Birds on the Brain

Being "Birds" I suppose Mike and I are more prone to care about the flying variety. When we first moved to Shoals, it was fun keeping track of the different birds we saw in the deep woods, the huge Pileated Woodpecker being the most amazing. Our interest was further intensified when Marty worked for Wild Birds Unlimited. I started doing official "bird counts", carefully identifying and recording their presence at different times of the year. Mike and I continue to compare what we see with the pictures found in the Audubon book and on the internet. There was a Rufous-Sided Towhee at the feeders this morning. (see below)

In the last couple years Mike has taken over bird feeder duty, making sure they all have access to plenty of the right kind of seed. He also takes many, many pictures of the birds, some of which he posts on his website. I'm generally the one to select the bird feeder systems, the feeders themselves, and to buy the seed. Several years ago my sister sent us a wonderful hummingbird feeder, so we get to watch the teeny little birds, too. We have a couple suet feeders that we put out in the winter. Now we have bird feeders on the east, west, and north sides of the house for our unfailing entertainment.

Birds like suet in the winter; the fat in the suet helps their bodies keep warm. A few years ago I found a recipe for suet on the internet, and now make it every 3-4 weeks. In case anyone's interested, here it is: Melt 1 cup lard and 1 cup crunchy peanut butter. Remove from heat and add 2 cups quick oatmeal, 2 cups cornmeal, and 1 cup flour. Mix well and divide into 4 freezer containers. Freeze. Optional: Add raisins, craisins, nuts, veggies. Then settle back with your binoculars, camera and bird book, and enjoy the calm of a little nature study.

Snow Day

Oh the north wind doth blow and we shall have snow,
And what will the robin do then, poor thing?
She’ll fly to the barn to keep herself warm
And hide her head under her wing, poor thing.

Oh the north wind doth blow and we shall have snow
And what will the sparrow do then, poor thing?
She’ll hide in the hay and there she will stay
The whole winter snuggling in, poor thing.

Fear vs Hope

The mood changes from worry to terror these days when workers see the boss or the HR person approaching. Every day the fear grows of getting a pink slip with the notation: "...exit the building immediately...". Whoever thought we would be living through such an awful time? What happens to a family who have had to leave their home because they couldn't make the mortgage payments? What happens when neither of the parents can find work? What happens when the savings are gone but the bills keep coming and the creditors are threatening? What happens when there is no more food on the shelves and no money to buy more? What happens to families who have no one to help them, to offer them a home, to care about them and care for them? Whoever thought our neighbors and friends would be faced with this unbelievable dilemma?

It may not have hit your neighborhood yet, but it's getting closer all the time. We don't have the power to "do over" some of our past mistakes and failures, nor is there any easy way to fend off what may be inevitable. Small towns and rural areas are perhaps better equipped to deal with the sorrows of recession because it's likely there are relatives near and certainly a sense of community, of sharing and caring. Some will offer real help, some will pray, some will put their faith in our president and our lawmakers. Some keep on trying.

However, I just read a news article that shocked my soul and made me afraid. A man and his wife were fired on the same day, went home and killed their 5 children and themselves. They had lost hope of things ever getting any better, and leaving this world seemed a better choice than living in it.

We need to rediscover hope. Hope's opposite, despair, leads to unthinkable actions and reactions. Hope is a powerful force that allows us to carry on, to seek alternatives, to think ahead to what we would do if we found ourselves in such difficult circumstances, as well as to think about what we can/would/should do for those who need help. Perhaps it's as easy as opening our minds and hearts and homes, and making sure that unfortunate folks can count on us luckier ones.

Tonight, Mike and I talked about what it would be like to have all our kids and grandkids living here with us. We decided that we would be crowded, but we would sure have a lot of fun. Our own little commune right here. I think Mike was already planting a big garden in his head.

What It Can Do

The new wonder machine made excellent sandwiches last night, as you can see from the pictures. Thick slices of homemade bread spread with ranch dressing on the inside and margarine on the outside, filled with slices of turkey breast and swiss cheese, and topped with grilled onions and red peppers... these were really delicious. When lowered, the top of the press levels itself off to be parallel to the bottom of the grill and its weight slowly compacts the bread and fillings evenly without causing any sliding. Will wonders never cease?!

