AAhhh...

  What a great weekend I had!

  It started on Friday, when I went to Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park for Women's Day. It was kinda scary. I think I prefer riding on a trail in the woods. That way, I can't see what's around the corner, and I don't worry about getting over it. I'm not sure if I picked up any new skills, and I certainly didn't conquer any fears. But I had fun and missed rush hour traffic on the way home.

  On Saturday it was Katrina's Middle School Solo & Ensemble "festival." Since the kids are still beginners, they don't have a full-blown contest, but they are judged. Katrina did a solo and a trio with her cello. She played very well, and the judge was impressed with both the solo and the trio. I think they'll get the results on Monday. After she performed, I spent the afternoon mucking out the chicken coop - chopping up and removing the ice, then shoveling out all the wet bedding. I got it all cleaned out and left it to dry/freeze overnight. We capped off the day with a fun dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, stopped at Menards (Yay!) for a few things, then settled in and watched Skyfall. 

  It's been a while since I've seen a new Bond film. I honestly think the last one I saw starred Timothy Dalton as 007. I've been slowly introducing Katrina to some of my favorite movies, with Goldfinger and Dr. No in the last two weeks. So, she was ready for more Bond. We all loved it.

  This morning, the coop was sufficiently dry/frozen, so HOORAY! The girls got to stay in their house. A nice fluffy bed of wood chips and they were some happy hens. Karl and I cleaned out the garage, but we're keeping everything handy for the upcoming spring thaw - whenever that decides to happen. There's still a six inch thick bed of ice in the back yard, and that's going to take a while to go away.

  Everything is back to "normal" here: Sunday night game night had us all laughing so hard that all three of us were in tears, Karl played the piano while Katrina accompanied him on the slide whistle, and we were having way too much fun to do the dishes.

Fighting Back

  Today I decided to fight back. I am already weary of wading back and forth to the chicken coop. It froze overnight so I was like an arctic icebreaker making a path through the sea ice.

  I made some calls, rented a pump, wrassled some frozen garden hose, and now the water is slowly but surely receding.

I'm particularly proud of myself for this engineering feat.

  Most of the extension cord is buried under the ice, snow, and water. I had just enough slack from the coop end to reach the low spot. Notice the sled/boat keeping the plug out of the water. Also notice all the footprints through the ice. Not an easy task. 

As previously mentioned, the chickens are in a makeshift "enclosure" in the garage. Only Pickles doesn't know she's supposed to stay enclosed.

  I'm getting very impatient for spring. I'm making my landscape plans for our new "chicken fence," gardening catalogs keep arriving with pretty pictures of flowers and vegetables.

I've got a massive case of Spring Fever!

  It's so bad, in fact, that yesterday, I signed up to be a part-time farmer. I put my name in for a work share in a CSA. This means I'll be working 4 hours every week at a small farm, and I'll be paid with a weekly box of fresh vegetables. I cannot wait! This is a new farm for us. Our last CSA provided a lot of  variety. So much in fact, that we had never even heard of many of the vegetables, and ended up not really liking most of them. We threw away a lot of stuff. At least this year, the chickens will eat up a lot of our left-over veggies.

Slightly Damp

  It's been a very stressful day.

  This weather is really kicking my ass. Let's see... five days ago we got about eight inches of snow. Then it warmed up and started to melt. Yesterday, it started to rain. It rained all night. On top of the snow. My back yard looks like this:

My chickens cannot swim.

The chickens are camping out in the garage. They're not thrilled with the arrangement.

  I had to throw together a makeshift enclosure for them, so there's a hodgepodge of plywood pieces held up by sheer luck. Thankfully, Karl is a hoarder, and we still have the gigantic box our TV came in. That's one whole wall! They finally calmed down this afternoon. But until then, there was a lot of  squawking, chasing, and flapping. I could tell they were nervous. I spent a fair amount of time with them in the garage today.

  But three little chickens can't keep themselves warm in the big garage overnight. So, I've just toted them all back inside their little (elevated) house for the night. I waded through about six inch deep ice water to get them home. I hope they appreciate it.

  And tomorrow morning, I'll have to do it all over again. Oh, and did I mention that the rain will be changing over to snow any time now?

By Request

  I had a request from a lovely young lady who procrastinates doing her homework by reading my blog. 

So, this one's for you, Caitlin!

