Stay Indoors, He Said

Today we had a moderate amount of snowfall.  This morning, when giving the day's forecast, the weatherman said that snow would be heavy at mid-day, and that people should just stay indoors.

DH and I looked at each other incredulously.  "Did he actually say 'stay indoors'?" DH asked with disbelief.  "Are people actually that afraid of snow?"

I shrugged, but confirmed that I, too, had heard the weatherman say that the outdoor conditions would be such that people should stay in their houses.

Needless to say, neither DH nor I heeded the weatherman's advice.  After a late breakfast (omelets with chorizo, ham, onions, peppers, mushrooms and cheese), he headed outside to see if he could get the 2-up snowmobile running.  Last week he'd gotten two new bogey wheels for it, but then discovered it was seized up from not being run at all last winter.  The snow picked up in intensity while DH was being snowmobile mechanic.

Within an hour, I heard the joyous sound of a snowmobile coming toward the house.  It lives!  The Bearcat lives!

DH on the Bearcat

Having the Bearcat back in working order meant that we could head out to the fence line to prune apple trees.  DH had tried last weekend to take the tractor over there, but it had nearly gotten stuck in the drifts in the field.  Time to switch from tractor transport to snowmobile.

And so we did.  Forget staying in the house just because a goodly amount of snow was falling from the sky (and, truth be told, driving in our faces if we faced the right direction).  There was stuff to be done outside.  Pruning trees is a mid to late winter activity, before the sap starts running again.

I bundled up in bibs, boots, coat, hat and gloves, and grabbed the loppers and the anvil pruners.  Then I hopped on the snowmobile behind DH, and he took me to the apple trees, going the long way.  From the garage, through the yard and the edge of the garden to what we call the South Road (which is just a path we keep mown from the garden to the woods), back into the woods, and out the other side, then down the north fence line stopping at each apple tree in turn.

View from the backseat of the Bearcat, heading into the woods on the South Road

We spent an hour or so trimming trees on the fenceline, me working the anvil pruners on the branches I could reach and DH using the loppers for the ones higher up.

Pruning a wild apple.

At one point, I lost my balance trying to move through the snowdrifts under the tree's canopy and did a slow-motion fall flat on my back.  Which made me laugh at the ridiculous feeling of knowing I'd tipped beyond the point of no return, yet it took so long to actually land on my back in the snow.  It was like I balanced on the edge of one heel for three or four seconds, knowing I was going over all the way, before actually completing my fall.  DH found it pretty funny too, especially when he stood offering his hand just out of my reach.

After pruning the trees on the north fenceline, we rode the snowmobile over to the orchard, where DH dropped me off to prune those fruit trees.  They are all much shorter than the ones in the fenceline, so I was able to prune them myself.

Once that task was complete, I went inside to work on dinner.  In light of the warm spell we're having--high near 30 degrees today!!--I had decided it would be a good day to grill the last package of hot dogs I'd discovered in the freezer.

Of course, with all the snow we've had since the year began, even being under the deck our grill had quite a bit of snow around it.

drifted in grill

 So I grabbed my knee boots before heading out to grill the hot dogs.

grillin' boots

I can't imagine how boring the day would have been had we obeyed the weatherman's warning and just stayed inside today.  Afterall, that snow is so unsafe.  And, cold.  How could anyone possibly be out in it for hours without causing harm and misery to themself?  How could they possibly have fun, or laugh, or accomplish anything?

Challenge #4: Have a Party

But wait, you say, I'm not a party person.  Or maybe you say, but I don't have any money for a party.  Or maybe you say, I have no room for a party.

Let me clarify "party".  By party, I do not mean some raucous drunken bash.  By party, I don't mean a soiree for dozens of people, complete with table linens and wait staff.  By party, I don't mean coughing up a chunk of change for fancy eats.  Nor do I mean inviting a bunch of people--or even one person--to your home.

Unless you want to.  Then, by all means, go right ahead!

