Monday Musings.

It is so funny/odd that, every year when the temps plummet and the snow falls, I sit back and sigh in relief.  Of course, it doesn't last long - this relief.  But it's like I now have permission to do some fun things inside.  Never mind that I am still doing not-fun-but-necessary things outside.  Two things happened earlier than usual now that winter has set its sights on me - I've had to rig up the light in the coop (usually I am not compelled to do it until mid-January at the earliest), and I've started to cling to my vision of next year's garden like a sailor on a life raft.  Already.  And the seed catalogs haven't even arrived.  Oh, Nellie.  It's going to be a long winter.

I also tend to forget that not everyone on the LLF has experienced the joy of snow.  When I open the chicken door, Dotty is the first out (Speckled Sussex).  Close behind are the banty sisters, Pippi and Dora.  Sunday morning we were greeted by arctic temperatures, plus a nice, brisk gale force wind, plus snow.  As the banties shot out the door, they lifted off and flew frantically around in a circle, not wanting to land on that awful, scary white stuff.  WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS!?!  They managed to only hit the ground just in front of their door, where they scooted inside and stayed.

I am trying to figure out whether I have a mental blind spot, or if it is just a matter of being in too much of a hurry all the time.  Example:  I am knitting an alligator scarf for my large animal vet's little boy.  This is one of my all-time favorite kid's knitting projects.  I have made more than three.  Yet, I kept making a mistake at the same point.  Over and over.  I'd look at the pattern, knit away, and end up with way too many stitches.  When I finally took a deep breath and frogged out the six rows, I looked at the pattern again.  Miraculously, there was another step on the same line that I had read over and over.  And missed.  Geezloueeze.  Now that I fully comprehend what I am doing (duh), I am zipping along.  Because I have another gator scarf to make for a certain dinosaur-loving cutie pie as an early birthday present.  I am making Aidon's little brother a matching (colorwise) hedgehog, as he is just a tiny boy. 

This same blind spot reared its ugly little head again yesterday, when I went to make my Big Lunch Cook Off.  I apparently only read (comprehended) half of the recipe.  I missed the part where they say to make it a day ahead.  Ah, well.  It was still fine - Shredded beef, tomatoes and wine over polenta.  And I tried a new side - Carrot Mash - to see if I liked it.  I did.  So that will appear on the Thanksgiving table.  I also made my very favorite in the whole world GF dessert - Crustless Cranberry Pie.  This recipe is thanks to Little Homestead in Boise, who adapted it deliciously, and I then adapted it to be gluten free.  OMG, I love this pie. 

So far the Apple Pie Blueberry Sauerkraut is coming along fine.  I keep it in the guest room - which is the second-coldest room in the house (guests beware...)  My bedroom is the coldest.  There is nothing quite like snuggling under the fleece sheets/down blanket/down duvet, with only one's nose in the cold.  The only downside is the fact that it's very difficult to force yourself out of your warm little burrow in the morning.  I wait until the tap-tap-tapping of Scrappy's toenails outside of my bedroom door take on a frantic tempo...