A Monday Catch-Up

I hope you are tolerating this melting Monday well. Meet Bruce. During my little blogging break, this gentleman arrived here at Maple Lane House. There is a backstory. For years, mostly since retirement, husband has wanted to raise chickens. While that is a popular "hobby" in this area, there are logistical issues involved. Not to bore you, but there will not be a chicken hobby here. We have coyotes, foxes, and other predators that would never allow us to have peace in this endeavor. No, we would have to sleep with the chickens, get a guard dog and maybe even a donkey to keep them safe. 

I have a couple weighted chicken door stops that I have placed on either side of the front door to mitigate the pain of being chicken-less. But alas, his passion for these birds has not waned. Therefore, a dear friend, in an internet search, found this big boy. Big, yes, he is 6 feet tall! What do you do with a 6 foot chicken? You plant him right in the front yard, right by the front steps, seen from many angles, even though we live in the woods.   

Our visitors, our postman, and all delivery people are having a bit of a chuckle and he has enlightened several people who come to do some lawn work for us. I glimpsed a young man who comes to cut our steep banks that lead into the southern section of the woods laughing out loud. A 6 foot chicken is a must I suppose, has the husband cooled his passion, Yes, it has. 

 Ah, and then there is the weekly visit to the local farm market. The plan was to pick up some plants to  replace my herbs. I was not going to but could not resist the pickling cucumbers. At 50 cents per, I have curbed my canning passion and chose just these 8 to try fermenting. They are crocked now, as we speak. My recipe states that in 7 to 10 days I will have a nice dill pickle. No, I could not use my own dill, the beetles destroyed it. We will see.

The replacement plants; parsley, sage, and sweet basil, will not be outside. Right now they are on the kitchen window sill but I will retrieve my grow light and re-pot them. They will grow nice and safe indoors.  It has not been a good grow season for me. I have attempted to pick the buggers off the plants early in the morning before they wake up, I have used organic treatments on the plants in an attempt to deter them. Nothing worked. Next year I need to come up with a better solution. 

I have picked the hydrangea from one bush. I enjoy them until the wilt starts then dry them. One of my favorite plants, these are special for many reasons.

I managed to procure three large bundles, some already in their waning days.

This bunch is right beside my desk. Flowers are great companions, even when paying bills!

I have also been recipe testing. This is a copy-cat recipe from Olive Garden. It is the chicken/gnocchi soup. My oh my. I copied this recipe directly from the author. I neglected to record just who that was. But it is better than the restaurant offering. I will test one more time then publish here. It is a hearty soup. One cup is a meal in itself. I have frozen two servings as a test as well. Sometimes frozen items lose their flavor and texture when thawed and reheated. We will see. 

• In the long-arm quilting catch-up I have ordered and received some nice sharp T-pins for loading the quilts. I have been bending my long pins so often that I only had a few left. Leaning over the front bar is a bit tricky when you are not tall. I am hoping these heavier pins will work. Update to follow.
• I have layered up a Fall panel to do a quick quilt up. Haven't started it yet, but I hope to get to it this week. Tomorrow is busy but the rest of the week is mostly open. So, I hope to work on that Wednesday or Thursday.
• I also broke down and spent almost $5.00 for one of those magnetic seam guides for the Baby Lock Accomplish single stitch machine. I have found that I tend to sew fast on that machine because I can and it was designed to do just that. The problem is that the speed is not conducive to straight stitching, well, not for me. I need a guide. The sticky tape stuff is a joke, I tried other methods as well. None worked, so magnets, here we come. Update on that to come as well. 
  
• I have had two Amazon deliveries recently with damage. This is my essential body cream. My skin is now and has always been very dry. Worsened by heart medications, the dryness is unbearable without this healing cream. I found a decent deal on Amazon and waited patiently for its arrival. The inside of the package was a bit sticky and I knew there was a problem...
  
  One side had been smashed and cracked open but the contents were mostly intact. To mail back two jars of this stuff is a pain, so I will move the contents of this jar to another empty one. I have noticed a bit more damage with Amazon orders recently, but it is so darn convenient! 
• Have a lovely day. Our Summer is moving along quickly, I am not looking forward to leaves without trees.
  

 

 

 

I hope that no one has melted during the last few days of overwhelming heat! I know my friends in the UK and in Western Europe and dealing with a difficult season. For most of us in the US (I think) air conditioning has helped us deal with the heat, I know in my city that cooling stations have been set up in underprivleged neighborhoods where AC is not common or not functioning properly.  I have great empathy for them. Growing up we did not have central air, we did have a week or two of oppressive heat in Summer, but we were quite tolerant of the heat, our bodies and minds had acclimated.