Winter has arrived

[Alan Gage]

Not the weather, that's been here since November, but the mindset.

I've got a boat halfway built in the shed 50 feet away. It's heated. At the touch of a button it's like the sun comes out and shines on my head and shoulders as I work away on a fun project. But it's so dark. And cold. And just listen to that wind howl. I'll eat some supper first, even though it is only 5:30. Let me check my e-mail, the internet forums, facebook, put some more wood in the stove. The coals are building up too deep, need to get them burned down. Better stay inside a bit longer and baby sit it. Joined the gym yesterday for the first time in years. I really want to go tonight but not until it gets a little later and the crowd thins out. I'll work in the shop for a while first. Geez, look at that snow blowing around out there. It's too late to work in the shop tonight AND go to the gym. I'll just sit down and read for a while. More wood in the stove. Can't let it get behind. -15F and 30 mph winds tonight pushes my house and stove nearly to the limit. Gotta get those coals burned down and keep it hot. Better sit here and read a while longer. Wow, is that all the later it is? Ok, time to get up and do something. Almost late enough to go to the gym, probably not many people left now. Better check e-mail again, facebook, the internet forums. More wood in the stove. I'll make one quick post and then I'll get dressed to go to the gym. Right after another load of wood goes into the fire. Geez, listen to that wind blow.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.....

Alan

 

[memaquay]

Pretty much sums up my night too, except it's -32. Can't seem to find my mojo. although I did order my fiberglass and resin today.

 

[Odyssey]

Our winter came, and went, and came, and went, and how about that? It came back again! That's the nature of our winter here. We're into another cold snap warning for tomorrow. I won't say what the temps are, cause some of you would just laugh and call it t-shirt weather. I envy your cozy indecision Alan and Rob, sitting next to a fire. I think fires are wasted if left on their lonesome. A low burning fire is good company. Nice to sip something comforting and fortifying in front of slumbering embers. Crack open a book or just gaze out the window. The gym membership, workshop or drifting drive aint goin anywhere. Not tonight anyway. Sitting next to the fire is the perfect place to be, and listen to that wind blow.

 

[Iskweo]

Gee...its minus stupid with the wind chill here. I came home,walked to the store and back, made supper, started a pot of turkey soup, put a load of laundry in, sanded and primed the dining room ceiling, finished up the soup, called my mom to wish her happy birthday and yakked with my GF ...its 9.30. Kind of a slow night but I was tired.

Christy

 

[Odyssey]

Christy, slow down. You're wearing me out. And...turkey soup!? Leftovers from Christmas? Awesome. We haven't made any yet. We can't make any yet. We'd have nowhere to store the extra soup. Our two fridge freezers are full. We sent off our old decrepit chest freezer. It was mostly empty all of the time, so it was a waste of hydro. It took us a year to accept that. How stupid it felt to open er up once a week to see a couple ziplocks of berries and a few bowling ball chickens. I'm feeling all good about myself with the extra space. The rust stains from the leaky old freezer didn't quite shampoo out of the carpeting, nor did the rust skid marks where I pushed it to where younger stronger men than me could come pick it up. The shampooing did remove the manky musty smell where it sat for two days waiting for pick up. Where was I going with this? I dunno. Its a slow night here too, 'cept now I have a hankering for soup for some weird reason. And a wood fire.

 

[Odyssey]

ps Speaking of turkey and soup...I tried tofurkey at Christmas. Our daughter and her bf are vegetarian. It always tests our ability to make healthy meat-less meals, particularly during festive occasions. "Merry Christmas!! Pass the brussels sprouts and the tofurkey." The little brown ball of mystery nonmeat was interesting. It turned out to be tofu stuffed with wild rice. Yum! Yes, I said yum. I love wild rice. The whole thing together tasted like...wild rice. The two veg people took the thing home with them as left overs.
I wonder if they made soup?

 

[Alan Gage]

After nearly giving up and going to bed when I couldn't find my sweatpants I pushed through and persevered. Finally found them and headed out the door to find the snow drifting in behind the car in the driveway. No way am I scooping snow this time of night, especially since I know it will just blow back in by morning. Rammed the car back and forth a few times before I finally made it up the little rise to the road and then I was off! Found the gym nearly empty. Got in a light workout. Hopefully just enough to give me some sore muscles tomorrow so I can get that bit of unpleasantness out of the way.

