88,000 and counting

With consistently high rankings for dependability, I'm proud to own a Toyota.  But after signing over our firstborn for the cost of windshield wipers, transmission fluid, filter, alternator & new tires, this zippy car better last me at least another 88,000 miles.  Next up: taking her to a body shop to review the paint chips on the hood that are slowing show signs of light rust.  Yikes.

(A very dirty shot of the girl before our epic honeymoon bike trip.  And I'm talking about the car, not myself.  I was still clean in this picture.  Amazingly.)

*Disclaimer: She is nine years old.  I should cut her a bit of slack.  With only a catalytic converter replacement prior to this makeover, she's doing pretty damn well.  Knock on wood

Circle of life

It never occurred to me a plethora of bird feeders would attract predators.  (Sometimes I'm in denial about the circle of life)  Minutes after submitting my posting below, I looked out the window to see a pigeon-sized bird eating something on a branch & acting quite differently than the pigeons that usually invade our trees.  With the binoculars & zoom lens, we realized a hawk had most likely turned one of our regular small bird visitors into an early dinner.  The occasional tiny feather dropping from the tree was another pretty good clue it was a bird meal & not a rodent meal.  (I'm really hoping it wasn't our resident Black-Capped Chickadee)  Looking through our bird book, we narrowed it down to Cooper's Hawk or Sharp-Skinned Hawk:

In a previous life...

I think I might have been an Ornithologist.  I have a deep-rooted love of birds.  Don't ask - I have no idea.  Then again, I have a deep-rooted love of all animals.  If you don't believe me, ask my parents about their unspoken distress when I told them I wanted to go into law school.  For animal rights.  (Don't worry, Mom & Dad, it was a phase)

With our new camera - the Olympus E-PL5 (a Christmas treat to ourselves, mostly keeping in mind our upcoming Ireland trip) - I've been having a lot of fun capturing activity at our multiple bird feeders (I did spring for a zoom lens when it was on sale).

A well-used & much appreciated Christmas gift from the in-laws (if you look closely, you'll notice the springs which pull the well-placed metal leaves over the openings to prevent heavier critters, such as squirrels, from scaring away the birds & eating all the food):

Our My friend, the squirrel (whom drives the dogs nuts):

Our resident Black Capped Chickadee - a very bold, opinionated, loud-mouthed little thing.  It's always yelling at me when I'm filling the feeders & doesn't mind eating while I'm standing three feet away.

Don't mind the blur on the right side of the picture - that may or may not be a reflection of my pink & red pajama pants on the window while I took the picture.

Kitchen happenins & other stuff

A recent procurement of 40 lbs of Jumani apples through Bountiful Baskets led to two long days of canning.  The majority of apples were made into applesauce but I wanted to have some other items to mix up our pantry lined with applesauce, peaches, & numerous jams.  I'm not much of a chutney fan but I liked the idea of a savory apple mixture to use with meals.  Unable to find specific recipes, most of my research was spent ensuring the ingredients were safe for water canning (& canning in general) - everything else was fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants & taste.  We split the rest of the batch into curry apples (chopped apples reduced down in Simply Apple juice & curry powder) & apple rum cinnamon sauce (chopped apples reduced down in Simply Apple juice, brown sugar, rum & cinnamon - idea from Ball peach rum sauce).

We opened a jar of the curry apples to have with pork chops - success!

 Apple rum cinnamon sauce - with ice cream, it's like a party in your mouth.

If you need a successful black bean burger recipe, check it out.  The secret ingredient to keep it all glued together?  Plaintains.  Who knew.  These are delicious dish.

 Homemade ranch dressing.  This stuff is the bomb dot com.  Never again will I be able to eat store-bought ranch dressing.  Ever.

Our local community college offers "community enrichment" classes - most are one-day & for a small fee, you can learn such items as baking, cooking, jewelry-making, soap-making, etc.  I took a ceramics class in high school & was hooked but never made much of an effort to pursue it after graduating.  Note: I didn't say I was good.  Just that I really enjoy making ceramics.  Fast forward post-college in Sheridan & I find out one of the local potters is offering a 10 week, Monday night ceramics class at the community college.  We don't have assignments but instead show up & for three hours, once per week, have complete access to the clay, wheels, glazes, & kilns (our pieces are fired with the college student pieces, which is a nice perk).  Since then, I have taken the class a handful of times the past few years & I decided to take it again this semester.  I'm finally noticing improvement.  Ceramics is an art form that most certainly takes a lot of practice - our instructor, who makes beautiful pottery, mentioned it took her ten years before she felt comfortable opening her own shop.  Of course, our house now has more damn bowls than I should admit, but I think I'm getting the hang of some other shapes.  :)