'll try this version from King Arthur Baking Company, where I got all the rest of my bread recipes ever since.  The second recipe  I made was also a no-knead, but crusty and baked in a Dutch oven.  Better than the first, but still kind of a gummy texture.  Not sure why, but I have no pictures of these.

Plain White Sandwich Bread

The next recipe I tried was called 'the easiest loaf of bread you'll ever make,' so, of course, I tried it.  It was good, but I wanted better.  It's the first picture on this post from earlier this month.  After that my sweet tooth got the better of me and I tried another no-knead, a brioche swirled with jam.  The second picture from that same post.  The sweetness and swirl of jam covered up any gumminess of the no-knead bread and this loaf did not last long.

After that, I veered away from regular bread again and made cornbread muffins.  We had all the ingredients and they turned out very good.  Again, no pictures taken, but they're just corn muffins.

Next recipe was for baguette, and turned out to be the best thing I'd made so far, and probably since.  You can read more about what I wrote about that here.  Having done it once now, I'm hoping to improve on that first attempt this weekend with both technique and having a proper pan for the boiling water.

Cheesy No Knead Burger Buns

So, let's see, that's up to 6 different breads I'd made so far.  And I'm not counting the pizza crust my wife and I made together.  I'll be trying different pizza crust recipes in the future, but that's a different category.  On with the breads.

Having enjoyed the baguette so much, my wife asked that I make a sandwich bread.  We had sandwich ingredients but didn't have any sandwich bread at the time, so basically I was asked to either make one or buy one.  Well, I had all-purpose and bread flour, and there's not as many recipes out there for white bread as there is for wheat bread, and many of them called for dry milk so my choices were limited.  I wound up trying this recipe and it was okay, maybe a bit more dense than I'd like, but good.  Picture number one on this post for the 7th made bread.  I want to try a different sandwich bread recipe next time but haven't found it yet.  I may end up buying wheat flour, and that would be good, too.

That same weekend I made a no-knead cheesy burger bun recipe that had caught my eye.  The recipe offered a choice of cheeses, powder or finely shredded, and I went with finely shredded parmesan.  Picture number 2 here, of the number 8 bread.  These were good buns and you couldn't really tell they were no-knead, but a lot of flavor.  They really rose more then I expected, too, up and over the bun pan to look like muffins.  We had them with my homemade smash burgers and it was a lot of flavors competing with each other, so while I know I will make buns again I will be trying a different recipe.

Pan de Cristal (Glass Bread)

Then another bread caught my attention that I wanted to try, Pan de Cristal, or glass bread.  It looked like a nice outer crust but had very large air bubbles inside that I found very interesting.  And the recipe was a bit of a surprise, it's a 100% hydration bread, 500g water to 500g bread flour.  I read up on it and watched the videos, but actually found it easy to make and, again, was surprised at how much it rose for me compared to the recipe pictures and video.  Too well done and it wasn't in the oven as long as it was called for, but I've ordered an oven thermometer to check that and will go more by what I see than what the recipes say in the future.  But this is a good, novel snack bread, maybe good as part of a charcuterie board or something but not for everyday.  Bread 9, last picture here.

And that'll be the last of counting them, I think.  I also think I'm kind of good at this breadmaking thing, so far anyway.  Eventually I expect I may tire of trying so many different things just for the sake of it, but I also expect I'll be making the good ones consistently.  

Bonus double smash burger pic after the break!

Bake & Kate

I want to thank everyone for their kind comments on my baguette, including my wife who has been very encouraging.  We had some more last night and yes, it is pretty good if I say so myself.  But there's always room for improvement.  I've made baguette once now so will know better how to do things the second time around.  And I've ordered an 8 inch cast iron pan for the purpose of adding boiling water when I cook baguette again or other breads that call for it.  Just the latest baking purchase, aside from more expensive flour, different yeast and other ingredients, I've gotten new liquid measuring cups, dough scrapers, a bun pan and now the cast iron pan.  I'll have to bake more just to get back what I've spent so far!  Not sure if I'll bake anything this weekend, but we are out of buns so that is planned to be next.

I have no plans for this to turn into a baking blog, but I write about what I enjoy so you can expect more.  At least until I get tired of it, but I don't see that happening soon.  Everything in moderation.

