All posts by verily sherrilee

Directionally challenged, crafty, reading mother of young adult
2024, animals, Food, home, Uncategorized

Peccary Plans Gone Awry

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For my birthday, my dear friend Susan got me a javelina cookie cutter.  Pretty niche gift, right?  You wouldn’t think there would be enough javelina fans in the world who need a cookie cutter, but I’m glad somebody thought this was necessary.

Took me a few weeks but I finally decided last Friday to fire up the oven and make a batch of cookies.  The first aha moment was how large the cookie cutter actually is.  It came packaged in it’s own little box so I didn’t really have it in my brain how large it was until I opened it; it’s a good six inches long.  Basically the size of three medium-sized cookies together.

The second surprise was related to the first.  Being so large, I only got 17 cookies out of the entire recipe; I didn’t roll them too thinly because I was planning on sending a small package to Susan when they were finished. 

The third revelation was also related to one and two.  I didn’t have a tin or tupper that I could fit the cookies into.  This wasn’t an irrevocable problem as the Dollar Tree is ten minutes from my house.

They baked up nicely but there turned out to me one more shock.  Instead of making chocolate icing from scratch, I grabbed a can of chocolate icing that I had in the cabinet.  It was clear almost immediately that this ooey gooey icing, while being quite yummy, was never going to set up nicely for stacking them into a tin and sending them via the postal service.  I considered stopping mid javelinas and making a sturdier icing but I didn’t want to waste the icing I had.  The cookies went straight into the fridge and even after sitting overnight, still too sticky to mail. 

Oh well, best last plans.  Guess I’ll have to do another batch at some point this fall and think it all through a little more.

The cookies are quite nice and very cute.  I even bought a cheap comb at Walgreens to give them that javelina-y look. 

What kind of “out there” cookie cutter would you like to see made?  What kind of icing do you prefer on your cookies?

2024, animals, Farming Update, Kids, Seasons, Uncategorized

Ticonderoga!

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The Weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben!

I don’t know what happened to this week, it was one of those weeks that feels like it just kind of disappeared even though last weekend was a long time ago.

I did the usual college stuff, plus homework, went to play rehearsals Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. Saturday morning I have a theater board meeting and I’ll do some work at the theater Saturday afternoon. Sunday we’re going up to see “Back to The Future” the musical. It got a pretty decent review with special emphasis on the technical stuff so that will give me something to look forward to. 

 tim was in Rochester so he picked up some eggs.

 I did finish planting rye last Sunday afternoon, and on Thursday I returned the seed that I didn’t use.

I took Thursday off from the college so I could work on my machine shed. I snapped a chalk line on the floor from the two existing exterior posts that will be the ends of my new wall, and then I spent quite a while figuring out the bottom plate and where doors will be and how much room there will be in the middle between the doors. I decided I need to get going on this wall because I was getting anxious about it, and I’m avoiding it, and doing a lot of putzy other little things, and walls don’t get done that way. Meaning there’s nothing to do but to do it. 

 A few dairy guys have started chopping corn silage (something I always enjoyed and I kinda miss), and I’ve seen a few bean fields that are losing their leaves. It means Fall and harvest is coming. Daughter was talking about Christmas the other day; she’s got a few items in mind. I had to laugh that I wasn’t thinking about Christmas yet, but she pointed out Halloween is next month, and then it’s just 2 months. Yes, yes it is. The circle is coming around.

 This spring when I ordered all those baby chicks, remember the batch of roosters that I mistakenly ordered? I guess I was too busy most of the summer to really pay much attention, and now at night when I’m throwing out corn and all the chickens are gathered around, I’m starting to count quite a lot of roosters. 

 They are kind of pretty, but I think I’ve counted 13 new roosters, not to mention the four older roosters we already have. And that’s far too many roosters. I had found a place that would butcher them, so maybe I really need to get back in touch with them and get something on the schedule. These are called Blue Lace Wyandotte and they’re really pretty. Although the females are large and kind of ornery. There’s been one sitting in a nest box most of the summer and even with daughter’s milk jug shield, she won’t usually reach under that one for eggs.

