Clear skies --- and soy sauce

This photo, posted this morning by a local TV station [KVAL] on Twitter, says it all. Pretty sure this is Spencers Butte, which I climbed last spring. Overnight rains have brought relief! It took awhile -- last night when I opened a window to test it out, the air merely reeked of wet ashes, which is not pleasant. In the middle of the night, it was better, and I left the windows open for awhile but could still feel the irritation. By morning, AQI was down around 100 or less and the windows have stayed open since then.  And it feels great! Supposed to keep raining today and tomorrow, too. Over an inch so far at the airport, or so I heard. 

We had quite the lightning show all night, too. I could clearly see the flashes and hear the thunder. Many of the large storm cells bypassed us altogether, staying to one side or another. But we got plenty. I haven't heard yet about any relief from the fires, but I sure hope it helped those, as well, and didn't start any new ones.

As you might have gathered, I had another sleepless night, for the most part. More nightmares, plus I was a little tense/wired in the evening, and that carries over to the night. One dream I remember parts of involved a cat, a neighbor in this building who I don't see very often, and something about food that turned out to be empty containers. All with their own bit of angst involved. Weird. They are always weird.

I can't remember if I've mentioned this here before or not, but it bears repeating. A couple of years ago my son told me that soy sauce was good for burns. I was skeptical, but next time I got a minor kitchen burn I tried it, and it worked. No pain. Just splash it on. I've tried it numerous times, and it has always worked. Yesterday, I splashed a little hot oil onto my left wrist and could tell it was less minor than most of mine are. Sensitive skin, and all that. When I got a chance, I splashed the soy sauce over it and the pain immediately went away. I rinsed it off fairly quickly because I didn't like the smell of it. Then, for the most part, forgot about it. This morning I have two blisters where the oil hit skin, but there is still no pain. I don't know how or why this works, but it does. I think I looked it up once and saw some reasons, but of course I don't remember them.

Another storm cell coming through -- mostly wind at this point, but feels as if some wet stuff will be involved. Nice.

Still kicking

Still here!

And still smoked in.  Air quality has improved a bit -- now about 360, down from 666 Saturday night and over 500 for the last week.  Still has the same health warning, however, as the higher number.

The promised winds and rains have yet to arrive. Of course, wind is a double-edged sword. A couple of days of high winds is what got us in this fix to begin with. Hot dry conditions, high winds spreading sparks over a wide area very quickly. So, I want to be careful what I ask for here. Some nice breezes to thin it out would be nice. Rain, still in the forecast for later in the week, would be wonderful.

Since I can't go outside to exercise, I've begun working with ab exercises and stretches. I've lost enough fat now that I think the ab work will do some good. I always judge the quality of my workouts by the degree of muscle pain that results, so if that's the criteria, I did a good job. And that's a good thing.

Reading a good bit. Working with genealogy here and there. Cooking and eating. Otherwise, not a whole lot more to do.

But I'm still here, and for now at least, we are no longer threatened by the fires. Life is good.

Last of the carnitas

 Since I've been randomly talking about cooking carnitas of late, I thought I'd take a couple more photos today of the finished product, since that step had not been shown.

The finished product, ready to eat in a taco, burrito, or however you like. This one cooked 3 hours in some orange and lime juice, red onion, garlic and one small orange wedge. It shredded easily with two forks while still in the pan. I mixed it up good with the liquid left from cooking, since it absorbs rapidly back into the meat and keeps it juicy. Then, put it under the broiler for 5 minutes and this is how it came out. I'm still not convinced that the broiling step adds anything to the end taste. It's pretty good right out of the oven.  This batch had a good bit more heat than the past batches had. I don't measure the spices before grinding them up, so I probably had a bit more red chili flakes this time. Not too hot -- I like heat.

When I make tacos I generally cook some sliced jalapenos, and sometimes red bell peppers, to go on top. Today I used red onion, 'cause I had it. Ended up using only half these peppers, since the meat was already hot and spicy and these peppers can sometimes carry heat, too. These didn't as it turns out, but the rest can be included in the leftover meat for tomorrow. Yum. My belly is full and happy.

Now is when I'd really like to go out for a walk -- even a short one -- to help digest some of this food. But alas, air quality is still hazardous outside. Airlines even canceled all flights in/out of Eugene today because of 'worsening' smoke. Looks about the same to me, but then again, I'm not a pilot.