My lovely wife Kate is 29 again today, though she hates having a birthday in January.  I can see why, we got 1.7 inches of snow early today for our first snow in 27 days.  Just her luck, I guess.  We went out and celebrated with friends last weekend, and she opened her present a couple days ago, so just a quiet night in tonight with her birthday wine.  Happy birthday, Kate. 🧡

I guess I thought I had more to say, but we have no real limits around here.  Cheers!

Making Baguette

The process went well, I thought, but I had too much flour on the board for the last part.  It called for 24-28 minutes of baking, and as called for I put 1.5 cups of boiling water in a pan beneath.  I safely set the timer for 20 minutes and when I checked them I was surprised at how dark they were, with the middle of the back one almost burnt, so I took them out.  They are done but actually not overdone, so I'm wondering if the steam is what darkened the crust, not sure.  They are all cool by now and two of them are already in the freezer, ready to eat even from frozen with a few minutes in the oven.  The larger, darkest one was left out to sample and make something with later.  The texture is good though I'd like to see larger bubbles, and you can taste the sourdough especially in the crust.  Overall, a good first try, I think.  And I will be doing this again in the future.  Recipe here.

I don't have any pictures of actually making the bread until the last stages, but I can put those after the break.

January This-And-Thats

Okay, it's high time I finally break the 2023 seal here on the blog.  Busy, didn't feel like it, not much to say, pick what you want, all are true to some extent.  Winter hit us hard and early this season, so there is that, too.  What matters is I'm here, now, writing.  So let's see if I have anything to say, shall we?

• Covid sucked, and right before Christmas.  It was a really miserable time, but my wife reminded me of how bad it could be and actually was for me the first time around back in 2020.  I seemed to have forgotten, or blocked it out.  So while very bad this time, yes, that was very much worse and serious.  I could breathe this time whereas last time just breathing was laborious for quite some time.  Yes, don't wish that upon anyone.  (This one, however...  ;))
• 
  I had last tested positive the Wednesday before Christmas, and had already decided it was just too close in time to see my Mom on Saturday.  Instead, I went down to see her after work on the following Tuesday to watch the late-starting Badger bowl game.  We enjoyed some barbecue takeout and enjoyed watching the game and other videos while talking until almost 2 in the morning.  I got a little tipsy but had a great time, and I think she did, too.  Better than Christmas any day.
• New Years Eve, as I mentioned last post, was spent getting all cleaned and dressed up for a fancy dinner out with friends.  It was a good time, then a quiet night in after that.  My wife's birthday is coming up fast, so we'll be doing something for her soon.
• Since this last bout of Covid I've gotten out of the habit of jumping on the treadmill after work every day.  I was doing 15 minutes or more at 3 mph at the time, now I've been on it just a couple times in the last week for about 10 minutes each time, I think for two reasons.  One, my knees haven't been the best lately, been pretty sore, especially since I was on my feet much more than normal one day recently and I do need to upgrade my leg pillow for sleeping.  And two, I have to start over with the balance issues I've had with walking on the treadmill.  Even though it got better the more I used it, it's never gone away.  I think I've said before, like slipping on a rug on ice!
• 
  I have a bunch of albums that I haven't even looked at in a long time, let alone played.  I keep saving leads on where I could sell them but I never follow up on it.  Is it laziness or not wanting to let go?
• I've been interested in making homemade bread for a while now, and I've finally started.  First with simple, no-knead recipes and working on getting to make what I want confidently.  I thought I took pictures of the earlier ones, but I only have pictures of my last two breads here.  They both tasted good, but my technique still needs improvement.  We have a stand mixer to help with the recipes that are needing kneading (I couldn't resist!).  I've also ordered a bun pan so I will make buns for when we make my 'famous' homemade smashburgers, but this weekend I will attempt to make baguette.  

I hope the new year is treating everyone well.  Overall, it's just a continuation of the same thing, isn't it?  But that's not a good attitude, they tell me.  Have I become more cynical with age?  I guess it's almost impossible not to.  Oh well, have a great week, everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving 2022

I'd been wanting to have a fire since we got the load of wood a few weeks ago.  I had all the wood splinters and small bark pieces that were swept up and put in the firepit and so have kept the lid on to keep that as dry as possible until I could burn it up.  Yesterday was my first good opportunity with the next day off and agreeable weather and wind.

