FINALLY!
We finally got a good snow this week! We weren't really expecting it to be as good as it turned out, so I postponed my usual Tuesday morning trip to the grocery store and started working on my blog instead.
It started snowing Monday morning around 4:00am, and didn't stop until Tuesday morning around 9:00am. Linda went outside and measured it and we wound up getting 12 inches! I believe this was the softest snow I have ever seen. About mid-morning on Monday I took the bottom picture below. The top picture shows our little porch statues during the snow we had on December 23rd.
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| Dec. 23 at top, Feb. 04 on bottom |
This picture below shows them as they are now on Tuesday morning.
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| Feb. 05...what a difference a day makes! |
The expression on this little guy's face just about sums up how our little porch animals must have been feeling!
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| Help, I'm drowning in snow! |
I had to go outside earlier today (Tuesday) to drag the trash can out to the road just in case they happen to come by sometime today. While I was out there I decided to take a few pictures, even though it was bitter cold. I got a few showing the snow in the front yard. Between Linda and I, we have taken a bazillion pictures of snow over the past 11 years, but every time it snows we still take more. It's so pretty, we can't help it.
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| Our Blue Spruce tree |
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| Thundercloud Plum tree |
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| Our side tables on the patio |
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| Snow stacked on top of the wind chimes |
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| Snow piled up on bird feeder |
Linda went out and filled both bird feeders and put a bird cake out in the front under the feeder. It wasn't long before the little buggers showed up and commenced pecking away. I managed to get a few good shots of the Spotted Towhee (below) even though it wasn't very light outside.
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| Western Spotted Towhee |
This bird species used to be named the Rufous-Sided Towhee (pronounced "toe-hee") due to the rusty color of the feathers on the sides. However, there were two types in the US, an Eastern version and a Western version. Recently the name for the Western version has been changed to Spotted Towhee because of the many white spots that appear on its back. The Eastern version has been renamed the Eastern Towhee. I know, what an exciting name. I liked the old name better. I still call this bird a "Rufous" whenever I see one. We had many of these back in North Carolina and we loved to hear their trilling song. The Western Spotted Towhee has a very similar song. I do not see as many in Yakima as we had in Lumberton, but for the past several years we have had a mated couple come to our yard in the winter. You can read more about this very interesting bird by clicking here.
FEEDING OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS
Linda had a great idea the other day. Yes, she actually gets great ideas a lot...far more often than I do. Anyway, she thought it might be a good idea for us to get a bag of cracked corn and take it to Randall Park for the ducks and geese. She has been taking a donation once a month to the Yakima Humane Society, and she thought this might be a good donation for the birdies. So, on Saturday we went to Walmart and got a big bag of cracked corn and left it in the back of the truck. On Sunday morning, we suited up and rode to Randall Park where she distributed the corn on the ground for the ducks and geese while I filmed it for posterity. As soon as the birds saw us get out of the truck, they all started waddling over from the pond, where they had been hanging out. When they saw Linda starting to put down some corn, they all shifted into high gear. I almost cracked up when those two African Geese got wind of things and started over. If you watch the video below, turn your sound up so you can hear the contented little "coos" of the ducks as they eat (you might be able to hear it above the squawking). For some reason there weren't many Canada geese around, the crowd consisted mostly of Mallards (and Manky Mallards) and American Wigeons.
After they ate their fill, the ducks and geese all wandered back over towards the pond to continue hanging out. I walked over there to get some pictures and saw this beautiful duck below, just settling in to take a nap.
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| Night, night! |
COOKING UP A STORM
It wasn't all snow and ducks and geese this past week. I also managed to get in quite a bit of cooking time. I have been wanting to do something for the staff at the Montessori School of Yakima, where Linda used to work and now volunteers. The ladies there have always been so good to Linda and she so much enjoys being there. So, I decided to bake them some cookies. I searched through many, many, many cookie recipes and finally came up with this one (click here) for "Dorie Greenspan's Chocolate Chunker Cookies." Of course when I went to the grocery store I couldn't find some of the ingredients so I had to substitute, but they were some awesome cookies nonetheless. When I made them I used Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels and Milk Chocolate Morsels because I couldn't find any bittersweet chocolate. And I also had to use walnuts instead of cashews because the cashew nut bin was empty when I was at the store. The one thing that I am glad I didn't have to substitute for is the dried cherries, because I think that is what put these cookies over the top.
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| Ummm, cookies |
The same day I made the cookies, I also made a loaf of Rosemary Garlic bread to go with the Potato and Leek soup that I made in the Instant Pot. Let me tell you, that was one epic day of cooking. I was exhausted at the end of it. But oh, the rewards that we both reaped from my efforts!
Speaking of the Instant Pot, I am continually amazed at the delicious recipes that can be made with this appliance. Just about any soup recipe made in the Instant Pot comes out with awesome flavor. And a couple of weeks ago I cooked in my IP some of the best beef ribs I have ever eaten. One thing I made this past week that turned out really well was some fresh beets. I usually buy the red beets and peel, slice into wedges, and roast them in the oven. The other day at the grocery store I noticed some golden beets on sale, so I bought a bunch and that night I just washed them, cut off the ends, and plonked them in the IP. In about a half hour I took them out and the peelings just slid off them. They were nice and tender and juicy. We found that the golden beets have a much milder flavor than the red version. They were certainly beautiful and delicious.
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| Golden Beets |
PARTING SHOT
That's all for this week, join me again next week for more from the Southerner in the Northwest!
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