I don't know if I'll be able to stick with it or not. I used to enjoy going to the gym and working out. Now I find myself gravitating to the walking track like an old man. I don't like being on the machines because they face the row of TV's full of stupid programs I don't want to watch. But I can't not look and read the captions and feel my IQ dwindle as my heart rate rises. I could listen to my ipod but last year I clipped it to my belt, under my shirt, and it drowned in sweat and died. I don't really like any music that's good for working out to anyway. Well, I guess I do, but I don't like to listen to it for more than 20 minutes at a time. But that's ok, I like peace and quiet to just let my mind wander. Except that if I'm doing an actual workout my brain is busy reminding my body to keep up the effort so it can't think about anything other than how this really isn't very fun and how I'd rather be getting my exercise paddling up a river or hiking mountains in Arizona. So that's how I find myself on the walking track. A constantly changing view (though a bit repetitious) without the distractions of TV or displays flashing time and heart rate in my face and a slow enough pace that my mind can wander wherever it wants to go. But it still mostly returns to how this isn't very fun and I'd rather be paddling up a river or hiking the mountains in Arizona.

Hopefully my little endorphin pump will start working soon and give me some motivation.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

ps Speaking of turkey and soup...I tried tofurkey at Christmas. Our daughter and her bf are vegetarian. It always tests our ability to make healthy meat-less meals, particularly during festive occasions. "Merry Christmas!! Pass the brussels sprouts and the tofurkey." The little brown ball of mystery nonmeat was interesting. It turned out to be tofu stuffed with wild rice. Yum! Yes, I said yum. I love wild rice. The whole thing together tasted like...wild rice. The two veg people took the thing home with them as left overs.
I wonder if they made soup?

In a couple weeks I'll be celebrating my 1 year anniversary as a vegetarian. Haven't tried tofurkey yet. I'm lucky to have a family of great cooks and a few cousins who are vegetarians as well. So the holiday meals consist of lots of very tasty non-meat side dishes. Even before becoming a vegetarian I noticed I tended to fill up more on sides than the turkey or ham.

I've always enjoyed cooking but never got too "out there", mostly because our grocery stores don't allow it. When I went vegetarian and picked up some cookbooks I was amazed at the ingredients that I'd never even heard of and how easy (and tasty) most of them were to make. Finding them was the hard part. Quinoa is finally starting to show up on the shelves here but no sign of farro yet.

I like Tofu but none of the grocery stores in town carry it anymore. Not really any taste on its own but, like you found out, it takes on the taste of what it's cooked with. Cubed and fried/sauteed with a splash of soy sauce it gives a nice texture and goes well with rice or pasta or any other dish you want to toss them in. Cut it thinner, fry/saute it ahead of time and put it in the fridge to keep for nearly a week. Pull out a few pieces, give them a shot of soy sauce (or anything else you might like) and put them in the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich.

My favorite cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Vegetarian-Meatless/dp/0764524836

And an easy recipe:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/07/one-pan-farro-with-tomatoes/ (I've never found good cherry tomatoes in town out of season so I use canned diced tomatoes instead)

Man, talk about thread drift......

Alan

 

[Holmes375]

Give this tome a good look:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607747561/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm not a vegetarian - I do wild game and grass fed buffalo. I've used the Moosewood Cookbook for years and have often given it as a gift. Its very good and well laid out.

Snoeshoes are my off season mode of outdoor exercise and mental stability retention. Rabbit hunting is another diversion and a tasty one at that

 

[Philtrum]

You veggies out there might want to check out the Moosewood Restaurant series, the classic vegetarian cookbooks. I'm not vegetarian but I've used several of them so much the spines are broken, a lot of the pages have various spills and stains, and my notes (I make notes of how the recipe turned out and how my guest(s) liked it) form a mostly savory (some sweet) story of my life for the past 20 years. What's interesting (and here's the connection with this thread) is that most of said story is winter-related. It seems I don't cook much when it's warm, although The Wife's (slow cooker) cookbooks might indicate otherwise.

If anyone would like my tofu silk pie recipe, speak up. My daughter asked for it for her 12th birthday sleepover party way back in '91, and her friends loved it. That's as good a testimonial as I can think of.

 

[Holmes375]

You veggies out there might want to check out the Moosewood Restaurant series, the classic vegetarian cookbooks. I'm not vegetarian but I've used several of them so much the spines are broken, a lot of the pages have various spills and stains, and my notes (I make notes of how the recipe turned out and how my guest(s) liked it) form a mostly savory (some sweet) story of my life for the past 20 years....

That's the one I referenced above. Sounds like our copies of the book are similarly worn and adorned

 

[Robin]

Speaking of winter, shops and cooking, I posted this video the other day on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cULEOWOfmoA

Hanging out in the shop

 

[memaquay]

That's quite the man-cave you have there Robin. I'm envious...no smell-e-vision necessary, I could smell that deer steak cooking all the way up here. You know, I'm starting to think you've got a pretty good appetite, that was meal fit for a bear coming out of hibernation!

 

[Odyssey]

Wondering what the poor people are doing? I'm watching you cook venison and onions, and wishing I lived closer. I've never tried venison, but would like to some day. I do love the smell of onions gently frying in a pan. They can be the start of something good, like soup or casserole, or just on their own with a steak of some kind.
Thanks for this Robin, I enjoyed hanging out in your shop.

