Merry Christmas or..... whatever

The view from my desk chair this morning. Sun just beginning to break through the fog. Damp outside, but above freezing, which is good. Had a little freezing rain yesterday morning, which I had to scrape from my windshields in order to visit the grocery for a little comfort food. Did not want to see it continue and have another big ice storm like last winter!

Whatever you celebrate today, or if you are in the Bah Humbug! category (like me), have a wonderful day, filled with kindness and love and peace.

Progress!

Hallelujah! Tonight the new white mouse made it to favored status in the food dish, along with a couple of plastic milk jug rings and the beloved blankie.

This is real progress. Prior to now, she's been fairly indifferent to this mouse. But tonight after a friend left I dug it out of the pile and tossed it for her. She immediately acted as if she loved it.

Didn't  play with it, just mouthed a couple of times, picked it up in her mouth and headed for the kitchen (where I found it shortly thereafter) then came back and settled into her chair for a nap.

This is a big deal in her world, and consequently in mine. Perhaps there will be peace now.

The blankie, incidentally, made it to the dish before my friend left and we laughed watching her drag this blanket by a very strange gait, keeping her feet from stepping on it as she dragged it behind her. I've seen this before, but the first time for my buddy.

Maybe she'll stop staring at me now.

Dead mousie

Remember this bedraggled little white mouse toy? Well, it's been the source of a lot of frustration, begging and general trauma for Kat over the last two days.

And for me as a side effect.

It all started yesterday morning. I was meditating, heard Kat and the rattle of this toy as she batted it into the room and near where I was seated. Once my time was up, I noticed an unfamiliar dark object nearby, where Kat had been playing with the mouse. Picked it up and it was the 'innards' of the toy. A vaguely mouse-shaped plastic shape with a rattle inside it.

So I thought, OK, maybe now she'll use the identical replacement I bought for her last week, that's mostly been ignored.

Not a chance.

As the day went on yesterday the begging and pleading got worse and worse. I looked everywhere for the fuzzy remnants of the mouse, thinking I'd sew it back together. But I still haven't found it. And she's still been  begging and pleading and crying pitifully all day again today. She's clearly begging me to do something, also keeps pawing at the space under the fridge where I often have to dig toys out for her. But I keep looking, and there's nothing there. I can't imagine anything else that she'd be wanting me to fix.

I've tried to offer the new one, but she sniffs and walks away. Tonight, I tried her tactics. Dipped it in her water dish and blotted it mostly dry. She sniffed with some interest, but eventually walked away. I rubbed it on the carpet inside her carrier, where she sleeps a lot, rubbed it in her food dish and left it there. Trying to make it smell familiar, like her instead of whatever it smells like when new. Have I succeeded? Only time will tell. She gave up and took a nap.

Life in the middle of the night

1:30am. Tired of not sleeping, staying in bed because 'it's night and time to sleep so I need to stay here even if I'm not sleeping'. Screw that!

So -- got up, closed the windows that are open a crack to keep the place cool enough to sleep (it's 25F outside). Turned on the heat and, finally, the light. Kat comes into bedroom stretching and murmuring sounds that can only mean 'what's going on?' in a sleepy way only a cat can manage quite so well.

She's confused as hell, and giving me a good laugh in the process. What else is there to do in the middle of the night? Coffee is brewing. The computer is on and bringing news (nothing good, but news anyway).

I could go and binge-watch the new season of The Crown on Netflix that was released yesterday, but that would require getting out my 'old' bluetooth headphones and re-synching them with the TV, so I don't disturb neighbors, and I'm just not into that at the moment. The 'new' ones I bought a couple of months ago, that are so much more comfortable to wear, never worked properly, but to their credit Woot! refunded my $$ with no quarrels and told me to not bother returning them.

I could read, and probably will. I have a book on my Kindle that is going to disappear tomorrow, I think it is, and I'm only barely halfway through  it.

I can watch the cat pondering the issue of whether or not it's time for her breakfast, regardless of what time it is, since I'm up. The little sounds are increasing in volume and frequency, so I think she's decided that breakfast needs to be in the offing. Such a spoiled little brat, but a sweet one.

Cats are such weird critters

Don't get me wrong, I'm a cat lover from way back, but they are still lovably weird critters.

I've written before about my cat's tendency to put her toys in either her food or water dish, or both. And that a little research told me that for cats, particularly cats who have lived on the streets as this one did for awhile, their food and water are the most important things going. The dishes are 'safe places' so they tend to put their toys there so they won't be lost.

