Sunshine and seed stashes...

 It is amazing how warm it feels when the wind isn't blowing.  It was quite cold this weekend, but the sun was out and there wasn't even a breeze.  I actually enjoyed our walk today.  Of course, Dollor loves any walk, rain, sun, snow, or wind.  He is just a happy go lucky mutt.

I cleaned out my seed box.  The goal was to see what I needed to order this year.  Come to find out, there is nothing needed.  I have everything for the upcoming year.  I've been gardening enough that I know what works best at our altitude.  

Everything is neatly organized.  I went through my list and checked it twice.  I'm pretty happy with my seed stash.

I'm not sure what type of lights were.  I don't think they were Northern lights or light pillars.  

Are you anticipating spring as much as I am?  Have you ordered seeds yet?  Do you get new seeds every year?  Do you stick with tried and true, or do you try new thing?  

No snow, but there is pie...

 The weather has been amazing.   We don't have much snow, which is unheard of for this time of year.

The other day at Someone's in the Kitchen, I saw this interesting pie crust contraption.   It is a plastic bag perfectly shaped for a pie or pizza pan.  It is simple to roll out to the perfect size.

It works pretty slick and sure saves the usual flour mess.

I made a cherry pie.  Since our oven parts are on a slow boat from China, my husband baked it in the smoker.  Wow was that good.

While walking Dollor, I came across these mouse tracks.  He went on quite the mouse adventure as they went for about a quarter of a mile.  

The sunrises and sunsets have been a bit lackluster.  It was nice to see a little color yesterday.  

Have you been baking?  How much snow do you have?  What is your favorite pie?  

Just a slow weekend...

The only exciting thing that happened this weekend was I got to see my niece.  We had a nice visit over coffee.  The weather has been nice. The snow is even melting. I took advantage of that and sat on the porch with my morning coffee today.  We even gave Dollor a bath.  Not his favorite thing.  No projects, no baking, and some pretty boring walks.  I'm not complaining.  Sometimes it is nice to have a quiet weekend.  

Did someone else get our winter weather?  Hope you had a relaxing weekend also.

Another project down...

 The oven project is finished.  My husband ordered a hickory panel to cover the hole in the bottom of the cabinet for the microwave cord.  He cut it to size; we applied a finish and glued it up.  Then we added a light above the stove.  It turned out perfect.  It only took four or five years, but now it is done.  We are not adding a shelf. 

Not much else has been going on.  The weather has been pretty sporadic.  Rain, snow, wind, sun...  I never know what is next.  The only thing that is consistent is the dog needs walked.

Right after we returned from our 2 mile walk it started raining like crazy.  Rain in January?  Don't worry it turned to snow at some point.  

I've been seeing a lot of elk on the drive home from work.  These bulls were making short work of someone's round bales.  They didn't seem to mind posing for the camera.  

The pay clerk does a phenomenal job feeding the birds at work.  Friday, we had a surprise guest.  A quail.  We are not sure where this little fella came from, as they are not native to the area.  I will be anxious to see if it stays around.  

That is all I have for this week.  I really liked the overnight oats and plan on making more this week.  

What have you been seeing for wildlife?  How has the weather been?  I hope everyone stayed safe from the storms that headed south.  

It is a cold world...

 It is pretty cold here, but we managed to avoid the winter storm.  We only had a skiff of snow.  I spent most of the week reading, cleaning, and walking our high energy dog.

I did try a new project.  I am experimenting with overnight oats.  

Overnight Oats Base Recipe

• ▢1 cup quick cooking oats, rolled oats work too
• ▢1 tablespoon chia seeds
• ▢½ cup plain Greek yogurt
• ▢1 cup milk, any kind, we used unsweetened almond milk
• ▢1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢2 tablespoons maple syrup, or honey

• 1 medium banana, cut into slices (or mashed)
• ▢4 medium strawberries, cut into slices

Place all of the ingredients for the base recipe into a large container and mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight (preferred). We shall see how it tastes tomorrow.  I got the recipe from:   Healthy Overnight Oats (1 base - 8 flavors!) - Fit Foodie Finds