I went to Savers for more shirts. I thought I was going to have to use the sleeve I cut off to add the second pocket, (I have one shirt that has very shallow pockets. I can’t even put a pen in the pocket. Eventually I cut a hole in the bottom of that pocket so my pen and pencils will fit.) That’s why I need a second pocket. 

Discuss pencils. Mechanical? Wood? Erasable ink?  

2024, books, Media, Movies, The Future, Uncategorized

Curated Batman

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As part of my rabbit-holing this past week, I stopped at the Southdale Library to pick up a DVD on Monday.  My local library is Washburn and I don’t visit other libraries too much but occasionally if there is something I want RIGHT NOW at another library not too far from me, I’ll go pick it up.

The Southdale branch does a fun voting game at the entrance on the second floor.   They set out a small displays with a question (usually favorite books or authors) and then you bot by putting a little piece of paper into a can.  It’s a silly bit of fun so I always vote.  I don’t know how often they change out the game and I don’t even know if they ever “publish” the results anywhere.

On Monday, the game was “Who is your favorite Batman”.   I wasn’t sure why but of course I voted for Adam West with no hesitation.  I went in search of my DVD and wasn’t thinking too much about it until I was leaving the library and noticed a big Batman display on the wall.  The photo above is half of the exhibition.  Then I understood why the Batman voting.

Washburn library displays books on a theme every few weeks on the big display table right as you come into the library.  Upon asking once I was told that it’s up to each individual library to curate their own special exhibits.  I always look at the books and usually pick one up every few weeks but I’d have to say we never have anything quite as fun as Batman!  It almost made me want to pick up one of the books but since I’ve never really been that interested in Batman (I haven’t even seen all the movies), I didn’t need to add to my obsessions this month.  But it did make me think how much work and hopefully fun goes into making these displays. And I sincerely hope that after the big Southdale Library renovation beginning in 2025, they will still have these fun interactive exhibits.

If you were to curate a display somewhere, what would it be and where?

2024, Art, Movies, Poems, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized

RIP James Earl Jones

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I read the news yesterday that James Earl Jones passed away on Monday at the age of 93.

It turns out that I’ve seen a fair number of the films that he’s been in.  Not a majority by any means – he did after all either appear or lend his voice to over 100 films/tv shows and had a rich background in theatre as well. 

I saw his first two forays into film by luck of the draw.  His first was in 1964 in Dr. Strangelove as Lt. Lothar Zogg, one of the pilots of the last bomber. 

The second film was The Comedians in 1967, although it wasn’t very funny and I didn’t remember that he was the rebel doctor who got his throat slit 2/3 of the way through the movie.  In fact, until The Great White Hope in 1970, I hadn’t even know his name and wouldn’t have been able to tell you he had been in the earlier movies.  Now, like most everyone else, I hear his voice and know immediately who it is.

It’s interesting to me that JEJ stuttered as a child.  I heard him say in an interview once “one of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.”  I don’t remember if this was having to do with his stutter (apparently he didn’t speak for about 8 years as a kid) or more having to do with feeling the need to keep quiet in a contentious world. 

He got over his stutter with the help of a teacher who encouraged him to read poetry.  And read poetry he did.  One of his biggest stage hits was as Othello.  Here is a bit that he did for a White House Poetry event:

He seemed to be able to play just about any kind of role – Moor King, evil Jedi, doctor, teacher, not too bright police office, lion, wise legendary author – you name it.  

I’ve made a list of films that he appeared in.  Guess I have another rabbit hole for the next couple of weeks!

Do you have a favorite JEJ film?

2024, Baboon Achievers, books, Family, Media, Movies, TV

Thanks a lot you all!

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Going down a rabbit hole isn’t anything new for me but this week I’m down two different rabbit holes and it’s all your fault!

The first is my Alan Bennett rabbit hole.  For those of you in Blevins, you may remember that Bill recommended one of our last books, An Uncommon Reader, which we all liked enormously.  Since then I’ve read several other Alan Bennett titles.  That has led me to a few movies that have been made from his plays/books.  Luckily so far the movies are pretty close to the plays/books; it’s clear that Bennett was closely involved in the various productions.  I had not realized before this rabbit hole that Alan Bennett is the author of Madness of King George.  He also wrote the screenplay when they made the movie from his play.  Bennett is unbelievably prolific; the list of his credits from television, plays, books, films and even radio broadcasts is remarkable.  I’m pretty sure that I’ll be down this rabbit hole for awhile yet.