I didn't really have a problem with this, other than soft things in the water which sometimes made a mess. But in recent weeks/months I've noticed that for the most part, there are only these two toys in the food dish and they are there all the time. She takes them out to play with, or sometimes so she can reach her food, but they always show up right back in the dish. These, apparently, are the ones she really loves the most. Kind of fascinating, really. Especially since she has 10-15 of those milk jug rings in different colors, but keeps this one in the dish.

That indestinguishable white blob used to be a mouse, tail and all. Awhile back the seam came apart, baring the box inside that makes it rattle. But, the box wasn't coming out, so I ignored it for awhile until it became so apparent how much she really loves this little blob.  So I sewed the seam up again so it lives awhile longer. She has a black one that came together with the white one, but has never played with it like she does this one.

There's a guy up on the roof blowing leaves from the gutters and the noise plus the leaves falling past the window really have her attention. She can't see the guy on the roof, but loves the movement.

Cold, wet day here. Winter's coming.

Skillet roasted lemon chicken

So, this is how it is, peeps. You don't hear from me for weeks, and now twice in one day. What can I say.

I've been itching to try a new recipe from one of my favorite TV chefs, Ina Garten and I decided today was the day to do it.

Ina would never steer me wrong, and this was another winner.

She, of course, touts that it's 'so easy'. And in a sense, it is. Ina, of course, has the money and connections and assistant chefs and whatever else it takes to make it look easy on TV. Unlike me.

Hers was already spatchcocked, butterflied, whatever you want to call it. Mine was not. This was my second ever attempt at doing this myself, and it was certainly a lot more successful than the first. I recently scored some cheap kitchen shears at Goodwill, and that helped.

This is what the bird looked like, backbone and ribs removed along with wingtips. Naked and ready for Ina's magic.





First, some fresh thyme from my garden, some fennel seed, salt and pepper hit the grinder and then some olive oil to soak and let those flavors meld together.


Slathered that bird on both sides and under the skin here and there with the oil mixture, then laid it atop some sliced lemons, onions and garlic in the pan.

Into a 450 oven, added white wine at 30 minutes, out at 45 minutes, let it sit another 15 minutes covered in foil.

I thought the onions and lemons could have used a little more cooking, and the sauce was a little thin, so after I ate I reduced it all over high heat and now it's lovely and thick, for future use.

But all in all I have to say, once again, Ina did not steer me wrong.

She never does.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sorry I've been MIA -- all is well, just not feeling to much into writing lately, and not much to write about. I mean really, do you want to hear the details of my cat's trip to the vet to get rid of tapeworms? I didn't think so.

Thus -- thought I'd take a moment to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving.  And reduce that wine in any way you choose!

Small steps

Surprise! I'm still here. Just been a busy time.

For anyone on any spiritual path, doubting whether small steps can make a difference, I post this. There's a saying in Buddhism about 'drop by drop the bucket (of wisdom) is filled'. Look at what was accomplished below in 5 months of steady effort, and realize that your own steady effort to fill the bucket of wisdom can be just as effective. We just don't have photos to show our inner progress.

I've been watching the reconstruction of this spillway on the live cam pretty much daily, from the beginning. The progress has been astonishing. Today is their deadline to be finished with phase 1, and as of this morning, they are finishing the last bits and pieces. Next year, they'll replace some of the upper spillway and probably those barriers at the bottom, which they judged to be in good enough condition to wait. And also finish the entire spillway with more layers of enriched concrete, as I understand it. That entire middle section is lower than the upper section, for example, and I believe it's a different level from the bottom section as well. But it's deemed strong enough to take large amounts of overflow for the upcoming rainy season.

Another fun graphic from yesterday.

This roller-compacted concrete was only used in the middle section, where the deep washout is shown above. The upper and lower sections used poured concrete with huge rebar grids. I've really learned a lot watching this, and the drone flyover videos they post on twitter once or twice a week.

What's hard to grasp in the photo of the entire spillway is the sheer size of this job. The drone flyovers get down close and show just how wide, how deep, and how big a job it really was.

So that's most of what's on my mind today. What's on your mind?

The fires continue

Napa and Sonoma are still burning. Almost 200,000 acres so far. This fire, the Tubbs fire between Calistoga and Santa Rosa, was one of the first and is still spreading and causing mayhem. According to CalFire a moment ago, it's at 37,440 acres and only 10% contained. Seriously threatening the wonderful old city of Calistoga, which has been under mandatory evacuation all day.

