I went ahead and posted a message to the forum.

When I was growing up, I can remember splits along the perimeter of my thumbnails and there on the outside edge of the nailbed where there is no nail. That was some painful. I can remember sucking up the blood and licking them for comfort.

If people don't want to try it for themselves, they can at least try it for their kids.

Don't get me wrong. We had the usual stash of hand lotion, cold cream, baby oil, Vaseline and Vick's. They don't work.

UPDATE: Good. There's one positive response from the forum.

Left thumb 10/2/06

Let's use this picture of my left thumb as a reference. (That's a still shot from the new camera. My first.)

Something interesting is happening to my thumbnails since I started using the cuticle cream in July. With added moisture in the nails and nailbeds, my thumbnails have relaxed some in their beds. They are not as curled or cramped, or gnarly, for want of a better word, as they were. There's less cracking, and none along the quick, which can be painful.

I'll continue to use the cream religiously, and let's check back in two or three months to see if there's more improvement. If there is, that'll be a message worth adding to the NPS forum.

Something similar is happening with my smallest toenails, too.

Satsuma 2006

This poor satsuma tree can barely hold its branches up under all the fruit.

Big Daddy will be picking them and putting the peelings in my flower pots. You watch.

Now this is pretty darn good.

Did you know that Diane is an excellent writer of instructions?

She sent an e-mail and a handout answering my quilting questions. It's nothing I couldn't share, but it's detailed and might bore you. She included tips that I might not have found after weeks online. So thank you, ma'am.

Between recipes, advice and shopping services, I certainly benefit from my associations online.

I hope I give as good as I get.

So after all that shopping for dresses, I bought this one.

At that price, it will work for something.

I've been studying a little about quilts today.

Seems I'll want a low-loft polyester batting, since quilting this piece will entail only "ditch-quilting" the appliques. That means following the seam lines. Miss Diane might have an opinion there.

I'd welcome one on the advisability of using monofilament thread for the quilting. Monofilament is colorless, so there wouldn't be problems where two colors lie together. I've read where machine quilters use it when they have problems with matching, but I haven't read anything about hand-sewing with it. Also, how do competent quilters handle end knots?

I've learned about securing the backing down while stacking the other layers. I think I'll use painters' tape on the floor.

Then there's basting the three layers together before beginning the quilt-stitching proper. Is there any particular thread or technique that eases that process along? I've read that using a small, curved upholstery needle helps. For the quilting itself, I'll be using an old-fashioned wooden oval lap-type frame. Binding should be fairly easy for me, but I'll take some time remembering how to do a mitred corner. I should be done by the end of the decade. Maybe.

Otherwise, work-wise, I've been stuck waiting for the carpenter to install the closet doors. He has cut the old doors down, and will be adding support wood and cabinet-style closures to the door frames so these doors will open from the center, rather than ride along a track. Once those doors are painted, I'll be re-organizing closets and chests, making another run through my clothing, shoes and bags.

All of my things will be located in that room, along with suitcases, cleaning machines, etc.

Then there's the coat closet in the foyer. It's stacked with all kinds of junk. Cheap styro life-saver, anyone?

I've been sitting on my hands for the past two weeks. Sure, there are plenty of other things I could do (like washing windows), but I'm geared to this project now. I don't multi-task as well as I used to.

Quilt top

I could finish this quilt top that I started in 1997 for that room.

UPDATE: This project has been delayed for lots of reasons, but not least because I allowed Lyman to have a say. That stops today. He wanted a snake in the garden.

UPDATE II: I'm figuring out how to work Lucy and Charlie into this motif. With Lucy's coloring, she'll fit fine on that naked curved branch on the right. But Charlie is a problem. I've decided to use the purple instead of grey for his coat, but his white mask brings a level of detail not in keeping with the rest of the piece. I suppose I could show him from the back hanging upside-down somewhere. That would be in character. Hmmmm.

I like these tables, and this table.

The tea tables are not the right size, but I like the simplicity and styling of the legs.

The Madera table is just the size I need for an accent table, maybe an inch high, but that can be tolerated.

I'd prefer both of them without the beveled edge on top.

All greys do not have Southern accents.

Thank you, Mango.

For the oldest son of the oldest son.

I packed up my father's high school ring to send to my nephew.

It's from the class of '29, Donaldson or Donaldston High School.

His initials are engraved in the band.

I so like this this song.

I heard it on the car radio today.

Today we are trying our hands at Natchitoches Meat Pies.

