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Post by Phalon on Mar 21, 2008 7:08:54 GMT -6
We are under a Winter Storm Watch; eight inches of snow is predicted to fall between this afternoon and tomorrow morning.
So much for it being the second day of spring.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 21, 2008 11:34:10 GMT -6
Our "winter" storm in spring came early; it started at just before 10 o'clock, we've already got about six inches of snow, and it's still coming down hard.
About a week ago, I would have said, "Bring it on!", but after my little taste of spring, I'm kind of disappointed.
I think I'll make the most of it, though. Tomorrow's forecast involves some cross-country skiing, I believe.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 21, 2008 19:46:11 GMT -6
Hubs got out the yard stick to measure it, which I thought was rather ambitiously optimistic, (snicker), but there it was - a full ten inches.
And it's still snowing.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 23, 2008 7:45:55 GMT -6
Happy Easter, Everyone!
It's a good thing this morning's egg-hunt was planned for inside; we ended up with thirteen inches of snow.
Off to go bite the ears off a chocolate bunny, make deviled eggs, and find out if I boiled them right yesterday. Underdone, or overdone - what will be contained within? My hard-boiled eggs are like a box of Cracker Jack....there's always a surprise inside.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 23, 2008 19:30:19 GMT -6
Mom told me she lets the water come to a boil and boil for about a minute or so, and then she turns the eggs off and leaves them for 20 minutes before shelling them. I usually let them come to a boil and then set the timer for about 15 minutes. I tend to get a green edge to the yellow yolk. I'm gonna try Mom's trick the next time I boil eggs.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 23, 2008 22:08:27 GMT -6
I usually boil them for 10-12 minutes, (more if I forget when exactly I put them in, which is almost nev....often.). Mine have that greenish outer yolk layer too. I rather have them overdone than underdone though, but they mix up a nice yellow color for egg salad or deviled eggs. And if not, I just add more mustard to make it more yellow, or put enough pickle relish in so that no one notices the green-tinge from the yolks.
And the moon tonight....it looks like a perfectly cooked hard-boiled egg yolk. Big, round and yellow....with a slightly greenish cast to it.
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Post by katina2nd on Mar 24, 2008 5:52:52 GMT -6
Sheesh didn't know there was such an art to boiling eggs, I usually just drop em in the water as it's starting to warm, bring it to the boil and take em out when I reckon they're ready, all done through guesswork, and they're always pretty much spot on, well nearly always. Hope everyone had a great Easter.
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Post by Siren on Mar 24, 2008 17:49:27 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Mar 25, 2008 15:37:27 GMT -6
You are a much better guesser than I, Katina; I've always been bad at guessing games.
That's the thing about a boiled egg - you can't see what you're cooking. I like to prod, and poke, move it around a little, and peek in the pan or oven to see what if it's doing what it's supposed to. Can't do that with an egg in its shell....unless you want it out of it's shell, and that's not all it's cracked up to be.
BOLL, Siren! Or should I say BOIL, (burst out in laughter). You sound a bit eggsasperated there, with your mention of Pete’s sake. ‘Tis good to know though, that the green yolk phenomenon is not contained only to my kitchen, but to egg-boilers everywhere. And there is a scientific reason…which does not involve me posing as a mad scientist madly mixing lethal ingredients, I might add.
But sulfurry little creatures are running rampant inside my eggs. I don’t know if I should take comfort in that or not. I think I liked it better when I thought it was my own fault they turned green.
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Post by Siren on Mar 26, 2008 20:14:00 GMT -6
A sure sign of spring - I spotted a tulip tree, just starting to bloom. Those are sooo pretty. I need to check my neighbor's across the street. It would be just like me to not notice that it's blooming.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 27, 2008 23:57:44 GMT -6
What a sloppy mess we've had today; I think we ran the full gamut of percipatations....rain, freezing rain, sleet, and now we've got about an inch of snow. But I saw as I made the mad dash from car to front door, that my daffodils have started sprouting!
