It Might Be Spring

Three Nests

Can you identify which 3 species have previously used this box? (Answer located at the bottom of this page.)

Photo © Sally Sims   http://nestwatch.org/learn/how-to-nestwatch/identifying-nests-and-eggs/

Rain is in the forecast, but for now the gray sky makes the perfect background for the lemony daffodils and hot pink hyacinths blooming under the oak tree. This morning I'm watching the battle of the birdhouse.  The bluebirds and the sparrows are vying for rights to the bluebird house. Both come and cling to the front of the box and go in and out.  Without a doubt, I am rooting for the bluebirds!  Last summer we had two pairs of bluebirds who frequented our yard, and I've awaited their return all winter.  Hopefully, they will be the ones to claim the house, but if not, I may have to do the dastardly deed of cleaning out the sparrow's nest to help them along.  I never like skewing the course of nature that way, but  nevertheless, I've been known to do just that.

The starlings have been a problem already this spring.  During the last big snow they swarmed the feeder.  I would look out the window to see only a carpet of black in the yard.  I resorted to my stainless steel pot lids to drive them away.  I have found that clanging two lids together makes  a deafening cacophony that will raise the dead and drive away starlings.  I'm sure the neighbors aren't happy with the noise, but the starlings are gone at least for the time being.

So feeding birds, driving away the noisy, greedy ones and cleaning out sparrow nests may put me on the wrong side of mother nature, but I am determined to fashion my small piece of nature to my own liking with daffodils and bluebirds.

Answer: From bottom to top, House Wren, Carolina Chickadee, and Eastern Bluebird built nests in this box.

Licking the Beaters

There is nothing like the smell of a cake baking, especially if it is a chocolate cake.  That butter, sugar, flour and eggs and cocoa can combine into a fluffy confection that causes people to moan with pleasure is always a wonder to me.  Who first discovered the process of making a chocolate cake?  Who first got to taste the wonder of it?  As amazing as the cake is, the greater wonder is the icing.  Pure sugar and butter and perhaps a few nuts become an delight that can cause wars. 

At least when I was a child the icing caused war.  My sisters and I would hang around the kitchen waiting for Mother to finish the beating and the spreading of the icing for the cake.  It didn't really matter what kind of icing it was.  Chocolate was the favorite, but the 7minute white icing that hardened in a matter of minutes was good too.  There were three of us girls and only two beaters, so Mother decided that two girls would get the beaters and the third girl could have the spatula and the pan or bowl.  As the oldest, I quickly figured out that more times than not, there was more icing in the pan and on the spatula than on the beaters.  But my sisters figured it out too, and that was the cause of the icing wars.  Yes, curling your tongue around the wire beater and getting every last particle of icing was fun and good, but running the spatula around the bowl and coming up with a true bite or two of icing was even better.  War.  It got to the point that we had to keep track of who had had the spatula the last time, and we had to take turns.  Of course every girl thought she had been cheated at some point, and the ones who had the beaters to lick always eyed the one with the spatula with a certain amount of disgust.

So today I baked a chocolate cake and made the chocolate icing with a pound of confectioners sugar and nuts in it.  Grandpa was at work, so I was home alone.  The sugary icing was too tempting.  I have to confess, it didn't all get on the cake.  I left just a little too much in the pan.  And since I was alone, I licked the beaters AND scraped the pan and licked the spatula all by myself.  And without a bit of guilt.

Food History

I just read my friend's post about food history.  You know the quirks and traditions that each family has and that we pass down through the generations.  She asked what other's food history or traditions might me, and that got me to thinking about how much food has changed from my grandparents generation to my children's generation. As a matter of fact, I think the food traditions might have taken a sharp turn in our family.

For my maternal grandmother, cooking and canning the fresh vegetables she raised and meat from the farm animals was a part of daily life.  Mother tells how Grandma made sausage but stored it in 9x13 size metal pans.  She would press the sausage into the pan and then seal it with a layer of lard, wrap it in brown paper and store it in the basement.  I remember Grandma wringing the neck of a chicken and then cooking it for supper.  Or sometimes Grandpa accidentally killed rabbits in the field with the farm machinery, and that rabbit would end up on the table for dinner.  At times it was all I could do to swallow a piece of meat if I thought about it.

On the other hand, when Grandpa butchered beef, I found it amazing to push on the lungs of the poor beast as they lay on the flatbed trailer while the carcass hung from a tree.  It didn't bother me a bit to look at the entrails and try to figure out what they were and how they had worked.  Perhaps it didn't bother me because that beef was not on the table that night!