It gets dark early now, sunset was at 4:27, so I got a start shortly after getting off work at 3.  I wasn't planning on spending the whole evening out there, just a good, small fire to burn stuff up, including the small stick pile that was out front.  I had the idea to film it and see what I could do with it, and only realized later as I was reviewing the footage that I did pretty much the same thing last year.  Not the first time I've repeated myself here, I'm sure.

Last year's video was clips of the evening, so since I had the footage already here's the first half hour of last night's firepit compressed into about 2 1/2 minutes.  Watch it or not, I had fun, and what I was watching on my phone was the end of a very close Badgers basketball game - they won :)  

Not much happening around here for the holiday, just a welcome break from work for 4 days.  Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone.

Happy Halloween 2022, and Wood

I'm not really a holiday person but for taking advantage of the occasional paid days off work, but of all the holidays I like Halloween the best.  It has the most fun imagery and characters, with the least apparent religious connections.

I wore the same mask as I did last year since these are still Covid times, and again it went over pretty well with the few trick or treaters that came by.  We had over 400 pieces of candy to hand out, after our own nibbling the last few days.  We waited to get candy so we wouldn't get into it, but we buy the candy we like so what else would happen?  We expected lots more kids to come by this year than last, but that was far from the case as we only got a dozen or so.  Leftover candy will go in the freezer.

I had bought a pumpkin for the first time in maybe 20 years, and carved it with the classic jack-o-lantern face.  And I used a sharp kitchen knife, just as I used when I was a kid, and I still have all my fingers.  Later, after I bought this one, I saw the lumpy gray ones for sale that you don't normally see.  I like the look of them, maybe a bit spookier, so next year I'm going to have to keep an eye out and get one of those if I can.

And for the 5th year in a row (skipping 2020) I put the mummy in the front corner windows.  I kind of like it, and it's a good decoration for a few hours while the kids come around.  At the same time I bought the mummy I bought a couple window cling film decorations but it's always been too cold to try to put them on the door windows in years past, but the weather was very good for Halloween this year so I finally got them out and put them on the front storm door.  It was only 2019 when we had several inches of snow for the holiday and the other years we've been colder than what we've seen this year so far.  And our immediate forecast is rather favorable, too.

Favorable enough weather for weekend fires for some time yet.  Fresh load of firewood after the break!

Last Tiger Lily, Ramp Project

I did this last year, too, but I'd been watching the last tiger lily to see if it would open, and happily it did.  There are plenty of fall-blooming flowers but tiger lilies aren't really one of them.  Still, this last, little lily was able to complete its lifespan before the inevitable.  

Today is cool, windy and it rained a little this afternoon, thus all the leaves that have freshly fallen.  Cool and wet enough after work that I took my half-hour after-work walk on the treadmill for the first time.  I started at 1.6 mph, quickly going up to 1.8 and by the time I was done, 2 mph.  Still a little awkward, but I think that will get better the more I do it.

I talked to neighbor Jane, and she says she was told they probably won't remove the stump until this time next year, so she found it odd they marked the utilities already.  But it is municipal work, meaning they keep their crews busy.  Whether it's leaf pickup, yard waste pickup, tree trimming, plowing snow or whatever else they have to do, if there's not one task to keep them busy enough then they move on to the next, and weather decides a lot.  It doesn't really matter to me how long it takes, I'm just watching the process.

My Mom moved closer recently, back to the town we lived in for my formative years.  A smaller place, one level, and less than half the drive I had before to see her in Iowa.  It sounds like she's been reconnecting with many old friends, relatives and acquaintances, so she's had lots of company already and moving day was just last week.  I was down there to see the place and help her with a few things last weekend, and there is still more to do.

