In the spring

a young woman's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of rhubarb (with apologies to Tennyson)and graduation. Last weekend was the big weekend for U of MN graduations around the state (which would mean at least three, maybe four, different cities holding them). Since I had a bunch of rhubarb I needed to harvest and DTE's best friend/roommate was graduating, I was able to send DTE cake via the BFRM's mom. (BFRM will be starting vet school in August; first application and she got in!!! Do you realize how rare that is??!! Not to mention how hard she worked and how proud her family and best friend is of her.) DTE finished her last finial last Friday, moved down the hall, around a corner, and up some stairs (into an adjoining building) over the weekend, and then started May term class bright an early Monday morning. (Yes, she has also been in college for four years; yes she started college with AP and other college credits. No she did not graduate. She is taking five years to get a BA in Anthropology and a BS in Mathematics. It was either five years of 20 hours for several semesters. We said, "Take five years.") She was very happy to have cake to sustain her during the move.
These had started out as two large rhubarb plants, but since they were in the garden spot, we moved and divided them. They are now three smaller plants in the rhubarb line next to the big one that didn't need moving.

This is the raised bed box that Hubband and I built last weekend. (I know, it doesn't look level, but that is because the yard slopes.) I still need to finish filling it with dirt and get some plants into it, but that will happen this weekend.
Spring not only rings thoughts of tasty food and gardening, it brings spring flowers,

 

birds,

 

Red-wing Blackbirds

 

Baltimore Oriole (They love oranges and grape jelly.)

 

Indigo Bunting

 

and maybe a few thoughts of love.
Mr. and Mrs. Ring-Necked Pheasant (aka common pheasant).

Well, it is that

time of week again, so I am sure you are all checking in to see if I have posted anything new about a certain cat. As you may recall, that certain cat has several obsessions, including coasters. So here she is, a year later, looking older, but not any less silly.

 

 

 

I have a new addiction,

and it seems to be getting really serious. I have lost track of how many times I have made this in the last several weeks.


It involves some bread dough, some flour,

 

a cast iron skillet (or a chicken fryer in this case, I use either and both), and a little bit of butter (since I ran out of ghee).

 

A small piece of dough is all, because a little bit of rolling is needed,

 

and some medium heat

along with a lid.

 

After just a little bit, I turn it over with some tongs and use the lid again,

 

Then, just like magic, in less than five minutes I have breakfast, lunch, or snack. I hear bread dough calling my name, so soft and muffled through the refrigerator door, louder and clearer when I go to get coffee or tea.

 

Add some beans (sometimes they are refried),

 

and some cheese, and I am a very happy person.
More info can be found here if you want it. I think I will be making this for dinner, and very soon I will be experimenting with making it Chile Rellenos style.
(When I told the DTs about my new addiction, E said she needs a lid for her cast iron skillet and Y said she needs a skillet with a lid.)

Some days are just perfect

for hanging out. Sunny and warm without being too hot and muggy, little or no wind (that has been rare this week with our high wind warnings), and no rain in sight (unlike yesterday with a downpour of an inch in 45 minutes).

 

So perfect that there was no knitting being done, just hanging out relaxing with the camera and the animals.

 

Sadie wasn't quite as relaxed as Simon though, she was busy working under that bench.

 

 

She was busy being "The World's Best Babysitter" or just keeping track of the rest of her pack (a rose is a rose by any other name after all), but at least she wasn't whining about how far afield Oribel was. (You'll need to biggify to see what Sadie and I saw.)

 

 

Simon was way to busy enjoying the sun to be worried about a silly cat.

 

Though it is a known fact that sunshine makes bassets fall over.

Today is the official

MIL birthday. Happy 80th, and I hope today is as wonderful as it can be!

As I am sure most of you know,

it was Easter awhile back (like, before I went to see my dad in Idaho). DTE was home for the weekend, we cooked dinner together, and normal stuff like that. (Well she did tell me about a certain ice cream too, but that was a good thing as well. I think.)

Anyways (I am sure you're all wondering where this is going, right?), she and Hubband gave me a wonderful Easter basket. There was cheese and crackers. Well, there was more cheese than this, but being as how none of us had ever seen this before, it was the most important. It falls into the "things a lot of you might not know about me" category. My first job (well besides being a babysitter in high demand) was working in an import cheese store. Great job, lots of stuff to learn, remember, take tests on. Seriously, I had to learn all sorts of cheese facts and information (as well as taste) about over 200 different kinds of cheese. Great job. (Though ever since I have had a few people accuse me of being a cheese snob. That's OK,there are worse things I have been accused of.) Brie happens to be one of my family's favorite cheeses (should have seen my kids the day we found several pounds of Brie mispriced for three cents!), as well as goat cheese. So of course the combination of the two had to be checked out! Seriously yummy cheese!

There were also flowers because my family know how much I love flowers and growing things. (Hmm, another one of those "things a lot of you might not know about me," one summer when the children were small people I had a part time job working for a landscape architect. I like to play in the dirt.)