I am afraid those traditions are gone for my children. The closest we get to that is growing and canning our own vegetables and buying free range chicken and organic beef at the farmers market.  We have lost some skills and some closeness to the land and the food chain to be sure. In one sense favorite dishes will continue through the family, but some of the ties to raising our own and feeding ourselves are probably gone for good.

Garage Accidents

Well, I did it again.  I've had an accident in the garage.  That is where my "car wrecks" happen.  Somehow if I can just get in or out of the garage, I have no problems on the road.  I've bumped mirrors, broken tail lights, and knocked the door frames.  Today it was the garage door.  It wasn't quite up as I pulled out and wouldn't you know it - CRUNCH.  Thank goodness, my dear brother-in-law was able to get the bent and hanging bottom panel back on the tracks.  Grandpa Swift just sighed when I called and told him what had happened.  He knows my depth perception is not the best.  Since it has been years since I've had a garage that I can actually park in, I was worried that I would do something like this.  So there it is.  The bent panel can be fixed, the car is fine, and I will not get into the car from now on unless the door is up!

Elephants in the Pasture

Last spring, as I spun along the interstate headed home from work, I noticed some "cows" that didn't look quite right grazing in a pasture.  They were mamoth and moved slowly across the field. I did a double-take.  Those "cows" turned out to be elephants!  The big pasture and barn along the highway are used by a small circus for their winter quarters.  That bright spring day, the elephants were out enjoying a bit of green grass and a bit of sunshine.

The elephants are back now.  The circus is once again in its winter quarters, and I purposely drive home on the interstate to see if the elephants are out.  I get in the right lane and go as slowly as safety allows just to get a glimpse of them in the pasture or by the pond.  It is a novelty to see elephants where one normally sees cows.  Somehow, as the days get shorter, and life falls into the routine of work and darkness, the idea of elephants in the pasture is just the spark I need to keep life from becoming dull.

The elephants are out of place in a sense, and I like that awkward balance between what is expected and what actually is.  So, I look for the elephants.  I keep looking for the unexpected.  It brightens the dull winter days and keeps me expecting surprises.

Starting New

Grandpa and I have moved to town.  With a new neighborhood and a new town, I'm trying to add some new, positive habits to my life.  I don't have my garden here yet, but I know where it will go, and on nice days as the winter progresses, I will work on it.  I want to be ready to plant lovely vegetables when spring does arrive.

In the meantime, I've joined the YMCA and am trying to exercise.  I am NOT an athletic person.  I don't mind sweating and getting dirty in the garden, but just running on a treadmill makes me feel like a hamster.  There is no joy in that.  So, I'm trying some of the activities available at the Y.

 I tried the free weights.  That was my biggest failure.  Even with no weight at all attached to some of the machines, I could not move them.  I moved from machine to machine trying to find something I could do!  I found one.  That told me I should find something in a hurry to build my muscles and keep my bones strong!

I tried the stationary bicycle.  That went pretty well.  I enjoyed looking out the big window over the roofs of the business district while I pedaled, but it didn't feel like much of a whole body exercise.

I tried racket ball.  Well, I was on the racket ball court with a ball and a racket.  My daughter tried to teach me along with my 6 year old grandson.  I swished the ball as much as he did, and sad to say, by the end of the hour, he was doing much better than I.

Persevering, I tried the aquacise.  Now, I may have found something I can actually do.  I'm pretty good at it in the shallow end, but once I get into the deep water I have a tendency to move all over the pool as we float and swing our legs and bodies.  If I can learn to stay in place, or at least in a smaller area, I may actually succeed at this. 

At any rate, I am trying to move my body and keep my heart and bones at least as healthy as they are now!

Chicken Soup

We are experiencing our first real cold snap.  The temperatures have dropped below freezing for two nights and that trend is expected to continue for the next two nights.  My solution to the chill is to make a big pot of chicken soup.  In the past, every pot of chicken soup I made tasted like just boiled chicken in broth.  It wasn't bad, but it was boring.  I've finally hit on a combination that renders a wonderful pot of soup every time.

I being with a tablespoon of butter and slowly saute an onion, 2-3 stalks of celery, and 3 -4 carrots in the butter until they being to soften. I then add cooked chicken to this mixture and saute the chicken with the vegetables. To this add about 2 tsp of sage or poultry seasoning. I then add 4 cups of good low sodium chicken broth and heat.  To this I add about 1-2 cups of prepared Uncle Ben's long cooking long grain and wild rice (original recipe).  I also add on pouch of Swanson's chicken flavor boost.  Sometimes I will add peas or other vegetables that I have on hand.  Let this simmer for at least 30 minutes and serve it with a crusty roll. 

So yummy on a cold night!