Chef Tony, or one of you other good cooks, how would you go about freezing these pies?

Next week we plan to try Crabmeat and Cornbread Stuffed Catfish. This one might be a prospect for our Christmas luncheon in December.

UPDATE: Four of us agree that this meat pie recipe makes the best we've had.

Lucy and the "Big Ole Hunky Boy" together.

UPDATE: Lucy is ticked about this tape. It doesn't show her to advantage. She was too busy watching Lyman's son rambling through the house to pay attention to the filming action.

Oh, me?

Shopping online.

We have decided to employ our woodworker friend to build the headboard, bedside tables, and an accent table. I'll finish them. Should have used him for the chest, too, but that's a done deal. Maybe later.

I have been looking at lamps. There are thousands of lamp designs out there, kids, and from curiosity I have looked at most of them. I'll have to say the variety is a lot better than it was 30 years ago. With a move toward "retro" design, you can find lamps suitable for Rob and Laura's (Dick Van Dyke) living room or Shaft's bedroom. The new Asian-derived looks are rife. There are plenty of traditional and formal designs out there, too.

Of course, I was looking for one that has apparently been discontinued.

I bought two of these for the living room from Spiegel about 6 years ago. About a year after that, I started seeing a design that I liked as well or better. It, too, was of wrought iron, and featured small birds sitting on branches just below the linen shade. One of those, either floor or table, would do nicely in the back room. And neither is to be found anywhere.

I'm in no hurry, and the Christmas catalogs will start arriving by the armloads soon. Maybe it will show up there.

In the meantime, I'm amassing a catalog of new possibilities, and I've looked at a lot of interesting things.

Sites I've looked at include, but are not limited to:

Lamps Plus

Shop Table Lamps

Lighting Universe

Lamps USA

Bellacor

So that's where I've been.

UPDATE: Not that I'll ever have a use for it, but I think this one is cool in red.

UPDATE: That link dissolves. The "Galileo" series at Bellacor is the target.

I've been asked to remove this expired Bassett Furniture link by a representative of the company. Must be screwing up their Google results. It's cool.

There you go, Ashley .

I do not like showroom furniture.

Down here, so much of it is huge and ugly.

I saw bedsteads today that wouldn't come through my double front door without scratching the walls. These are not expensive places.

I can't find a thing except sleigh beds and four posters.

On the other hand, Pottery Barn and that crowd make too small. I don't live in a 750 square foot apartment. My guests don't need to wrestle themselves up or down from a bed after a night here. I'll be 50 my next birthday, and my overnight friends are older than that.

We found this chest locally, and bought it.

It's a little lighter than I would have liked, but I think it's a good backbone for the room I'm looking for.

UPDATE: The chest I really want is my mother's, the one I cleaned with Comet when I was four or so. But my niece has that one.

The painting is finished except for the four closet doors.

Those are waiting until the carpenter comes to visit us and sees if we can, without a tremendous lot of difficulty, change away from these bypass rolling doors. They were in the first house I grew up in and I hated them then. Youngsters cannot keep them on track and the ones here were no exception.

If a change will make too much of a mess, we'll change out the tracks and the rollers and keep them. We are all older now. Unless or until grandchildren come along.

I've abandoned the idea of setting up any kind of sewing space in that room. It's just too small.

However, with some rearrangement, I could make a space on the enclosed porch, which has better light anyway. What do I want to sew? And how often? No more than I've done in the past 20 years, the floor should be fine.

I'm using Benjamin Moore Regal Semi-Gloss for this paint work. The stuff goes on like a dream and dries quickly.

LSU 3, Auburn 7

Delete that expletive.

Floor looks great. If you check here, though, you'll see a problem. That baseboard trim color is not the same as the windows or the door frames, or the doors for that matter.

Which means that I either paint all of those to match, or invest in more paint to cover those baseboards. And since those baseboards look so bright and new, I guess my work is cut out for me.

(Delete that expletive.)

Going that far, I'm arguing for new wall paint, too.

UPDATE 9/17: It's been some years since I've painted window frames. I've forgotten where to begin. I'd suspect that for the cleanest meeting of frame and sill, I should start at the top and work down.

Lucy laid the second egg of this clutch at about 7:30 p.m. today.

And my lapse of consciousness at the library the other day cost $608.38 in repairs to the Honda CRV, paid at 10:30 a.m. today. I should be thankful it wasn't an Infiniti.

Loofah

I've never had my own loofah gourd before.

