Oh, after such a long time of sketchy Internet service, the (round) sun is shining and the air is crisp and wonderful. Such cool breezes as we cherish are blowing over our land and the trees positively glitter from being so clean.
Opportunities to snap photos were also sketchy, since I believe cameras prefer not to be wet. However, catch this:
Baby Viceroy?
What I hope is a Viceroy caterpillar is gobbling my rue plant. His little middle is growing round and rounder. At least this one is leaving the dill alone.
We have a set of antique wagon wheels in our herb beds:
Cos, Burnet, Thyme, and Wagon Wheel
This first one shelters the cos, burnet, and thyme.
Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Cos, and Wagon Wheel
It’s twin decorates the rosemary and the pineapple sage.
I do love all my herbs and hope you have discovered the joy of growing them.
The folks at postaday asked us to list for them our top posts for the year. Since my Internet still has issues with the idea that I am trying to USE it, I thought I would repost this one for those who may have missed it. Hope you like it; it got scads of views!
Reclaiming the Dream
Cute, but not our house.
I remember a dream house we moved into, once, that required walking through a nightmare before we could really own it. In a job relocation, we had looked everywhere for anything that would contain us all and that was not affected by the housing bubble. Funny, although it was the only house we could afford, it was clearly the biggest we’d ever seen. I mean, 4000 square feet with 7 acres far exceeded our hopes, in my favorite layout: an A-frame with wings. I thought it was a dream come true.
On closing day, our realtor apologized for having to board an airplane immediately for a business trip. A lie? Maybe, but certainly convenient for the realtor. The sellers skipped town, too. Our sold house was 400 miles away. The new job beckoned.
The promised cleaning had not happened. In fact, the house was far dirtier than at the showing. Everything unwanted from the attic lay strewn all over the game roomfloor—three garbage bags full of it. The kitchen looked like a murder had happened there. Probably someone had just dragged leaky packages of ground beef across the floor to the fridge when someone slipped and nearly fell in it. And had not wiped it up. Of course, the promised professional carpet cleaning existed only in the land of promises-promises. The finale for the day probably was the cat litter and feces on the dining room carpet and the animal barf on the laundry room floor. That is, until I lifted the nasty, old, wet, cleaning rag from the kitchen sink and found inside it a huge dog clunker. I screamed and nearly passed out, grabbed a plastic bag, and hurried the mess out the front door. And bleached absolutely everything while crying.
What followed was a month of the unbelievable. We mastered spot-treating carpet. I would steam clean every night until I could not remember how to turn the machine off, usually around 2 a.m. We learned how to remove vinyl wall-paper glue with a knife. We used five coats of sealer/primer on the purple paint. I list only part. No one believes the rest. Or cares, usually. Let’s say “the dream house became a nightmare.”
BUT—God went before us. Constantly we found signs of His loving approval. The perfect wallpaper in NEUTRAL colors went on sale for $4.00. A wonderful furniture salesman helped us find honest repairmen. We thank God, often, for the fact that of all the things that did not work, the smoke alarms did, since there was a fire, one night.
God blessed, protected, and boosted us as we slipped into this hard place. He gave us joy and strength as we plowed through insurmountable difficulties. One by one, each small space was ours, by right of conquest.
Lately I’ve been thinking about myself when the Lord first moved into my being. I think I know a bit about how He felt.
I only thought I had posted lines for this photo challenge, but after last night’s raging storm, I went out to check for damage, and found the loveliest sight:
Rank and File
As we can see, the busy hands have been busy, causing all sorts of lovely things to happen for us. In order, from left to right, these lines show:
beets, cabbage, onion
beets, carrots
radish, tomatoes
corn
corn
tomatoes, green beans
You may detect another line in the above photo, a black and orange snake-like thing, slithering through line 3, our drip line. After an inch of rain last night, I doubt we will use it for a long while. We are so thankful, as the tap water just is not the same and costs plenty.
The storms brought with them some cool air from the netherly regions–thanks for sharing, y’all! We went from 80 degrees indoors yesterday (and much warmer outdoors) to fifties outdoors, this morning. What a welcome change!
And what a welcome sight, to me, all these wonderful plants are! They remind me of children–much work, but worth every drop of sweat!
. . . I do not like the official recipe for zabaglione because it smacks too much of raw egg to suit me and it is too slow. So although several expert cooks will probably turn over in their gravies, I present you with my own version, decidedly not haute.
But delicious.
Chocolate/Strawberry Zabaglione
4 frozen strawberries
1 T. butter
2 eggs
½ cup cream
1 T. cocoa powder
¼ t. cinnamon
1 or 2 servings stevia
1/8 t. vanilla
Place strawberries in heat-resistant cereal bowl and set aside. Melt butter in 1-quart stainless saucepan.
All Ingredients
Meanwhile, whisk remaining ingredients together thoroughly, beginning slowly to prevent scattering cocoa powder. Pour into saucepan over melted butter and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk until mixture begins to steam at the edges. At this point it will be ready to thicken. Once mixture thickens some, it will be ready to begin lumping.
(For real zabaglione, cook only until barely thickened and not yet lumpy, then quickly pour into serving dish, omitting strawberries, and allow to cool. The heat in the mixture finishes the cooking process. My way is faster but gives a lumpy result. Since this reminds me of the very breakfast-y oatmeal, I am okay with this.)
