Oh, it is so beautiful on this Sunday afternoon! It is sunny and warm, and there is very little snow out there. I think we may see “ice out” on my little pond in a week or so. I even have the door and a few windows open. It is about time!!
We have a new “Dogs are Yucky” story this week. If you follow my Facebook page, you can skip this. You’ve heard this one. Lambeau and I were out for a walk the other day. I saw some crows on the side of the road ahead of us, but didn’t think much of it. People throw garbage out of cars on that road all the time. We got to the spot and there was a heron flying overhead, and I was watching him. I felt a few short, sharp tugs on the leash. Looked down and there is a chipmunk tail hanging out of the dog’s mouth. Yes, still attached to the rest of the chipmunk. Yes, a quite dead chipmunk. I got it away from him, although he did not want to give it up. Yes, he found it, but I declared dead chipmunks to be “not food.” Besides, I think the crows found it first.
On a better doggy note, he is quite happy that I was able to fix the back part of the fence and that the gate parts can now be closed. It’s just plastic temporary fencing and gets pulled down by snow every year. But now, I can close up the yard, and let him off his leash to run. He took full advantage of that! Hooray for nice weather!
My youngest daughter gave me a cool book for my birthday last week. It is called Bread Science: The Chemistry and Craft of Making Bread. It is very interesting. The first part goes into the chemical reactions that occur, and some of the research into how and why bread does what it does. I have to admit, I kind of skimmed some of that. Chemistry was never my best trick in school and still isn’t. I had no idea there was so much bread research going on! And then it talks about starters, and yeast, and how to make all the chemistry stuff work for you at home. There are chapters on mixing, fermenting, shaping, proofing, baking, plus recipes and tips for storing and making your oven better for bread baking. I love baking bread, so this was a perfect gift! I made a couple loaves of a brioche style bread at the end of the week and used a couple hints I’ve already picked up from it. They are the picture for this post. Yummy!
I had a lovely birthday. I am not one to worry about age, so it doesn’t bother me when the birthday rolls around. Not much I can do about it, and I’m not all that fond of the alternative, so just roll with it. The BaldMan made shrimp cakes for me for dinner. They were very good. He’d never made shrimp cakes before, so it was a nice change from the usual stuff you do with shrimp.
Now, to hope the weather holds for the week, so I can get some outdoor work done!
And So On... 