April Showers 3.75

 It's more of the same - with one exception.... MORE!!  Yesterday was our third day of soggy rain.

The pond is almost ready to overflow.

The overflow pipe is sending millions of gallons down the tiny stream at the base of our woods to the swollen creek below.

The rain gauge keeps rising... heading towards 4 inches.

I took a quick tour of the garden to see if anything new had emerged.  The onions are up.

The sugar peas are just beginning to peek through the soil...

as are the radishes!

All we need is a warmer, sunny day and everything will grow like crazy!

When this week's rain is over (Friday) I will be planting French breakfast radishes, beets, spinach, and more lettuces.  I have given up on growing broccoli and cauliflower, as I have never had any luck with either.  It seems that our weather gets too hot too quickly and we end up with a very bitter flavor by the time they are large enough to pick.  That's ok, though, it's not like I don't have enough other veggies to grow!

It is so rainy that even Forrest, who loves the rain,

spent most of his day indoors yesterday... still a little soggy.  He's an unusual dog, in that he never smells like a dog.  Perhaps that's because he is constantly in the rinse cycle!

Chester does whatever he can to avoid the rain... preferring chauffeur service to and from the barn.

It's been a lazy week for the barn kitties.  I haven't seen a single one of them outside the barn at all this week!

For me... this week has been perfect for finishing up some "cleaning-out" tasks around the house.  Yesterday, the sewing room got a reorganization.  In actuality, it is much more than a sewing room, as it houses all of the materials for all of my wandering, creative endeavors.  Craft room?  Studio?  Black hole?  Hard to decide!  While I was there, I decided to do a little project involving some leftover fabric.

Quilted book sleeves - for when the book you are reading is just so good, you have to carry it everywhere with you!  

It was also a great day to watch the antics of these cuties outside my windows!

 

 I have noticed that we see absolutely no squirrels in our hundred acre wood.  However, the woods around the house are overrun with squirrels.  I've come to the conclusion that the entire neighborhood knows where the food (birdseed, of course) is and so they have all relocated here!  One thing is certain... our squirrels are not skinny!

And because I share my successes here with you, it is only right that I share my failures as well.  Failures are a common occurrence for me - I use them as a learning tool... and boy am I learning a lot!!  

I had mixed up a sourdough cranberry-orange loaf late Tuesday afternoon (another one like the one I made for Easter - which was out of this world!)  My plan was to bake this yesterday morning before breakfast so that we could have some with our omelets.  When I checked it in the morning, it had not risen as high as I had hoped (the house is cold at night).  Throwing caution to the wind, I went ahead and baked it.  Surely it would finish rising while baking.

Sure enough, it had risen, but not quite enough - giving a very dense (but tasty) loaf.  Then I got what I thought was a brilliant idea for the rest of the loaf.  I would slice it very thin and then dry it in the oven to make those fancy toasts like you can buy in the grocery store to use with a charcuterie tray, etc.  

It took quite a while with the oven on convect at 275 degrees for the toasts to completely dry out.

But, dry they did, and I was quite proud of the result.  Until I bit into one and realized that it was as hard as a rock!  No, seriously, I am not exaggerating - hard as rock.  I feared I might break a tooth if I continued.  Note to self - next time make your slices super thin!

"Oh, well," I sighed aloud, "I'll just give them to the chickens for a treat."

Hubbs: "I don't think the chickens' beaks will be able to handle these!"

Me:  "Well, then it's a good thing it's so soggy out there - they will rehydrate!"

Yes, it all seemed like a good idea at the time... (how many times have I said that before!)

Back to the drawing board.