My friend grew some this year.

Laying the floor slowed down working on the cuts around the angled door frame and the closets. We finally finished with the floor itself yesterday evening.

Today we'll cut and nail quarter-round. We borrowed our carpenter friend's compressor and nail gun, so that should go pretty quickly.

Taping and painting trim will be my job after. The walls are in good shape.

Then we'll be looking for a queen-sized bedstead, two small bedside tables, and a tall chest of drawers. I don't care if they're new. As I've said before, we haven't been watching HGTV for nothing.

A clue?

Lucy laid an egg on the evening of September 11.

Charlie proves that what you say will come back to haunt you. He is both a chunky and handsome thing, so when I have picked him up I have sometimes called him a "hunky boy."

He is now saying, "Charlie a big ole hunky boy."

That's not obscene, but it ain't elegant, either.

Lyman doesn't like it at all. "I wish you hadn't taught him that."

SK Bubba, or since he was outed, Randy Neal, always commemorates this anniversary well. He doesn't fail this year.

Lyman is whistling Steppenwolf.

What does that mean?

white closet

Now, that's better.

Whitewashing

Whitewashing.

I know that these closets haven't been painted in 13 years.

Laminate+floor

Today's craft project is installing a Shaw glueless Versalock floor.

We were fair stymied until we decided to lock the long edge, then tamp with a scrap block from the end. The video instructed otherwise.

It's coming along now. We should be finished with the floor proper sometime Saturday, then there is the 1/4-round to finish. No call to hurry. This room has had more traffic in the past two weeks than in the past ten years.

It's not a very happy day.

A friend called yesterday to tell us that another friend, 74, died Monday night. One of a couple, married 46 years.

He had his first heart attack at just about the time I arrived in town, so I didn't have the pleasure of his company as often as I would have liked. He was interesting-looking, smart, curious and funny.

His widow has lonely days ahead.

We attended his memorial service today.

I would think Kitchen Hand is shaking his head in wonder at how a recipe for Brussels sprouts could turn into an argument about the sugar content of cornbread.

Far as I can tell, sir, it's just the Southern way.

For the record, I love Brussels sprouts, even if we don't find them in the stores here often. I caught some funny looks many years ago riding the train from Long Island to New York City one morning with a stalk cradled in my arms.

They also make charming little pig heads.

Here's a natural fruit fly trap.

Yes, I have the funnels in jars with cider vinegar already set up.

More advice.

Another trap.

sticky paper

Today's craft project is homemade, pesticide-free flypaper.

In the pot at the top of the photo is a thickened syrup made of equal parts sugar, water, and corn syrup (or in this case Log Cabin, since we seem to have no Karo) boiled until it creates a tacky surface on paper.

I am spreading that on brown paper, then will hang the strips to attract our little fruit fly buggers.

Recipe from Carolyn Swicegood at Land of Vos.

UPDATE: That doesn't appear to be working. Into the trash before the sugar ants come along.

toadstool

Look at what I found in the yard.

That shoe is a size 9. (I never said I had tiny little feet.)

Chives

This page needs some visual relief. These are garlic chive blossoms.

Fruit flies!

We have never had fruit flies before, but we got 'em now!

Charlie's first words this morning were "I cold."

When I give the birds baths, I always offer to let them stand on a perch in front of their personal fan heater, something like this, to dry. I ask, "Are you cold?" then extend my hand for the bird to step up.

Charlie has picked up the word without a notion of what it means.

How do you teach a bird the concept of cold? Without resorting to the old parrot joke?

Charlie's keel (breast) has healed, but the boy will go to the vet tomorrow.

His flight feathers are coming in.

He took a notion to reach my shoulder yesterday, flew into my middle back, and clung to the shirt I was wearing. That was similar to being hit between the shoulder blades with a thrown football. Go tigers.

Stupid, ditzy woman!

That would be me.

I drove down to the library today and the parking lot was a little cluttered, so I thought I'd swing around in my little car and park in that angled parking space coming in this direction.

I carefully eased around and, without so much noise as a bonk, dented Miss Terry's pretty dark green Honda CRV.

I asked the young librarian who the car belonged to, then hauled my sorry hiney upstairs to apologize to Miss Terry, the extension economist, and give her my information.

Why, Janis, why? Back up a couple of feet, change the angle of the wheel, and leave that woman's car alone.

Rain yesterday: 1.85 inches.

And Lucy laid an egg in the evening, August 27.

My big brother nixed the dress. Too much fabric, he said.