The second rabbit hole is thanks to Barbara.   Last week I picked up a book at the library, an older volume of something called Lisa & Lottie.  I had no memory of why I had requested this title but that’s not actually uncommon.  In the reference column of my reading spreadsheet the notation “O&A” is the most common and stands for Out & About, and almost always means I don’t remember where I got the idea.  Within about 10 pages I realized this was the book that The Parent Trap was based on which we talked about on the trail a couple of weeks ago.

The original German title was Das Doppelte Lottchen, (The Double Lottie) and was published in 1949.  Disney got his mits on it and the first Parent Trap movie came out in 1961 with the enormously popular Hayley Mills along with Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith.  The movie is actually much closer to the book than I had expected.  The biggest difference is that there is not a camping trip at the end during which Brian Keith realizes that his new fiancée is not the woman for him.  (In Lisa & Lottie, the new fiancée just gets mad about the twins/mother of twins issues and stomps off into the sunset.)  And, of course the names and jobs of all the characters are updated in all versions.  I’ve re-watched the Hayley Mills version again; probably won’t watch the Lindsey Lohan version again.  It’s actually fairly well done but YA liked the movie a lot and as a consequence I’ve been it A LOT! 

I’m actually really glad that I’ve already read both the Blevins selections for this month because I’m not sure how I’d fit them in!

What’s taking up your time this week?

2024, Family, Food, gardening, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Eating it Up!

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“We need to go grocery shopping.”  “We need groceries.” ” We have to go shopping.”  These are very frequent litanies at our house.  YA occasionally cooks (and she’s fine at it) but she prefers quicker meals.  This means she doesn’t recognize foodstuffs that aren’t already “meals”.  She can open the cabinet, see a can of black beans, a can of corn and a can of Rotel tomatoes sitting next to each other and not see a meal.

In my reality, we hardly have room in the fridge, in the freezer or the cabinets for more food.  But if I say, I can make ________ from the cans in the cabinet or frozen items, she is often not interested.  So we go round and round and neither of us ever “wins”. 

She left for London last Thursday and I decided that I would spend her 12 days out of town eatting only what is in the house.  With the exception of milk, I am not going to purchase any food.  Unfortunately it’s not much of a stretch goal.

However after a few days, I realize that I’m running up against a “quirk” of mine.  My mom was born in 1932 and so her formative years were depression years and she came out of them with a “waste not, want not” attitude.  When I was growing up, we had what she lovingly called “goulash” at least once a week – any leftovers saved up and then lumped together when there was enough for a pot-ful.  I don’t remember any of them being ghastly and will admit that as an adult, I have more than once combined leftovers.

BUT, this waste not/want not that she passed to me has morphed over the years into a strong desire to “finish” things.  When I eat the last slice of bread or heat up the last helping of a dish, it makes me feel good, almost lofty.  This can unfortunately lead me to finishing things when I don’t really need to.  No need to eat three slices of bread because there are only three slices left in the bag… that kind of thing. 

While YA is gone, I’m having to balance my desire to finish things with my desire to eat only stuff that is in the house.  So far so good.   Chips/cheese/salsa.  Made a panzanella with a baguette and shaved parmesan I found in the fridge (and tomatoes and basil from the garden).  11 jars of tomato sauce for the freezer.  Ate the last English muffin from Breadsmith.  Got through the pesto pasta with tomatoes that I made right before she left.  Discovered chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers – smores.  A couple of smoothies so far using lots of frozen fruit.  I harvested the rosemary and it smelled to good that instead of freezing it all, I made a focaccia.

This is all a lot of fun so far.  We’ll see how the next week goes!

How do you feel about leftovers?

2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, gardening, Nature, Technology, Uncategorized

False Fall

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben. 

First false fall, I believe that’s what we’re in. 
I’ve seen a few soybeans turning color, the leaves are starting to drop, and it sure is getting dark sooner. The temperature has been very nice the last week. I don’t know if the barn swallows have all moved on, or if it’s just because I’m at work and I don’t see them so much. I did notice a couple flying around the other day.  

