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Last Saturday in March

How did this happen?

It is the last Saturday in March. Sunday, Monday and that is the end of the first quarter of 2014.

Time flies much too fast.

I did have a good Friday workday. I did not work this Saturday as in the work that pays the bills kind of work.

But.

I did get a number of chores done…including getting the yellow jacket traps hung here and there.

And we played and enjoyed the off and on sun of a day that touched 50F.

We walked and dawdled and rolled and chased and had a glorious day all together…much of it outside…

…this Last Saturday in March.

It’s Thursday ???

Yes, Thursday.

I’ve struggled with my work hours this week.

I need a monster day tomorrow, Friday and I’ll still need to work a bit over half a day Saturday. Not my favorite, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

I’m blaming it on the Yellow Jackets.

You heard me…Yellow Jackets!

Last Sunday, there was one in the house. Auggie made a flying leap after it. I grabbed Auggie and then a paper towel and after a brief battle in the window sill rail I persevered and 1 dead queen went in the trash.

I did some reading and found out that the queens emerge in March and April.

YIKES!

I ordered some traps and attractant. The attractant shipped but the traps were backordered.

And THEN!! Yesterday as in Wednesday…ANOTHER yellow jacket in the house. I won that battle also.

After some online research noted that Home Depot in Kalispell had the traps in stock, I decided that I would head there first thing this morning and get the traps.

Each queen yellow jacket is an egg making machine capable of laying up to 5000 eggs.

Right.

The mission is to trap as many queens as possible BEFORE they start the egg laying thing. According to Scott at Bug Hunters, Inc., the queens emerge about the time the day and night hours become equal and temperatures are about 40F. As in now.

As scary as it was to have the two queens in the house … and I had doors open at the time so they might have flown in… it gave me some notice as to timing. Outside, the queens are sparse enough, I doubt I would have noticed.

So, this morning, off to Home Depot Bear and I went.

This has nothing to do with anything except that this truck was parked in the contractor pick up area and I noticed the dog.

And I laughed.

The truck is an extended cab and the dog is in the back, hanging out over the cab window and lounging on the tool box.

I’m partial to Northern Breed dogs and also it just looked so funny to see the dog casually half out of the window, resting on the tool box…waiting for the person.

Ok.

So, I got the Yellow Jacket stuff and some other Home Depot stuff and a quick stop at my favorite natural food spot: Mountain Valley Foods and then home we came.

Funny.

I thought this was a good supply of stuff.

Then I read the instructions.

The instructions say 8-16 traps per acre.

GAH!

Well, we will see if we get any queens with this lot and if so I’ll consider more.

Srsly.

I do NOT want a repeat of last summer.

Maybe we will have to run away in the motorhome…

But we are so comfortable here.

And we have an island.

It’s Thursday ???

***Really, though, I am so grateful every day for all we have. I’m grateful for Bear and Auggie and this house and the woods. There is so much truly horrendous stuff happening in the world. Every night, before closing my eyes, I tell Bear and Auggie that I love them, I send a prayer of honor to Bob, Karl, Gus, Zack, Jake, my Papa and my grandparents, and I give thanks for another day on earth. It’s Thursday and I’m behind on work and the yellow jackets…but in the whole scheme of things…Life is so very good!

I love the island, mon!

I have Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds as my phone ring tone. It is probably the only reggae song I know.

I think it is reggae.

I love it. It makes me happy to hear it even though I don’t particularly like talking on the phone.

My “boss” teases me about it when he hears the ringtone in the background. He is actually from Jamaica and he’s black. And I am from Ohio and am the palest white. It’s funny.

Anyway.

The island, man (said mon in island speak).

I love it.

This morning I worked on it.

I made Blood Orange Almond Cinnamon Rolls…from no knead Brioche. I also made a Brioche loaf.

The rolls. The Blood Orange juice turned the frosting pink instead of orange.

I was inspired to make these rolls by Homesick Texan’s Orange Pecan Cinnamon Rolls recipe. But I had only a Blood Orange and of the nuts I have, almonds sounded best.

Lisa of Homesick Texan was inspired to make her Orange Pecan Cinnamon Rolls based on those orange pecan rolls in a can. She loved them as a child. I loved them as a child. They would probably make me gag now.

But inspiration is a good thing and although I trust Lisa’s recipes absolutely, I do love my no knead brioche dough and also wanted to make a brioche loaf hence my adapted version of orange pecan cinnamon rolls.

The island as a work spot: it worked wonderfully.

It gives me a better kitchen triangle.

So far, I have not felt like it was “in the way”. Yes, I am adjusting how I move in the kitchen but I’m not bumping into it or thinking it is too big or in the wrong place…

I love the island, mon!

Island Paradise

Island Paradise??? (Friday morning…snowing)

Well at least there is sun, now. (Friday, late afternoon)

And FedEx brought 3 boxes, total weight a bit over 200 pounds.

I bought a Kitchen Island.

On Amazon.

Amazon Prime!

It came FedEx 2day … free. I have absolutely no problem with Amazon increasing the Prime membership to $99.00!!

The unpacking.

Each box had a list with the contents of the box.

Every single piece had a little sticker with an alpha character that corresponded to the content list.

Hoo…I say HOO-RAH!

There was no mystery about which piece was which.

The directions were explicit.

The top was all in one piece!

The good news is that I didn’t have to assemble drawers or drawer rails, etc.

The bad news is the top weighed a bit over 60 pounds.

Bear stayed out of the fray in the sunroom.

Auggie, naturally, was my supervisor-helper!

Working alone (no other human) required a bit of creative thinking in how to balance things so that all of the pegs and holes lined up as I went along. So, it took longer than if there were 2, but still manageable.

It helped greatly that everything fit perfectly!

I put Auggie in the sunroom with Bear so I didn’t have to worry about something heavy falling on him. He took it well and I heard no complaints.

This is about the 1 hour, 15 minute point. I decided to clean up some of the wrapping and regroup before the last push.

I was worrying a bit about getting that heavy top on and needed a little time to think.

Ironically, the part that I least suspected would have alignment problems…did. The holes for the hinge screws for the eating leaf were completely out of alignment for 1 hinge.

Power tool to the rescue. I drilled new holes and all was well.

Getting the top on top of the base actually was no problem. I set it against the length of the base, tipped it up and moved it into position.

Done.

My first glass of wine and a bowl of salad, feta and kalmata olives.

I’ve looked at islands since buying this house but everything I liked was VERY expensive.

I’ve tended to often eat my meals at my desk instead of the table…partly as I am looking at food blogs or the news and partly because the table is not that comfortable…low and a bit dark.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought…boy, I’d really like to sit higher and be looking out the window…

On a whim, I searched Kitchen Islands on Amazon….