RIP Peaches

We had to take her to the vet today and let her go.  We hoped our regular vet would be able to come to the house (he makes house calls) but with the holiday weekend, he wasn’t available until Thursday and it was obvious that she would not last that long.  Yesterday, two good friends came by as we were having a fire and drumming for her, sat with her and with us, helped soothe her, remember her, laugh about her.  They also got KFC (her go-to treat) and made margaritas.  We are blessed in our friends for sure.  I took the photo below just 9 days ago–she had a little burst of energy when a kitty came into the yard.  After that, everything seemed to go out of her, but this is definitely the way she will be remembered.  It’s been tough, but we made the right decision and we are comfortable with that.  Life goes on.  We will, too. Thank you for all your good thoughts.

Not Long Now

Peaches is failing fast.  G has been trying to tempt her to eat and she tries, but then just has to go outside and throw up, which takes even more out of her.  I have begged her (G) just not to feed her.  If she wants something, she’ll let us know.  She drinks water.  She lies in the sun and moves to the shade.  She’s very frail but mentally still present.  However, I don’t think she’ll make it into June.  Please keep good thoughts.  Thank you.

Perfecting Small Batches

Trying to scale down recipes for two people is difficult.  I’m used to cooking large batches of things and not having too much left over.  But it’s been just two of us for a while and we are trying to be better about portion control and not tossing out leftovers we don’t eat.  I personally LOVE leftovers.  I think just about everything is better the next day.  I have no trouble eating a the same casserole for lunch every day for a week.  G on the other hand MIGHT eat some the next day but after that, nope.  So.  We (I) are trying to make smaller batches of things.

This morning, I actually succeeded in making a small batch of green chile!  Yes, possibly 6 to 8 servings, max.  I was really proud of that.  And it wasn’t difficult, just took a little thought.  I started with ONE pork chop.  Yes, just one.  I bought a large package of chops a while back and portioned them out for freezing and of course had one left over.  So, I froze it separately, thinking I’d figure out something.  Yep.

I cut the meat off the one bone, cubed it, put it in a bowl with some oil and seasonings.  Then I put the bone in a small sauce pan and put it on low heat.  Soon, I would have a quick pork stock for my chile.  Never waste a bone!

I bought two Anaheim pepers at the store the other day, added a couple of ours from last year out of the freezer already roasted and peeled, one small onion and four cloves of garlic.  There you have it.  I was doing 100 things, so no photos of the process.   I made a roux with an equal mixture of flour and olive oil and when it was nutty brown, added the veggies.  Right when they were starting to stick, I added the meat and stirred to coat with roux, then one can of RoTel tomatoes (the cans are a lot smaller than a regular can of diced tomatoes.  That helped the portion size, too.)    After that, it was just adding the stock bit by bit to let the whole thing reduce.  At the end, I had a perfectly sized batch of green chile just for the two of us!

It’s just the right amount to eat and possibly freeze some for later.  I feel some huevos rancheros coming on!

Don’t Forget–It’s Nearly Smack-Time!

Eggy put up her usual reminder a couple of weeks ago, but if any of you are having the month I am, another one might be in order.  Battle Salad is just around the corner!  I hope you’ve been finding lots of fresh goodies to create your salad with.  Here Chez Grumpy, the greens are about as vivid as they’ve ever been:

We also have some of the best radishes ever, too:

The other day, I pulled out the last few pieces of bacon (of course), diced up some small red and yellow peppers, a little bit of goat Brie that I brought back from Estes Park, sliced up a roasted beet that I had in the fridge and smack yo’ mama, that was one great salad:

I think this took me about as long as cooking the bacon and boy was it good.  I had enough left over (yes, there are uses for leftover salad) to put in a couple of tortilla sandwich roll-ups with ham and cheese the next day.  So, double yum. 

This isn’t my contribution, I’m working on something else for that.  Just a quick reminder that even with a busy schedule, it’s easy to put together a salad that’s not only pretty, it’s also yummy and good for you. 

If you’ve been thinking about doing a Smackdown, this would be a great one to try.  Come on in, the salad’s…er…water’s fine! 