Another big fire further south is threatening the historic city of Sonoma itself, and many homes in the surrounding area have been burned. The Mayacamas mountains, between the Napa Valley and the Sonoma County, began blazing at the very top a couple of days ago, moving down the Napa side to Mt. Veeder Road where there are many wineries and homes.

Not the clearest image, taken from a live map. shows all the fires currently burning in the area, from Cloverdale to the north, to the Tubbs fire that is threatening Healdsburg as well as Calistoga. Down into the eastern side of Sonoma county in the mountains and over into the Napa side. Plus fires still active in Napa. This is not over yet. Barely contained anywhere, still spreading. High winds in the forecast that can continue to spread it quickly, which is what happened initially.

The planes, large and small, didn't get into the sky until today because of poor visibility.  Several of the large tankers, shown above, and numerous smaller planes. Helicopters have been at work all along, but the planes are a big help.

Heading to bed tonight, wondering what morning will bring.

Fire -- or a Buddhist lesson in impermanence

Update 10/10. Soda Canyon Road, which leads to my friends' home in Napa.

After a week or two of being under the weather, I'm happy to say that Cipro has done it's job and today my energy is back in force. Seems I had a bladder infection, which is something I managed to live almost 75 years without experiencing. Could have gone another 75. Could have been worse. A mild case, from tales I've heard.

Turned on the computer at 4am and saw 'napafires' trending on twitter. I was mesmerized and heartbroken over the next 4 hours as I reached out to friends (all safe) and watched the devastation. People, this is home to me, regardless of where I was born or where I live now. Given the money to make it possible, this is where I'd choose to live. Eugene's a pretty good second choice, but it ain't Napa/Sonoma Counties.



Napa got it first, but Santa Rosa is actually taking the brunt of it, with whole neighborhoods wiped out. Hospitals being evacuated at 4am. KMart, hotels, motels, various unknown businesses, wineries, eateries, all burned. Fire departments in Napa and Sonoma counties considered the fires unstoppable, and have focused on getting people evacuated and safe.

At this writing, 3:30pm, at least 1500 structures and over 70,000 acres burned, zero percent contained.



Happy my friends are all safe, though.

Tibetan proverb

This little jewel arrived in my twitter feed this morning from @tinybuddha, and it's something I think all of us can benefit from hearing.

In a world filled with so much stress, far too many of us (me included) tend to eat too much, exercise too little, forget to laugh and love. So I share this reminder with everyone.

Took me several days of limp noodle exhaustion, but as of yesterday I'm pretty much back to normal after the waterfall hike last week. I'm still utterly glad I went, but that doesn't alter the fact that it was hard on this old body! Good for the mind, and the heart, however.

Beat up, battered and bruised -- in my mind

I feel worn out, beat up, battered and bruised, and every damn year of my almost 75, but it was worth it.

I had a friend from Bhavana visiting in town for a couple of days. We spent the first day in Eugene, seeing the sights, walking in nature and downtown. She lives in Florida and was right in the path of Irma. No harm to her house, or her, though. Still, a harrowing experience. She's never been to Oregon before, so I wanted to give her a good tour of this beautiful place.

Yesterday, we drove into the mountains to walk the waterfalls trail on the McKenzie River. I did this once, probably 1997 or so, by myself when I stumbled across this place accidentally, and probably again with a local hiking group 10 years or so ago. I'm not really sure. But, I was younger and more nimble in those days.

The trail is only about 2.5 miles, but they are not easy-walking miles. From the parking lot one descends a very short distance to the beauty above -- Sahalie Falls. This is an OLD photo -- no snow yesterday. But it was drizzly and my camera was in my pack, so I didn't get one of this view. From here, the trail descends downhill via steep steps that are mostly wooden railroad ties, with no hand railings. I really could  have used a hiking stick for extra stability, but no longer have one. The wood was wet, too. I was wearing my hiking boots, and while the Vibram sole is great for most surfaces, it's pretty slippery on wet wood. So -- it was slow going. Plus the view of the river and various rapids and cascades and falls was so great we stopped often just to take it in and take photos.

One of many light drops/cascades/rapids along the downhill walk.

The water was crystal clear, and I am always fascinated by deep pools with that astonishing color.

The day was damp and drizzly much of the time, but still beautiful. We've had days of rain, so were grateful to have this much of a break so we could walk in comfort.

