Desolation Acres

Time for a yard update, and it isn't pretty.  But the shrubs are all gone!  

Taken from by the front door.

Looking back at the house from the driveway.

See what I mean?  We've laughed and wished we had something that looked like a rocket to bury in the middle because it truly does look like one went off there.  It even has holes where the stumps were pulled. (One last stubborn stump remains.  It will take some digging and a huge chain to get it out, but that's for another day.)  

The big issue?  What do we do now with this desolate, ugly mess?  There's small gravel and plastic ground cover that needs to be removed before we (and I use the word we loosely) can even level up the area.  And it's a much bigger area than we realized, buried under all the shrubs as it was.  We went for a long walk yesterday and spent part of it in a tony new area looking at landscaping in various yards.  I'm even contemplating trying my hand at a drawn-to-scale plat so we can (hopefully!) plan what might work.  

Stay tuned!  ♥

Low Sodium Bread Baking

How's that for a catchy title?  If you didn't already guess from past posts, I'm more of a baker than I am a cook.  I do okay with cooking, but if given my choice, and no dinner was needed, I'd bake.  My experiments with using less salt in meals have worked out pretty well, but baking, well, that's been another matter.  

I've made homemade bread for much of our married life with some noticeable empty stretches when the kids were small and when I taught.  Since I retired, I had gotten back into the bread mode only to discover when I went on the DASH diet that bread is a sodium rich food. Ack!! My first impulse was to cut it from my diet, but then what to have with the soups and stews we love to eat here at the resort?  I've hobbled along, bread-wise for the last year, but I've not been happy about it.

My longtime readers will remember that Dan bought me the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois for Christmas a few years ago.  In my old age, it took me a year to try out the basic recipe, but I was hooked.  Wonderful, crusty bread. What could be better?  Well, I'll tell you: less sodium. The original recipe called for one and a half tablespoons of kosher salt for dough that would make four one-pound loaves.  That's a whole lot of sodium.  Too much.  So, I stopped making it.  

A few weeks ago, I decided to see if there were any recommendations for lowering the amount of salt.  My internet search led me to the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day site and lo and behold, it was possible! And an interesting side note was that if you lowered the salt, you also needed to lower the amount of yeast as salt inhibits yeast growth.  Who knew?  But as usual, I put off my experimentation in favor of, well, procrastination.  

Last Friday, I decided the day had come:  no more baking wimpery.  So, I took the plunge and mixed up a batch.  I used two teaspoons of salt and one tablespoon of yeast. I made my first loaf on Saturday to have with soup for dinner and it turned out just fine.  Tonight I made another, and it was even better!  I love that you can leave the dough in the frig for up to two weeks, and it just gets better and better.  Here's a look at tonight's bread:

Crusty,  chewy,  and perfect with the leftover soup.   A little smear of butter and I was in bread heaven.   I'm a happy baker!  ♥

Bushwackers

When we bought our house back in the fall of 1999 (in the last century!!), it came with a number of things needing work.  We've plunked away here and there, with no area, indoors or out, being "done."  I guess that means we have job security!  

In the picture below, taken when we looked at the house before buying, you can see several things that have been changed. 

The shake roof was replaced with a composite roof and the garage door was replaced.  Even the truck was replaced last summer! See those shrubs just in the front of the house?  They were quite large then, and now, fourteen and a half years later, they were huge!  We've mentioned needing to take them out several times, but we knew it would be a project not to be taken lightly. Several weeks ago, Dan decided this would be the year.  

Grandsons Cameron and Keaton are on spring break this week, so the offer was made to have them help for pay. Cameron's class is going to Washington, D.C. for a class trip in May and he's been doing a number of things to help pay his share.  Keaton won't be going for two years, but he loves to shop Amazon.com! They were in!  They began yesterday and continued today, with more work to come if the weather cooperates.

Here are some scenes from this afternoon:

Only a chain saw can work on this mess!

To work!

Cam and Keat pull the brush out.

Sometimes a little hand work is needed before . . .

the brush is loaded on the trailer.

A lot of work has been accomplished and we're so thankful we have the boys to help!  ♥

Blustery March

March weather is anything but boring. We've had sunshine, pouring rain, and wind today.  No snow, but yesterday we had ice pellets mingled in with the rain that literally poured down.  So glad we have a warm and cozy house!  