Once the A-OK zabaglione becomes somewhat lumpy, the egg is truly done. Pour over strawberries, which will instantly cool it to a good serving temperature, while thawing strawberries enough to eat.
Are you ever too rushed or too un-awake to cook a breakfast? Sometimes I am and that’s when I turn to my secret stash of gold: a small bowl of hard-boiled eggs stored in the fridge.
Hard-boiled eggs are nearly too easy. You just open and eat. If you want, you can really exert yourself and sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Or go all the way and slice them, too.
If I find that slick, greenish coating on the yolk, though, I feel less hungry, fast.
Avoiding the green yolk is easy if you know how to boil an egg. Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I love sharing these instructions with anyone who will listen.
To Boil an Egg Hard:
Be sure eggshells are clean and uncracked. Wash with soap and water just before using. Amazing how many folks don’t mind germs on eggs! Germs can be lethal and some parasites do not die at boiling temperatures.
Be sure the raw eggs are old enough. Very fresh eggs that are hard-boiled are difficult to peel. Raw eggs will keep a long while under refrigeration; store-bought eggs are usually several months old before you even buy them. I find that if I keep my hennies’ incredibly fresh eggs at least three weeks before I boil them, they are far easier to peel.
Thick-bottomed Pan
Use a straight-sided pan with a thick bottom. Shown here is a thin, stainless pan with a thick aluminum plate bonded to it.
Pan of Eggs
Load only the number of eggs that will fit in a single layer into the pan.
Extra Inch of Water
Cover with tepid water at least an inch over the tops of the eggs.
Add about 1/8 teaspoon salt to water. This supposedly aids with peeling.
Set pan to heat at medium setting; high heat will crack eggs. Stay nearby and monitor its progress.
Boiling
Once water is boiling, set timer and boil for only one minute.
Cover Ten Minutes
Remove from heat and cover pan for ten minutes.
Cooling Water
Cool immediately under running cold water. Dry and store hard-boiled eggs in refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Ready for Fridge
That’s all there is to it. If you have followed these instructions exactly, you will have instant wonder-food for your breakfasts, any time you want.
And a couple of eggs plus a cup of coffee will cost you about 25 cents.
Our five chickens would die without us. We have to check on them at least twice per day. It’s only natural: every critter in the four-state area wants to eat either our poor little hennies, or their feed. From time to time, a rat will even try to prevent their accessing their own water supply. It does this by piling rocks into the water trough, which is only about 1 ½” wide. One night of rat work can mean no water in the morning when the hens leave the roost and need a drink.
So we go down to the hen house every morning, remove rocks from the water, make sure no fresh coon tracks lie in the dust around the building, and hand out treats like bits of bread or cereal. They really love the first morning visit.
How about you?
Do you find yourself waking up to rocks in your water? What do I mean?
Maybe you have been asleep. Sleep is not bad; we all need rest. We can rest in the Lord or take an understandable nap. We suffer without it. Sometimes we might even snooze on the job—tsk! While our eyes are closed, though, sometimes the enemy slips in and harasses us in ways we don’t realize.
Once we wake up, we really need a drink. We haven’t met our hydration needs for a long while. That Living Water can be just the thing to quench that thirst, but where is it? Why is it not where it should be, where it always was?
Some rat has been inserting rocks. What we really need is the Solid Rock, but what we find is an irritating pack of pebbles. Foreign platforms, foreign ideas, foreign habits, small but many, are in the way, blocking our access to the life-giving, thirst-quenching water.
So we wait for the owner to come on down and help us. He clears the way to the water and we drink deeply of trouble-free water and find refreshing. Then, to make sure we love, trust, and remember him, he hands out treats: wonderful bits of nourishment we like better than the daily ration and that cause us always to wait expectantly for his return.
How is it with you? Have you been napping on the job? Thirsty? Not finding the water you expected where you expected it?
Wait. The Master will come to you and clear it all up for you.
Stuff’s been going around. Every day brings us closer to the eventuality. Sooner or later you will run into one of these bugs and knowing what to do will greatly enhance your sick experience.
One of the first and most important tools for fighting off a virus is Good Health. Having good health generally consists of the following:
Eating good food
Avoiding sugar
Taking vitamin supplements
Drinking enough water
Exercising regularly
Getting enough sleep
Eating enough garlic.
You probably already knew these were good habits, but think of these others, too:
Take your children with you instead of putting in daycare.
Avoid self-serve food situations.
Watch what you touch in public.
Do not shake hands; or else wash afterwards.
Keep your children out of the nursery at church.
Use the fizzed virus prevention medications, when appropriate.
Up the garlic content of your food.
If prevention does not keep you well, though, what are the next steps? Here is what our family does:
We take Oscillococcinum as directed on package.
We take Sambucol as directed on package.
We take vitamin C stir ins, at least one per day.
We take echinacea/goldenseal capsules as directed on package.
For stuffy nose, we use a generic Sudafed by day and generic Benadryl by night.
For congestion we use guaifenesin.
For cough control we use valerian and/or a mentholated rub.
Home's Cool! 