Tonight I grilled pork sirloin chops to perfection (almost) and topped them with apple slices cooked in a sauce made of brown sugar, water, cinnamon and a dash of salt, then thickened with corn starch. Very good. A new recipe for broccoli accompanied the chops, which was especially yummy and a keeper.

Mike had hot cocoa for dessert and I had sugared almonds. Felt like kings and queens, we did, we did.

A New Toy

Pictured is a "Wolfgang Puck Multi Position Tri Grill Panini" that I got on Ebay recently. Interesting that they call it "a panini". "Panini" is the plural of "panino", which is simply a certain kind of sandwich to Italians. This type of appliance is also sold as a "panini press". Let's just call it a sandwich press for the sake of simplicity.

If you look up "panini" on any recipe site, you will find a few sandwich recipes that are intended to go through this pressing routine. Just remember how to make a toasted cheese sandwich and you're on the right track. Some of these recipes use 3 slices of bread, some only two, but they all have a thicker and more complicated filling, often including both meat and vegetables held together with mayo or some similar sauce. The upper plate is lowered onto the top of the sandwich(es), so that both slices of bread toast at the same time. Yes, I know, some would say you could just use a skillet, but with a sandwich press you cook both sides at the same time AND you don't have to finagle around to get the sandwiches to fit, AND the filling doesn't slop out when you are trying to turn them over.

Because this appliance can be used as a grill, you can cook chicken breasts or ham slices or burgers right on the grill, then add them as is or slice/chop the meat before mixing it the with the other ingredients. Serious vegetarians can simply leave out the meat and put in more veggies. Probably it is wise to use a dense bread like sourdough, or sliced French rolls, or even dinner rolls, or simply thicker slices of your favorite bread. Opening up the press to lay flat, it operates as a griddle where you could cook pancakes or fry eggs. Using the "fixed" position, with the upper grill plate above but not touching the food, you can melt cheese or heat a sauce... or even bake. What a wonderful world we live in!

I wonder sometimes how many kitchen appliances a person really needs, and then I realize that if I am to cook for the rest of my life, I probably need at least as many as I already have ;-)

Eating Healthy

As usual, the checker at the grocery store asked me if I was a vegetarian, having noticed the fact that over half of my purchases were fresh fruits and vegetables and that there was no meat among my purchases. "Not exactly," was my reply, adding that we do eat chicken and occasionally pork. Her next comment was that I must be really healthy because of eating so many different kinds of vegetables and fruit. She said that most people just buy bananas. I wonder what she eats? Not that it's any of my business, but I would guess it's not a variety of fruits and vegetables since she was so amazed by my dietary preferences. She looked more like a fast food junkie.

Mike and I certainly don't claim to be approaching sainthood regarding our food choices. We have accumulated more than a few years of eating greasy ground beef and heavy pasta casseroles, plus we still can't make ourselves eat fish. We've tried and tried, but for some reason it always tastes and looks like fish, like out of date fish, like frozen fish, like leftover fish. Even if it's heavily breaded or covered in a flavor smothering sauce, it's still old fish. My sister Vicki has the advantage of living on the west coast (like she's practically in the ocean!) and can get really fresh salmon that she grills. My, that's delicious! By the time that "fresh" salmon makes it to Indiana, it's either old or it has been frozen. What a crime. One exception: I must confess to eating albacore right out of the can. Now, that's not too bad.

Sadly, we've found that the story about older people not needing as much food is quite true. It's horribly easy to pack on pounds and tremendously difficult to take them off. We don't have as much flexibility or as much energy, so walking is our best exercise, and it takes a whole lot of walking to burn 3500 calories (the number it takes to discourage one lousy pound). One solution that covers everything is to have lots of fresh fruits and vegetables around because one can eat an almost limitless amount of that stuff and stay not only slimmer, but healthier.

Boy, I would kill for a piece of chocolate cake right now!