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Post by Phalon on Mar 28, 2008 7:22:20 GMT -6
Wow! The sun is shining bright this morning, and the snow and ice covered branches of trees and shrubs sparkle with it. It looks like everything's been strung with thousands of little white Christmas lights. An absolutely beautiful sight this morning.
Watching me try to get through the layers of frozen snow and ice just to get into my car, and then try to chisel the stuff off the windows....a not-so-pretty sight at all.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 30, 2008 7:23:25 GMT -6
Weatherforecaster: It's been a long winter, and it looks like it's not over yet.
Hubs: Why do people live here?
Me: For the change of seasons.
Hubs: What change? It's winter. It's always been winter, hasn't it? I can't remember anything else.
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Mar 30, 2008 10:55:04 GMT -6
Wanna switch? I could hear a similar conversation.
"Why do people live here?"
"Because of the weather."
"What weather? It's hot all the time."
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Post by moonglum on Mar 30, 2008 12:18:19 GMT -6
Woa, where did this day come from. It's been glorious. Temperature got well into double figures, 22c at it's highest. I managed to move some seeds out to the greenhouse, just hope we dont have another frost!
"Why do people live here?"
"Because it's wet."
"Yeah, but why?"
"Shut up, and enjoy the wet."
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Post by Phalon on Mar 30, 2008 22:37:42 GMT -6
LMAO, you two. I guess complaining about the weather where one lives is a universal language with only different dialects.
And it seems like some of Scrappy's heat, and Moonglum's wet has come this way. It's supposed to be sixty tomorrow!!!! With heavy rain.
Shut up, Phalon, and enjoy the wet while it's not too cold.
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 1, 2008 16:52:14 GMT -6
I so hate thunder storm/tornado season ... Lightning struck just outside the house last night and my bedroom TV died. I'm looking on the bright side. I no longer have to buy a converter box for 2009 for that one, I'll just get a new TV with one built in. And that TV is _at least_ 20 years old, so thankfully it was the one to die and not my new TV that's less than 5 years old. It is HD ready, so I'll still need a converter box for it.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 2, 2008 7:58:24 GMT -6
We've already got one of those converter box thingies. Our cable company required it last fall; they switched over already, and gave them their customers.
No lightning strikes here, but I did hear thunder the other day. Two days of rain, and now the wet has turned stiff again. I had to scrape heavy frost from the windshield this morning, and am looking forward to putting the scraper away for the season.
Spring has not quite sprung yet, but there are more signs now than last week. My bird feeder is finally busy; I've had to fill it twice since last Monday! At work, the vernal witch hazel is blooming its bright yellow spidery flowers, and the pussywillows are doing their pussywillow thing. I tried to check mine yesterday evening, standing on the very edge of the ravine. I saw them! White and furry oh-so-soft. I'd like to cut some branches to bring into the house, but it'd be a miracle if I could get to them; I never learned to walk on water. The ravine this time of year is a small lake. Or swamp. And damn, I left my muck boots at work.
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Post by Siren on Apr 2, 2008 8:42:50 GMT -6
I have never seen pussywillow, but have read about it in books. You can use the branches in fresh-cut arrangements, right? I'd like to see that. And bittersweet - I'd like to see that, too. I read about that in "Joy In The Morning" by Betty Smith. Have you read that one, Gams? What a great book! I've read it many times.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 4, 2008 5:58:47 GMT -6
I haven't, Siren, but I just added "Joy in the Morning" to my Wanna-Read-and-One-Day-Just-May-Get-Around-to-it Book List.
You've never seen pussywillows? Wow! I guess I've always just assumed they grow everywhere, like weeds. Actually, that's what they are considered here - a weedy shrub that most people think of as a nuisance, because they are "too common" and make a heavy thicket in any wet area. Most of the time they look ratty; not a pretty plant at all. But in spring! Their fuzzy catkins are one of those harborers of the season that everyone loves.
