Heavy Rain!

This is what happens when we have a heavy rain for an hour or two.

I have a ditch on the side of my house, and, when we have a hard, strong rain, this is what happens.

The water rose to the property line, but, once the heavy rain stopped, the water began receding.


Below, one of my Leghorns laid an egg in the fire pit and sat there for about 20 minutes, keeping it dry.

We've had a worrisome morning.  I'm afraid the girls are going to be swept away by the water, since they love to go down in the ditch to forage.  Henry the roo has been keeping an eye on them, though.


Really, I don't know of anything more contrary than a wet hen.  They've been fussy for two days!

Hope you stay high and dry!

I Got My Answer!

I have the annoying habit of losing track of time when I'm reading. It's a terrible curse, I know! So, if I'm reading late at night (or early in the morning, depending on how you look at it), I don't realize how late/early it is until I take a break. That means I usually don't get to bed until 2am or so. One of the perks (?) of getting older is that I don't sleep as much (unless I'm exhausted), and I get up early in the morning.

Right before I went to bed at 2am this morning, the rain began. Well, we did have a brief, heavy rainstorm yesterday afternoon (right after I watered the garden), but the rain at 2am was fierce. I crawled into bed to strikes of lightning and growls of thunder. I couldn't sleep with Mother Nature's grumbling. At 3am, I was sitting in the living room, waiting for the dish TV system to locate a signal. I think I finally went to sleep at about 4 or 5am. And I got up at 8:30am, so I know one person who will take a nap this afternoon.

My garden loved the rain, in spite of the small limbs that the wind shook down on it. I found my one tomato on the ground. I'll let it ripen on the window sill. I had to stake another tomato plant, but, other than that, everything seems to have survived. I just hope all of my gardens have enough water for a few days. I guess this calls for a tour of the yard to make sure everything is okay.

To change the subject, my cats annoy me. We were down to the bottom of the food bucket where the "old" food is. It stays fresh because the lid snaps on tight, but it's a brand of cat food they don't like, so none of them would eat it. I filled the bowls up yesterday and this morning, and they just sniffed at it and walked away. And, boy, do they complain! "Meow, meow, meow. Lady, when are you going to get some decent food? We want the good stuff, and we mean NOW!"

So, off to the store I went, the dutiful servant--I mean "master." For a large bag of cat food and a four-pack of toilet tissue, I spent almost $20. What the heck is going on here? I guess I could lead the cats away with a breadcrumb trail of expensive treats. They'd just come back. I just know it. But how can you not buy toilet paper? Can anyone recommend a substitute? Gee, on second thought, I don't want to contemplate an alternative.

I guess what I'm saving on gas for the car I'll be spending at the store. Since I'm a big conspiracy buff, this is what I'm thinking. I think the oil companies are helping themselves to our money in order to persuade us (extort us?) into letting them drill for oil in the Alaska Reserve and off the coasts of our beaches. That's just what I think. Of course, I think we're contributing to our own hardships by driving huge cars, driving too fast, and driving too much. I'd love to see more people in jobs where they could telecommute. Companies would save overhead by not having to rent huge buildings (sorry, realtors!), and people wouldn't be driving so much. I realize this isn't possible in every type of business. Sometimes, you have to have an office, and you have to drive. But wouldn't it be nice if more people didn't have to? We could cut our oil dependency somewhat if we could just stay home.

It's too bad more people don't live closer to the necessities, such as grocery stores and dry cleaners. Maybe the "old days" have something to teach us about community living that we've forgotten.

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

so I'm staying inside, doing inside work.

I edited two files for NAF, and reviewed a transcript I spent 11 hours typing yesterday. Really, if you've never done transcription, word up--a one-hour voice file takes me anywhere from nine to twelve hours to transcribe. Seems slow, maybe, but I edit as I go. Most transcriptionists just type what they hear and ignore punctuation, etc. (That's why I edit transcipts, too. The punctuation usually sucks.) I was up until 2am doing that; I slept until almost 10am this morning, which was nice. The rain kept the sun from shining in the bedroom window--the sun always wakes me.

I was going to tackle the periwinkle bed that surrounds the pecan tree in the back yard, but I guess I'll postpone that until later in the week. I did transplant irises yesterday. I had a bunch around the carport; I dug those up. My mom gave me a bag full, so I dispersed them at various points in the front and back yards. Hopefully, I'll have a riot of color next spring--purple, blue, yellow, white.

Oh, and does anyone want a kitten? I have a feral cat who had five cute kittens--two solid gray, two gray and white, and one gray with a few white accents. I need to trap the mother and have her neutered (anyone have a cat trap?); the babies aren't too scared of me yet--I can pick them up--but the mom will eventually make them run away from me. I need to find homes for them now, so, if you want one, let me know, and you can come catch the one you want.

I restarted my sourdough starter and baked some sourdough biscuits this morning--yummy. And I made a loaf of artisan bread--one of the easiest bread recipes in the world. No kneading, really, but the bread needs a first rising of from 8 to 12 hours. I added wheat flour to this loaf; it's also yummy. I think I'll tackle sourdough bagels tomorrow. I have a simple recipe for those, and I used to make bagels all the time. The price of flour has increased, but it's still cheaper to buy the flour and make my own bread. A loaf of bread costs almost as much as a bag of flour; I can get six or seven loaves of bread from a bag of flour.