This is Koosah falls, the second large one on the trail. Memory tells me this one is 90 feet, while Sahalie is a tiny bit bigger at 100 feet. Very beautiful, regardless of size.

Naturally, what trail goes down must go back up. At the bottom there is a bridge then we picked up the McKenzie River Trail up the other side. Not so many viewing spots over here, and the trail is as steep going up as it was going down, but no steps. I wasn't sorry to see them go.

This is the top of one of the falls, but I honestly don't remember which one. Since it's towards the end, I'm guessing it's Sahalie.

It was hard to get a really clear view of the falls, so I had to settle for the downhill view and lots of that fabulous blue-green water. 

Gotta say, I was really happy to see this bridge! My old body handled the whole thing much better than I expected, especially the uphill portion. I trundled right on up it, though by this point I was getting a bit tired and ready for some food and water and a soft car seat!

Upstream view from the bridge.  From here, we still had a good walk back to the car, but it was mostly level and a good trail.

All in all, it was about a 3-hour hike, which is a lot for such a short distance. But it was difficult on the downhill side in particular, and when you factor in stopping often for photos, time adds up. I'm so very glad we went, though. I doubt that I'll ever see this trail again in this lifetime, and while the body feels beat up, battered and bruised and really tired, that's all temporary and in the end the body will be stronger. Not bad for an old lady, really. Especially an old lady who hasn't walked a hill to speak of in about a year and a half.

Hazardous

The air in Eugene yesterday. Worst yet, with fires encroaching from the east and smoke from fires all over Oregon and Washington combined with a heat spell and little wind. I went outside briefly, and it was brutal, so I've stayed inside with the AC going, day and night. This morning I opened the blinds in my bedroom and could smell the smoke coming in around the closed window! I immediately engaged the lock, which closes out more air, and closed the little vents at the top of both windows.

Maybe this will illustrate it better. This was yesterday afternoon in the surrounding area. Of the three towns, you can see that Eugene was the worst, literally at the top of the scale.

Somehow that's surprising, since the fires are approaching Oakridge, to the east. I'd think they'd have more smoke, but not according to this.

Today should be the last day of the heat wave and hopefully, some winds will come along with the cooler air and blow some of this away.

I'm grateful that I have AC, and a place to live where I can escape the smoke. Not everyone is so fortunate -- people living in homes without AC, particularly those with already-existing breathing difficulties -- must find this very difficult.

I need to go out this morning long enough to be sure my plants are watered for another 100 degree day, but that doesn't take long.

Aside from the unhealthy and unpleasant air, I personally hate the idea of so much of the northwest's beautiful forests burning, perishing into blackened stumps.

Kat dancing

Around here, this is known as the 'vacuum cleaner side-step'. Hard to get a pic of the full experience, since I can't move the machine and hold the camera at the same time. Moving the machine towards her is what brings on the dance. But this is close enough. Always brings a chuckle to the chore.

And oh, by the way, I'm still alive and well!

Dill pickle perfection amid smokey skies

Eight quarts from eight pounds of cukes. Just put into jars, cloudy sediment may or may not settle, but is harmless in any event. Mere byproducts of fermentation.

Despite a lot of doubt about the edibility of these over the last couple of weeks, I ate two small ones today and have to say they were the absolute best I've made yet. Now, if I'm still alive and healthy this time tomorrow, I can safely say all those doubts were for nought.

Doubts? Yes -- because this was by far the stinkiest batch I've made yet. First, there was only the smell of freshly-fermenting dills, which was expected. After a week or so, the smell got really strong and really funky, making me wonder what the hell was going on. Last week I dumped the crocks into bowls, strained off the oak leaves, dill, spices and such to throw away, then put the pickles and brine back into the crocks to continue fermenting. I like to let them ferment for 3 full weeks, as it supposedly takes that long for all the good strains of lactobacillus get a chance to develop and grow. And while they taste delicious, the main purpose for me is the probiotic benefit.

I'd reached out to the folks at the Wild Fermentation support forum, but not one person responded to my plea for help and answers. Maybe they were afraid they'd be held liable if they told me this was normal and then I died, or got really sick. Mind you, I'm not completely crazy. The smell was never rotten or repulsive, merely really, really strong with something I couldn't place. At any rate -- today was the 3 week mark so I opened up the crocks again, unloaded the garlic and pickles into jars, filled the jars about half-way with brine from the crocks then added fresh brine to the top.

