It was 4:45pm one day towards the end of last month, and I was sitting in front of my computer, just as I am at the moment.
It was fairly dark in the room, as it had been overcast the entire day, when, out of nowhere came the sound of distant thunder. Then again, only a few minutes later. Hallelujah! It’s going to rain again.
I’m here to tell you that it has rained, or sprinkled, as I said a few posts back, 5 out of 7 days these past 2-3 weeks. As I was still recovering from my blasted diarrhea, and bladder spasms at that time, I had yet to venture across the street to the park.
When I do though, I’ll show you what lovely results have to have occurred whilst I’ve been at home.
Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.
New, foldable keyboard that’s going to take me some time with which to get comfortable.
It’s small, about 12” wide when open, but 1/2 that when closed. The keys are all situated in the same places, but the spacing is just a bit strange. Oh, well. It works.
I bought it specifically to be used in the kitchen when I’m working on recipes, and such so it needed to be small enough not to take up much of the little kitchen space available.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t light up but for the small price it cost, that’s ok.
It also has a small keypad that I’ll probably rarely, if ever use, but it came with it so there you go.
Not much else to tell except that it’s been raining, gently, mostly in the evenings, for the last several days. I love it. By the time you read this I’ll have restarted walking in the park, hopefully, and I’ll let you know how it’s looking.
Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.
I say that because I’m recovering, (or so I thought) from a self induced day of painful diarrhea.
The cause of said discomfort you ask?
Well, at some point in the past I must have known it, at one point surely, but had since forgotten that cranberry juice, when drunk in large quantities, such as that needed to quiet a spasming bladder, becomes a lethal weapon.
I have been to the bathroom 6 times today, and I’m not done yet. My guts are rumbling, audibly truth told.
That should look better on the scale in the morning, if I can make it to tomorrow. I haven’t had a cleansing like this since my first, and only colonoscopy 5 years ago.
Until next time folks, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.
Post script: it’s been 2 1/2 days, and I’m really not enjoying this.
You know the old saying that you should be careful of what you wish, for you may surely get it.
We’ve gotten it, all right. Rain. Every evening for the past several weeks. Mostly it’s been in the evening, but occasionally during the day as well.
We received a message the other night, from the condo association president saying that we needed to be careful if we were leaving the building as a tree had fallen onto our street, just 2 buildings down from us. Take a look.
You can see the dark grey building to the left; that’s the building similar to ours, just next door to us. The tree is one that I walk by when I’m walking in the park.
It wasn’t an old tree, it was young, still growing, so I’m not sure what happened. I don’t recall hearing a thunder clap loud enough, or close enough to produce a bolt of lightning that would have fallen it.
Here’s one more shot of it from the condo president’s living room window. I can only surmise that she lives in the front of the building, thus the view of the park.
That was about 11pm the night of the 2nd, and it was completely gone when we went to the store around 11am the next morning. Crazy, huh?!
Each evening I go to our bedroom window, and inhale the wonderful scent of rain, enjoying the lightning, then the thunder. In fact, as I was beginning to type this post, the thunder was so loud we both said we had better prepare for the power to go out.
Fortunately it hasn’t happened yet.
Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.
We have had several consecutive weeks of rain over the past month.
In fact, it’s rained some every day/evening for most of the month of June. Nothing torrential, mind you, but enough to leave significant puddles in the streets. According to my Weather Live app., it’s forecast for rain the next 2 weeks of July.
We’ve also just lost the electricity, again, and it’s only been drizzling. Oh, never mind. It just came back on.
I’m going to, soon, restart my prior routine of exercising for 10 minutes in the morning, then a few trips around the park. Hopefully this rain will have helped the gardens while I’ve been doing nothing.
Never mind. It just went off again. Good thing the temperature has dropped because I’d be pretty upset without my fan.
Everyone, have happy, and safe 4th of July celebrations.
Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.
Post script: it’s been over 20 minutes since I began typing this, and the electricity is still off. Argh!!!
Post post script: it was off for an hour and a half!!!
I told you all, recently, that I was going to bake some sourdough sandwich bread soon, though I don’t recall that I gave much detail.
Well, I did just that.
In fact, I made two loaves of bread, and, although both use sourdough the sourdough starter, one loaf was made using All Purpose flour, and the other, with bread flour. I needed to see what the differences were between the two.
Have a look.
Starting the entire process, making 2 loaves of bread, started at about 12:45 on the 26th, I put both dough boules into their respective containers for their first rise around 1:15pm-1:30pm, as you can see on each of the containers. The photo was taken after 1 1/2 hours of initial rise time with the temperature in the apartment about 68º F. I did use 1/2 tsp. instant yeast with each loaf, even though I also used 1/2 c. sourdough starter, as it helps the bread rise a bit faster, but it also cuts some of the sourness of the final product. I’m not interested in sour bread, just the health benefits of the sourdough itself.
Perhaps only 1/4 tsp. yeast next time 😉
The above photo was taken at 5:00pm just after taking both loaves out of the main oven. The 3pm on the toweling is when they began the second rise in the loaf pans. All in all, it was a 4 hour investment of my time, and the energy of our appliances that helped with them.
The shininess of the final loaves is due to the butter that I spread on the crusts to make them soft enough for Ivan to be able to eat them. It makes for a much more pleasant sandwich, for sure.
The smell is amazing, of which neither of us can get enough.
When they finally cool enough to slice, I will do that, and add it as a PS.
Until then, stay happy,healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.
Post script: as promised, here are the two loaves finished, and sliced. The loaf made with the AP flour has a better taste when eaten as is, with a smear of butter, whereas the bread flour loaf has a slight bitter taste to it. Not sure the reason, but I’ll use it to toast, and grill.