I mentioned her new place is one level, and is pretty much zero entry but for a step down into the garage.  She's 75 so doesn't move around quite as she used to and asked me if I could build her a ramp.  I agreed, of course, so took a few measurements and I've been planning the build.  This week I'll have to get a few pieces of wood and some hardware, otherwise I have most of the wood and tools ready to go.  A miserable afternoon and my counterpart has been out so far this week so work has me a bit frazzled and so I haven't gotten everything I need yet, but surely before Friday so I can get started building that day or Saturday.  Best case scenario, I get it fully built on Saturday and delivered Sunday morning, but we'll see how it goes.  It's only 6 1/2 inches, but a ramp - with handrails - will make it so much easier and safer for her.  She'd asked me to do projects for her when I was much younger and I'd normally avoid it if I didn't know how to do it.  Now, I'm older, wiser, have a bitchin' set of tools and the internet.  I'm looking forward to building this for her and, of course, I'm sure I'll share it here.

Early October This-And-Thats

It's jacket weather today, light jacket.  The air becomes crisp though the sun shines.  There's a bit of a breeze, but that's supposed to drop off in a couple hours.  I'm counting on it as I'm planning on a fire and having a friend over.

• Markings showed up around the tree stump in front of neighbor Jane's.  I'm not sure exactly what the colors mean, but interesting how they're so close to the stump.  I hope the stump-grinding crew is careful.
• The artificial intelligence that creates 'art' from your input had made the news a couple weeks ago.  I finally played around with it last night, and it's pretty neat but I want to play around with it more and get more creative with my input.  You have to create an account, but you can use your google account.  Check it out here.  If I get it to create something really cool or unusual I'll share it here sometime.
• I'd kept forgetting to mention it, but the blog emails finally stopped going out around the beginning of August.  I know many who read via the emails may not make the effort to come to the site to read, but I hope they do.  I never found a similar service for free, but TinyLetter is an interesting option.  It's more like a newsletter you sign up for, so I'd have to create that.  Maybe paste the blog into it or, more likely, send one out once a month or so with links to my posts.  Everything and nothing is on the table still, it depends on the effort I want to put forth.
• 
  I found poop in the back yard again today, and I don't have the trail cam back there.  I had it back there for a few weeks and all it caught was a whole lot of squirrel activity, no pooper.  Right now, it's on neighbor Jane's fence across from the back door, close to the ground.  My thought was to see what could be coming into the back yard down the driveway side, plus security for the garage and back door.  I've not checked those images and video yet.
• We had rain on 8 weekends in a row until last weekend.  Not washouts, but at some point every weekend.  And the porch roof started to leak a bit onto one of the new ceiling tiles.  I do have extra tiles but a little white spray paint will probably fix it fine, I did that to some of the old tiles more than once.  Several years ago I got up there and sprayed some of that flex seal stuff where the porch roof meets the house.  The porch is not the house, certainly not built to code, and will get replaced someday so we don't want to spend much, if any, money fixing it up.  So I crawled up the ladder a few days ago and gave it another good coat of flex seal.  Hopefully that will last a few more years now.
• The Green Bay Packers play in London on Sunday morning, 8:30 a.m. our time so I think 2:30 p.m. there?  The last NFL team to play a game internationally because they are one of the smallest markets so didn't give up a home game before and no other team would give up their home game against the Packers because their fans could fill any stadium ($).  Being one of the most popular teams, Packer fans travel well and are located all over the place, here and the world.  My wife is planning a fancy breakfast for us for the game and I'm really looking forward to it.  There's a lot I should get done later that Sunday, but I'm just going to enjoy the unusual morning game and we'll just have to see what happens.

I've been thinking lately that I want to post less more often.  Less words and topics in one post, maybe.  It's a thought, anyway.  Have a good weekend, everyone.

Hasn't that wind died down yet?

Rambling and New Stuff

Things have seemed a little busy around here recently.  A couple larger purchases and gearing up for the end of the fiscal year at work.  Football has begun so I have games I like to watch every weekend, and some weekdays.  Outside chores are beckoning as the weather continues to cool and this coming month will be time to get a good start, but really the weather will dictate and it's still too early for much yet.

Out in the back yard the woodpile is getting smaller, (not quickly but I hope to get another load delivered before the end of October), the walnuts are piling up in the corner and their litter is all over the yard thanks to the squirrels.  I don't have the count handy right now, but it's not turned out to be so many as I thought it would be.

There is nothing to report on the stump in front of neighbor Jane's, but I still think they may get it removed yet this year.  I actually used the city website to report a couple private property trees in the area that made the sidewalks impassable, and on our walk yesterday we noticed both trees had been trimmed.  I'm tall, so still have to watch out in some areas where we walk, but these two were pretty bad and worth reporting.

