I Got Rainfall, on a Cloudy Day

Did you enjoy our summer? It's +8 here today...+8! For those of you South of the border, that is 46F. THIS IS MAY, PEOPLE! Where is our sunshine blue skies and hot weather??!!!? Time was, you got a sunburn here the end of March. Now we are still wearing our "woolen undies" if you catch my drift and it's the 6th of May. Siiigggghh. Yes, I AM bitter. So what.

Ok, on to happier things. No more grouching about the weather.

Kate's Bread Machine died the other day, the one she bought last September. Talk about withdrawal symptoms. Kate makes bread almost everyday so it nearly drove her crazy when the machine coughed it's last gasp. Like me, she lets the machine do the work of mixing, kneading and first rise, then shapes and puts in pans for second rise before bakeing. She is quite adventurous for a novice bread baker too. Her favorite recipe is for Cinco de Mayo bread, which is full of yummy stuff like green chili's, corn meal, kernel corn, jalapeños, and for an added zip, she adds chili powder, then sprinkles the top with Tex/Mex grated cheese just before baking. This bread is amazing.

So today she made the trek into Victoria to exchange it for one that does work. She came home and immediately started making another loaf of bread to test it out. Addicted to bread baking?? Oh yup, but I know the feeling. Just talking to her about it makes me want to go and make a loaf or two as well. What better thing to do on a cold and rainy day. Oh, and just for the record, she gives a lot of her bread away to friends and co-workers who are getting quite addicted to her bread.

I think I have mentioned in a previous post that I lost a lot of my perennial plants over the past nasty winter. Some i was surprised about and some not so much. For instance, I lost my Rosemary, not surprising, it is a Mediterranean plant after all, used to warmer winter weather. I also lost some Rose bushes, and that was surprising, although some Roses I thought I would lose, I didn't. Go figure. My various and sundry varieties of Mint all seem to be coming back, with the exception of the pot that Mason used as his personal urinal during the winter months. Gee, can't imagine why it didn't survive!

Looks like my Hydrangea's have gone to the big nursery in the sky as well. That's too bad as Bente gave them to me several years ago. She got the cuttings from different plants while out for a walk one day and rooted them for me. I LOVE Hydrangeas; have since I was a little girl and my dad brought one home for Mom for Mother's Day one year. I thought it was the most beautiful plant I had ever seen. Guess I will have to ask Bente to start me another plant.

One plant that did do quite well over the winter was my Feverfew. It self seeded to the point where there must be...oh, lets see...at least a thousand tiny Feverfew plants coming up in the environs of the mother plant. I guess I will wait to see which will be the hardiest seedlings and then, gulp, pull up the rest. Gosh that is a hard thing for me too do, destroy seedlings. Maybe I can pot them up and give them to people. Then I can't be accused of planticide.

Have I mentioned our Resident Starling Population? I have been trying to figure out how many Starlings have fledged in our yard, just from the two nests I know about. We have lived her for 20 years. During that time, there has been a Starling nest inside the roof overhang on the East side of the house. Every year for 20 years, they have fledged at least 2, usually 3, nests full of babies. Conservatively, lets say there were 3 babies per nesting. That would be...hmmmmmm, wow, a whole lot of Starlings! Now, consider that those Starlings all have babies, and oh my goodness, no wonder we have such a large population of Starlings. Maybe we should put a Starling cam up under the eaves so the world can watch. Well, gee, there are Eagle Cams and Canada Goose Cams, why not a Starling Cam?

When we had our big Golden Shepherd dog Sparky, and again with our Malamute, Willo, we fed them dry dog food outside. Generations of Starlings were fledged on Purina Field and Farm Kibble. We used to get such a kick out of watching the Starling parents sneak up on the dog's dish, fill their beaks with kibble and then go poke it down the babies beaks. Nowadays, they have to rely on worms and bugs.

Richard keeps threatening to put up an electric fence around the garden yard to keep the bears out. I still am really apprehensive about that. You know me, I mentioned this last year. Stumbling out to the Garden Yard in the early morning with the dogs, accidentally touching that hot wire on top of the fence, and finding myself admiring the blue sky from my prone position amongst the plant pots. Shudder, not a pretty sight. So I will continue to come up with other cute Little Island Bear deterrents. And I am definitely open to suggestions. Feel free to leave a comment. Best one gets a prize, to be announced at a later date.

Time to make dinner, Chicken Quesadillas in George. So quick and easy and tasty. Just the thing for a cold winter's...er, that is spring, day.

Summer is coming soon, right? I mean, really. Right?

It's ok, you can lie to me and tell me it is.