Cut branches bring a bit of spring inside; with water or without. I just pitched a bunch I've had in a vase for about three years, left forgotten behind a bust of Sapho, only occasionally dusted, but mostly left for my indoor dust bunny habitat.
But I love pussywillows. It's funny sometimes, I think, what people think as a plant that's too common to merit attention. I saw in a book once of gardens in England, a full page picture of an "exotic plant" imported from the U.S.. It was poke weed!!!
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Post by Phalon on Apr 4, 2008 21:57:54 GMT -6
This has been bugging me all day; weird, but true. If I am going to post more than a change-of-letter in the morning, I should probably make sure I have enough time to change any errors made while posting before I rush out the door.
H-A-R-B-I-N-G-E-R of Spring. Not a harborer of spring. What would that be? I suppose there could be such a thing as a harborer of spring: something which provides shelter from all the rain, maybe, and that would most certainly be a welcome thing.
Harbinger is the word I wanted, though. I think. Right? Har-binger: an all-nighter of silly laughs. Get it? Har, har! On the other hand, a harborer would be a night without laughs, possibly a harboring date.
I suppose if I am going to post more than a change-of-letter here at night, I should probably make sure I have enough time to change any silly posts before I rush off to bed.
The time of day doesn't matter, it seems; it's the thought that counts. Or not.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 6, 2008 7:55:02 GMT -6
Yesterday at work, a cedar waxwing flew into the glass front door. The poor thing sat there stunned and not moving. We scootched it gently out of the path of entering customers, and into one of the gardens. After about twenty minutes of recuperation time, he finally flew away, hopefully clear-headed and fully recovered. Cedar waxwings are one of my favorite birds to watch. Their feathers are so sleek and smooth, and the blending of their body and breast coloration makes me think of liquid; even when ruffled like our poor front door slammer, there's never a feather out of place. Here's a picture and description: www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/backyard_birds/bird_id/cedar_waxwing.aspxI think the last sentence of the description is probably what happened to the little guy at work; feasting on last year's berries, he was flying drunk! "Cedar waxwings occasionally get into trouble when they consume fruits that have fermented on the vine and the birds, disoriented by the alcoholic content, will fly irregularly and sometimes fall victims to cars, glass windows, and predators."
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 6, 2008 18:36:24 GMT -6
Wow! I didn't know that fruit fermented on the vine. I'm surprised you don't see a lot of drunks out in the woods/fields after winter eating all the left over fruit.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 7, 2008 5:59:24 GMT -6
That is because the Divine Intervention people keep them away from the divines.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 10, 2008 5:53:37 GMT -6
Last weekend was glorious; the kind of days that make you think spring, and want to get outside and do something springy. And we did. The yard got a tidying up - mulch blown out of the garden beds over the winter raked back where it belongs, and the old bricks that line the beds which had heaved or shattered with the cycle of freezing and thawing got put back in place or replaced. I got the vegetable garden going with rows of spinach and mustard green seeds. My rambling rose is a little less rambling and has been somewhat tamed onto its trellis again.
Once the weekend was over, thoughts of yard work were over too - it's turned cold and rainy again, and according to the forecasters we may break that snow-fall record this year afterall.
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Post by Siren on Apr 10, 2008 20:36:23 GMT -6
A beautiful-looking day today - lots of sunshine. But terribly windy, the aftermath of the storm that passed through last night, leaving some wrecked homes and flooding. Tornadoes in March. Weird. But that's Oklahoma.
Good luck with the garden, Gams. My sis planted spinach a week or two ago, and says it's looking good. The corn didn't come up, though. And she's afraid it rotted in the ground. She and Jess are making their first attempt at growing broccoli. She says you can see the little heads forming already.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 11, 2008 22:04:24 GMT -6
Psst, Siren.....it's April already, not March.