Cold Snap

Could it be any colder? It's hovering around zero degrees here because we are part of the winter cold that blew ferociously down from way up north a couple days ago. In-house sinus pressure predicted a drastic change, so it was inevitable. We are not used to it and hope never to become so. New insulation in the attic is possibly helping, but it's pretty hard to tell with the heater running constantly. I'm not even sure it's blowing warm air right now, seeing as how the thermostat is set at 66 and the temperature in the house is 52. People in South Dakota had (what did I hear?) -47 degrees yesterday? or was it -37. Doesn't much matter when the cold settles in for a visit. Talk about an unwelcome guest!

Let's see, what's good about really cold winters? It kills all the bugs, that's one very good thing. There was one gnat and one ladybug in the house yesterday, reminding us that they don't like the cold either and would love an invitation to live indoors with us. Another good thing: it guarantees dormancy in perennial growing things, so they get a nice sleep and aren't tempted to "spring" up too soon. Would it be safe to say that this weather also kills germs and bacteria? Probably not; certainly not inside. Maybe it puts a stop to mold and mildew? I'm reaching now, hoping to add to the plus side of this list.

My fingers are very cold and turning white, and the temperature in the house has actually dropped a degree, so goldurn it, there's something wrong with the furnace. Fiddlesticks...

Volunteering

I still have volunteering on my mind. Making blankets/quilts/coverlets for Project Linus is certainly worth doing, and the feedback from hospitals, clinics, safe houses, and from disaster workers is phenomenal... but I didn't want to go beyond the "making" to becoming a chapter coordinator... so that was out. Through the years it has been appealing to envision myself volunteering my time at St. Vincent's or at the Food Bank or to Habitat for Humanity, but something has always held me back (though all those possibilities remain on the table).

This morning I got an email from www.Kiva.org asking for translators and editors, and was thrilled. If you know anything about Kiva, you know that you can donate small amounts of money through Kiva to individuals around the world to help them in their efforts to create and maintain a small business, thus giving them a helping hand toward climbing out of poverty and providing for their families. Another positive result is that they have contributed toward improving their village or town. Best of all, you can choose which particular person or persons you want to be the recipient of your donation. This becomes especially appealing when you realize that your money is added to others' money to make up a loan which is expected to be paid back... there's no free lunch involved here. You can donate whenever you want, any number of times, and to any number of persons. Well, I think it is just a great idea and was very glad when Marty made me aware of Kiva sometime last year.

Kiva has been very successful and is now looking for individuals who can/will volunteer to act as translators into English from a multitude of foreign languages, as well as folks who can translate English into other languages. Also needed are editors in all those languages. Whew. Well, editing is right up my alley. I do it all the time. I cannot read without a pencil in my hand (though I do try to refrain from marking up books!). Errors in spelling and syntax, content and context and meaning, just drive me nuts. Mike calls me Miss Fitich, which is his name for an overly fussy grammarian.

My fussiness has been vindicated. A very worthwhile cause wants me to volunteer as an editor. When do I start? (I'll let you know.) I wonder if my French is good enough to be a translator?

Another Day to Remember

January 11th is my dad's birthday, but rather than write another maudlin post like I did about my mother, I have decided to celebrate by writing about his great-grandboys, of whom he would be very proud.

Yesterday was a day with the "grandboys", Lucas and Ian. Colleen was off to work at 8:15 and Eric had left much earlier with some other football coaches for a one day football clinic. Mike had arranged to be at their house by the time Colleen left and had gathered the ingredients to take over for making the boys' breakfast, which was sandwiches made with bagels, ham, eggs and cheese. I understand they went over well. (Sounds yummy; here at home I had my usual boring oatmeal.)

Ian was up and ready to go when Mike got there. He's is a bit like the energizer bunny and gets up earlier than Lucas, who loves to sleep in on the weekends. Lucas has a 5:30 wakeup time a couple days a week when he goes to school with some buddies to lift weights and do other conditioning exercises for football, so he gets pretty tired. Growing in height as well as musculature takes a lot of energy. Just being 13-1/2 takes a lot of energy, if I remember correctly.

