A Walk in the Park

Last Saturday afternoon we decided to brave the heat and smoke to drive to a small park a few miles from our house.  The temperature was in the upper 90s but we thought we needed to get out of the house.  As we had hoped there were no other people there and we were able to manage about 15 minutes before we wilted.  Rusty was so happy, he stopped every few feet to smell and mark. 

This may be why there was no one else around:

But, on the plus side, there was this. 

Some of the cans looked a bit elderly but the intention is a good one.

Since the weekend our temperatures have been moving back towards normal.  Late yesterday afternoon I even thought about wearing a sweater when I went out to pull an onion for dinner.  Nighttime temperatures are back in the low to mid-fifties, which is our normal.  We still have hazy skies and the occasional smell of smoke, probably from the Monterey County fires, but could be from the Santa Cruz or the Santa Clara fires.  I can’t remember that we have ever been surrounded this way.

Second Hottest Day of the Year

 Maybe the century.  Yesterday we topped out at 113° and today 109°.  Our county tweeted a warning that this heatwave is expected to last until Friday 8/21.  We are hunkered down indoors, with all the windows closed. No TV since Thursday because our big screen plasma just pours out the heat.  Nice in the winter but deadly right now.  We sat on the patio after dinner last evening and watched the Giants' game on my iPad.

                           Even Rusty is too hot to perform his usual guard dog duties.

One Month Later

We are still living under stay-at-home orders, seems like there is no end in sight.  On the bright side, we are both still healthy.
Mr. B walks Rusty most days, even though April has been cold and gray, with some rainy days in the early part of the month.
I had thought I would be spending a lot of time in the sewing room but that hasn’t happened.  I seem to be planning meals and cooking a lot more.  I’m also being careful about not wasting food.  I’ve always kept a pretty well-stocked pantry and the freezer is full,  but I can’t help worrying about running out.
The first weekend of the lockdown our son drove down here to get the pickup truck running (needed a new battery) and did some shopping for me at Safeway.  No eggs except for duck eggs at $1 each in a carton of six.

One duck egg is equal to 1.5 large chicken eggs but I couldn’t tell any difference in taste.  We usually have two eggs each for Sunday breakfast but I tried cooking only one each, since two in the pan would have been too crowded.  Not quite enough, so the following week I cooked two each which was really a little too much.
Son did not come in the house when he was here.  He put the groceries on a table in the garage and then stood in the driveway and talked to Mr B who was sitting in the garage.
Nob Hill market does not deliver in our area so I had placed an online pick up order.  The earliest available time slot is ten days away.

Life from inside the 2020 pandemic

It’s Day 3 of the Shelter-in-Place order in our county.
On Monday Mr B and I drove to our local Nob Hill supermarket because we needed bread and eggs plus corned beef and cabbage for St Patrick’s Day dinner.  The bread selection was skimpy and the egg shelves were totally empty.  We expected the toilet paper and hand sanitizer shortages but eggs?
The meat shelves were spotty but fresh vegetables seemed to be in good supply. And our check-out line was fairly short, although the store was much busier than is usual on a Monday, lots of elderly folks as well.
Our county has had 5 confirmed cases of the Corona virus with one death, a person in his sixties with underlying health conditions who had recently traveled to Thailand.  Apparently 911 was called but the first responders could not revive him.  So now three firefighters and two ambulance people are in isolation for the next two weeks.
Mr B still walks Rusty most days but I’ve been content to stay in the house.  I’d like to be in the garden pulling weeds so I can plant veggies but it has been rainy and cold lately.  I seem to be feeling the cold a lot more this winter.  I guess old age has finally caught up with me.

This was our dinner last night.  I cooked the corned beef in the oven but boiled the vegetables on top of the stove.  The Irish soda bread is mostly whole wheat and I used raisins because I don’t have any currants.  That I could locate, anyway.

For Pi day on Saturday I baked a lime meringue pie using a lemon recipe.  We have a bumper crop of limes this year.  I thought it had a slight off-taste but Mr B and our daughter didn’t seem to notice it.  Could have been the cornstarch in the filling or the shortening in the crust.  Both have been around a while and should probably be replaced.
Cold and gray again today, makes me want to cuddle up on the couch and read my Bosch novel.  Thank goodness I can borrow kindle books online through the Santa Clara County library.  Our local library also has this capability but not such a big selection.

Test Post

Apparently the Blogger app doesn’t work anymore so we'll see if we can do it the old fashioned way.

My new Cuisinart with the two lids. 

 I use the smaller lid for everything except slicing and grating.  A lot easier to clean.

Strange Winds in the Night

The other night, about 3am or so, my bedroom door started rattling, enough to wake me up.  I realized that it was very windy, something that never happens at night around here unless we are having a winter storm.  And in that case I would have all the windows closed.  Still too warm in the house to close windows, so I propped the door open and went back to sleep.  The next day I mentioned it to the son and he sent me this link explaining the phenomenon:

Middle of the night

The last couple of weeks have been unusual, weatherwise.  First we had several days of near-100 degree heat with fairly warm nights.  I even took to washing dishes by hand because I didn't want to heat up the kitchen with the dishwasher.  Then it cooled off somewhat but the humidity was 40 to 50% which is really high for us.  Then we had predictions for a couple of days of thunder and lightning and maybe some rain.  No rain here but we did hear a bit of thunder one afternoon.  That was supposed to be over day before yesterday but this morning we had enough rain to wet the patio and sidewalks, again unusual for us in September. Today is mild and the wind came up about mid-day which is the norm.

Banana Update

Last week, the bananas were still green so I took them back to Costco.  The clerk did not seem at all surprised.  Apparently they see this problem a lot with the organic bananas.