The deer are really doing a number on the soybeans. It’s surprising how many leaves and beans a herd of deer can eat overnight. Most of my beans are over my knees, but that one field I rent, the beans are barely to my knees there, and the top of the entire field has been nibbled by the deer. It’s a lot of dollars they’re eating.   

I spent a few hours in the tractor Thursday night going over the oat ground a second time. The second time, I worked the field perpendicular to the way I worked it the first time. All an effort to work it up better. And I used the boating app to find my way again.  

I’m hoping to have started planting winter rye by the time you read this. I use it as a cover crop to keep some roots in the ground over winter, and to hopefully provide a little extra nitrogen come spring. 
Daughter and Bailey joined me in the tractor as my tractor buddies for a while. That gave us some nice time to talk about her day and I shared random tidbits about the crescent moon.  

 I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how I have the entire audio recording of the movie All That Jazz in my music library. I hadn’t listened to it for a while and I had it on the tractor that night. I can recite it line for line and every time I hear it I pick up something different. It’s loosely based on the life of actor, dancer, choreographer, director Bob Fosse. He wasn’t a real nice man, but he was a very talented man. In the tractor, and later, wearing earbuds, I could hear subtle background noises I hadn’t detected before. It makes me appreciate him more as a director for the details he added.  

Sometimes while driving down I35 or Highway 52, I wonder how many of my fields a highway like that would take up.  It makes me a little sad, to think about how quickly a bulldozer can change the landscape and erase any memories of a farmstead that may have lasted years and raised generations. It should still be called progress that it doesn’t take as many small farms to produce the food we need, but the lost memories still make me sad.  

* * * * * * *
 
I feel fortunate that I’ve made some pretty good business connections over the years and I’m lucky that one businessman has let me borrow his scissor lift for a few days. Kelly and I used it to paint the front of the theater last Saturday.  

A year ago we did this with an extension ladder on a day it was about 90°F And the whole thing was just hot and miserable. This second time around we were much more prepared and it was almost fun. My nephew let me borrow his paint sprayer and we knew how to tape off things a little better (or at all)  and it went pretty well.  I’m also using the lift to swap some lighting in the theater. The Rep Theater was fortunate to receive large grant to purchase a new Lighting Console and some LED lighting. I’ve been having a good time getting that set up, and when I got the lights to turn color the first time I let out a big “YEAH BABY!”.  

At one point I knocked over a riser section and wedged it under part of the scissor lift. I swear, there are days I should not be left alone.  

At home I am rarely left alone thanks to my white shadow. 

Unless she’s on a walk with daughter, she’s not far from me, hoping I’ll be doing something interesting soon.  

DO YOU SWEAT THE DETAILS? I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THEY’RE NOT IMPORTANT.  

2024, Food, gardening, Mysteries

Tomato Time!

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For a couple of years, my tomatoes have struggled and I haven’t had the massive numbers coming off the plants as I’ve had in the past. The same issue (inconsistent watering) came up over and over again when I discussed it with experts and searched on the internet.  But I know my bales and I know myself and my habits and I just couldn’t accept this was the issue.  I did find just a couple of sites that talked about calcium deficiency due to the high nitrogen that is needed in getting the bales conditioned at the beginning of the season.

Ignoring the experts, I changed back to the ammonium sulfate conditioner that I used to use, added some organic calcium-rich Tomato-tone supplement and I really ramped up the egg shells added around the base of each plant.  I’m happy to say that my intuition was correct… with these changes I am now rolling in tomatoes, especially my little cherries. 

That means it’s time to start coming up with tomato recipes. 

I made my favorite pasta/onion/cherry tomato skillet dish.  So so easy and yummy.   Salsa is up next; I have a few hot peppers left to add.   I bought a baguette yesterday for a panzanella salad; I certainly have enough basil for this too. (Made several jars of pesto last week.)  I’m thinking about a nice tomato and corn salad as well.

There will most likely be plenty of tomatoes left after that so I will probably freeze some and maybe make a couple of jars of tomato sauce.  Too many tomatoes is a nice problem to have after the last couple of years!

Can you think of a time that intuition has served you well?

2024, animals, Family, Nature, Uncategorized

Parakeets!

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Today’s post comes to us from Barbara in Rivertown!