Drive Me Crazy

Nothing turns me into a snarling, growling, epithet-hurling harpy faster than bad and/or rude driving.  I grew up and learned to drive in Atlanta from the inching-across-town on the “connector” days to the days of Spaghetti and Malfunction junctions.  If you’ve ever driven in Atlanta, you will know what I mean.  A trip to LA with a rental car my senior year of college didn’t phase me–I was road-tested on the pig-paths of  the 71 Peachtree Streets in Atlanta.  Yes, there are 71.

I’m a good driver.  I’ve never had an accident involving a moving vehicle until a few years ago when *I* got rear ended by a car so enveloped in its own exhaust that it just didn’t see that I had slowed down.  Seriously, it was like getting hit by the smoke monster on “Lost”.  Of course, he looked me right in the eye and drove off.  What could I do?  I had four kids in the car, trying to get to school on time.

But even that kind of thing doesn’t really get me going.  Accidents do happen, even if they’re not pleasant.  I’m talking about stupid, idiotic, ignorant things.  As bad as the traffic/driving in Atlanta is, that town got nothing on the sheer rottenness of Pueblo drivers. 

First of all, getting on the highway.  Fools, it’s called an ACCELLERATION lane for a reason.  You are supposed to go FASTER, not STOP!  Good God.  This one leaves me holding handfuls of hair every time.  I’m behind this car (and it’s usually some kind of tricked out sports car with a youngish driver, right?) and they get to the very end of the entrance land and eeeeekk…brake light.  WHAT???   Merge, merge, merge!  At some point you will have to get on that road or you’ll be spending the night there.

I actually had Drivers’ Ed in school AND I got taught by my dad who was a stickler for all traffic rules and tricks.  I was taught that on a highway through town, if you were not going to get off on an exit, that you stayed to the left.  If you saw someone about to merge, you got out of the way.  Now, in Colorado, we do have a rule that says IF you are on the highway where the speed limit is 75 mph, THEN slower traffic stays right and you only get in the left lane to pass.  Like people follow that, right?  Still, it’s a rule.  But it only applies to the open stretches between towns.  In town, most speed limits on the highway are between 55 and 65.  So.  I’m in the accelleration lane.   I am, in fact, accellerating to try to match traffic.  So the car that was behind me as I got on the ramp does what?  What do you think?  Does it a) hang back a little and allow me to merge.  b)  speed up and get ahead of me, still leaving me time to easily merge into the traffic stream.  c) move into the left lane, giving me space to get into traffic  OR, d) HANG right in my BLIND SPOT, like he’s DARING me to try to get on the road all the way to the end of the accelleraton lane until I practially have to run off the road before I can get in the lane. 

Oh, you got it, you know the answer.  IDIOTS.  I don’t care one way or the other.  If they don’t want me in front of them, fine, just speed the hell up and get out of the way or MOVE OVER.  How hard is that?

Now.  Stop signs.  Oh. My. God.  How is it that these people have even lived long enough drive?  No one here seems to have heard of right of way.  What’s the rule?  If two or more cars get to a stop sign at the same time, the person on the right has the right of way.  I have been flipped off, screamed at and otherwise abused because I let the person ON THE RIGHT go first and the person behind me didn’t like it.  Conversely, people turning left DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY.  Left turners go last.  I can feel my blood pressure creeping up as I write this.

Then there’s the people who speed (and actually pass you) in school zones.  That happened with me a while back–a TAXI no less.  Thankfully, in that case, I was able to call the taxi company and report that idiot.   A little relief at least.  Then there’s the people who can’t seem to lift their feet off the brakes when the light turns green.  These are the same people who scream, holler and rudely gesture when you’ve clearly got your left turn signal on and there are 15 cars in the other lane comeing one after the other.  Sorry, playing chicken with a semi so you can get to K-mart isn’t going to happen.

Then there are the in town drivers who can’t seem to read a speedometer, or their cars, like Christine, have taken on a life of their own.  I’m driving through town, speed limit 35, I’m maybe going 36 or so.  Suddenly in my rearview, there’s another windshield.  Not headlights, mind you, but a windshield!  WTF?!   Where did you come from?  Then idiot boy (or girl) looks up from the phone and realizes OMG, I could be cramming myself up someone’s ass.  They back off.  Way off.  Slow down to 25, may 20.  Distance between us builds.  I glance back.  THERE’S THE WINDSHIELD AGAIN!  Mind you, I’m still going the same speed.  The speed limit signs are easily visible.  But apparently, the other driver’s foot has some kind of St. Vitus Dance that prevents him from maintaining an even speed on the pedal. 