He suggested the classic sheath cut a little longer.

I'd rather be an alley cat than a farmer.

Now that the soybean crop has been diminished for lack of rain, the cotton farmers are getting rain as fast as it can fall. They need sunshine.

We had a half-inch yesterday with the sun shining.

Right now it's raining at the rate of 4 inches an hour.

UPDATE: 0.82 inch at 1:13.

It's 9:01 on August 24, Lucy is huffing and puffing and...bonk. We have another beautiful Eclectus parrot egg at 9:02.

Since she's learned, she keeps a schedule, laying between 9 and 10 in the evening. I amn't going to pet this one through, either.

The main thing that I was concerned about at the beginning of the year was that she would kill herself laying them. After exploring a lot, and the egg-laying has slowed down, I'm less alarmed.

Lucy is fine and beautiful. She's well-nourished. She just...lays eggs.

UPDATE: At 9:45 she's back on her usual perch to sleep.

We had a quick 0.73 inch of rain today, bringing the month's total to a bit over one inch. It washed things down and gave these poor shrubs and trees some comfort.

Here is a different picture of the Lafayette 148 dress that doesn't look so bulky.

I really like this dress, kids.

It's the shape and flow that appeal to me so much. That could be replicated with the appropriate skirt (of a shape that I could use often) and the right shirt or blouse, with a belt.

I haven't been watching those HGTV cut-rate replications of designer rooms for nothing.

Speaking of Priscilla Davis, there's a great quote in the article mentioned in the comments below. She was asked why she never remarried:

I'm like the Statue of Liberty. Everyone wants to say he's been there, but nobody wants to pay for the upkeep.

Spoken like a true Dallas woman.

Lafayette 148 (the maker of the 2nd dress below at Neiman's) sure do think a lot of its products.

Look at the sale rack.

I have looked at hundreds of dresses, and for my purposes this is the one I like best, and it's a little too long. $49. I was looking for something in the $200 price range.

It can be shawled or belted or scarved. It goes with my jewelry. It has the 3/4 sleeves, the v-neck, the long flowing skirt without bulk. It can be worn with boots (which I don't wear), flats, heels, slings, mules.

I just wonder about the fabric.

And if you wind up searching for a dress, bluefly.com has a huge selection at discount prices.

But I'm not done yet. There's a world of blouses and tops and belts out there. In addition to my pencil skirt, I have a good-looking black knife-pleated skirt (1991).

Oh, my. Look here.

$895 and the model doesn't even look good in it.

101 degrees.

Weather.com's national map today had a blurb about "showers and storms throughout the South, except for parts of Texas and Louisiana."

I am looking at dresses. My niece will wed in the spring, and I'd like something new to wear.

It is premature to look now. I don't know what time of day the event will be, or yet the month. Yes, I could ask, but where's the drama in that?

It's remarkable just how conservative my taste is and always has been. Part of that is not having pretty legs. But if I had them now, I'd opt for an elegant linen sheath with pearls.

I think this is a great dress if dull in color. But I wouldn't like to wear heels high enough to really carry it off.

My favorite so far is this one, which I could wear well into my 60's with the addition of a scarf. That silhouette allows more variability in heel height.

Here is a great classic. Ballet length has always been good for me.

I don't think I'll be buying from Neiman's. And for spring, I think I'd like something in a brighter color. Just looking around.

I own a perfectly good black pencil skirt (with a proper kick pleat from haberdas-her, not a slit, from 1984) that will look fine with a shell and a jacket, if I want.

UPDATE: The wedding will be in early March, in the evening. The black dress is looking good. Now, if I can find it or something similar for a third of that price, I'll be in good shape. Suggestions?

UPDATE: Looking at the profiles, Terry is right. With my short hair, as opposed to the longer stuff pulled back in a bow, for architecture I need a slimmer profile, but still one that covers the knees. I'm still looking for the black dress. Not a cheap black dress, and one that will go anywhere. No beads, no bows, no embroidery, no lace and no brocade.

I haven't bought a pretty dress since 1990, before I had my hair cut. I wore an 8, last I checked.

Typical, typical.

We spent $50 on several new toys for the birds -- colorful, chewy toys with bells!

Charlie's gone after the paper tag.

Let's have some fun.

Slow days.

Our thermometer showed 102, 103 and 101 degree days this week. A little cloud blew up last evening and dribbled a few drops. Not enough to wet concrete.

Good news at the local library here.

At home, we are up to our belt loops in "big tigers."