Forecast is for this to be partly gone by tomorrow, though winds are non-existent so I'm not quite sure how that's going to happen. Rain, real rain, is due on Monday, however, so I'm hoping against hope that it'll be enough to clear the air, the pavement, and put a damper on the fires.

In a world we're not living in right now, today would be a big day in Eugene. Our Ducks were scheduled to host Ohio State today, right here at Autzen Stadium, and we've been looking forward to that for many a long month. Both teams' conferences opted not to play because of the virus, and of course, there would be no football played in Eugene today anyway, with the horrible air quality.  

Be well. Take care.  Stay safe.

Pork carnitas on the horizon

 Still here! Situation hasn't changed over the last day or so, which is good news. Fires are still raging further north and other places in the state. 'Ours' is still raging, but winds are no longer blowing it in this direction, or any direction as best I can tell from the fire maps. The firefighters are doing a great job in holding it, with a little help from the weather gods.

Temps cooling off, what little wind there is has switched to blowing from the Pacific, and will eventually push all this smoke back east. There's a nice little storm due in on Monday, which with any luck will not only wash most of this smoke away, but help douse the flames. Monday seems a long way off.

On the positive side -- ground another bunch of spices in the mocajete this morning, and this time tried something different. This thing is fairly new to me, so I've been trying to figure out the best way to use it. As you might imagine, putting it on the counter and pounding to break up seeds makes far too much noise when one has neighbors and thin walls. I've tried holding it while I pound, but it's heavy and that got old, fast. Today I sat in a comfy chair and put it on my lap, and that worked great. I could pound away and make basically no noise. Then I could take my time and grind it into a powder, for the most part. And then -- put it on a couple pieces of carnitas-labeled pork shoulder to marinate until tomorrow morning. I can't wait! Saturday seems to have morphed into a day when I don't worry about calories or anything else, just be sure I don't eat too many carbs. And this stuff fits right in with such a day because I can't stop eating it.

Something to look forward to.

Fires

If you're out of state, you probably aren't aware of the extent of the fires here in Oregon -- as well as California and Washington. There's a line of them up and down the state and a shortage of firefighters who are stretched far too thin. Some have been out of state helping our neighbors and are presumably on their way back home now. No air support that I can find on Flightradar24. They are stretched thin, as well. If you're interested, here's a good link for info on current status of fires in the state.

Two small towns on the I-5 corridor in southern Oregon have been flattened, more or less, as has a small town east of here, on the McKenzie River. I think of the southern Oregon towns as pass-bys on the route to and from California. Phoenix, to me, is merely the first good place to gas-up once I'm back in Oregon where the gas is cheaper than California. But people live there, work there, have lost their homes there.

The fire to the east of here has my full attention, however.  For one thing, it's a beautiful area with beautiful hiking trails. The river is also where water for the city of Eugene comes from. Pure and clear. Our maintenance man here at the home lives up in or near the town that is mostly gone. Hoping that somehow, his home was spared. Beyond that, the fire has been creeping westward and branching off, so that now it is right on the eastern edge of the city of Springfield, across I-5 from us, causing Level 1, 2, and 3 evacuation orders. The upper branch is edging closer to here, also with multi-level evac orders.

There are fires in literally every direction, even on the coast, so where would we go to evacuate? Only so many can fit into whatever evacuation center might be established. They've already had to move the first such center in Springfield.

The latest warning finally got my attention. No, it's not near me yet -- maybe 15 miles or so with a lot of city in between -- but to see the evac zones encroaching upon Springfield was an eye-opener. And I think of the cities of Santa Rosa and Paradise in California, and how quickly those fires flattened whole neighborhoods in the city and in the case of Paradise, practically the entire city. I no longer think 'it can't happen here'. It can.

Last night I'd gathered a few important papers and put them on my desk. This afternoon, I put those, plus photos and other 'important' things into a bag and put them into the trunk of my car where they will stay until this is all over.  Air quality out there back in the 500s, off-the-charts hazardous. I feel it in my nose and lungs still, though I was probably not out there for more than 5 minutes.

That's Debbie Downer's report for now.

