Archive for ‘April, 2013’

Into every life a little rain must fall

Even here in Northwest Montana…far removed from the horror of Boston and Texas, the week was disconcerting at best. I do think that there are a few silver linings – small in comparison to the loss – and not comforting to those who suffered the ultimate loss, but I was a bit heartened to read that lessons learned in Afghanistan saved lives in Boston. I dearly hope that we hear of other positives and that we get some understanding – particularly for those whose lives were changed in an instant.

Here at my home we had a little rain…a sprinkle compared to the downpour of tragedy elsewhere.

Mr. Bob had a visit to the vet for an ear thing which turned out to be an ear infection and a broken blood vessel (hematoma) that caused his poor ear to look like one of the Star Wars critter ears (Yoda).

We went to the vet on Thursday and all was lanced, flushed and medicated and we continue at home with some ointment twice a day.

It really did rain.

It is supposed to snow tonight!

Bear continues well, but the Thursday trip to the vet and gray, rainy weather gave us all the sleepies.

Despite all, Bob looks to be feeling better and although the news and ramifications of this week’s events are still to come – we are concentrating on good things: ears and legs on the mend, love in our house, love for our neighbors, friends, family – and prayers for all who lost so much.

B is for…

Bananas!

Bananas and I have finally come to a peaceful resolution. A whole banana does not sit well with me, but a half does just fine. What to do with that other half…

I’ve been freezing them – first on a cookie sheet and when solid, into a zip bag. Yes, that is more than a half – I had a half and then was testing a 2nd for ripeness to use in NYTimes’ Melissa Clark’s Chocolate Crusted Banana Blondies.

(If you’d rather see the video, look here )

Oh, my – these are good…they are really, really good.

The bottom is a chocolate cookie crumb crust. I used Jennifer Perillo’s Chocolate Snaps for the chocolate wafers specified in Melissa’s recipe. I baked them just a wee bit longer than normal and stored them overnight in a covered but not airtight, container. They were nice and crunchy and much better than storebought.

The blondie top: bananas, brown sugar, browned butter and I subbed half rye whiskey which is bourbon-ish and half vanilla extract, for the dark rum – that top, it is a banana-walnut caramel top…salted.

Like I said, these are really, really good. I might back off just a bit on the brown sugar next time, but that is my “not so sweet tooth” talking.

YUM. I have a package put aside for my UPS guy for tomorrow’s delivery. He will love me.

What else is “B” for???

Bear!

Sweet Bear, in a spot of sun, late this afternoon.

And Bob!

Country Road

Two inches of snow fell overnight.

The sun rose in a pastel pink sky.

Shortly before 9:00 a.m., sunshine and blue sky among the clouds, Bear and I headed down the road to see what there was to see and find a country road for a snowy, Sunday morning amble.

The scenery was spectacular to the south.

And to the north.

We found a perfect country road…actually the continuation of the road home headed West across the highway.

Good walking and a clear view of the runs of Big Mountain and the peaks of the Whitefish Range.

The ranches and farms were Sunday morning quiet.

We spent half an hour exploring a mile of country road…

…before heading back on the road home.

Home to our little house in the woods.

Friday Sunshine

The windows need washing but this might not be the weekend to do it.

This week got away from me on Wednesday when we had a 3 hour power outage. It was not weather related. Three substations were involved -the power company has a wonderful OutageView web page AND my neighbor phoned with some info on passing the substations going to town. It is the longest outage since I’ve been in this house – almost 7 years.

All of my electronic gadgets were fully charged and even a spare battery for my phone. I had just made fresh airpot of hot tea AND I was showered, dressed and my hair dried…VERY important as I like to be clean and put together for working…sad, but true. Bottom line, I was in good shape to endure. BUT, although typically I do not need Internet for most of my work, this day I did. I had my usual access but I’m guessing because my access is cellular and maybe a tower or 2 was without power and traffic diverted: the internet was iffy. I finally gave up and Bear and I went for a drive and a walk. We returned to power and continued on, but it was a short Wednesday work day making for a long Thursday and early start today.

Approaching 5:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon and I will shortly call it a week. The sun is out at the moment. The extended forecast is for messy, wintry kind of weather until late next week so we will enjoy Friday Sunshine while we may.

Is she there?

Right outside my window.

Extremely overexposed.

A “bad” photo.

BUT.

I love the essence of this so much.

I keep looking.

She is there.

Weekend wrap up: 4 weeks post-op v2.0

It was a full week of work, walks, sitting outside with Bob and Bear – as we ended week 4 post-op TPLO 2.

All is going very well with Bear. He is using both legs normally: getting up an down, forwards and backwards, walking and standing.

I moved the mattress back and he seems to like being higher – a better view to the game trail and the over-abundance of deer currently.

It got cooler and has been raining off and on, gray off and on, a few sun bursts off and on…

…all causing the grass to start greening up.

Bob has been annoyed at the change in weather and blames me.

Bear and I are not bothered. We’ve been able to walk between rain events and both of us enjoy the cooler temperatures.

But all is not lost for Bob. He cozies up inside…

…and we have MY favorite kind of morning: all of us together.