Early Daffodils, Then a Snow Day

Got pictures of some daffodils just beginning to bloom:

My favorite.

Gracie loves eating grass:

Had a snowstorm Thursday night, all day Friday, all Friday night, and into half of Saturday. Some snow-laden pines:

An odd, prickly snow hedgehog:

It was SO nice to have it snow all day Friday, so we could enjoy watching it. Too often, it all happens overnight. First we went out walking in it, then I made onion marmalade, then we played Scrabble, then I took a hot bath. In other words, a perfect day. This was what Friday was like all day:

The Cutie Trap Is Working

Part of my Christmas present was a mini crate full of Cuties, those delightfully sweet, seedless, easy-to-peel Clementines. The crate was so cute in and of itself, I didn’t throw it away, hoping Gracie might want to add it to her collection of toys. Sure enough, we got a cutie in the Cuties crate!

If it fits, I sits.

She’s spotted something in the avocado box through the hand-hold hole.

Reaching in…

Got it! It’s a felt mouse.

Now, what else can I kill?

She loves being under that sheet of paper.

Um, shouldn’t somebody be petting me?!?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gracie vs. Cat Door

I finally got some video of Gracie struggling with the cat door:

Princess Gracie of Altamira

Gracie is SO weird sometimes. She’s fearless outside, but certain things in the house just flummox her, even after two years.

Example: She is terrified of the noise the blower makes when the heater is running. She will go and hide in the narrowest space she can find, wedged in the 4 inches between the back of the couch and a small chest. It’s possible to keep her out while the heater’s on, if Rich comforts her the entire time. She shivers, she’s so scared of the sound. She also doesn’t like the sound of the range fan, but it’s not as loud. Here she is, wedged into her little hidey-space:

She also has a complex about the cat door. She has to go through this whole performance before she can manage to get through it. First, she’ll sit there and cock her head and peer quizzically at it for a while. Eventually, she starts pushing at it with either her paw or nose. She’ll turn herself around several times like she’s dancing the Hokey Pokey. Eventually, if she can get one foot and her nose through at the same time, she can manage to get the rest of the way out. It’s hilarious to watch.

But because she’s SUCH A PRINCESS, and we dote on her hand and foot, very often she will cock her head in our direction until one of us takes pity on her and goes over there to HOLD HER KITTY DOOR OPEN FOR HER. I’m so embarrassed.

Pineapple Upside-Down Pancakes

It’s been cold, rainy, windy, and snowy for the past few days. Perfect time to make breakfast for lunch.

Adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe, to make it MUCH simpler.

Pineapple Upside-Down Pancakes with Pineapple Glaze

Ingredients:

Bisquick

Egg

Milk

2 TBSP butter

Cinnamon

Whole pineapple rings

1/4 cup dark brown sugar (I used agave nectar)

Rum (optional)

Spray oil

Mix up some pancake batter. I use Bisquick because it’s easy, but did mix half/half with acorn meal. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add pineapple rings and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Flip the pineapple rings after a couple of minutes.

Continue flipping until they’re nicely browned.

Set cooked rings aside. Deglaze skillet with some dark rum, if you have it. I used some pineapple juice instead. Add sugar and cook over med-high heat until syrupy, about 3-4 minutes. Pour into a heatproof dish and set aside.

Wipe out skillet, and add some spray oil. Heat skillet over med-high heat, and add some pancake batter. Top with a pineapple ring.

When batter begins to bubble, and sides are dry, flip pancake over and finish cooking normally.

Continue with remaining batter and rings. Serve with butter and pineapple glaze.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gracie missed the whole production.

Hiking Our Neighborhood, and Gracie

Rich & I went over to Lake Cuyamaca’s Fletcher Island and points beyond for something a little different.