Mike brought them to our house around 12:30, where I was taking the last batch of French pastries out of the oven. It was a first try for this recipe, which was labor intensive (in spite of what the reviews said!), but they were delicious and a fine treat for all of us. The boys balanced out the sugar a little bit with a bowl of red grapes, their favorite fruit as far as I know. Lucas also had a diet drink which led to some creative belching.

As usual, Ian headed directly to my computer. He knows my password and is familiar with several game websites, so he was settled in early on. Ian seems to be particularly fond of the fight-wound-kill variety of games with lots of clashing noises and grunting. I assume he knows the difference between reality and the other worlds he enjoys in these games. Occasionally I hear him laughing over a particularly spectacular kill, which is disconcerting.

Lucas and I sat at the dining room table and talked about any number of things including school and sports and friends, shared some stories and laughed a lot. He recounted the funniest parts of the movie "Home Alone", and insisted he had seen it only once. He's had that amazing memory from the beginning; at the age of four he could recite whole pages of information about dinosaurs, word for word. Scary.

Eric got home from his clinic and called around 3:00, so Mike rounded up the boys and took them home. They took a bag of pastries to share and Lucas said, "Just make sure we save one for Mom." (only one?) Suddenly the house was very quiet, and I was very tired. Those boys had gone home to be with two parents who love them very much, after having spent the day with two grandparents who also love them very much. Some day they will realize how special those relationships are. I sure do love those guys.

Later, Mike and I watched a Netflix documentary about how the government lies to us (nothing new there!) and I hit the sack early and slept in this morning. It was a great day, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't survive it every day.

A Day to Remember

Mother would have been 94 years old today. She was born January 5th, 1915. She died of cancer 40 years ago at the age of 54. Trying to imagine her at 94 is simply impossible. Her family and friends remember her as a beautiful, gentle and soft-spoken woman. She was all of those things. She was a lady in the finest sense of the word. Mother was also very intelligent and curious, a reader and a thinker. When our high school friends would come to our house she would engage them in conversations through which we learned more about them than they had ever confided in us. She was charming.

Like the three blind men and the elephant, my two sisters and I seem to remember different mothers, and after having had four children of my own, I think that difference in remembrance is because she made a distinct effort to become the mother she needed to be for each of us. Not an easy task, for you would be hard put to find any three sisters more different than we are. I've often told people that each of my four children came from a different planet, so I recognize and appreciate the challenge Mother faced. I never got the impression that she particularly enjoyed being a parent, but she certainly did a good job of it in the short time she was alive and able to influence our thinking, beliefs and behavior. We all turned out okay.

I will never stop missing her.

Those Amazing Grandboys

Eric just posted this picture on his Facebook site, and since he doesn't have a blog (yet) I am stealing his thunder (and this picture) because it's so good of both the boys. It is very hard to get a good picture of these two at the same time and I can't imagine how Eric bribed or threatened them to look so darned cute. Ian, on the left, is 8 going on 18, a computer wonder, and a heart stealer. Lucas is 13, a "beautiful boy" (just ask John Lennon) and delightful teenager, and also the best hugger in the whole wide world. This winter he finally got taller than me, and being immensly proud of the fact, he chuckles every time he gets near me.

Would you ever guess that they are my grandchildren? I'm only very slightly prejudiced.

All's Well That Ends Well

With evening skies like these, our trust that this world will go on in spite of humanity is reinforced. What a lovely day it was today in southern Indiana.

New Years Day 2009

It looks pretty much the same out the living room's east window, but this little bird is wondering why she has to suffer the "economic downturn"... no seed in the feeder! She will wait until the feeder is full again and then fly to tell all her friends and family the good news. Yea, we are not forgotten; they still love us!

Much as I enjoy our feathered friends, I would like it very much if these birds would consider making their New Year's resolution be to refrain from messing up the outside of the window. Perhaps the "mess" helps them avoid smashing themselves into their reflections? Is there a lesson to be learned here?

Happy New Year to all! My wish for you is that your problems are as small as mine... and that 2009 is full of hopes and dreams realized. Is it too much to ask for world peace?