Archive for ‘December, 2013’

Soup for lunch and Friday catch up

Soup assembly line!

I’ve continued making soup 1 bowl at a time (Zuppa for One)

It works for me to use whatever is available and have a wonderful bowl of fresh soup.

I found I preferred having 1 bowl of soup with what sounded good vs making a giant pot of something that I had to eat again and again or freeze.

Today, I started with some beef and lentil meatballs in a tomato chipotle sauce***, chicken broth, corn and…

…sautéed kale. I added just a splash of white balsamic vinegar to the kale before adding to the soup.

Let it all simmer just a bit…

Then the chunky croutons with cheddar under the broiler until brown and bubbly…

And a dollop of greek yogurt to cool it all. (my beverage is Hibiscus Blueberry refrigerator tea – so pretty!)

Soup for lunch.

The additional bonus – for me, since I LOVE to cook! – is that the process of doing this is a wonderful and relaxing break in my day.

So.

Yep, it is cold here. The high today was 6F at my house. The morning started at -1F. The good news – for me, Bear and Auggie – is that we are shadowed from the NNE wind by the Jewell Basin wrap of mountains. I can sometimes hear and see the wind high in the treetops but it is calm on the ground and little wind chill effect. Other places the wind chill has been in the -20 to -30 range and forecast to maybe be in the -40 range tonight. By noon tomorrow, although we will stay very cold, the winds are to be done.

By late next week, we will hopefully be at normal December temperatures of 20’s daytime, low teens overnight. And maybe some snow.

The good news is, this prolonged cold SHOULD put the kibosh on a LOT of bugs and things like yellow jackets and wasps. I’ll still put pheromone traps out this Spring, but I think/hope we will NOT have a repeat of last Summer.

Bear is LOVING the cold and it is a joy to see him enjoying. I have all necessary clothing for going out and about and I’m enjoying also…maybe a little less than Bear :) !!

Auggie went out yesterday when it was 7F. I set my phone alarm for 5 minutes and then got him in. He wanted to go out today when it was about 2. I took him in my arms to the front porch. He gasped slightly and hung to my arm. We came in and he seemed resigned to play inside! It was blue sky and sunny so I expect difficult to reconcile that it WAS indeed VERY cold outside.

It is after 6:30 p.m. as I write.

I’m done with work for the day.

A fire in the woodstove.

Time for supper for all of us and then some time in front of the fire.

I have things to read.

Bear and Auggie will find their spots near me.

All is well in my home tonight and I am grateful.

I pray that livestock and wildlife will find places to survive this very cold night.

*** Homesick Texan’s Tex-Mex Meatballs in Chipotle Tomato Sauce is the inspiration for the meatballs and sauce. The sauce I make exactly to the linked recipe. The meatballs, I subbed 1/2 lentils (1 cup cooked) for 1/2 of the ground beef, did not use any zucchini and I used 1/8 cup of Masa Harina and 1/8 cup of my own saved bread crumbs in place of cracker crumbs for a binder.

Fireside

No fire was going at the time, but they are both in front of the woodstove and Auggie is in the spot Bob preferred when there was a fire going.

Bear…I’m not sure what happened…he might have been loath to get in his chair with Auggie at the same level. Auggie plays with his tail, with his feet and then tries to snuggle up. I’ve counseled Auggie that the reverse order might work better, but generally speaking, Bear is a bit suspicious of close contact!

Auggie will also try to twine around Bear’s legs, but this is generally after a sneak attack and again, Bear is understandably skittish after being pounced on.

Overall, I am still amazed at how much Bear tolerates from Auggie considering his general opinion of cats. Bottom line, it is fun and it is heartwarming that they get along as they are.

It is as cold as it looks

Bear and I went down the road home and then to the dump as the highway was bare and dry courtesy of a lot of chemical, apparently.

The road home is snow over ice but it had a bit of sand on parts of it and the Jeeper stuck fine.

The sun was out over most of the valley, but weather skirted along the mountains.

It wasn’t windy, but at 19F…

…it is as cold as it looks.

And today is to be the warmest as it is forecast to get down to 5 tonight with a high of 11 tomorrow and below zero overnight the rest of the week.

Bear, Auggie and I are toasty warm. The pantry and refrigerator are full.

Firewood is stacked and ready. I have extra gallons of fresh water. If there is a power outage we can still stay warm, cook and eat! A power outage is not likely at this point unless a vehicle would take out a power pole but with the main roads dry, not likely.

My worry is for livestock and wildlife but this kind of weather used to be normal for Montana so hopefully most will be well.

Scary Weather

This photo doesn’t show how really wet and slushy it was this morning.

It has been above freezing and raining off and on Sunday, overnight and through this morning.

It was 37F to start this Monday.

The issue with the forecast storm is probably not going to be snow, at least not in the valley – it is going to be cold and wind.

It is supposed to get very cold, very fast.

The sun came out with a bit of blue sky.

I really hoped it stayed a bit dry longer than forecast. This kind of transition is what killed so many cattle and wildlife in North Dakota earlier this year.

While it was sunny and dry, we all got outside.

It was pretty for awhile.

For a short while.

By 3:00 this afternoon, it was dusky, snowing and the temperature had dropped to 24F.

Bear and I took a long walk at 4:00. Bear was completely energized by the cold and snow. I enjoyed it also except for thinking about the animals tonight and this week.

And the roads and people deciding they need to get places.

NOAA says the roads will flash freeze this evening and be nearly impossible.

Scary weather.

December 1

Thanksgiving is over.

It is December 1.

Let the games begin!

Sunday, after Thanksgiving…my traditional time to put up the Christmas tree and deck the halls.

This is the 5th of 7 Christmases in this house where I will NOT be putting up a Christmas tree. Each one of those 5 years, I’ve said to myself: “Maybe next year”.

Maybe next year.

Auggie is not actually allowed on my little dining table.

We’ve been training.

It has been going pretty well…

Auggie 1
Christmas people 0

Gah!

However, not unexpected and I think the call to NOT have a real tree this year was a good one.

My little silk tree is unbreakable and nothing spills and makes a mess when it comes a tumblin’ down.

In another fortunate circumstance, the lights are not working. They were on the fritz at the end of last year.

I think this is a good year to not have any lights on the little tree.

Also, just a few stuffed (UNBREAKABLE) ornaments underneath. (My favorite skier and mama rabbit skier are on top of the refrigerator – an Auggie no fly zone!)

The stockings are hung…as usual…by the chimney – with care… I think they are out of reach. We’ll see.

The first Christmasy treats: Peppermint bark and Peppermint crunch marshmallows.

December 1.