  I know it's been a while since I posted. I really haven't been doing anything blog-worthy. I finished out drop cookies with Molasses Jumbles and  Jubilee Jumbles. I am not fond of Jumbles of any sort. I gave many of them away. I started on Bar cookies with Lemonade Prune Bars and Teen Time Chocolate Nut Bars. I ate all the Lemonade Prune Bars. They were very tasty. And now Karl has started a weight loss program which includes, (among other things) no white carbohydrates. So no sugar, no baked goods (even whole wheat), no fun. Too bad for him because next up is Lemon Bars.

  I joined my LMS bandmates in Arlington Heights, IL for a show at the Metropolis Theater. One of my friends, a fellow musician, came to see us. He was the toddler in the audience because I think he and his wife were the only ones under 80 in the audience! The show ended just in time for rush hour traffic, so with a heavy heart, I had to skip dinner at Portillos. I was really looking forward to it too!

  Back at the homestead, the chickens are not enjoying the wintry weather. But the increasing daylight is not only lifting my spirits, but Barbara's as well. This past weekend, we got three eggs in one day! Now all my girls are grown up. So grown up, in fact that Pickles has decided that it's time to start her family, she's gone "broody."

  A chicken's brain is not very sophisticated. They are wired to lay eggs, then hatch those eggs into chicks. It doesn't matter if there's not a rooster around. It also doesn't matter if they're actually sitting on eggs. Pickles has been sitting on an empty nest for three days. It doesn't seem to bother her when I reach under to collect the other girl's eggs. I hope she snaps out of it soon. It's cold and she should be snuggling with her sisters at night instead of by herself in her nest box. Plus, she stops laying eggs while she's broody. I had to buy eggs!

  So that's really all the news. I'm sorry it's not more, Cait. You know, you and your sister really need to come visit us and meet Sally and the girls. You could stay at my Mom & Dad's. I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Maybe over spring break??

Oh Look! A New Blog Post!

  I have been remiss in blogging about all the cookies I've been baking. It's because I'm busy baking cookies! In the last week, I've baked four batches of cookies: Chocolate Drops, Brown Sugar Drops, Pineapple Drops, and Oatmeal Drops. Drops is a predominant word, and I'm getting tired of these super-simple, novice-level cookies. They're not necessarily bland, but they're certainly not exciting. Oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite, so I actually baked the full recipe on these yesterday. I got about 7 dozen. Most of them are gone, but I did send a bag of them home with my parents, who came for a visit.

  In non-baking news, the weather has turned bitterly cold for a while. I drove Katrina to school today because it was -5° and she has to walk about a mile. I also promised to pick her up after school. I hope I remember. The chickens are faring well despite the cold. They love their hot breakfast of oatmeal with bugs, and continue to reward me with eggs almost every day. I'm checking on them every few hours in this cold, so they expect a treat every time I go out. It's a great way to get rid of leftovers!

  I signed up for a women's only mountain bike clinic in March. I'm excited about that. I really enjoy mountain biking, I just need the skills to challenge myself a little more. Then maybe I can get a better bike to use those skills. (hopefully!)

Orange Drops

  Today's recipe was # 2, Orange Drops. Definitely a "meh" recipe. I keep biting in to one, expecting more flavor, but all I get are bits of orange zest in my teeth. It's probably for the better, since I single-handedly ate at least three dozen of Monday's batch. (Doesn't really fit in with the weight loss plan!)

In other news, I have a very busy weekend coming up - Friday night cycling fan geek-out, Saturday work then Girl Scout event, then Sunday bike race spectating.

See ya' on the flip side!

It Begins

  I've been baking cookies since I was a kid so I'm no slouch when it comes to baking.So it makes sense that my New Year's Resolution is to bake every recipe in my Betty Crocker Cookie Book. I used my Mom's copy when I was a kid, copied my favorites from it when I moved out, and was thrilled when I got a copy for Christmas a few years ago (a reprint of the 1961 edition). There are so many recipes I've always wanted to try, but just never did - like those twisted candy canes or the painted gingham dog and calico cat. So here I go. I'm starting with the first recipe, and going through in order.

It's like a teeny-tiny ice cream scoop!

Betty starts you out easy - drop cookies.  These are the kind of cookies I love to make - quick and easy! They're why I bought a cookie scoop.

 So the first recipe is applesauce cookies. They're cakey with a bit of spice. At first I thought they were bland, but a few hours later, the flavor developed a bit, now I can't stop eating them. That scoop makes the perfect "pop a whole one in your mouth" sized cookie. I had to put them away and put the can of chicken cereal on top of them so I won't take one every time I walk by!

I have a feeling I'm going to be giving away a lot of cookies this year. If you're in the neighborhood, drop by and I'll send you home with a couple dozen!