Smoky skies and pesto in the works

 

The view from my window this morning, about 8am. The eerieness of smoke-filled skies. I just came in from a quick trip to the trash and garden, and the air is filled with particles of all sizes, from tiny to good-sized flakes, all swirling around. All over my garden plants, cars, every other surface. I don't plan to go out again today.  And thank goodness for AC, which I dislike intensely, but which comes in  handy when you need to breathe.

This stuff is mostly coming from old fires in Oregon and Washington. We just  had a major wind shift late yesterday afternoon that brought it to us, rather than away from us. Not supposed to last long, thank goodness.

On the good side, I picked a bunch of basil -- probably enough for a double recipe of pesto. This is a good thing! There's probably this much more left out there, too. Shook the ashes off before coming inside, then washed them. Should make for lovely pesto for the freezer.

Nightmares and pork tacos

Last night was filled with nightmares. I don't remember any of them now, but when I woke from the first one, groggy, and started to doze back off, it picked up more or less where it had left off. After a couple of times of that, I was afraid to try to sleep again for awhile. Later, a new set of bad dreams took over.

This is not a usual thing for me, though I've noticed lately that it's happening more and more. I guess it's a sign of the times, which are pretty nightmarish in real life.

But let's change the subject. One of my latest obsessions is using various cuts of pork shoulder, roasted until falling-apart-tenderness, shredded and used for tacos.  I started with what are called boneless pork spareribs, only to learn that they are not ribs at all, but a cut from a pork shoulder. Around here, stores market meat for carnitas, which is also a cut from a pork shoulder. Both are fatty and stringy and utterly delicious.

I've even taken to grinding my own spices in my authentic Mexican mocajete. This thing is much larger than it looks -- about 8" diameter -- really, too large for my needs, but it works. Here is coriander seed, cumin seed, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. I don't try to make a powder from it -- just grind it a bit.

A couple of pieces of 'ribs' after dry-marinating for 24 hours in the fridge. Ready to cook.  After 2-3 hours cooking at 300F in my wonderful convection toaster-oven, they are pure, fall-apart goodness. Shredded, then re-hydrated with some of the juices from the pot, it makes a pile of goodness. I've never managed to remember to take a picture at that point. But I gotta tell you, my kitchen smells mouth-wateringly good after the first half hour or so of cooking! I had the leftovers from this batch for lunch today. Yum.

I used the technique from this recipe, though not the entire recipe. I tried using orange/lime juices and rinds the first time and found an underlying bitterness that I didn't care for, so did not do that the second time. Sticking it under the broiler did indeed brown it and crisp it up somewhat, but I was happy without that step, too.

Happy Labor Day, y'all.

Aches and pains

Hi, y'all. Is anybody really out there?  I've been fine, just nothing to write about, and living in a state of mild depression over the state of the country and world. No biggie.

Had a minor crash with my bike on Sunday, due to too many people/bikes on the bike path. I love/hate that path, really. Love it when it flows, hate it when there are too many people out there. No real harm to me or the bike, though neither is totally unscathed. No broken bones! Lots of bruises, and my right elbow is not happy, but improving. Broken reflector on bike handlebar, and maybe some other issues, but we both rode home successfully.

Then yesterday (Monday) I went ahead with a planned hike in the hills -- first time I've hiked since late May, when we went up Spencer's Butte. Things have been weird with my heart since then -- meds weren't controlling the irregular heartbeats and palpitations that have been part of my life for decades, and (though I didn't mention it at the time) when I got to the top of Spencer's I had an 'episode' of lightheadedness and other things that relate to the heart. Long story short, I saw my doc a couple of times who wasn't very helpful, but second time I demanded a specialist, saw him a few weeks ago, had an echocardiogram a couple of weeks ago, and results came back normal. Quite good, really. Heart/valves all functioning normally, top score. In the meantime, I wasn't comfortable hiking up hills any longer, afraid something had changed. It hasn't, so I feel free to hike again. What's causing the extra palpitations? Haven't a clue. But nobody seems worried.

We had a great hike in a familiar place, though we took the loop in a different direction this time and found that it's much harder. Seemed longer and steeper uphill. But lovely as always, and we survived. It was good to be in the woods again.

Today, being the second day after the crash, my body is at peak achiness, as always happens [with me, anyway] the second day after any muscle stresses. Fortunately, my legs are strong and used to walking/cycling, so no aches from the hike. And it'll all pass.

Hope all out there are well.