This time of year is typically tornado season; one touched down a few miles north of the town close to where I work yesterday, but thankfully no damage was reported. Rain, rain all day yesterday….we even closed a half hour early at the nursery. Closing early in spring? Unheard of.
Today started out warmish with a bit of sunshine peeking through the clouds; it almost felt balmy. It hit close to seventy degrees by noon!!! But then another storm, and the temperature quickly dropped - by 20 degrees in a half hour. They're still predicting snow tomorrow, just in time for my visiting Girl Scouts at the nursery. The youngest Girl Scouts, they're little Brownies, and covered in snow will look like powdered-sugar covered cupcakes.
Thanks for the good luck wish for my garden; I need it. When I planted the seeds, LX said, "You don't give up, do you, Mom?" A nearby black walnut with its toxicity to most vegetables, sandy soil, and years of drought have not been kind to the vegetable garden. A downright disappointment the last couple of years. I added a lot of mushroom compost last fall though, and figured I'd just go for the early season spinach and mustard green crops. Those have always done well.....if I can keep the Molezillas from uprooting the seedlings.
I might try some broccoli too, like your sister. We always grew it when I was a kid, and it's one of the few vegetables that my veggie-hater BP actually likes, (she thinks the florets look like little trees and she's got a forest on her plate.). I grew it in the children's garden at work last year. It's pretty easy to grow, though here I don't think the season is long enough for the heads to get real big. No matter - you don't need a lot a forest of floret trees for a six-year-old lumberjack.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 12, 2008 5:59:02 GMT -6
There's nothing like a moist brownie; rich and chocolatey....except for today's sort of Brownie.
Stress, stress, stress - oh, how I hate getting up in front of a group to talk! This isn't too bad though; it's not that kind of stress. I don't mind talking to kids - we have the same mentality. Not to mention, we pretty much see eye-to-eye...because I'm short. But shoot - it's pouring rain, and what am I to do with a bunch of soggy Brownies?
Brownie Back-up Plan is in place; I only hope it'll entertain them for an hour or so.
Welp....I better get off to the masses.
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Post by Siren on Apr 13, 2008 22:57:39 GMT -6
Good luck with those brownies, Gams. Did your brownies contain a few nuts, as they often do?
We have a freeze warning for tonight, which figures, since my roses have never been more beautiful at this time of year. Their foliage is lush and beautiful, and the plentiful new branches are covered in buds just about to open. I hope, hope, hope they don't get bitten by the cold tonight.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 16, 2008 6:31:56 GMT -6
Wow, lush and beautiful foliage! I never realized you were so far ahead of us, Siren; I figured our seasons ran more similar. My roses are still bare - no hint of leaves or flowers except for tiny little buds waiting to grow big and fat. The temperatures are still dipping below freezing most every night, and except for a few perennials poking out of the ground, everything is still looking dormant from a distance. The trees have not even a hint of green yet.
My daffodils are all up, but no flower buds yet. Snowdrops, and chionadoxa, (I always forget the common name - Glory of the Snow, I think), are blooming. I would have crocus blooming - if the damned squirrels hadn't chewed off every last one of the just-ready-to-open buds, and left them laying there for me to grumble over. Grrrrr. Forsythia, I think, will the the next to bloom; they look ready.
Yes, there were nuts in the Brownie mix - good thing, because their instructor is a bit nutty too. It was a fun class. I taught them about the different components that make up soil, how different plants require different soil types, and then we made the perfect soil for growing strawberries. "It's like adding ingrediants to a cake mix", I said as I had them mix together a big batch of compost, a moisture retaining polymer, slow-release fertilizer, and top-soil. I wish I had a picture of the looks on their faces when they had their hands in the mix, stirring it together, and I explained that compost was "worm poop". LMAO. We decided our "soil cake mix" was brownies - Brownies making brownies; it was too good a bad pun to pass up, and they ran with it. We topped each of their pot of brownies off with a layer of mulch frosting, and a strawberry plant on top.
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