Gold morning woods
A cold, clear night gave way to golden sunshine…
in the morning woods.
**(9F this morning at it’s coldest. I think this is the coldest it has been all Winter)
Archive for ‘February, 2012’
Monday Evening
Monday workday.
Monday afternoon to Calm Veterinary in Kila for a routine checkup for Bear…he passed with flying colors!
A beautiful Monday with air as clear and clean and crisp as it could be. I drove home loving this valley and the mountains that rise from the East.
As the work day ended, alpenglow beckoned…
And then…
the moon.
Monday Evening.
Snow
Less than a month of Winter left -technically… Montana “Winter” can happen any time! – and we get the heaviest snowfall of the season.
Although, yet again, it looks prettier than it really is. It was above freezing all day yesterday and last evening when the snow started falling. The bottom inches are slush…tough shovelling!
But it gave Bear a great workout as he went to and fro and round the property as I cleared the walk and some room in front of the garage and motorhome. I’ll leave the rest to Mother Nature and/or a visitation from yon neighbor and the mighty backhoe!
My ‘Mr. Beam’ lights have so far survived the Winter and their little roofs have worked well also. Both lights are still on their first set of batteries (3 C’s each) and I’m very happy with how they work.
At night, a very low sensor light comes on. As motion is detected, they come full on and cast a bright light across the driveway. These particular lights are designed to be foot path lights. I have them mounted on the trees about 5 feet above the ground to keep them clear of snow from the edges of the driveway. I’ll get more next year – some for the driveway and maybe a couple for the woods paths as well.
Snow!
The Emporer’s new clothes
Ok…Bear’s new “clothes” :)!
It is 8 1/2 weeks since Bear returned safely from his 2 1/2 day walkabout. I still have no idea what happened the morning of December 26…the morning that lead to his being gone/lost/stuck – away from home for 55 1/2 hours, 2 1/2 days.
And as noted, we did get right back on the horse – the off-leash horse. But, still…it was hard and scary. We immediately walked the state land. I wanted to make sure that Bear was familiar with it in case he got that far again. And I wanted to see how he dealt with being off the property. As before the walkabout, he stayed near me on his own and followed any directional commands happily, i.e. it did not appear that he’d had such a good time that he thought life on his own was a good thing. And neither did he seem concerned being out from the property. All of his behavior seemed and has continued to seem as it was.
The TAGG collar, shown in the first post– it needs a bit more progress in technology to be truly what I’d hoped it might be. Currently, it probably works best in a suburban setting as it depends on a “house address” for location information. BUT, it does have its functionality as far as letting me know if Bear has left the home zone. (A full review here: TAGG Full Review). It is on Bear’s regular collar 24/7.
As much as I knew it was probably an over-reaction…
I bought a “search and rescue lighted coat” – from the same place I bought Bear’s lighted collar. Bear wears this when we are out in the dark. The lights along the edges are easier to see from more angles than the collar. It is mesh with reflective stripes and makes him much more visible at a distance.
For daytime when it is not hunting season…
a bandana.
And then…
a REAL GPS collar and receiver that go on when we are outside or on an off leash walk.
The Garmin Astro was designed for hunters working with one or up to 10 dogs.
The collar and a hand held unit both acquire satellite fixes used to calculate latitude-longitude (lat-lon) of both Bear and the hand held unit. The hand held unit then displays Bear’s position relative to the hand held.
…via a map interface….
The triangle is “me”. The dotted lines are Bear’s “track”…i.e. a “bread crumb” trail.
This unit will maintain the tracks of up to 10 dogs. It will maintain the location of home/truck. It allows me to follow Bear’s track and/or track back to the home location. It does a lot more, but for my current purposes, it allows me to know at a glance where Bear is relative to where I am which = PEACE OF MIND FOR ME!
The compass interface. This is actually the screen I look at most. It shows instantly, Bear’s distance and direction from me – usually from me on the front porch or in the driveway. It means that I can be doing outside chores and see where Bear is.
Both screens show that Bear has “treed a quarry”…and he had :) !!
There was a squirrel…
The icon changes from “treed a quarry” to running to sitting to walking.
Between the TAGG and the Garmin and the orange bandana/vest/coat…Bear can be a beardog and I can know that he is on the property without hovering over him. Freedom for both of us = win-win!
A Happy Friday
Blue sky this morning over the House Summers! The good folks at NOAA suggest that we are to have a sunny morning followed by a snowy afternoon that is a prelude to a weekend series of winter storms.
Several gaggles of geese flew over headed north…apparently they are also a bit sceptical of NOAA’s forecasts…
Meanwhile, we enjoy clear sky, the rising sun and if you are Bear, a morning treat after the hard work of clearing the property of varmints!
And if you are me, you enjoy one or several “fresh out of the oven” orange pecan biscotti!
And if you are Bob…well, Bob is Bob… Happy Friday!
***re biscotti: I really like biscotti over cookies for several reasons. My favorite biscotti recipe which is adapted from Pam Anderson’s (the cook not the Baywatch babe) “My Favorite Biscotti” in her book “The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great” has no fat other than eggs and my adaptation is less sugar as well. The basic recipe allows for substitution of whatever extract or zest you feel like as well as dried fruits and nuts.
My basic version:
3 eggs
1 tsp extract of your choice
2 cups flour (I use a mix of King Arthur’s white whole wheat and Wheat Montana’s all purpose white)
2/3 cups sugar (I often use 1/3 cup white and 1/3 cup brown)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt finely ground
1 cup nuts and/or dried fruit or chocolate chips (dark chocolate bittersweet)
Mix the dry ingredients through salt in 1 bowl, the wet in a separate bowl. Mix together finishing with hand mixing. Toss in whatever else from the nuts/fruit/chips category and incorporate with your hands. It is a fairly sticky dough. Form into 2 logs (about 12 x 3 each) on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake at 300 for 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Slice and put back on the baking sheet on their sides. Bake on each side at 275 until your desired hardness. They will harden and crisp as they cool. I typically do 6-8 minutes per side for the second baking.
And that is the last reason I prefer biscotti over cookies….You bake the entire bit of dough in one fell swoop for 50 minutes meaning I am not up and down putting cookies in the oven and taking them out. Even the second baking, they are all on the sheet and you are just turning them. Easy!
They keep in an airtight jar, supposedly for a month. I wouldn’t know as they don’t last a month…
I’ve made lemon pistachio, cherry almond, coconut almond with chocolate chips and this morning the orange pecan. The orange pecan – actually clementine pecan….I used vanilla extract, 2 T clementine zest and the juice of 2 clementines in with the egg and extract.
Wind and graupel
I woke Wednesday to more calm than forecast. There was not even a light breeze or any movement of the tops of the trees. The severe wind warning was still in effect so I stayed out with Bear and we had a longer walk and play time than usual thinking it would not be pleasant later.
At noon, it was sunny, calm and blue sky. So we had a long lunch time outing.
Shortly after we came in, it did cloud over and several very blustery squalls whooshed through. A few branches came down, but all of the trees stayed put and that was that at my house. All of the preparation paid off: the power stayed on :)!
Last night was calm, clear and beautiful and I watched the stars come out as Bear and I had our evening walk.
The winter storm warning expired at 9:00 a.m. this morning. Today was quiet and alternated between bits of sun and periods of overcast.
And it graupeled.
Not to be confused with hail or sleet, graupel is soft little balls of snow – like bits of styrofoam. It falls quietly, unlike hail and is formed, unlike sleet. Graupel.