Snow is not a sign of spring

Bluebirds are a sign of spring, which began on Tuesday.

Right?

Pussywillows are a sign of spring, which began on Tuesday.

Right?

Bluebirds huddled in a snowy tree.  Not a sign of spring.

It just seems wrong!

I went out and emptied the bluebird box of last year's nest, so the bluebirds would have a clean place to start building this year's nest.  Now I feel bad.  It must have been really cold for them last night without the additional nest padding.  I'll go out to the barn and get some hay for them to cuddle into tonight.

 Strawberries and rhubarb are sitting in the garage waiting to be planted, but it snowed all day yesterday and then this morning again, so that won't be happening for awhile.

The snow is beautiful. But I want it to go away!  

Let's get on with spring.

Blackberry Ketchup

A recipe that I promised to share with several folks.  Around here blackberries are everywhere in the fall, so it seems to make sense to do something with them.  We can only use so much jam and jelly.  Last fall I discovered blackberry ketchup. Use it like tomato ketchup....on burgers, french fries, yummy with salmon and pork.  


This recipe is based on the number of cups of blackberry puree you have rather than the number of cups of blackberries, so I hope it makes sense. It is a combination of several recipes that I found.


Puree blackberries through a food mill using the smallest holes. I heat the berries up first with a little water so they won't stick and then run them through the mill.  This will get rid of most of the pesky seeds.


The recipe is based on two cups of puree.  So if you have 4 cups, double the recipe, 6 cups, well you do the math.


2 cups of puree
1/3 c vinegar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 -1/2 tsp cloves, ginger, salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 Tblsp butter
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper


Optional: a tsp of lemon, lime, or orange zest.


In a saucepan over medium high heat, bring all ingredients to a boil, simmer until thickened to your liking.  For me that's about 20 minutes.  It will still look pretty thin, but will thicken when it cools down.


Store in the fridge.  Or it could be canned in a hot water bath.


The ketchup gets better after the flavors have had time to hang out with each other for awhile.  In fact, the cayenne pepper may give it a lot of heat initially, but then it mellows out in a few days.


There is nothing magical about the amounts.  The original recipe called for about double the amount of sugar, so do some taste testing and vary it according to your own likes and dislikes.


If you froze blackberries last fall, and are now wondering what you were thinking, give this a try.

Teach us delight....

Teach us delight in simple things.

Rudyard Kipling

We woke up to more snow this morning.

A "new" light fixture

I have this wonderful room that I use as an office, a sewing room, a catch all, and I want a name for it. Studio presumes way too much, and I no longer use it as just an office.  Perhaps a Stuffice? an Offio? Stufio?  When I moved here, this room had big white globe fixtures with gold stripes.  They just weren't me, so they disappeared, and I had not replaced them until yesterday when I saw some light fixtures using canning jars.  Hah! The light went on.

Pottery Barn Light Fixture $149.00

I ran downstairs to search the canning supplies for just the right jar. 

Old Moore's Valley Light Fixture $FREE.00

This old wide mouth Ball was perfect!

Bull....

The weather forecast called for a "wintery mix" today, which means: rain, snow, sleet and even a bit of sunshine thrown in.  Wintery mix means to me:  stay inside, read a book, keep the firewood box full, do bits of this and that.

One of those bits is to fix this old bull statue. 

I found it up in the equipment graveyard a year or so ago. The equipment graveyard is about halfway up the hill.  The former owners/farmers dumped equipment and other metal crap there.  It is overgrown with blackberries, but at this time of the year it's relatively accessible.  The bull is heavy metal, maybe a pot metal with a copper top layer that has mostly disappeared, but still has some turquoise patina on the base.  This guy still has his ears, his horns and his balls.  What are the chances that after being thrown away, laying out in the weather for years, that he would still be so intact?  So the fix was that he had some old screws coming out of the base that caused him to tilt and fall. A little sawing and they came right off.  I have no idea what the original use was, but I am thinking that he works well as a doorstop.  Any other ideas?


Sometimes I just can't help myself and haul down weird rusty metal junkyard stuff.  Lovely vintage jewels for this old storage shed.

Lurkin' in the brush

A big oak branch up on top of the hill came off during the last storm.  This is what is left still standing.

Oregon White Oak

Oregon White Oak

This is what came down, or at least some of what came down.  Sid took the splitter up the hill to turn this all into firewood.  They are large rounds, so not easy.

Next Winter's Firewood

Hard Work

Libby & Jackson

The dogs sniffing, exploring.  Yesterday's trip up the hill led to a most unfortunate incident.  Coming back to the house, we heard Libby bark at something off the trail.  Jackson went to join her.  We called them. Jackson came running back and immediately our noses told us what Libby had been barking at........a SKUNK!  It got her good.  Right in the face, her nose, her eyes and mouth and across her back.  I felt so sorry for her.  Poor girl was miserable. Thank goodness for Dawn dishwashing detergent. Skunk spray is like a grease, and Dawn cuts the grease.  I used a full bottle on Libby dog.  Jack wasn't so bad.  I think he got it more in passing, and his coat is slick so it came off easily.  


So lesson learned:  Always keep Dawn dishwashing soap on hand.  You never know when a skunk is lurking in the brush.

Sunshine and Citrus

Just back from a trip to Arizona.  I took few clothes so that coming back I could fill suitcases with lemons and grapefruits right off the trees, and dates direct from Imperial Valley palms. 

What a treat:  Sunshine and Citrus!

Good to be home, but a very nice trip.