Wednesday Witterings
Mixed Bag
Did your Mum ever tell you that fish was good for you? Wolves know that too. Apparently a pack or two of wolves studied in British Columbia left off chasing deer & went fishing for salmon during the salmon run, the fish being a much easier to catch. Having seen film of how bears just sit there in streams & rivers with their mouths open, I reckon the wolves have something there - even if they do have to pick a bear-free fishing spot!
We've had Alaskan salmon. A friend of S's visited bearing gifts - samples of four different varieties of salmon which occur in the rivers there. Interesting, though I actually prefer Scottish smoked salmon (which I served with scrambled eggs for breakfast one morning he was here). There now, Friends wanting a handy base for doing 'the Old Country' . . . Very reasonable rates, guide thrown in, provide your own transport.
I made a 'What's Available in the Garden (& fridge)' vegetable stew last night, to go with the blackberry & apple crumble. From the garden: runner beans, tomatoes, courgettes, rosemary, calendula petals and winter savoury (which goes with beans), from the fridge: half an onion, a piece of butternut squash (we'd had the rest roasted last week & in risotto Monday evening), which, with a stock cube and some black pepper & served with home-made bread rolls, was very nice, as was the crumble.
A friend has mentioned her amazement at what I grow in our back yard, & she's seen the size & location of it. Mind you, I don't think I'll be even attempting to grow bananas any time soon. Bananas are big plants & we just don't have the space. Unlike this woman in Powys, mid Wales, who was amazed to find her banana plant flowering & fruiting, even after the wettest & dullest August on record (apparently it didn't rain on only seven days last month, think it must have been more here, cos the water butt was empty quite a few days & I was reduced to using tap water.)
I need to run down the contents of the fridge (they're all rubbish!) as ice is now forming outside the ice box door. Must remember not to buy cheese & things when I go grocery shopping.
Darn! That's the third time today that net's come down. We had new windows fitted recently, in PVC frames. Consequently we couldn't re-hang the nets on wires to screw eyes in the woodwork any more, cos the woodwork's gone. As the house is flat front to pavement, &, being a corner property, flat side to pavement too, we need the nets in the back & front rooms. Time to either dig out some more sticky pads, or a trip round to our friendly local hardware store to complain (& see whether they can suggest something more effective), & it isn't often we have to do that.
Trouble is, as there's no wood in the new frames, the nets are now on rods, which fit over pins held onto the frames with sticky pads. Either the plastic frames have been specially treated to repel sticky stuff, or the sticky just isn't as . . . Either way the net in here keeps coming down. Pain! *Tries temporary fix with masking tape* As I've said before, if that is the extent of my 'troubles' then I'm a very fortunate, & thankful, woman.
There now, yesterday I mentioned that Hurricane Hanna was kicking up a storm in the Caribbean. It's already hit Haiti, causing at least another ten deaths and more damage. New Orleans got of lightly from Gustav, wonder how Hanna will hit it? Probably not as badly as it's hit Haiti - being poorer they just don't have the defences in place, or the infrastructure to aid recovery. & there's another storm, Ike, gathering momentum out behind Hanna.
And the owner of the New Orleans bar which stayed open during Gustav is a Brit. I expect he laid in a stock of tea, as well as alcohol. Probably imported specially from either the UK or Canada, cos America just can't do tea. They seem to think it has something to do with chucking it into large bodies of cold salt water, or using (only) nearly boiling water from the hot tap! & as for what goes into their tea bags . . .
However organised aid is finally getting through to flood vicitms in Bihar state, India. Ten days on from when the flood hit! From the tone of the report, at least, it seems as if India has upped its' response in reply to external pressure & reports that it wasn't doing enough. Hmmm, wonder whether central government normally has 'problems' with disaffected people in Bihar, cos if their (apparently) less effective, then more effective but delayed response is anything to go by I can see why.
Of course, they could have been taking/needed the full ten days to assess the situation and respond appropriately. One thing though, although India does have areas of extreme poverty it is not a poor country in itself - it has world class scientific and medical research ongoing, a space program of its own, and thriving industry and businesses.
I may have included this English test before, but have it again. Those with shaky spelling skills particularly note question 9, definitely! No, I didn't get 100%, I lost concentration at one point.
I definitely mentioned last week that exercise is good for you (laziness is not), another recent study has shown it's good for your memory too. I've been trying to get more exercise recently - long walks & cycling last week, blackberrying & walking this week - haven't, yet, noticed any improvement in the ol' memory though. Ah well, keeping up the activity level could do wonders for my (over) weight, which will also be of benefit to my health.
What to do today? Walk to the library, peg out the washing, vacuum & dust the place - after all, I'm no longer stiff from my fall last Wednesday evening, so I haven't that excuse any more. & I can't carry on knitting the current pair of socks cos I've gotten to a bit in the pattern I just don't understand. So I'm waiting on a reply to my query email. There is the final border on the swallowtail shawl though, hmmm.
'K, off to peg out while the sun's still shining, y'all have a good day now!