What I am thinking of is more along then lines of planning something that is out of your normal routine.  For us, and why I chose to make having a party this week's challenge, this means changing up our normal menu and dinner time regimen for the Super Bowl.

We don't invite a crowd to our house on Super Bowl Sunday.  Normally, we don't invite anyone at all.  But we still call it a party because on that day, DH, I, and whichever of our offspring are home, eat stuff we don't eat very often, and we eat it not at the dinner table but in the living room in front of the TV.

Maybe eating in front of the TV is not out of the ordinary at your house.  In which case you'll have to figure out something different for your 'party'.  ;0)  For us, however, meals are eaten together at the table, so to eat in the living room is somewhat a special event.

This year our Super Bowl menu seems to be evolving to look like this:

• buffalo chicken wings (from scratch, using wings from chickens I raised last year--on butchering day I always put the wings from parted-out chickens into a separate freezer bag just for Super Bowl), 
• either a cheese ball or a dip made with cream cheese & sour cream with herbs and garlic, 
• crackers, 
• a rather bland batch of homemade venison hunter sticks cut into pieces and doused in BBQ or chili sauce (think cocktail weiners), 
• probably some carrot and celery sticks
• pickled hot peppers and dill pickles
• cake or cupcakes or brownies  (in other words, some sort of dessert probably involving chocolate)

Definitely not our ordinary healthy dinner fare.  But, you know what, that's what makes it a party.  And we're not spending tons of money on ready to serve chicken wings and cocktail weinies and cheese balls.  Nope, we're taking stuff we all ready have and making it into party food.

If you don't want to do Super Bowl, your party can have some other theme.  Maybe you want to have an Olympics party.  Or a Valentine's Day party.  Or maybe invite a good friend over for lunch any old day.  Or have a weekend baking session with the kids.  Or get together with your parents or siblings on a day that isn't a holiday.  Maybe your party is just being alone for an afternoon while your spouse takes the kids out for some activities without you.  Ahh, peace and quiet!

Point being, a party can be whatever you want it to be, as long as it isn't your same-old-same-old.  It is something you plan, look forward to, and enjoy while it's happening.  Have a party.

Something I Learned

I have a confession to make.  All the lovely cabbage I grew last summer?  I forgot about some of it.  When I first harvested it, some became cabbage rolls for dinner and for the freezer.  Some became slaw for dinner and I tried my hand at freezer slaw too (and then promptly forgot I made it, so it has now been in the freezer about 4 months. . .). Some I made into sauerkraut.  Some DH gave away to friends who didn't have their own beautiful homegrown organic cabbage.  But the rest I left in the garage and forgot about.

Being that we are now in the most frigid part of winter, that cabbage left in the garage has frozen.  Which DH was none too happy about, let me tell you.  To be honest, when he jogged my memory about those garage cabbages, I was rather mad at myself for wasting them by not bringing them to the cellar or otherwise eating or preserving them before they froze.

But wait!  I had a thought!  The cabbage I had made into freezer slaw had not been blanched (as is the common treatment of veggies) before going into the freezer.  Maybe all was not lost!

So I Googled it.  And I found several sources that said frozen cabbage could still be used.  Phew!  Guilt trip cancelled!

Just in case that was unreliable information (cuz you know you can't believe everything you read on the internet), I tried using some frozen cabbage in a recipe that called for fresh, chopped cabbage (which was then cooked with sausage, potatoes, onion and carrots, yum!).  I did not thaw the cabbage first, just brought it into the house, rinsed it in tepid water, peeled back the first few wilted leaves, and chopped the rest.

It worked!!  Yahoo!  I left the remaining four frozen cabbages in the garage.  I'll get to them later this winter.  Until then, they are perfectly fine right where they are.