Four years already?  It seems that every 4 years I have to get a new computer, or at least since 2014 now.  Two or three months ago we had a very short power outage, just a few seconds, three separate times in about as many days.  Each time the computer was on and it took a lot of time for it to come back to life.  The last time it wouldn't even turn on for hours after.  This prompted me to finally buy an uninterrupted power supply, and one just a bit bigger than what I need.  Now if the power goes out the computer and monitors will run off the battery for 45 minutes to an hour, but I have it set to shut down 5 minutes after the power goes out and doesn't come back on.  Anyway, I sat down one day and hit the space bar to wake it up.  The screen came on for half a second then it was off.  The computer just shut off abruptly.  Again I went through the process of watching the computer piece itself together after not shutting down properly.  I believe I ordered another computer with a day or two of that incident.  I went through that tedious new computer setup process last weekend and am now humming along again.

Another big purchase was a treadmill so we can continue to walk when winter comes and it gets much easier to be sedentary.  My wife has used it a few times so far, even for jogging.  I've tried it a few times and I need to get used to it.  The first time I tried really threw my equilibrium off, but that did get better on the next short tries.  Still, I prefer to walk outdoors so will mostly continue those daily walks until weather forces me in.

So now we have two pieces of exercise equipment in the basement, side by side so we can both exercise at the same time.  For regular reader's perspective, from this angle the washer and dryer are behind and the cat drawer and stairs are on the left.  This quarter of the basement has, from left to right, the furnace, my basement workbench, the chest freezer and the kitchen gadget/cookware overflow shelf.  Also the brightest part of the basement, for sure on sunny days.  No, not a finished basement, but still good, useful space.

I wanted to get some of this written before the weekend gets here as I think we may be busy again.  Hopefully a few fires in the near future, I want to get the wood down to next to nothing before ordering more, and it usually gets here within days when ordered.  It hasn't been unusual in recent years to enjoy a fire right up to the winter solstice, and the autumnal equinox just happened recently so that helps my perspective - plenty of time for fires yet.

Cheers, everyone.  Have a great upcoming weekend and may all your sports teams win.  (Mine, too!)

Vacation Wrap-up

 I still have the weekend but my vacation is essentially over.  All my vacation projects have been completed and I find myself today a bit bored.  I went for a drive, grabbed some food at a drive-through and parked by a lake to eat.  Then I went to a small mom and pop style tavern only to find it strangely closed, so I just came back home.  It's a beautiful day out, but I'm a bit sore so will wait for my wife to finish her workday then we can take a nice walk.

I'm glad I did the power washing early due to the rains that came after and the drying time needed before sealing the back steps.  I was mostly idle on Sunday and Monday due to that rain, and we did get some water in the basement for the first time in a couple years.  We didn't pick up the rugs in time so some got a bit wet, but as of yesterday everything was dry again and back to normal.  I had put the trail camera down there to see if the cats use the walkway so they don't have to step on the floor but it failed to capture the cats over several days but for a couple times when they walked right up to the camera.  Not sure why, and I don't see anything in the settings to fix that.  I may have to try again later from a different angle, but now I have the trail camera back outside on the fence by the wood rack facing the gardens.  I found poop back there again and want to find out what is doing that.

On Tuesday I edged all our concrete.  It had been a few years since I did it last and it was due.  I think a combination of the concrete sinking over the years and the sod rising from mulched grass has caused the front grass to be quite higher than the walk.  And I don't believe I've ever edged the curb side of the terrace before but you can see how much it was covering the curb.  It took about 16 five gallon buckets over 3 trips to the dump as it was just too much sod to compost here.  It was a bit of work, but it is very satisfying to see it all cleaned up and several inches of space reclaimed.

Wednesday was spent sealing the driveway seams in front of the garage.  I think water gets under it and when it freezes in the winter it makes one corner of a slab rise in front of the garage so hopefully this will help.  More of these seams will need to be redone in the future but I'll be looking into a different method.  I just did this area again to use up the crack filler left over from several years ago.  Other than that, just a few errands, can't remember what else so probably nothing.