Did your Mum ever tell you that fish was good for you? Wolves know that too. Apparently a pack or two of wolves studied in British Columbia left off chasing deer & went fishing for salmon during the salmon run, the fish being a much easier to catch. Having seen film of how bears just sit there in streams & rivers with their mouths open, I reckon the wolves have something there - even if they do have to pick a bear-free fishing spot!
We've had Alaskan salmon. A friend of S's visited bearing gifts - samples of four different varieties of salmon which occur in the rivers there. Interesting, though I actually prefer Scottish smoked salmon (which I served with scrambled eggs for breakfast one morning he was here). There now, Friends wanting a handy base for doing 'the Old Country' . . . Very reasonable rates, guide thrown in, provide your own transport.
I made a 'What's Available in the Garden (& fridge)' vegetable stew last night, to go with the blackberry & apple crumble. From the garden: runner beans, tomatoes, courgettes, rosemary, calendula petals and winter savoury (which goes with beans), from the fridge: half an onion, a piece of butternut squash (we'd had the rest roasted last week & in risotto Monday evening), which, with a stock cube and some black pepper & served with home-made bread rolls, was very nice, as was the crumble.
A friend has mentioned her amazement at what I grow in our back yard, & she's seen the size & location of it. Mind you, I don't think I'll be even attempting to grow bananas any time soon. Bananas are big plants & we just don't have the space. Unlike this woman in Powys, mid Wales, who was amazed to find her banana plant flowering & fruiting, even after the wettest & dullest August on record (apparently it didn't rain on only seven days last month, think it must have been more here, cos the water butt was empty quite a few days & I was reduced to using tap water.)
I need to run down the contents of the fridge (they're all rubbish!) as ice is now forming outside the ice box door. Must remember not to buy cheese & things when I go grocery shopping.
Darn! That's the third time today that net's come down. We had new windows fitted recently, in PVC frames. Consequently we couldn't re-hang the nets on wires to screw eyes in the woodwork any more, cos the woodwork's gone. As the house is flat front to pavement, &, being a corner property, flat side to pavement too, we need the nets in the back & front rooms. Time to either dig out some more sticky pads, or a trip round to our friendly local hardware store to complain (& see whether they can suggest something more effective), & it isn't often we have to do that.
Trouble is, as there's no wood in the new frames, the nets are now on rods, which fit over pins held onto the frames with sticky pads. Either the plastic frames have been specially treated to repel sticky stuff, or the sticky just isn't as . . . Either way the net in here keeps coming down. Pain! *Tries temporary fix with masking tape* As I've said before, if that is the extent of my 'troubles' then I'm a very fortunate, & thankful, woman.
There now, yesterday I mentioned that Hurricane Hanna was kicking up a storm in the Caribbean. It's already hit Haiti, causing at least another ten deaths and more damage. New Orleans got of lightly from Gustav, wonder how Hanna will hit it? Probably not as badly as it's hit Haiti - being poorer they just don't have the defences in place, or the infrastructure to aid recovery. & there's another storm, Ike, gathering momentum out behind Hanna.
And the owner of the New Orleans bar which stayed open during Gustav is a Brit. I expect he laid in a stock of tea, as well as alcohol. Probably imported specially from either the UK or Canada, cos America just can't do tea. They seem to think it has something to do with chucking it into large bodies of cold salt water, or using (only) nearly boiling water from the hot tap! & as for what goes into their tea bags . . .
However organised aid is finally getting through to flood vicitms in Bihar state, India. Ten days on from when the flood hit! From the tone of the report, at least, it seems as if India has upped its' response in reply to external pressure & reports that it wasn't doing enough. Hmmm, wonder whether central government normally has 'problems' with disaffected people in Bihar, cos if their (apparently) less effective, then more effective but delayed response is anything to go by I can see why.
Of course, they could have been taking/needed the full ten days to assess the situation and respond appropriately. One thing though, although India does have areas of extreme poverty it is not a poor country in itself - it has world class scientific and medical research ongoing, a space program of its own, and thriving industry and businesses.
I may have included this English test before, but have it again. Those with shaky spelling skills particularly note question 9, definitely! No, I didn't get 100%, I lost concentration at one point.
I definitely mentioned last week that exercise is good for you (laziness is not), another recent study has shown it's good for your memory too. I've been trying to get more exercise recently - long walks & cycling last week, blackberrying & walking this week - haven't, yet, noticed any improvement in the ol' memory though. Ah well, keeping up the activity level could do wonders for my (over) weight, which will also be of benefit to my health.
What to do today? Walk to the library, peg out the washing, vacuum & dust the place - after all, I'm no longer stiff from my fall last Wednesday evening, so I haven't that excuse any more. & I can't carry on knitting the current pair of socks cos I've gotten to a bit in the pattern I just don't understand. So I'm waiting on a reply to my query email. There is the final border on the swallowtail shawl though, hmmm.
'K, off to peg out while the sun's still shining, y'all have a good day now!