 

[Dennis]

Nice video, great shop, thanks Robin.

 

[ppine]

We are not that cold, but in the fourth year of drought. The PNW is in better shape. Christmas Bird Count last Sat with friends in the field all day was a blessing. Time to do some hiking. Traded an old Browning A5 for a Marlin guide gun with my neighbor. He gave me some venison, but I wish I had some elk or moose. Now is the time for planning trips. So far we have the Grande Rond River in a raft, the redwoods, and southern Utah lined up.

 

[stripperguy]

Here in upstate New York, we had some great early season skiing, and then a warm up and this week a deep freeze, at least for us. Whatever is still white is now bullet proof!
The boat shop is filled with a broken Harley and I can't get motivated to finish fixing it...Meanwhile, I try to stay in some sort of shape with free weights and stretching...cardio can wait until I can get back out on the bicycle.
So I sit and stare out the window and pray for powder and sustained cold.
But I did print a full size pattern for my nearly forgotten seat frame/portage thwart to be built in foam and fiber!

 

[Alan Gage]

.
But I did print a full size pattern for my nearly forgotten seat frame/portage thwart to be built in foam and fiber!

I'm anxious to see how that turns out. Get crackin'!

Alan

 

[sweeper]

Thanks for the tour robin, nice setup.

I'm refinishing an 18' Chestnut Cruiser. It needs a new canvas, couple of ribs and new outwales. I refinished the seats and caned them this week. I'm starting work on the hull tomorrow reclinching all the nails and then the stripping it.

The seed catalogs are coming in so SWMBO and I are picking out seeds. This year the garden will grow to 2700sq' with another 800 next year. We're growing all the darker varieties, no more pale carrots or white beets. I found black carrots, and black peppers to go along Danvers and the Sweet Bells. Also planning to grow in wide rows.

I'm spend a couple days a week packing the Cross Country Ski trails at the High School. Blowing snow and a thin cover got me a day off today.

I've got several project going in the shop, I'm routing out new house # signs, making 3 more lamps from old meat grinders, and sharpening my neglected hand planes.

I've got enough to do, but nothing that's got to be done.

 

[Odyssey]

Winter has arrived. One cat is curled up across the kitchen from me snoring. The other is splayed out splat on the back of my chair purring. I have no idea why she's purring, I haven't petted her, scritched her behind the ears or so much as looked at her. Still she's purring. Maybe she's happy just to be indoors. Neither have meowed to be let out in days. That's a sure sign winter has arrived.
I meant to stop on the way home from work to stretch my legs and walk along a rail trail for awhile, but the wind was howling too much for my liking. I saw the signs of winter's arrival across the landscape. The ploughed fields of autumn, back when they smelled rich and earthy, are now iron hard and unyielding. They look like corduroy, sinuous lines of soil and snow running in folds from fence row to forest edge. The ponds are flat window panes reflecting a clear blue sky above, hiding a watery world below. With the foliage down and drifted into brittle blankets, the trees are standing gnarled and naked against winter's bite.
I passed a barn today, and it tugged at my memory. I speak to my brother from time to time who lives far away, and we both commiserate over childhood memories. He complains he lives too far from our childhood home, I complain I live too near. There are too many ghosts of happy times lurking around every farm track and forest trail for me. My commute takes me down the same roads, and past the same fields, farms and barns I remember as a youth. These places all too often tug at me whispering "Remember when?" This particular barn is a little special though. The farm it belongs to has seen the sweeping change many properties have endured. The house is no longer a typical farmhouse, but more resembles a vinyl sided suburban dream home. The outbuildings have slumped and crumbled into disheveled heaps of wood and rubble. An old hay rake sits rusting and forgotten amongst waist high weeds and grass. There is one barn however that has weathered the years, and this is the barn I remember. The windows are unbroken, though cobwebbed and dusty. The metal roof looks solid despite being curled and corroded. I see no barn boards have needed replacing; they've all faded to a dusky pale grey. There's the merest suggestion of blue beneath the grey, and I remember why. When I was young I'd pedal my bicycle past this farm on my way to somewhere, anywhere, and nowhere in particular. That was the freedom of youth, needing no explanation whatsoever for wandering. "Taking off" is what I called it, when my Mom asked me what my plans were for the day. This barn always grabbed my attention as I'd pass. The entire structure was painted a bright indigo blue, with striking gold lettering and graphics emblazoned across the walls. What was the advertisement? Hmm, I think it was tobacco. Not all that unusual, as not many miles away lay tobacco country. Although that industry has declined there are still some old tobacco kilns to be seen down those country roads. This old barn has been witness to countless young kids pedalling by on their way to "taking off", and one particular old kid who still daydreams of "taking off" again some day; and of course to many many seasonal changes...when spring blossoms into summer, summer matures into autumn, and autumn ages gracefully, when winter arrives again.