For Diane:

In my teens I sewed a lot. Can't say much for my taste then, anymore. Culottes were big. But I did it.

I am cleaning out a back room, and I turned up with a "Friendship" quilt top. I don't remember whether my mother gave it to me, or I took it when we broke her house down after she died.

Anyway, I came across it and sent it to my quilting sister-in-law. She was thrilled. It has 68 names, I think she told me, including my mother's sisters, sister-in-law, and her mother.

If it was a going-away present (when did you last hear that phrase?), it dates from 1938. It's in excellent shape.

Just to note: Lucy hasn't laid an egg since July 5.

Tonight we had a celebration dinner for a young woman who admits to the ripe age of 32. And we invited my brother, who is highly sociable, and likes lamb.

She had much my dinner at my birthday:

Rack of Lamb with Rosemary and Scallion from Sarah Moulton on the Food Network:

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion including the green part
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 (1 1/4 pound) trimmed and frenched single rack of lamb (7 or 8 ribs)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup mustard

In a small skillet heat the oil over moderate heat until it is hot but not smoking, add the red pepper flakes, and cook them, stirring, for 10 seconds. Add the garlic and cook it, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the scallion and the rosemary and cook the mixture, stirring, for 10 seconds. Stir in the bread crumbs and salt and pepper, to taste, and remove the skillet from the heat. Mix the mayonnaise and mustard in a small bowl, set aside.

Heat an ovenproof skillet over moderately high heat until it is hot and in it brown the lamb, seasoned with salt and pepper, turning it for 5 minutes, or until the sides and the ends are browned evenly. Pour off any fat from the skillet, arrange the lamb, fat and meat side up, and brush with mayonnaise/mustard mixture. Then pat the crumb mixture evenly on the fat and meat side of the lamb.

Bake the lamb in the middle of a preheated 475 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 130 degrees for medium-rare meat. Transfer the lamb to a platter, let it stand, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

We also ate Mushrooms Mireille from the Plantation Cookbook, a New Orleans Junior League production.

Here is that recipe:

MUSHROOMS MIREILLE
(Stuffed mushrooms)

40 mushrooms, stems removed
1 stick butter
4 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
1-1/2 cups crabmeat
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons sherry
Paprika

Slightly saute mushroom caps in 3 tablespoons butter. Transfer mushrooms to buttered baking dish. Saute green onions in two tablespoons butter; remove from heat and add crabmeat. In another pan cook and stir flour in 3 tablesppons butter for 5 minutes, but do not brown. Heat milk and stir into cooked flour until smooth. Add salt, pepper and sherry, and cook until sauce thickens. Mix in green onions and crabmeat. Correct seasoning. Stuff mushroom caps, sprinkle lightly with paprika, and bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

For this one, we found some substantial mushrooms. I wound up with 2 cups of crab after picking out shell particles. I upped the other ingredients by a third, and could stuff about 30. We're talking large button mushrooms here, not portabellas.

Crudites, grilled asparagus, and red grapes filled out the menu.

UPDATE: For you parents out there. We were talking about teenagers. Our girl said, "I said about five words to my mother when I was a teenager, and they were all rude."

Umm hmmm.

Chef Mojo has a recipe for Fish Tacos on Bill Quick's cooking thread this week.

We've been looking for one of those for a while. After last week's Chicken Vindaloo, I'll certainly give it a try.

Charlie is a big tiger. He is 18 months old today.

UPDATE: Yes, yes, I know the angle could be better. Perhaps I could use some help.

radar3

Last time we saw an image like this -- Saturday -- 0.12 inch of rain fell.

What disappointments await us today?

UPDATE: O.47 inch, with a good possibility of more behind. And a leak in the bedroom ceiling.

Charlie and I are working on a deep growl to go with his tigers. He likes this exercise.

The Natchez Democrat has a poll question up today that the editors might like to rethink:

Do you think music is too sexually provocative?

Yes
No
No opinion

I have a couple of readers who cook Indian cuisine.

Surfing around the Internet this morning I found a recipe for Chicken Vindaloo in the comments at Bill Quick's Daily Pundit.

Looks good to me, and I can fake my way through most of it. Take a look at the recipe if you will, and offer a substitute for the black mustard seeds. Yellow seeds I can do. They're often used in pickling and preserving around here.

I've e-mailed Chef Mojo, but he doesn't know me and he's a busy man who might take some time getting back to me.