Here are two simple bread recipes:

Beer Bread

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour (if using unbleached, add salt, baking powder and soda--you'll have to figure out the measurements for those!)
1-12 oz. can/bottle of beer, cheap or expensive, your choice.

Pour 1/2 of the beer into the flour and stir (no sipping!). When absorbed, pour in the rest of the beer. You can add shredded cheese, garlic, veggies, whatever, to this bread. Scrape into a large bread pan and bake at 375 degrees until done, about 45 minutes.


Artisan Bread

I got this recipe from Mother Earth News.

You need a covered crock to bake this in. I use the insert from my crock pot. Works great. But don't bake this in a metal pan--you'll have to pry it out with a crowbar! And be careful with Pyrex--that may shatter at such high temps.

3 cups unbleached flour, bread flour, wheat flour, or a combination.
1 tsp. salt
1/4 teaspoon yeast (if you buy the packets, you don't need to use the whole thing--just 1/4 tsp.)
1 1/2 cups warm water.

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the flour and salt and stir. The dough will be wet and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and set to rise in a warm place for 8 to 12 hours.

Dump sticky dough onto floured surface; fold dough on itself 4 or 5 times, flouring as you go. Shape into a round loaf. Dust a towel with cornmeal; place the loaf on the cornmeal towel; dust the top of the loaf with flour. Cover with a towel and let rise for 2 hours.

About 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the pot in which you will bake the bread in the oven to preheat it. After 20 minutes, take the pot out of the oven, slide the bread, cornmeal side down, into the pot. Place cover on pot and return to oven. Let the bread bake with the cover on until the top turns just brown (about 30 minutes). Remove the cover from the pot, and bake for another 15 minutes or so, until a probe inserted into the bread comes out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven, remove the bread from the pan, and set to cool on a wire rack. Wait at least an hour before cutting. Really good for thick sandwiches or with a pot of homemade soup or stew.

So, make a loaf of bread! It's another way to destress and to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

A Very "Harry" Holiday...and More Rain Than I Can Stand!

Well, I had a six-day break from school (and I AM counting the weekend!), and, instead of doing much work, I re-read the last two Harry Potter books and watched the third and fourth movies. The Order of the Phoenix movie premiers on July 11th and the last book comes out on July 21. I'll be working that day (NOT for the midnight party--I've only worked one of those and that's all I needed to work), so I'll pick up the five copies I've pre-ordered. My sister in Houston gets one copy, my sister in Bossier gets two, I get one copy and I'll send one copy to my son in Austin. I plan to spend most of that weekend reading the new book; I read The Half-Blood Prince in two days, so I should be able to finish this one (which is considerably shorter, I've heard) during that weekend. The Potter books are great birthday presents for me--they usually come out a few days before my birthday, so I celebrate by buying myself a copy.

My biggest point of contention right now is the rain. I spent nearly $1000 on a riding lawnmower, and I haven't been able to mow the grass for almost two weeks because of this rain! Today, I drove into school early for an advising appointment (which the student cancelled at 7:45am--she called my school phone. That was about the time I left my house). Driving was fine until I hit the Caddo Parish line--then, the sky fell open. I could hardly see, the road flooded, and I had to reduce my speed considerably to avoid hydroplaning (but some idiots passed me doing 80, at least!). Only five students (out of 12) showed up for class, but we had a good talk. By the time I left the college, the rain had stopped in Caddo, but had moved south to Red River Parish (of course!); I drove home in the same rainstorm. Go figure!

I'm tired of rain. My garden is saturated; the potted plants overflow; the cats are going loony, running around the house to expend their energy. But I've discovered that they calm down if they have boxes to sleep in, so I've put boxes in several rooms for them. What is with that?

If the rain ever stops, I'm going to try to mow my grass, which is knee-high right now. I guess this is better than 115 degrees (Viva Las Vegas!), but I'm not so sure!

Stay dry!

Another "Gift"

When I sat down to read my students' second drafts today, I noticed feathers. I looked closer and found the body of a sparrow, sans head, on my desk. The last time one of my cats left me such a gift, I received the head and tail feathers of a Cardinal. So I guess I should be happy I didn't find the body of a red bird on my desk. But, really, these "gifts" are annoying. I'm still finding feathers in the nooks and crannies; I'm really afraid I'm going to find the head, too. (reminds me of the famous scene in "The Godfather"--the horse's head in the bed! Yikes!)

I love my cats, but this is too much. And, to top this off, Buddy, one of my younger cats, keeps throwing up--food, water, grass. I'd blame it on hairballs, but he doesn't seem to shed much. I'm thinking he ate something he shouldn't have. I'd blame his gastrointestinal problems on the food, but none of the other cats are throwing up, so he might have gotten into something he shouldn't. I need to find some homeopath remedy for this. First, though, I need to keep him away from food for a day or so. I think I'll lock him in the study (that's one way to keep the others from leaving me dead birds!).

I welcomed the thunderstorm tonight. I thought I'd have to go out and water the garden in the morning so it would get its one-inch for the week, but I think it will be fine for a couple of days. I picked quite a few tomatoes tonight and a squash. I'm still not sure when the peppers will be ready, but I may just have to pick one and try it out. I had a salad for dinner and threw in a couple of the cherry tomatoes. Yum!