It's Cheap, and Filling

Chicken teriyaki, that is.  I made it for dinner on Saturday. I would have posted about it sooner, but I had this crazy idea I would do a cost comparison between the frozen chicken teriyaki at the grocery store and my homemade kind.  Or my homemade the way I did it, and homemade if you bought: boneless skinless chicken breasts, minute rice, and a bottle of teriyaki sauce.  I even started to do the math, but finding prices on the local grocery store websites for fresh chicken and frozen chicken teriyaki (so I didn't have to drive 8-20 miles to a grocery store and price it out)  proved to be pretty impossible.  So you get a late and not so detailed version  ;0)

What I did was:

1. Take a whole chicken out of the freezer and let it thaw 2 days in the fridge.  Then I cut off the breasts. I now had two boneless skinless breasts which run about $4.99 not on sale at the store. (If I remember right, whole chickens run $1.49 to $1.99 a pound depending on the store). Say the breasts actually weighed one pound; which I'm not sure they did, because I didn't get out the scale and weigh them.  In any case, they were plenty of meat for the meal.  I cut the breasts into chunks about 1/2" thick and 2" long.

2. Make 2 cups of white rice (so, 2 cups water plus 1 cup of rice, 1 tbsp butter and 1/2 tsp salt). Real rice takes 30 minutes to cook on the stove.

3.  Cut up 2 stalks of celery and add to steamer along with one bag of Florentine blend veggies (aka frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots from the store--were it summer and if I could get carrots to grow in this clay soil, I would have foregone the frozen veggies for freshly harvested ones).  Anyway, I think the bag of veggies is $1.25 every day price.

4.When the rice was 1/2 done, I turned on the burner under the steamer and started the veggies to cooking.  I also cooked the chicken in a skillet in about 2 tbsp veggie oil until cooked through (10 minutes??).

5.  When veggies were steamed to crisp/tender state, chicken was cooked through, and rice was done, I threw the rice and veggies into the skillet with the chicken, added 2 cups of homemade teriyaki sauce (for recipe, see my post Terribly Yucky Sauce) and let the whole thing simmer another 10 minutes or so.

Done!  A meal to fill four hungry adults for roughly the same price as a bag of frozen chicken teriyaki that only fed two of us the one time I bought it.

The rest of the whole chicken, after I cut the breasts off for teriyaki, went into the crockpot where it cooked on low for about 9 or 10 hours.  Then I deboned it, shredded the meat, and gave the skin and fat to the barn cats, who could use the extra calories during this cold weather.  The shredded meat became chicken enchiladas on Monday.  I still have the 'broth', ie. melted fat and water from the bottom of the crockpot, in the fridge to use in other recipes or maybe as soup stock, I haven't quite decided yet.  Anyway, three meals from one chicken, as is the usual at this little place here.

Da U.P.

I am thankful for Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  More specifically, I am thankful that I had the chance to live there for nearly two years (Aug '91 through May '93).  The U.P. taught me so much and, I can see now, had a profound influence on my adult life.

It was the first place I moved to when I left my parents' home.  Not just a move to an apartment across town; no, this was a move of 500 miles, to a place where I knew no one other than my DH and my son.  And not to an apartment, either, but to a rental trailer on the outskirts of town.  Our mailing address was a rural route, the post office was in a town that had a different name than the stretch of land on which that rental trailer stood. Which is not uncommon in the U.P.  There are lots of places with "Location" in their name (Superior Location, Boston Location. . .) that are just tiny cross roads without their own post office.  And many places that used to be towns, 100 years ago, but now are scarcely populated, too scarcely to merit a postmaster.

Anyway, living in the U.P. I was exposed to a different way of life than is the norm for lower Michigan.  In the U.P., you need to expect to be responsible for yourself.  Your very life depends on it.  That's not to say that people in the U.P. aren't helpful and don't look out for each other.  Because they do.  Very much so.  But in the U.P., you need to plan ahead, you need to not be afraid of physical labor, and you need to be aware of what is going on around you.  You could be mauled by a bear, eaten by wolves, or fall off a cliff while hiking.  You could drive off the road into a snowbank, you could be snowed into your home by a blizzard, you could be carried off by black flies.