(Of course Jordana and kitchen hand are idle slumps who can and will leap to my every beck and call. Chef Tony?)

UPDATE: Chef Mojo says yellow seeds are fine. And he didn't list an ingredient -- 1 tablespoon of black peppercorns to be ground with the other spices.

If you want to do something organic and scary for Halloween, consider using pistachio shell halves as fingernails on cakes or cookies. I bet they could be dyed to any desired color with food dye. Of course, they're too tough to eat.

I came upon this idea when a slimy one popped out of the garbage disposal. Arghhh!

Lucy likes watermelon

Lucy likes watermelon.

The Marketplace had a good crowd this morning.

We arrived after the contest was over and as the demonstration was beginning. On the way to join the group we met Jane, who offered us a roasted garlic-prosciutto-parmesan biscuit. Not a bad way to start the day, even if she didn't place.

Ms. Charboneau showed us the process for making her butter biscuits.

She was strict about the proportion of butter to margarine in the recipe -- 1 butter to 3 margarine -- the butter for richness and the margarine for flakiness.

She combined all ingredients in a stand mixer and gave it only a few turns, just two or three sprints of a second or so, creating a soft, sticky dough with large lumps of butter and margarine.

She turned that onto a floured board, and rolled, folded, turned and rolled again several times. When she was satisfied, she cut them about 3/4 inch thick.

Her product was flaky and rich, with a somewhat crispy bottom. Glenda and I thought they were just a little sweet to use with gravy, but that they'd be lovely with jams and jellies.

This weekend, eh?

Here's the part that interests me:

Saturday morning activities begin at 8 a.m. at The Main Street Marketplace with the Great River Road Martha White Biscuit Cook-Off.

“I really want to urge people to come on down with a couple of dozens biscuits and enter the contest,” Charboneau said. “It’s fun. And we need lots of participation in this.”

Charboneau will conduct a biscuit-making demonstration following the contest.

All the activities at The Main Street Marketplace are free and open to everyone, she said.

I could use some instruction in biscuit-making.

UPDATE: I could make a couple dozen of my best biscuits and take them to the contest. I bet I'd get some learnin' then.

Something I've not thought about until today is that Lucy's colors are those of my alma mater.

She has a near-perfect SMU coed personality. But it's good for Ole Miss coeds, too.

Charlie is a member of an LSU fan family. All his vets are LSU graduates. So here's a clip for them:



He'll be able to shout with the best of them come the season.

You'll note that this tape records one of the rare times that Charlie has spoken for a minute without talking about himself. But not a second longer.

radar2

Wednesday's image showed a band of precipitation moving from west to east.

This shows a band moving from east to west. The arm there to the west of the blue marker reached right around us, then upward.

We are shunned!

Off to Mostly Cajun, for a joke.

So we tried it.

Just okay. The recipe took the edge off my craving, but still didn't quite hit the spot.

And in fairness to the ...let me see... Stevens, we didn't quite follow their recipe.

Lyman wound up buying the meat at Wal-Mart, since he had to go there to find canned enchilada sauce. Wal-Mart packs chuck in pound packs. He came home with two pounds. Rather than freeze 1/2 pound of meat, I went ahead and used it, which threw off the balance between meat and tortillas.

The only enchilada sauce that he found was a Pace product. It was good out of the bottle, good enough for table sauce, but rich for the dish. Were I to do the recipe again, I'd make an ancho chile-based red sauce without tomato. (Mr. Stevens' is here.) And if I'm going to do that, I'd just as soon make enchiladas proper.

Just a note: When we fried the tortillas, I found that the process went faster if I halved the tortillas before frying. More could fit into the skillet.

Will I try it again? Probably not. Lyman is not fond of Tex-Mex food as it is.

But if I had teen-aged boys to feed? Double-yes.

Oh, how I miss good Tex-Mex food!

So I'm trying this recipe today.

I'll let you know.

Today marks four years that I have kept this site.

Thanks.

radar

Even with a radar image like this, I wouldn't bet you a quarter on our chances of getting much rain.

UPDATE: 0.25 inch. Just amazing.

The kitchen smells odd.

Tonight we are making a recipe that we have used before from chef Ming Tsai from the Food Network.

It's a 5-spice beef soup.