Our other project was the small kitchen remodel.  We took out the dead microwave about the oven.  There were huge holes from the drywall anchors.  It looked like a patch and re-paint project.  It just so happened that I saw a glass backsplash on Etsy that caught my eye.  My husband also liked it, so we decided to give it a whirl.  It turned out perfect.  It matches the paint and the rest of the kitchen perfectly.  All that is left is my husband is going to cover the hole for the microwave power cord.  We have an overhead light ready to install after that.  I will be so happy to have a light over the stove again.  When the microwave crashed, we decided, for safety's sake, to unplug it.  Thus, we have been without a light above the stove.  A bit annoying.  I thought about adding a little shelf above the stove, but now I'm not sure.  What do you think?  Do you like the change?  I must say It feels more open and I really like the picture.  Since it is glass it should be easy to clean.  On the oven front, we opted for th slow boat from China.  We should have a working oven in a month (ACK).  I made no-bake cookies today, because I have to make something.  Luckily, we have the smoker and the stove.  I'm sure we will survive. 

What do you think of the change?  Do you think it should have a shelf?  Have you ever made overnight oats? Did you get hit by the big winter storm?  Are you ok?  So many questions.

Windy winter...

 It was a long weekend.  Quite a few little things were accomplished.  Of course, Dollor got lots of runs.  Even a little photoshoot.  

I canned, jerked, and ground up some elk for a friend that is battling cancer.  She understands I am not a professional processor.  They are in the middle of a medical nightmare, so I volunteered to help them with some of the meat.  They were out of freezer space, canned meat will help.  After that was done, we started on a mini-kitchen remodel.  We had a microwave above our oven.  It died in a horrible hardboiled egg accident.  We finally took it down.  I've ordered a backsplash.  We are anxiously awaiting a handyman visit.  Our oven died.  Thankfully, not the stove.  My parents have had the same ovens since their home was built.  Mine is only 11 years old.  The handyman warned us that if it is the ignitor, it is impossible to find a new one.  They do that so you have to get a new one.   Argh.  I am happy to have the microwave out.  Although the drywall anchors left huge holes in the wall.  Hopefully the backsplash I bought works.  Otherwise, my little kitchen remodel gets bigger, because I will have to patch holes and repaint.  I also spent the weekend re-organizing the bathroom and my closet.  Somewhere in all of that I made a chocolate raspberry cake.  Then since it was so miserable out, we cleaned the mounts and did some serious dusting of the logs.  

If Dollor looks miserable in this picture it is because we are.  This has been the windiest winter ever.  Again, this weekend the temps dipped and the wind blew.  

I was heading to work when this sunrise appeared.  I so love sunrises and sunsets.  The colors are so beautiful.  I never get tired of them. 

How old is your oven?  Any remodeling projects this winter?  Has it been windy?

The weather outside is delightful....

The weather has been pretty nice this winter.  It snows a bit and then it melts.  I've been getting outside a lot doing little things here and there. 

 

It has been so nice I raked the lawn.  Pine trees are my bane.  There is nowhere hotter than under a pine tree.  The needles carpet the ground below and they soak up the heat then reflect it back.  I know I will probably have to rake again in the spring, but it got me outside. 

My goal was to do a project every month based off of something I've seen on the internet.  This month I am after the elusive Danish roll.  I found this amazing recipe on Pinterest:  Sugar Raspberry Danish Bun - skilledcooks

The problem is you make a liquid mixture and a dry mix mixture.  After you add them together it says to incorporate the butter into the dough.  Well that is a little vague.  I've never added butter to the dough, I usually add it to the dry mix.  I melted the butter and that was a mistake.  I knew it when I did it.  Cold butter goes in pastry dough.  They turned out extremely stiff. It is a good recipe.  I just have to give it another go.  The custard was easy and yummy.    

I racked and bottled my plum and chokecherry wine.  I ended up with 14 bottles of plum and 7 of the chokecherry.  I have about 9 gallons currently processing.  I'm going to have to take a day and clean wine bottles.  People always give me their empty bottles.  I just need to take a day and get the labels off.  It is a 2 1/2-hour process to rack and bottle everything. 

That is about all I know.  This year is off to a busy start.  I'm happy for the warm weather.  I do wish I could snowshoe, but I'm sure that will happen in due time. How has your new year been?  Are you working on any winter projects?