Well, from my personal experience, falling off a cliff while hiking, driving into a snowbank, or experiencing a blizzard-- I've been there, done that, for two out of the three, and came really close to the third-- are much more likely than death by wildlife. Although the latter is not out of the realm of possibility.  The black flies are vicious in season, bears abound (and tend to frequent the dumpster at the grocery store--park in front of the store, not behind!!), and I have seen wolves several times just going about my normal daily activities while living in the U.P.  The majority of carnivorous wildlife runs from humans more often than not.  Black flies being the exception.

Mostly, though, living in the U.P. taught me to not fear snow.  Snow is a fact of life up there, as sure, six months out of the year, as the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening.  Snow is not a howling monster.  Snow is a blanket, an insulator.  Snow is a friend, making tracking deer during hunting season much, much easier.  Snow is a necessary ingredient for winter fun.  For skiing, both downhill and cross country.  For snowmobiling.  For snow shoeing.  For building snow sculptures as large as houses, and just as detailed as the carved woodwork in most of the old buildings up there.

life size snow sculpture, Jan. 1992

Snow is way easier to drive on than ice and slush.  That is something that people in the Lower Peninsula don't seem to understand.  They go crazy salting the roads to melt the snow off of them, and cars go whizzing into the ditches from lack of traction in the mush.  Snow, properly maintained, can be driven on quite well.  And is, for months, in the Upper Peninsula.

In order to have snow, there must be cold.  Cold also is not to be feared.  Cold should be respected, and met with adequate preparation, both in terms of heating ability (often wood--many native Yoopers talk of "making wood", which is cutting and splitting and stacking firewood in the seasons before they need to actually burn it) and in clothing that is right for conditions.  Warm trumps fashionable.  Then again, U.P. clothing is it's own fashion.  Ear flap hats and plaid flannels are a must.  Big, clunky boots with thick linings, yes, got to have them!  Face masks for the windy and coldest days, and thick gloves.  Bibbed overalls with linings.  Snowmobile suits. And that's just to go to the grocery store or the school bus in December!  During a real windy and cold snap, say, in January, you might find it advantageous to 'grease' your face before going outside in order to protect any exposed skin from windburn.  When I first moved there, I thought the person who told me to rub Crisco into my cheeks was kidding.  They weren't.  And it helped.  So, grease your face if you need to.

Cold enables ice skating and ice fishing.  Luge run building.  Both winters that we lived in the U.P., DH iced down the snowbank that continually grew all winter at the house-end of our driveway.  He crafted a track in that snowbank that was just the size to fit DS1's sled.  DS1, being 2 and 3 years old during his winters in the U.P., would climb that snowbank (which sometimes reached eight foot tall), jump on his sled, and fly down the iced track.

DS1 at 2yrs old, going down his 'luge run'

  We even had a cat that loved to ride on the back of his sled and experience the luge for himself.

DS1, at 3yrs old, and our cat, at the end of a luge session

It's been over 20 years since DH and I moved back downstate from the U.P.  The engineering jobs might be down here, but our hearts have remained up there.  We often find ourselves at odds with the mindset and lifestyles down here in the lower part of the Lower Peninsula.  We don't subscribe to the panic when the weather man says "Snow!  Wind!  Cold!"  We just plan to stoke the wood boiler twice a day, make sure all our warm winter gear is ready to put on, and watch out for all the people on the roads who have no clue how to drive in snow.  There is always food in the cellar and freezers, no need for daily (or weekly!) store runs.  And on nice clear, frigid, below zero 

winter weekends, we head out to our woods and "make wood", keeping ourselves warm by cutting and stacking the downed and dead trees that will heat our home in winters to come.

More Sewing Going On

In addition to finishing a UFO, I've been working on a mystery table runner since the 17th.  I did my first 'mystery quilt' last winter, and it was such fun that I've kept my eye out for more mysteries that might fit into my schedule.  With it being winter and no garden to tend to, my schedule is a bit more open for sewing right about now.