It just goes on and on.  Rudeness, ignorance, stupidity, compete disregard for the laws of physics (we all know they don’t apply to SUVs.  Especially in winter, on ice.)  But that’s enough whining for now.  I think I need to go fold some laundry to calm myself down.   Just be careful out there.  And mind your driving manners.

Pure Enjoyment

I just came in from my usual morning sit on the bench in the photo at the top of the blog.  This is fast becoming my favorite place in the yard, maybe on Earth.  The yard this year is more beautiful and welcoming than it has been in a long time.  I’m not sure what it is.  Maybe it’s because I’m out in it more to notice.  Having mornings free has been a blessing.  And, since I’m an odd sleeper anyway, I’ve adjusted my schedule so that I do two hours first thing, usually around 4:30 to 6:30, have garden/exercise/errand time, then work from noon to six so I have more time in the evening with G.  It’s working way better.  Plus, I get to break up the long periods of sitting.  That’s good, too.

But back to the garden.  Oh my goodness.  I wish anyone who reads this blog could come and visit, sit on the back porch and the front porch with us.  The flowers are so incredibly lovely this year, and each blooming season is just melding and merging into the next so that the yard is continually covered in waves of different colors.  Everything started early this year and I hardly know where to begin.  Let’s start with the morning view.  This is what I see when I walk outside in the morning:

That’s all the grass we have, and it’s quite enough.  April was all about alliums, horehound, flax and watching the front yard come into its own:

So far, May has been about delphiniums, iris, early veggies, beautiful beds and the most amazing mullein ever.

 

Oh, and peonies!!

This doesn’t even cover the tomatoes that are already in flower (in May!), the beets popping up, the peas I’m going to pick in a few minutes, the huge crop of radishes we have (anyone need a few bunches?), the elderberry bush, the strawberries, blackberries, baby grapes, apples, peaches, cherries and plums.  Yes, we have all that coming on, from one small plot of earth.  Blessed?  You bet.

I have a lot of other things on my mind, mundane stuff that I’ve been wanting to talk or rant about, but that can wait.  For now, I’ll leave you to the mini tour.  Me?  I’m going back to the garden.  Later ‘taters!

Haiku Monday – Stress

It’s Sunday already?  Where is the time going?  The days and weeks of this year are flying past my head with the flutter of hummingbird wings.  Whew!  This week’s Haiku Monday theme is “stress”.  I’m sure NONE of you have any of that, right?  Yes, I thought so.  Moi is hosting this week.  Go over and check out all the entries.  Mine are below with accompanying illustrations:

Responsible one,
Life’s decisions never end.
No stress equals dead.

 

Layers shift and press.
Geologic stress bears down,
Makes brilliant result.

 

Lt. Dan Comes to Pueblo

And the grannies had some fun!

 

Totally Hooked

I watch more TV than I probably should but I’m not really invested in any of it other than DWTS.  It’s just my guilty pleasure.  Then, along came “Scandal.”  Created by the same woman who did “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice”, neither of which have I watched more than an episode or two.  But this.  Good GOD, this is a show.  Smart, sharp, dialogue to slice you right to the bone, acting that’s as good as any I’ve ever seen and chemistry?  There’s enough chemistry between the main charater (Oliva Pope played brilliantly by Kerry Washington) and the POTUS (Fitzgerald Grant, played by Tony Goldwyn completely redefining himself as an amazing actor) to burn down the house.  I dare you to watch this “one minute” and not get emotional, even if you know nothing about the show.  Just raw honesty between two people.  Seriously, seriously good.  Only 7 episodes in this season because it was a mid-season replacement but it’s gotten picked up for a 2nd season.  The viewers are lucky.

Haiku Monday – What Now?

This is a message to all of last week’s participants in Haiku Monday – Crossroads.  As of noon today, Mountain time, I have not heard from Linda regarding her winning haiku, therefore, I’m not sure what to do next.  I can pick another winner, but that doesn’t give her/him much time to pick a theme or anyone else time to create a haiku by midnight.

Since I have very little experience with this group, I’m throwing it out to everyone.  Please let me know what you’d prefer in the comments section of this post.

Thank you all!

GG