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Outside My Window ~ 4.26.09
Outside My Window…is a warm morning already. It is around 8:30 and we are already at 71 degrees outside. We have brilliant blue skies and a very slight breeze. Our high is forecasted for 91 degrees today. If the water temps at the beach weren’t still in the 50’s or 60’s, I might consider the beach! 🙂 I am thinking…about how glad I am I finally finished the corner of the flower bed yesterday. It was a chore to say the least. Now all that remains are the front beds, which fortunately are not that bad! I am thankful for…being able to spend some time with Papa and Nina this…
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Happy Earth Day!
My hope is future generations will never have to say “remember when there were trees and clear, clean water”……..do what you can to preserve our natural resources. 🙂
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Contrasting Skies
What a difference 14 hours can make in the skies……..other than the obvious light and dark. 🙂 We had intermitent rain showers all day yesterday which cleaned off the Jeep… If you look closely, you can see the storm clouds reflected on the hood. These were taken yesterday evening……we were under a severe thunderstorm warning and tornado watch. In the photo below, you can’t see it but to the right of my shot there were quite a few lightening flashes and you could hear a non-stop rumbling of thunder in a distance. This storm had a history of producing damaging winds and large hail….fortunately we only experienced a soaking rain. And look at…
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No Knead Bread
As promised, but a bit late, is the recipe for the No Knead Bread…..or Crusty Bread as I like to call it. I got this recipe from an issue of Mother Earth News. You can read the entire article if you like by clicking here. No Knead, Dutch Oven Bread 1/4 tsp active dry yeast 1 1/2 cups warm water 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two. 1 1/2 tsp salt Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy…
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Progress
Progress…..movement, as toward a goal; advance. Progress has been made on the side flower bed. I worked about 8 hours yesterday on it and still have a little bit to go. I was contemplating finishing it off this afternoon but that will not happen. Thunderstorms are forecasted so that little bit will have to wait. And I caved……..I was going to turn most of it back into grass ~ but when I began to pull up the weed block, I noticed no weeds underneath, they were all on top of the little bit of old mulch I had there. So I tried pulling a few weeds, they came up very easily. Then I got…
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Outside My Window ~ 4.19.09
Outside My Window…partly sunny at the moment, but more clouds are expected to build throughout the day. It is about 60 degrees right now with a forecasted high of 71. Oddly enough, our air quality is “good”……..I would think with all the pollen coating everything, not so much in the good range. If you want to get an idea of what I’m talking about, I posted a couple of photos of my Jeep coated in pollen on my blog yesterday ~ “Welcome to Virginia“. I am thinking…about all the things I want to get accomplished today. It is quite a list so I’m hopeful I can get through most…
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Welcome to Virginia
Welcome to Virginia……..and specifically Newport News. The city, while developing quite a bit in the last several years, still has a lot of trees. And lots of trees = lots of pollen. Check out the greenish-yellow powder covering my Jeep this morning…. and another angle……. Everything is coated with this powder and the air is filled with it……and will be until probably Monday when the rains are suppose to come. During this time of year, rain every couple of days is a welcome sight……washes the pollen away and clears the air. Oh, by the way, my neighbors car isn’t really clown orange, I guess the reflection from the sun caused the color to look…
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Skippity Doo Dah
It’s finally Friday…….Skippity Doo Dah!! 🙂 I don’t know about anyone else, but for me one of the hardest weeks at work are the ones that immediately follow time off. The clock couldn’t have moved any slower today ~ by 11 it felt like it should have been time to go! Needless to say, the plans to prep the kitchen for painting never happened this week. I did get some things accomplished, but not that. This weekend will be too nice to stay indoors anyhow so it is probably a good thing I didn’t. I plan to finish the outside flower bed by making it much smaller. Right now it…
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Yummmm ~ Hummingbird Cake
As promised on Easter, but a little later than I anticipated…..we have the Hummingbird Cake. This was originally posted at Mennonite Girls Can Cook by Anneliese, a contributor to the site. If you only want to see the page with the cake posting, click here. I didn’t take photos while preparing the cake, just the finished product. Cake Ingredients: 3 cups flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp salt ¾ cup vegetable oil +1/4 cup pineapple juice 2 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 cups white or brown sugar 3 eggs 2 cups mashed bananas 1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, drained 1 cup chopped…
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Outside My Window ~ 4.12.09
Outside My Window…Simply beautiful…..blue skies, not a cloud in sight ~ but we are cool and windy. It is only 47 degrees with wind gusts up to 23 mph. We are forecasted to reach the high 50’s, low 60’s. I guess I can’t complain about that. I am thinking…how I would like another week off to finish up my projects. I was very optimistic in what I would accomplish this past week…..but I think we all do that when planning time off. By the time I return to work on Tuesday, I will have finished cleaning up the backyard and the flower bed on the side of the house. I…