I generally don't do that if I have enough brine for all the jars, but something in me wanted to thin out the smell, which was actually barely noticeable by then. My semi-educated guess is that because this batch started fermenting strong and fast and kept it up for a week, there was simply more yeast byproduct, and that was what I was smelling. Over the last week, I'd decided that the funky smell had a yeasty character to it.

In the meantime, air quality in Eugene has been horrid for the last few days, as shown in these photos by my ever-favorite local photog, Brian Davies. The sun has been blood red every morning when it rises, and the moon has been about the same. Someone told me much of the smoke is coming from a big fire in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness near Brookings, which I find heartbreaking. I won't guarantee the spelling on that -- but it's close and I'm too lazy to look it up.

So that's that. Don't worry about me if I don't check in tomorrow -- doesn't mean death by dill pickles, just that there'll be nothing to write about.

Moon over Oregon

So -- this is what it looked like 30 miles or so north of Eugene this morning. By my usual favorite photog, Brian Davies.

And, while it was cool to watch it through the little glasses, I have to say that the small orange sphere I watched wasn't nearly as interesting as what Brian watched through his telephoto lens. That's a pretty damned awesome shot.

Other than that, pretty dull day.

Gorgeous Dahlia

This beauty has been slowly opening up out in the garden area for days now, and it is always intriguing. It's huge, which isn't really obvious in the photos. Maybe 8 or more inches across.

It's 'owner' says that this dahlia has won many prizes for lots of people. She has also won prizes with it. She has her 'show' dahlias somewhere else, but brought a few new ones into the garden this year, including this one.

It's not quite fully open yet, as you can see. It's tall, so to get this I had to hold the camera up as high as my arms would stretch. She said that on Monday, tomorrow, she is going to cut it and float it in a bowl in the building entryway for all to enjoy. Harder to get photos in there.

Other than that -- just another utterly beautiful day here in the Willamette Valley.

New toy in the kitchen

Latest addition to my kitchen -- been wanting this for a long time. Some of that stuff was in the hall closet, some on top of the fridge, and the rest in lower cabinets.

I like having the things I use often, as well as all the appliances (big KitchenAid mixer under the plastic) out where I don't have to dig to find them.

Went to Home Depot this morning checking on a little garden item, saw this on sale. Went back after lunch to get one. A little taller than I really wanted or needed, but in my research I really didn't find any the size I wanted, and this was a good price. I just had to move the artwork up a little higher on the wall.

Meanwhile, the world as I've known it for 75 years is falling down around all of us.

Late summer in the garden

Not much left in the garden this misty morning. The squash is clearly going gangbusters, there is one eggplant, a few leaves of chard, and all the herbs.

This one eggplant is apparently the only one I'm going to get from this plant. There have been plenty of other blossoms, but they all dropped, for some reason.

After all the hot, dry weather, it's lovely to see mist gathering on the squash leaves. Felt good on my face, too!

It's getting to be dahlia season, too, though barely. These have seen better days, but more plants are starting to bloom and one bud is so huge it looks like it'll be the size of a dinner plate!

What a difference a couple of days make

Hasn't been 48 hours, but this is what the crocks look like this morning. Don't be alarmed -- it's normal!

All that yucky stuff is not mold, it's foam generated by the fermentation process, which creates lots of air bubbles. Sometimes large ones bubble up with a burp, just as often it's bunches of small ones, which make the foam.

Still, I can't stop thinking and wondering if in my fogginess I really added enough salt. Salt keeps the bad bugs, including mold, from growing, although the desirable lacto bacillus that do the fermenting also do a good job with this. They multiply so fast that they simply crowd the bad bugs out. Maybe they eat them, too. I don't remember that tidbit but that's what the salt is for, anyway.

As I understand it, more salt is needed in warmer temps, as all bugs will multiply faster. No need to speed up the fermentation, either, because these will sit a full 3 weeks to allow for best probiotic development. So I've read, anyway.

Thinking thus, I skimmed the scum off, removed about a cup of liquid from each, and added back a more concentrated salt brine, just to be sure and so I'll feel better. I also moved the weight from the left crock and added it to the other. I only have one saucer, and that will hold the pickles below the surface of the brine by itself. A few were trying to float to the top, and one small one had fully escaped. So -- both weights will keep them under control. And keep the mold away.

They're starting to smell good, like old-fashioned dill pickles, which is just what they are. Yum.

Second day of a cooling trend, which is wonderful. Didn't even have to use the AC yesterday, and certainly won't need to use it for the next few days. I love having the windows open, night and day, so I'm a happy camper.