Archive for February, 2007
February 15, 2007 – Thingamajig Thursday #61
Here’s this week’s thingamajig entry.
Also check out last week’s answer.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
Move mouse over this sentence to pop-up answer.
February 14, 2007 – Sun Dog!
After the snow yesterday, the day left us with this view of the western horizon with the windblown snow and ice helping the nealry cloudless sunset gain some color. One of the amazing things we noticed soon after we moved here was how far the sun travels along the horizon throughout the year. In the winter, it sets to the southwest of us and in the summer to the northwest, through a very large arc.
February 13, 2007 – Snow Sculptures
Today after some snow and wind, Martin and I went out to play in some of the drifts in the ditch. Upon looking at the photos his comment was “wind is so creative.” Indeed, the snow sculpting is very interesting. Martin had fun until a “cave” we dug out of a drift collapsed on him. Then it wasn’t quite as much fun! Â
The morning was a bit hectic, we had two parents and three kids that needed to be in different places, which isn’t too unusual but the different places kept changing. Emma has been sick for a while and today she took a turn for the worse, so I drove her to Ames through the blowing snow to see the doctor (strep throat), Martin and Claire had two-hour delays and while I was enroute to Ames, Martin’s school was cancelled, but Claire’s was not. Needless to say, I skipped work and it still wasn’t quite enough as Linda had to bring Martin to her lab until I could pick him up.
When I got home the driveway was drifted shut, so I had to get the tractor out to clear the drift. It redrifted again a few hours later, so I had to do it again so Linda could get home. At least it was a day with some beauty!
February 12, 2007 – SXSW Draws Near
Next month, I get a treat – attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas. I’ve always wanted to go and started planning a couple of years ago to go this March. It sounds like a music junkie’s biggest fix. About 1500 bands are selected from thousands that apply. There are about 65 music venues and four nights. That works out to about 6 bands per venue per night. Each band gets an hour on stage to give it their best shot. Lots of small labels/producers/industry types gather, new bands are formed and a good time is had by most. There are music lectures during the day, this year’s speakers are Pete Townsend of the Who, Rickie Lee Jones, Emmy Lou Harris, and David Byrne from the Talking Heads.
Lots of bands trying to break in, along with some established artists like Aqualung, Michelle Shocked, Graham Parker, Cracker, Carrie Rodriguez, Steve Earle, Charlie Sexton, Robyn Hitchcock, Iggy Pop.
But what I’m really looking forward to are the new bands and to be able to hear a blues band followed by a rock band, followed by an alt-country band. More later.
February 11, 2007 – Heatwave!
It nearly reached freezing today! People were actully excited about the warmth today. There was a bit of a spring in everybody’s step. Cars were being washed and vacuumed, folks were walking outdoors with just light fleece jackets. I didn’t see any shorts, but when it hits 40, I think those will be out.
It felt like t-shirt weather. I swear the birds were happier – I heard all kinds of bird calls I hadn’t heard for a while. Now, I don’t know if I didn’t hear the calls the last few weeks because my hearing was muffled by the jacket hood pulled up over a hat or if the birds were just hunkering down in the cold.
February 10, 2007 – Newer Wheels Arrive
Well, I had to go to West Salem Wisconsin to get the vehicle and right deal I wanted on a van, but now it is home! West Salem is just outside LaCrosse, WI, not too far from Rochester, so it was a quick visit with Nana and a vehicle purchase. It’s a 2006 Kia Sedona with 13,000 miles. It’s a no-frills model, no DVD player, not automatic sliding doors, just a basic van. In the end, the long warranty, safest minivan ever manufactured and high reliability sold us. Is guess the true verdict won’t be known for a few years yet.
Martin loves controlling the heat and fan in the rear of the van, Emma loves being able to recline her own seat, and Claire doesn’t even want to think about driving this new of a vehicle!
one year ago…
February 9, 2007 – Photo Friday “Sky”
This week’s Photo Friday Contest theme is “Sky.” Here’s a peek of the sky on a cold winter morning.
February 8, 2007 – Thingamajig Thursday #60
Here’s this week’s thingamajig entry.
Also check out last week’s answer.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
Move mouse over this sentence to pop-up answer.
one year ago…
February 7, 2007 – Yeah for Heated Waterers!
Chores are brief and perfunctory this time of year! I’m very grateful for the automatic waters for the animals to make sure they have water all day, not just for a few minutes until it freezes. Here’s the goat waterer. A nice heated black rubber-like bucket.
The chicken waterer is a heated metal base that the metal waterer sits on.
February 6, 2007 – Enough Clamoring Already – Recipe
OK, OK, enough of the clamoring for the Senator’s favorite recipe! If it’s good enough for a Senator, it is surely good enough for the intelligent readers of this blog. Of course, to really match the flavor, use home-grown ingredients. The particular dish so favored by the Senator contained ingredients right from high hopes gardens (only the beans, salt, and cumin were sourced from the store!) the rest were frozen or stored from last summer.
This recipe comes from the Better Homes and Gardens Crockery Cookbook.
3 15 oz cans great northern beans, drained
2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped red/green, and/or yellow sweet pepper
2 jalapeno chili peppers, stemmed and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
Optional
Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Broken Tortilla Chips
1. In a 3-5 quart crockpot, combine the drained beans, chicken, onion, sweet pepper, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cumin, salt, and oregano. Stir in Chicken broth.
2. Cover; cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours.
3. Ladle the soup into bowls. Top each serving with some cheese and tortilla chips if desired. Makes 8 servings.
one year ago…
February 5, 2007 – Cold Sunrise
Here’s a steely cold sunrise! If nothing else, there’s a nice view on the way to do morning chores.
February 4, 2007 – What Must it be Like to Live Outside?
When snow is on the ground and it is below 13 degrees, it makes a crunchy sound when you step – warmer than that, the friction of your boot hitting the snow melts a small layer and prevents the crunch. There’s been a lot of crunching lately!
I am so grateful for indoor heat! The animals all seem to be doing fine, but just the few minutes outside seems painful to me. We gave Maizie the germination map to sleep on in her kennel and violated the no dogs in the house rule to let April sleep in the house. She doesn’t move from the carpet next to the door and is in all manners a great house guest. This is the view from inside the chicken coop looking outside. The chickens obviously put out enough water vapor to frost up the windows.
February 3, 2007 – Linda Strikes Again/INCA Conference
Today was the Iowa Network for Community Agriculture’s annual conference, in Marshalltown this year. The local foods movement is getting much more visibility. Both State of Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey and Senator Tom Harkin (head of committee writing new farm bill) showed up.
I did a presentation with Jay Wagner from essentialiowa.com – I talked about the nuts and bolts of local food and Jay talked about his experience to “Eat Iowa” for a year – to try to eat nothing but food grown in Iowa.
There is a traditional potluck (ever been to a potluck for 150? -ok the solstice party at our house is close, but not that big!). Here’s part of the spread.
Linda had a good and long conversation with the Senator’s Ag staffer about the program at MCC. Here’s another feather in Linda’s cooking hat. As Senator Harkin was leaving, he shouted out – who made the white chili? I want the recipe. Once again, Linda had to step forward with a cooking honor of sorts.
February 2, 2007 – Photo Friday “Strange”
This week’s Photo Friday Contest theme is “Strange.” Here’s a peek from inside the Iowa State Fair Sheep barn.
Today marks the midway point between winter and spring, although it doesn’t feel that way!one year ago…