First we saw some Canada geese napping in the parking lot:

The back side of the island, looking south towards Stonewall Peak:

The fall leaves are turning color right now, too:

We found a pristine view overlooking a big meadow, with the Stonewall Mine ruins off towards the left. This enormous pine, and Stonewall Peak in the background made for a magnificent view:

 

A flock of wild turkeys came browsing through (in the foreground):

 

 

That’s me standing by the pine tree for perspective:

 

Here’s an oak and a pine lined up and backlit by the sun:

Gracie is doing well, by the way. For the most part, she comes in at night, and sticks close to us when we’re outside. The other night, however, she pulled an all-nighter. Here she is sleeping it off:

This morning, some deer were curious about Gracie. She was more interested in birds, though. You can see her at the base of the tree:

After she jumped up in the tree, the deer were looking up after her, as though to say, “Hey, we just wanted to play, and maybe sniff you and lick your ears a little bit, that’s all…”

Long-Overdue Update

Boy, I haven’t been keeping up to date on life happenings, as if anyone cared, LOL.

California oak branch with acorn attached

Anyhoo, at the end of May, Rich sold his kung fu studio and no longer needs to commute 110 miles 4 days a week to San Diego for work. He also started collecting Social Security in July. That’s been really nice. I have two steady clients for online writing and SEO work, plus I have two bookkeeping gigs, plus Rich & I share the maintenance for the water company. Rich also still has his septic pumping job three days a week for the lake. So, between all those irons in the fire, we’re making pretty decent money. Enough that we can start eating out once in a while!

Rich also joined the Julian-Cuyamaca Volunteer Fire Department. He goes to training every Wednesday night, and he’s got all the equipment, including a pair of super-cool black leather wildland fire boots. Doesn’t have a pager yet, but any day now…

Around late April/early May, Rich got cellulitis, a staph infection in the skin. At first, we thought it was poison oak, because the red areas oozed water, but there was minimal itching. Finally we went to a clinic in late June, and found out what it was. Antibiotics just caused an allergic reaction, making the rash spread over virtually his whole body. I’ll be writing a separate post about this later, as we’re still dealing with it, but it is much better.

It’s been HOT this summer, especially August. I’m SO ready for some snow.

Gracie’s doing good. She ate a mouse last night. She’s becoming much more of a homebody now that she’s a grown-up cat of two. Here she is making a pillow out of Rich’s flip-flops.

Haven’t been cooking very much, but will have something good coming up: Bratwurst!

That little cherry tomato plant has taken over my whole planter, and grew well outside of the protective wire cage. So far, no problems, but I did pull off a fat 4-inch-long caterpillar who was making a feast of the plant. It’s putting out 2 or 3 toms a day now.

The catnip and mint plants are doing well, too. They also grew out of their cage, but are doing fine.

Finally, here’s my prediction for the November elections: Obama’s GOT this. He’s gonna get blacks, women, gays, Hispanics, and dog-lovers. This election is in the BAG.

Toodles!

Planters Are Planted!

Finally got my planters filled with plants for the summer season. In the big planter, I’ve got a basil plant on either end, plus a cherry tomato plant in the center.

Also filled a pot with some mint on the left, and catnip on the right. Within 24 hours, a bird had snipped off an entire sprig of the catnip. So now those are in a cage, too. ~SIGH~

We did give the catnip sprig to Gracie. She’s had dried catnip before, but never fresh. Rich crushed a leaf between two fingers and let her smell them. Then he gave her the sprig:

Also got another picture of the African Queen irises, more in full bloom:

Birds in the Bell and Gracie in the Box

Fire laws require we have a red outdoor fire bell attached to the indoor sprinkler system (don’t get me started). Needless to say, it’s a useless, unwanted appendage to the house. Birds, in the past, have unsuccessfully tried making nests in the bottom of the bell, only to have the twigs slip out the bottom. We’d go outside to find a small pile of branches on the ground under the bell. Finally, one smartie figured out they should be making the nest on top of the inner support housing where it’s flat. The bell provides shelter, and they now have a well-established nest up there. So the bell is being useful, at least!

Couldn’t find Gracie the other night. I knew she was in the house, but just couldn’t locate her. Finally, I accidentally bumped her toy box, and it was much heavier than it should have been. Sure enough, Gracie was hiding in there, underneath her paper.

 

Spring Flowers, and Gracie in a Tree

Gracie went up some California oak trees yesterday. They’ve grown up from the roots of the original tree that burned in the Cedar Fire. There was a light mist, so I couldn’t take a video.

All the flowers are blooming right now. Spring is in full swing.

Irises

California Poppies (our State flower)

Cherry blossoms