By Thursday the wooden steps were dry enough to get sealed.  It was supposed to be mostly or partly cloudy out, perfect for the job, but I wanted to get an early start but not too early for the morning dew to evaporate.  Well, I overslept a bit so got a late morning start, then the water sealer I had must have been old as it had a cottage cheese consistency.  So I ran out to get more and in my haste got a slightly different version than I've used before - and learned that 'clear' and 'transparent' are two very different things.  I accepted my mistake and forged ahead, and it turns out it made the steps look pretty good.  Before the wood was a light gray but now, well, what do you think?  I'm calling it a happy accident.

So, back to today.  I guess today is turning out to be a pretty lazy day for me, and that's okay.  Soon here my wife and I will go on probably a 30 minute walk.  Later we're having Italian beef sandwiches for dinner (that's been smelling really good in the slow cooker all day!) but just a quiet night in.  Tomorrow we have a few things lined up but other than that I think I'm done with my vacation chore list and will just relax and try not to think about the shitstorm that I know will be waiting for me on Monday morning.

Walnut count:  My yard ~460, Dave's yard ~1320.  I expected these numbers to be higher by now, but we're not done yet.

Latest LIVE Listening Pleasure 40 - ZZ Top

I can't remember the last time I bought a ticket and saw a band play live, but it may have been Alice Cooper in July 2019.  That's over 3 years ago.  Now, I've not gone out to see bands as much the last several years (as I've been getting older), then the pandemic kept me away even when shows still happened during the last few years, until now.  ZZ Top has been around since 1969 so time is running out, for them and many of the great bands that have been the soundtrack to our lives.

I was almost late as I was thinking it started at 9 p.m. but it actually started at 8, so the first band was playing when I got there.  I jumped in line right away to get a t-shirt, and by the time I got to my seat the opening band was pretty much done.  That's okay, I couldn't tell you the name of the band now without looking it up.  The show, at the Sylvee here in Madison, was not sold out, but was a decent size crowd even with much of the standing room upstairs pretty empty.  And the demographics were similar to Alice Cooper, fans from 8 to 80 (or so).  The changeover between bands was pretty quick as ZZ Top has a pretty simple stage setup, and they started playing right about 9 o'clock.

ZZ Top - I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide

Their set was pretty efficient, and the same 16 songs they've been playing for at least the last few shows.  A lot of catchy tunes from the first album through their 80's heyday hits and more.  (My video for Sharp Dressed Man & Legs is here.)  

ZZ Top - Tube Snake Boogie

It was an expensive evening, for sure, but I'm still glad I went to see another band that I haven't seen yet and may not get another chance.  They played for about 80 minutes, whereas I would expect a bit more from a headliner normally, but again, they've been around for quite some time.  The show was tight, efficient, and pretty much no-frills as I would expect from ZZ Top.  I left halfway through their last song, La Grange, so I didn't get to see the confetti (or what ever was in the tubes behind the speakers) go off for the finale.  I had to park on the top floor of the ramp and wanted to beat the rush rather than wait in line to leave.  Also, I did have to work early in the morning, after all.   But overall, a good night and I'm glad I went.  Hopefully more shows will come through town soon that I'll want to see. 

Previous LLP Posts:

LLP 1 - Pain
LLP 2 - Nightwish
LLP 3 - Die Antwoord
LLP 4 - Pain part 2
LLP 5 - Andrew Bird LIVE
LLP 6 - Nightwish part 2
LLP 7 - Paramore
LLP 8 - Newsted
LLP 9 - U.D.O. LIVE
LLP 10 - Nightwish Imaginaerum Movie
LLP 11 - Kiss
LLP 12 - Rick Springfield
LLP 13 - Hyrax
LLP 14 - In This Moment
LLP 15 - Faster Pussycat LIVE
LLP 16 - Sebastian Bach
LLP 17 - Cradle Of Thorns
LLP 18 - Amaranthe
LLP 19 - Lindemann
LLP 20 - Halestorm
LLP 21 - Garbage LIVE
LLP 22 - Arcade
LLP 23 - Nightwish LIVE
LLP 24 - Ace Frehley
LLP 25 - Darkc3ll
LLP 26 - Dementia
LLP 27 - Rammstein
LLP 28 - Marilyn Manson LIVE
LLP 29 - The Harp Twins LIVE
LLP 30 - Diamante
LLP 31 - Steel Panther LIVE
LLP 32 - Scum Of The Earth

