Want a kiss?

... an outtake from when I was trying to get a shot for yesterday's post.  I posted it on Facebook too, so it might be a duplicate for some; I thought it was worthy of a repost.


ps -

On a less amusing note, the Dude's in a rough spot today.  It's been really windy for a few days (~60km/hr) and he's not loving it.  He went outside yesterday morning, and as soon as he turned the corner and left shelter, he must have been hit with a blast of wind.  He froze solid and refused to move, crying until I ran over to get him.  Inside, he's doing better; but the wind is blowing so hard that you can hear it inside.  The constant noise is scaring him, so whenever he's not hiding in his crate, he's been following me around, looking as though he expects me to make it go away.

On top of that, he pulled a muscle in his shoulder this morning.  At first, he was crying with every step he took.  Then he went into his crate for a nap and when he woke up, he found it too painful to stoop over to get out of the crate.  I ended up taking the whole thing apart to get him out, then gave him a dose of Metacam, which is a pain med that that my vet gave me for situations like this.  He's sleeping now, so I think it has kicked in, but if he isn't significantly better by tomorrow, we'll be off to the vet again.

Fluffiness

It's a state of mind.

Mooned.

I guess he's had enough of the photography.

Carbs are bad

I haven't had much luck with my bread maker, which I bought a few years ago.

The first loaf, I found too salty.

The next loaf, I used the timer on it so that it would be ready when I woke up. I got up that morning to find dough that had grown so big, the lid had popped off the machine and it had spilled down the side. It was burned on the bottom and (obviously) raw on the top and outside.

I tried that same recipe again, without the delay, and had the same problem. I ended up taking the bread out and baking it in the oven. Not having much experience with bread, it turned out very undercooked and had to be tossed.

I made one loaf of wheat bread that was so-so. It didn't rise properly, though, and was kind of squishy on the inside.

One loaf turned out to be my biggest success so far. It was an herbed French Bread. I cut the recommended salt in half but I still found it way too salty again.

Then, I tried to use the delay function again to make white bread for this morning. I work up to find baked flour, and realized that I'd forgotten to put the blade in that kneads it.

The last time I gave it a shot (over a year ago), I tried to make cinnamon raisin bread. I gave up about a half hour before it was supposed to be done because I could smell burning on the bottom while the top seemed to remain in a liquid form. I put the bread machine in the far back corner of the pantry. The intention was for it to be added to the items available at my garage next sale.


Last month, thinking that perhaps the user might be the cause of the problems, rather than the machine, I decided to give it another shot. Since the recipes that came with it failed me, I bought a cook book that was written specifically for Canadian bread makers. (Our flour is different than yours, and we use metric measurements.)


This is a sure fire plan, right? I could practically taste the bread.


It's not going to happen. Every single one of those recipes lists the ingredients and then provides two basic cooking instructions:
1. Place ingredients in machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer
2. bake in ____ (quick, delayed, whole wheat, etc) mode.


How the heck am I supposed to know what order I should place the ingredients?!?

Needless to say, I've got another item for my garage sale pile this spring. Unless somebody else happens to store the instruction booklet from their black and decker bread machine.

Sam is the plant identifying Queen

After three years, the Mystery Plant has finally been named.

I present to you, Blue Woolly Speedwell.

Thank you Sam.  I hope you've got room for this in your garden:

More spring blooms

Just in time for mother's day, the big mass of tulips are starting to bloom.  I'm having the parents over for dinner tomorrow, so I'll go out and cut a bouquet before they get here.

I took this through the basement window, partly for Linlah and partly because it's raining outside.
That window is going to be in my master bedroom if/when I ever get around to finishing the basement, and I can't wait until I can look outside and see flowers like that.

I took this one a few days ago, just before the tulips started to bloom.

Notice the seedum (behind the juniper) is starting to bloom with white flowers too.

So's the mystery plant.

National Geographic can only wish they had this shot

The hunter in his native environment:

You probably shouldn't turn your back on this one.