Of course the flowers had to be inspected,



and then they were promptly shown who was in charge around here by having a flower or two eaten.


Fortunately she has decided that plants outside are alright and can be left alone. Otherwise she would be knocking them off the bench and onto the floor, like she did with African Violets I used to own. (Well, she actually knocked them off a small table and onto Simon while he was sleeping at 2 AM, but who is keeping track?)
Happy WoW!

With some help from friends,

a weekend is also a great time for Hubband and his two brothers to all go to Arizona to surprise their mother for an important birthday. If she tells me it is OK, I 'll let you know which one she is having this week. Happy birthday to a wonderful MIL!

With rain all night,

fishing, golf, and gardening are pretty much a bust. Maybe a movie is in order instead.

Weekends offer so many possibilities.

Last weekend Hubband and I were in the shed, getting out the lawnmower (and of course I was check out the potting soil supply). I noticed that one of Hubband's favorite weekend toys had a hole chewed in it. "Hubband, did your chest waders have that hole last fall?"
"What hole?" The one right there in the front, all jagged and chewed looking. Nope, it wasn't there last fall, and neither was all the nesting stuff in the foot of the waders. Well, they ended up in the trash bin that afternoon. Fishing season opens in Minnesota this weekend.

Weekends are often a good time for a construction project, like making raised garden beds. I am very excited to have raised beds this year. Weekends are also a good time to go to the garden store to find plants to put into garden beds, flower pots, and hanging baskets. Especially on Mother's Day weekend as there tends to be stuff on sale.
Weekends are also good for playing golf if you have been busy with so much work that you haven't been able to go early in the morning before going to the office.
At least one weekend a summer is good for either a Mother's or Father's Day Pancake breakfast at church, depending on if it is an even or an odd year. One weekend a year is also most excellent for a rummage sale at the same said church.
Weekends are also a good time to study like mad if you have finals the following week.
What are you doing with your weekend?

I told you all she can be mean,

though I realize some of you don't believe me. Tonight while Hubband and I were eating dinner, Miss Oribel was hanging out in the yard. I noticed that a deer was wandering toward the birdbath to see about getting a drink of water. I pointed it out to Hubband and then looked down at my plate. "Wow! Did you see that!?" "No. What happened?" Well, it turns out that Oribel had been under the birdbath and wasn't about to share (or let anyone else close to her bird feeder), so she stood up on her hind legs and took a swipe at the deer. Seriously, how often does a deer have to deal with a cat doing that?

The Rainy Day

I think Longfellow may have had it right. Well, OK, I feel a bit on the whiney side today (which can apparently be spelled with or without the "e"). My thoughts are definitely "clinging to the past." I may, or may not be able to get the cool coffee beans back on my side bars; same with the header picture, though I have thoughts on a new one for that. But I really miss my cool beans...... (I know, "pull in my lip or a bird will come land on it". What, most of you didn't hear that growing up?)
Seriously, it really has been raining off and on all day, with more predicted for tonight. They keep going back and forth about rain for tomorrow and into the weekend (it also rained earlier in the week, but I forget which day). Good thing I got the lawn mowed over the weekend, since Sadie was pushing grass with her belly on Sunday and I am sure Simon would be getting lost in it about now. (Yes, he is a couple of inches taller.)
Fortunately there was one sunny and warm day this week, so I am sure most of you know what that means.


Hanging out in the sun,

 

first knitting of the season in "the chair,"

 

and of course, Oribel had the best spot for keeping an eye on everyone. (This was intermixed with checking out all sorts of stuff in the yard.)
I did get to drink my coffee outside this morning in between "scattered showers and thunderstorms," so that was a plus for the day. That is about all I've got for now......

With some investigating

by my wonderful Hubband, the conclusion is that the images are gone. Well, if there is someone out there who has them in their cache, and can send them to us, he says it might be able to be fixed. Of course, that would require that they not have looked at my blog since the pictures disappeared (as that would clear the images from the cache or something along those lines), so obviously anyone reading this doesn't have them. He realized this morning that there is a chance they are on one more computer in the house that he didn't check last night. So, there you have the latest blog report.

Well, I have no clue as to what is going on here.

Well, that is if you are also seeing what I am seeing. Or better put, not seeing what I am not seeing; as in, my blog masthead and sidebar pictures. Seriously, I am not seeing them anywhere. This is a bit disturbing; well, OK more than a bit, hopefully it is only a temporary Blogger thing, not something permanent. As some of you know, my particular design was a gift from a swap partner some while back and I don't actually have the pictures myself. (I will plead that I thought they were uploaded to Blogger when the code stuff was put in for the template, but upon some further thought, I realize that may well have not been the case.) Anyway, here is to hoping this is either (a) just me and my computer (though I will admit to knowing that is pretty much purely wishful thinking) or (b) a very short-lived problem. If neither of those prove to be the case, I guess I will be crying out for help on a blog redesign. Hopefully someone will come to my aid.