LLP 33 - Marty Friedman LIVE
LLP 34 - Buckethead LIVE
LLP 35 - Alice Cooper LIVE
LLP 36 - Poppy

LLP 37 - Code Orange

LLP 38 - Wargasm UK

LLP 39 - The Warning

LLP 40 - ZZ Top - LIVE

Mini-Vacation This-And-Thats

A few weeks ago my counterpart at work took 3 of 4 weeks off, so I took Thursday and Friday off this week as a little reward for myself and to get me to my full week vacation coming up in September.  Only a couple days, but I've been able to get a few things done that I've been wanting to do and now I have several things I'd been wanting to share plus a few new things.  So it's time again to start typing and see if I remember it all.

• A couple years ago I shared this site as I found it interesting to compare the size of different parts of the world since maps can skew things quite a bit.  I've since found a similar site here that is a bit easier to use but includes water area in the outlines.  Still, I wanted to share as a follow up to this post.
• 
  I do remember reading something about those butterfly signs pictured last post but I haven't been able to find anything on them online.  I'm thinking they're a promotion for Olbrich Gardens' Blooming Butterflies event in the Bolz Conservatory this summer, just ended.  I've also seen them as photo-ops for kids spreading their arms while standing in front.  I like them, we should keep them around like some of the painted cows around Madison.
• A year or two ago we got a new grill, and while I have no complaints about the grill itself the wheels were a bother, too small and made it rather difficult and noisy to move the grill around.  I finally bought better wheels online and spent a some time getting it done.  Not a straightforward procedure as I had to use the existing screwholes to fasten a wood base.  I expected a bit more to work with when I turned it over, but where there's a will there's a way.  Once I got wood pieces fastened on I screwed on plywood that I could then screw the new wheels onto.  Not ideal, but more than sturdy, will last at least as long as the grill does, and moving the grill is so much easier and quieter now.  In the picture you can see the wheel size comparison.
• 
  I'm finally committed, for the first time since 2019, to go out and experience live music.  There was just Atwoodfest with several bands on our visit, but this is a live big rock band in a music venue that I paid (a lot of) money to go see.  Legacy band ZZ Top will be here in a week and a half and I got one of the few seats at the Sylvee to enjoy the experience.  It's been just a matter of time until I broke the seal; I considered The Melvins who were in town a bit ago and Anvil just a couple weeks ago.  I didn't pull the trigger for either of those, but like I felt when I bought Alice Cooper tickets, this may be my last chance to see ZZ Top.  Dusty passed recently and who's to say how long Billy and Frank can continue.  The inevitable happens to us all, rock stars included.  I'm planning on going alone, but it's a weeknight so will have to work in the morning, too.
• 
  The Packers played their first preseason game last night.  It was sloppy and they lost, but about par for the course for a first preseason game.  Good to watch and know that football is coming, but it also means summer is coming to a close.  It won't be long until autumnal signs will start appearing, and our recent cooler temperature trend is too soon but may also be a sign.  Like in the last bullet point, the passing of time is inevitable.
• I still have the weekend here then back to work for another month until my fall vacation.  I'm not sure what my main project will be for that time, but if nothing else I have some driveway cracks to seal, windows to wash, and may even do the edging along the walks.  For now, I'm about to go out to lunch with a friend, then hopefully get a good walk in with my wife and then just normal weekend chores left to do.  Should be a relaxing time, overall, hope yours will be, too.

I've been forgetting to put the walnut count at the end of my posts like I wanted.  I thought it might be fun this year as I believe it's going to be a lot.  For perspective, I'll have to get a picture soon of the tree overhang so you can see the section of walnut trees overhanging the back yard.  So far they're just starting to fall still, but as I sat by the fire Thursday night and looked up before the darkness came, I wondered if I should put on my old hard hat.

Walnut count: 205

Here, what appears to be an F-35 turns over the neighborhood to come in to land.  Pictures just don't do justice to how close they are in person.

*Edit later in the afternoon.  I went back and looked at the series of jet pictures, and you can see it get bigger as it got closer to overhead.  Posted after the break!