Here is the recipe:

Soup with Five Spice Beef Short Ribs and Wonton Noodles

Wonton Noodle Soup

2 quarts chicken stock
2 large slices ginger
4 heads baby bok choy, washed and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon naturally brewed soy sauce
1 tablespoon salt
1 pound fresh wonton noodles, blanched in salted water right before serving.
1/2 cup sliced scallions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Five Spice Beef Ribs

Heat the stock in a stock pot with the ginger and reduce by 20 percent. Add the bok choy, white pepper, and soy sauce. Cook 3 minutes until bok choy is soft. Check for seasoning. Place the hot noodles in 4 large bowls and top with stock and bok choy. Place ribs on top. Garnish with scallions, cilantro, and drizzle with sesame oil.

Five Spice Beef Ribs:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed peppers
8 thin slices fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 pounds beef short ribs
1 cup soy sauce
4 cups red wine
1 tablespoon five spice powder
1 tablespoon salt
3 pieces star anise
Dash cinnamon powder
1 large piece rock candy (1-inch cube)


Prepare a large non-stick stock-pot coated with oil over high heat. Add the crushed pepper, ginger, and garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Place the beef in the stock-pot and cook, covered, about 4 minutes on each side. Add the soy sauce, red wine, five spice powder, salt, star anise, cinnamon, and rock candy and bring the mixture to a boil for about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat and let simmer for 2-1/2 hours. Remove the ribs from the pot and add to the Wonton Noodle Soup.

We make substitutions. Wonton noodle is not common in the grocery stores here. The chef himself suggested angel hair pasta as a substitute. Baby bok choy ain't likely. Napa cabbage is a substitute, or we use the larger bok choy when we can.

We leave the rock candy out altogether.

We moved from basic cable services to a dish satellite service for TV a couple of weeks ago.

HBO offers a few months' free service as a hook to subscribe.

Lyman has been watching "Deadwood." I haven't watched much of it because I have usually retreated to the bedroom with a book by the time it comes on. It's interesting to look at, and the West sure isn't sugar-coated in the series.

I am not a prude, but it hasn't escaped my attention that every second sentence uses the word "f**king" as a modifier, if not a verb.

Charlie is caged-up and tucked-in by the time the show comes on. I sure 'nuff hope he can't absorb things subliminally. I don't know how many times I want to hear "I a f**king cute, sweetie boy" in a day.

Over the weekend, a huge front came over the south, dropping rain everywhere in its path. It edged its way all around us. We received .32 inch of rain.

Last night, a small front came up from the south, settled just below us, then dispersed as the evening wore on.

Today, a large front is moving northward from the Gulf of Mexico.

I am not carrying an umbrella.

If this front doesn't bring a decent rain, I'll have to wash the car. Maybe both of them. That usually works for me.

UPDATE: Okey dokey. How far do the hoses reach and where is the nearest outlet?

Mac Thomason, in his role as ichthypundit, has a summat disconcerting fish pic.

Ahem.

The thief was described as a white man, about 6 feet tall and 170 pounds. He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, work gloves and white underwear on his head.

Medpundit is blogging again.

She says her children told her to take her rants away from the dinner table and put them back on her blog.

I packed a few pieces of Lucy's birthday bread for the doctor's macaw and Quaker, and took Charlie back to the vet today.

She removed the scab again, gave Charlie another injection, and told me to continue treating him as we are, and to bring him in again in a week or so.

The sore is getting better, but it's taking time.

The square bit of terrycloth that you use in the bath or shower -- I (Texas) grew up calling it a "wash rag" or "wash cloth," as did Kim (Wisconsin).

Lyman (Louisiana) called it a "bath cloth."

I grew up working class. I don't know about Kim. Lyman grew up business class.

What did you call it? Do you know why?

Here is the recipe for "birdie bread":

Bird Bread For Eclectus

This recipe makes a "heavy" bread, not as light as you would prepare for yourself, but the birds love it! Notice that it contains very little baking powder (some baking powders contain aluminum), no added sugar or other sweeteners, and no added salt.

In a large bowl combine the following ingredients:

2 cups yellow corn meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup currants or raisins
1 cup nuts (pine, almond, walnut, pecan)
1 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1 twenty-nine ounce can of solid pack pumpkin
1 thirty-two ounce bottle of papaya nectar
1/2 cup of sunflower or safflower oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder

Add enough water or juice to make a pourable batter. Use two large well-greased baking pans. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until done. Cool and slice. Can be frozen.

This recipe comes from the kitchen of Carolyn Swicegood.

I substituted cooked sweet potato for the pumpkin and apple juice for the papaya nectar. Since I've never found unsalted shelled sunflower seeds here, I buy a pack of salted and rinse them well in a strainer.