Today we've been busy just puttering away at things that needed to be done.  Dan's been busy in his office working up some one-page fact sheets on tree diseases and I've made bread along with doing some knitting. I got the toe grafted on the second sock and would be wearing them today but they don't match my clothes. Maybe tomorrow!

I've had the tan scarf laying on the coffee table since I finished it (except for the two times I wore it!), and this afternoon I decided to block it.  My new blocking mats have been sitting upstairs in their box, so I hauled them downstairs and laid out five end to end.  I have the perfect spot for doing this on my Handi-Quilter table. There's even a surge protector mounted under the edge in the middle, which is perfect for plugging in my iron so I could steam the scarf.  

When I bought the Handi-Quilter, I didn't want to spend the extra money for the "official" table, so we bought two tables at an office supply store and Dan cleverly bolted them together.  Later, I asked him to mount a plug-in for me so I didn't have to use a heavy extension cord (which sometimes caused dragging on the HQ as I was quilting) to reach the nearest outlet.  And now I have a new use for the tables and the outlet!  As Hannibal Smith on the old A-Team would say, "I love it when a plan comes together!"   (Anybody else love that old cheesy show? ) 

And so our day has gone.  It's been a good one.  And the bread smells terrific!  ♥

A Stubborn Knitter

As promised, here is my knitting post for the week.  I've been working away on the socks, but on Monday, I decided I really wanted to start a new project.  I'd purchased the yarn a few weeks ago at Michael's on sale and the bag was still on the floor in the bedroom where we have stashed all our clothes while the Great Closet Renovation transpires.  I think it was calling to me, and I decided to answer.  :-)

I purchased the yarn to make a baby blanket.  I have no idea who will eventually receive it, but I found the pattern in a Fons and Porter knitting magazine I bought years ago and it looked like it would be fun to make. However, it called for circular needles and I've never used them before.  Armed with a forty per cent off coupon, I headed to Michael's and bought the needles (needle?), and the yarn, which was on sale.  

So, back to Monday.  The instructions called for casting on 144 stitches and adding markers every eighteen stitches.  I hate markers.  They get in my way and I've found I can usually get along without them.  Until now. Several rows in on my first try, I realized I was off.  No hope but to unravel and start again.  Again several rows in, I found I was off again.  Arghh!!  Well, I'm no dummy (at least for long), so I sought out and found my little box of markers and resolutely began again and added them.  Success!!  (Guess that pattern designer knew what she was talking about.)  

Note Markers!

I love the lacy pattern.  The color is Seaspray Mist (a heathered green) in Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand yarns which should be good for a wash and dry, to-be-used baby blanket, and I think it will work for either boy or girl. I must say using the circular needle has been a bit unnerving at times!  I've panicked more than once as I've pushed up stitches from the left in preparation for knitting and glanced down to see what looks like stitches that have fallen off the needle, only to realize seconds later that they're safely on the clear cable. Whew!

Here's the cover of the magazine with the pattern in case you, like me, have it in your stash:

Meanwhile, I'm still working on the socks and I'm just about ready to turn the heel.  

And now, I must sign off and go climb on the NordicTrak. Must, must, must.  (Can you tell how excited I am?? Not. But I WILL do it!)  

Happy Friday!  (That's sunshine across the bottom of the blanket photo!)  ♥

Catching Up

I just finished putting away the last of the Christmas/winter things.  We've had snow up until now and the snowmen and reds and greens just seemed to go with it.  But now it's March (but I'm sure we'll have more snow), and the time had come.  Dan's been out of town, but he just got home and I was so proud to show him that I put all the boxes away and he didn't have to! AND I even consolidated and so was able to toss two big empty boxes!

I didn't do any decorating for Valentine's Day this year except for the obligatory bowl of red, pink and white peanut M&M's.  I've come to realize I'm not a pink person in way, shape or form; when I try, I don't like what I see. So, apparently, M&M's it will be from now on!  

I've been knitting and will do a post on my projects tomorrow.  Right now I'm off to watch Daniel for the afternoon to give Ann a break.  She'll be off to a women's group at church.  

There's patches of blue sky and some sunshine!!  Feels a little like spring.  ♥