When I heard of this upcoming mystery table runner, it fit right into what I was looking for.  I'd been wanting to make a few table runners, you see, and to have a mystery one was just too much fun to pass up on a cold and snowy week in January.

To make it economical, I decided to limit myself to only fabrics in my stash--no new purchases!  That actually made it quite challenging, because I not only had to use stuff I all ready own, I had to find 4 coordinating fabrics that not only went with my dining room color, but were in large enough pieces (I tend to save even small strips, you never know when you'll need a 2" wide piece for some bias tape. . . or a string quilt. . . ).

I did find four fabrics that worked, plus a fifth that I really really wanted to actually be one of the four for the top side of the runner but it didn't fit as well with the other fabrics I found.  I ended up using it as backing though, so that worked out perfectly.  Now my runner is reversible, since I love the backing fabric so much!

Anyway, here is what my finished mystery turned out to be. I added a few extra blocks from what the instructions called for in order to extend it to better fit my table, which is 72" long without its leaf.  It isn't the kind of table runner that hangs off the ends, rather I wanted it to be something you could leave on the table and still have room to set dishes for eating off of.  I can put serving dishes on it if I wish, and they don't contain anything that might stain the runner if things drip.

top

close up of top

back

close up of back

Not only was it fun to do, and make my dining room a little dressier, it has given me an idea for a birthday or Christmas gift for a few ladies I know. . .  

Challenge #3 Capture a UFO

Anyone who crafts should be familiar with the term "UFO".  We're not talking space aliens (well, maybe we are, but a different kind of space, LOL) as in little green men from outside the Earth's atmosphere.  We're talking Un-Finished Objects.  Projects you started, and, for whatever reason, set aside before they were completed.  So in that sense they are space aliens--they are taking up space in your home without really belonging there.

That set of place mats you started to sew that sit in your craft room and not on your dinner table. . .

That quilt you started for your child when they were younger and now they are not so little but the quilt is. . .

The counted cross-stitch project that was going to be a gift for your mother. . . five years ago. . .

The scrapbook you were going to make throughout your child's school years, the last completed page of which is fifth grade, and Junior currently has his driver's license, a part-time job and a date for the Prom . . .

Those are all examples of UFOs.  You still have them.  They take up closet space, or counter space, or drawer space, and are gathering dust.  Not only are they using up valuable space in your home without contributing anything to it, they are using up space in your head.  You know, that little voice that says now and then "hey loser, when are you gonna finish what you started?"

I have several UFOs.  Okay, more than several.  Enough that I made a list at the beginning of this year, and I was shocked to see just how many.  Some of them are huge UFOs that I can't possibly finish on my own (like, say, finishing off the inside of the barn with horse stalls).  So right now, let's skip any UFOs you have that require

 a) the cooperation, assistance, or labor of another person in addition to yourself and

b) more money than you have available in your budget this week to finish.

I recommend starting with the smallest UFO you have, or, the one that is closest to being done.

This week I tackled one of my bigger UFOs.  It was the one causing me quite a bit of mental stress, and it was also the one closest to being finished.  I had set it aside because I wasn't doing as perfect of a job on it as I had wanted.  I was frustrated with it, as well as disappointed that it didn't look exactly like I had envisioned. (May I say that yes, I am a perfectionist.)

It sat, untouched, for a year.  It was untouched, but not forgotten; it nagged at me.  And DD1, whom it was for, also nagged at me, wondering when in the world I was going to finish it.  Finally, this week, I said "Screw it.  It won't be perfect, but it will be finished."  And I got it out, spent about three hours doing the binding--which was all that needed to be done once I decided the quilting itself was as good as it was going to get--and it was a UFO no more.  Now it is a much loved t-shirt quilt residing on DD1's bed.

She's overjoyed.  I'm happy, and feeling accomplished.

Now I'm ready to tackle the next UFO on my list.