Cheerful crowd

Maybe they'll brighten your day, too.

Here's an interesting post from Damian, Paul Palubicki's blogging partner at digitalwarfighter, pointing to a weather radar recording of mayflies hatching.

Today is Lucy's birthday!

She is five years old.

IMAG0110

Rejected towels.

Understand, the kids didn't and wouldn't take one of these. They took the $25 bath sheet. And bath cloth to match.

Look at that pink towel. It's one that Lyman's mother bought for the coast. It's not big enough to dry a watermelon.

What is it with me and towels?

My mother didn't teach me to hang onto every one until it was frayed in the center. When she had two nickels to rub together she'd buy new ones.

I rolled the collected change a few months ago.

Today I went to K-Mart and bought a half dozen fluffy new white Martha Stewart towels and bath cloths for the guest bathroom. (I used to call them wash rags. Maybe that's the tell.) I like Martha Stewart's towels. They're as good or better than the ones I bought at McCrae's a few years ago.

They replace the motley array of crap that dated from as far back as when Michael was a teenager.

They can be bleached and they can be easily replaced. Young mothers do not know that even good kids will be taking your dinner glasses, your towels, perhaps your cooking equipment as they leave home.

Some years ago I talked to another father who described helping a child pack for college. He noticed that the kid had packed his favorite cast-iron skillet.

"Wait a damn minute. Who said you could take that?"

"You said you'd give me everything I need."

A new challenge!

Charlie has had a little sore on his breast, likely a nip from Lucy in one of her fits of meanness, that hasn't healed.

The vet yesterday removed the scab, swabbed it with like-Betadine, applied a salve, and injected an antibiotic.

She sent me home with a bottle of like-Betadine, a tube of salve, and two weeks' worth of oral antibiotic.

Charlie is a willful and strong little critter with a formidable beak. How will we get this all done?

Being a "sweet birdie boy" doesn't necessarily extend to cooperation in this scenario.

Staying mainly at home these days, I do less to keep my appearance up than I did when I worked in public.

I had been looking askance at my creeping cuticles until two things happened:

1) I followed the link at this post at Peg Britton's.

2) I had lunch with my brother. He was scheduled for a manicure afterward. The man's nails looked handsome and healthy. Mine looked ragged.

So I found a Sally Hansen kit for pushing back cuticles, and used it.

It had been so long, my cuticles were rough and hurt after that maneuver.

After doing a little research on the Internet, I found a reasonably-priced, highly-recommended product in Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.

I have been applying it twice a day to both my finger- and toenails. It's really too early to say, but they look and feel better already. Is it the reflexology?

My toenails have been particularly dry and brittle. It would be a boon if the stuff will help them.

Lucy's claws were gripping too far around, and her flight feathers had nearly grown in, so I took her to Dr. Debbie for a trim.

We waited.

I had a spirited conversation with an older woman from Wisner (married 44 years). She was in with a standard female cocker spaniel with what might be "tick fever."

We were talking about our pets and she said "what I know about birds could be put on the head of a pin with the angels singing the Lord's Prayer beside."

What a fun woman. A good day.

Lucy was as top-notch as a girl can be when she is assaulted by Dremels.

Lucy and squash

Our friend Glenda has been harvesting fat little squash with lots of seeds for the birds to enjoy.

This one was shaped almost exactly like Lucy. You can see that she is appalled by the comparison.

What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork

The Traditional Princess
You are generous, graceful, and practical with both feet planted firmly on the ground. You tend to be a little on the old-fashioned side. You value home, hearth, and family life and love to be of service to others.
Role Models: Snow White, Maid Marian
You are most likely to: Discover a hidden talent for spinning straw into gold.
Take this quiz!








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This is a crummy result. I've been working my way up from Cinderella since I was nine years old. Am I a romantic princess? A fairy princess? A noble princess?

Nah. Just Cinderella in a bigger house. Bah!

(From Sarah G.)

The quiet hum emanating from this blog is the sound of procrastination.

Charlie has whistled the notes of the LSU Tiger fight song for months.

We're teaching him "Go Tigers!" to follow it up.

He has it down pretty pat. Now to stop following that with a smacking "sweet kiss."

And Lucy laid another egg on July 5 sometime between 9 and 10 p.m.

She somehow broke the one she laid earlier and ate it.

Lucy will be five years old on July 17.

To keep this up to date as a diary, let me record that Lucy laid an egg at approx. 9:10 p.m. on July 1.