I have a friend with a Twin Cities daughter, going through a transition, who needed at least a temporary place for two lovely parakeets. Since my friend travels too often to have any pets, her first thought was to seek info about possible Animal Shelters, etc., that might take them, and I said I’d help her with research. Our PJ gave us a couple of leads (that eventually proved unsuccessful).  

Meanwhile, our weekly “happy-hour-healing-group” of four women met at Friend’s house, where the parakeets were staying. We noticed that the more we all talked, the more the birds chattered. I started watching them more closely and sort of “bonded” with them. There was wine. By the time we left, I had decided to give them a trial run.  

We’ve had them for a whole week! The green and yellow female is about 5 years old; the other is a white male with a bit of blue “trim”, 7 years. They’re good friends, keep each other company; I’m told they have had clutches of eggs in the past, but not in the past few years. (Maybe she’s gone through menopause.) 

So Husband and I are now the “parents” of two parakeets.  It’s good to see him curious about these tiny things, and we’re enjoying having something else alive around here. They seem to go through periods of quiet, followed by chatty sessions. If we read aloud, they’re right in there with their opinions! 

 The birds don’t require as much time or hassle as some other pets we’ve had; we’re sharing the chores, and getting to know our way around them. The books from the library are at least 30 years old, but there is plenty of more-current info online. [Wes – I plan on asking you occasional questions – will email you if you’re not on the Trail.] 

Since their former names are both names of close relatives or friends, we’ve decided to re-name them.  

What shall we name the parakeets?   Got any bird stories?  Any advice for us? 

2024, animals, Food, home

Flaming Hot

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You all know I’m of two minds where the squirrels are concerned.  Honestly I don’t mind that when I feed the birds, I’m also feeding the squirrels; I just don’t like when the little rodents get piggy. 

Over the years I thought I had come to some balance – one feeder that I think of as the squirrel feeder and three others that I think of as for the birds.  Two of these feeders have little ledges for the birds can perch on but if a heavier squirrel tries to get on, it pulls down the outer part of the feeder to close up the holes.  The third has very small holes so the squirrels can’t get their noses or paws in.  I was feeling that we had finally achieved equilibrium – until I looked out the window and saw two squirrels shaking the little-holed feeder from side to side so that the seed was spilling out onto the ground.  Aaarrggghhh.

A few days later I was at Gertens to take my terrarium class and I was checking prices in the birdseed section when one of the associates asked me if I was finding what I wanted.  As I was still a bit raw about the squirrels, I made some off-hand remark about something the birds like but the squirrels don’t.  Her eyes lit up and she said “I have just the thing for you”.   She led me over to an section and showed me something called Flaming Hot Feast by the Mr. Bird company.  It has hot sauce in it and this gal explained that birds don’t register capsaicin but squirrels do. 

I was extremely skeptical but since I was still mad I thought I would at least try it.  I bought a small cylinder and because I wasn’t willing to risk more money, I didn’t even buy the cylinder holder; when I got home I jerry-rigged a holder and hung it up on one of the shepherds poles in the backyard.  I was amazed that it lived up to it’s name and hype.  Not only did the squirrels completely ignore it, the birds clearly loved it.  In fact it has led to an explosion of birds on all the feeders.  That first week when YA and I were sitting out back, I counted 35 birds at one point. 

I did eventually go get the cylinder holder and I’ve moved up to the larger cylinder as it’s a better per ounce price.  I also sourced a rain cover.  It’s like a little hat that sits above; rain is the only enemy of Flaming Hot Feast as it washes the “sticky” off and the cylinder kind of melts.  Luckily they sell FHF at Bachmans just down the street so I don’t have to go all the way to St. Paul for it.  I’ve sourced it online and have found it a bit cheaper but to get the better price you have to purchase at least 4 at a time and it hurts my pocketbook to spend that much money on birdseed at one time. Since I had initially jerry-rigged the cylinder holder I thought maybe I should made my own hot sauce for the feeder but knowing myself, this will be much easier.

So the squirrels are still getting fed in my backyard but for now, the birds are benefitting the most, which is more to my liking.  I am sure that with time, the squirrels will figure out a way to get around the Flaming Hot Feast but for the time being I’m happy.

What’s the last thing you “jerry-rigged”?