I just got a

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.

Holy cow

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.

Rain

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.

It’s official

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!!!

You have to see this

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.

Sourdough

Update: everything is fine.

The starter is bubbling away, after I added a bit of my dehydrated starter to it, and put it in the cupboard.

I’m going to make a loaf of bread in the next few days, regardless of the heat. The small container on top is the water that I used to rehydrate the dried starter, and am using it to feed the starter twice daily.

Of course I’ll show you the results. No worries. I just have to make it first.

Oh, and no it hasn’t rained more than a minute in the last, well, I’m not sure. Year? We see a bit of water at the curbside but nothing of any significance. Once I get back outside, and walking, I’ll let you know how the park is looking.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: please watch as many unbiased videos of the presidential candidates, and their ideas for the next four years as you can. If you want any suggested websites for said viewing, let me know. I have dozens.

Presidential debate 2024

If you don’t do anything else worthwhile today,

WATCH THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE TONIGHT.

With an open mind,

Listen to hear if all of the questions you have concerning the health, and wellbeing of the country are answered by either, both, or neither of the participants.

Listen to hear if your concerns for the safety, and security of the country, due to the open border, the multimillion illegals, and criminals from every country, being allowed to enter through that open border, the deluge of illegal drugs being brought in by those coming in illegally, and the subsequent rising deaths due to these illegal drugs, and criminals, and any other issues concerning the future of the border have been addressed to your satisfaction.

Listen to hear what each candidate plans to do to correct all of the above, plus the horrendous inflation you have been dealing with since this President has taken office. Can you afford another 4 years of rising prices across the board? Can you afford to have your working hours reduced because your company can’t afford to pay you a full time wage? Can you continue to accept how much it costs to feed your family, put gas in your car, pay your taxes, or pay someone to care for your children?

Pay attention to what is said tonight, how it was said, and what that will mean to your future.

You hold that future, the future of the US in your vote come November.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

The heat

The heat has been unrelenting lately.

It’s been in the upper 80’s, lower, to mid 90’s for the majority of the past month. My plants, and the sourdough starter are all taking the brunt of it.

Several of my plants have threatened to just give up altogether, but are still hanging in there, for the most part.

The starter has gone from active bubbling, to the tiniest of bubbles, though there are hundreds of them. I finally had to rehydrate some of the dried starter I have put away, and have added that to the current struggling starter. I also put it up in a cabinet in the kitchen, instead of on the countertop.

I haven’t even given a moments thought to the kombucha. It’s just too hot!

In fact, I haven’t done much of anything for the heat. I haven’t taken any walks, or done any exercises, or any laundry, or any anything.

Well, I have done laundry today because the forecast yesterday, for today said 97% chance of showers. NOT.

It’s only 200% humidity.

So, Ivan, and I rearranged the spare bedroom, ‘cuz we didn’t have anything else scheduled for today. Argh!!!

I did get my rain fix, however, as I listened to thunderstorms on the Rainy Day app. Listened all night, off, and on. Slept off, and on, as well.

Gotta go. Another load of laundry is calling me. (The buzzer on the dryer 😉

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

I have to tell you this

I can only take so much of the crap that’s on the internet these days.

I try to watch at least 2 – 3 hours of different political news media channels daily, but lately, I’ve been about to lose my mind.

Different hosts trying to get the American public to believe that the current POTUS has everything under control, has brought inflation down to 1%, has created 15 million new jobs since taking office, has fixed the illegal migration into this country by passing a ridiculous executive order that will allow 500,000 illegals into the US, without being vetted, and be given asylum, all by himself.

Yet they think he’s medically able to continue to “govern” the US?!

Not any more. It’s sad that our president has dementia, it truly is, my heart aches to watch videos of his blunders, and gaffes. But he does have dementia, so let’s start dealing with it, and not trying to hide it. Every country in the world knows it, just not the Democrats.

The countries around the world that used to respect the US are now laughing.

I can send you a list of videos to watch from the internet, if you’re interested. Let me know.

Until then, I have to take a break from this, and settle down. I’ve never been so invested in an election as this next one.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Another discovery

We’ve had this item for over a year but had never used it.

Until last week. What a marvel.

Im talking about the Cuisinart microwave popcorn popper.

I have no idea where I put ethe user manual, but was able to find it easily online. I’m so glad I did.

The popcorn is so light, so fluffy, completely different than when using an oil based popper. This requires no oil, and the difference is mouth watering.

It takes less than 3 minutes at our attitude, unless experimenting with the timing. With experimentation comes burned popcorn. Fortunately, I happen to quite like burned popcorn. Good thing, as I’ve burned 2 batches.

I’ve gotten the hang of it now, and have to burn a batch on purpose if I’m to have a bit more flavor.

When it’s done popping, I spritz it all with avocado oil, then shake on fine Himalayan salt. Yummy yum.

I’ve been making 2 batches with 1/4 c. kernels, and that is a perfect amount of popped corn for each of us.

I highly recommend the Cuisinart microwave popcorn popper. Try it. It makes the best popcorn we’ve ever had.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.