Dancing Around the Four Sides

Seriously. It was almost 80 degrees here today (26.7 degrees Celsius). I went in the backyard and refilled all the bird feeders, including the thistle socks. I also switched out the small-seed feeder (which holds mostly millet, as opposed to sunflower seeds) from a BIG feeder to a smaller one, because really, most of the birds are way more interested in the black-oil sunflower seeds than they are in the millet. I also put out more dried corn on the cob for the squirrels. While I was doing all this, Layla helped by barking enthusiastically at a hawk circling overhead, and then at a group of four or five huge crows who flew by, cawing loudly and apparently curious to see what we were doing outside.

Finished Finn Murphy's The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road, and, although I liked the beginning, I did not like the book by the end. He may have been saying the right things about race and class in America, but that didn't make him any less of a jerk in my eyes, and I simply could not believe that at least one of his road stories had really happened. After that I read Robert Olen Butler's Tabloid Dreams: Stories, which I liked A LOT. Anyway, I am currently reading Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1840-1849, edited by Kenneth L. Holmes, and omg it is FASCINATING. I mean, I worry about stuff like "Oh, should I go to the grocery store today or not," and the women writing these letters and diaries are like, "BORE MY EIGHTH CHILD BY THE RIVER AND THEN WENT BY FLATBOAT DOWN THE COLUMBIA AFTER MY HUSBAND DIED OF FEVER," and it is just holy shit these women were PILLARS OF STRENGTH. This volume is the first in a series published by the University of Nebraska, and I am looking forward to more.

Bought Bowlaway, Elizabeth McCracken's new novel, and Ben Aaronovitch's Lies Sleeping, both because I felt the need of some Retail Therapy after President Goat-boy's most recent idiotic shenanigans. National emergency my ass. What a dumpster fire. It will take generations to recover from the damage this shitbag and his enablers have done.

I don't even know sometimes, chiclets.

I had thought that with the departure of the holidays I would return to being in synch with the calendar, but apparently I have spent almost all day today confidently believing it is Thursday. :-P

Anyway. Saw a pine siskin and a little downy woodpecker at the feeders today (the woodpecker was on one of the suet baskets). Have been seeing lots of American goldfinches, but they are all non-breeding males and are not very ... golden.

I had occasion to mention this pic to a friend today, so I thought I'd repost it here (it was posted before from Photobucket, but with the Photobucket shenanigans it doesn't show up, so I've moved it to Imgur). Under the cut is Layla, from when she was eight weeks old. *g*

( Baby Layla ...  )

Volunteer holly tree in the backyard was filled with birds today -- robins, cedar waxwings, and mockingbirds -- devouring the bright red berries. There were also juncos, mourning doves, titmice, and Carolina chickadees on the ground and on the feeders. Plus, squirrels. :D

Put together this Cranberry Pie today (although I would really call it a Cranberry Cake). The recipe (with my notes) is under the cut --

( Cranberry Cake ...  )

The Social Thing last night was not bad (it was Mister Nightdog's grad school doing an alumni/faculty thing for the holidays), but I am still glad it's done with. :-)

Was out on the deck this afternoon and standing less than 10 feet away from the hummingbird feeder when a hummingbird decided to pay a visit. It was a female ruby-throated, and it hovered and landed on the feeder and sipped and then hovered again. Its wings were surprisingly loud for such a tiny critter -- a deep thrum sound like some kind of giant bumblebee (indeed, I heard it before I saw it, and looked around for the bee making that noise). Anyway, the hummingbird sipped and hovered a few more times before finally flying away.

Had another pop-up rain shower late this afternoon where it absolutely poured for about 15 minutes.

Here is one of the stories I really liked from T. Kingfisher's collection Jackalope Wives -- Wooden Feathers. Warning, I suppose, for a deeply macabre twist in the middle of the tale.

It may well be. It has been raining off and on, sometimes heavily, since about 5 this morning. Everything is absolutely sodden. And it's been doing this since Saturday. Did hear a screech owl very late last night -- sounded like a tiny horse whinnying in the trees. *g*

Pic from a few days ago. Layla was very interested in the peach upside-down cake we'd just taken out of the oven. :D

So so blah; have not been sleeping well at all. At least it is overcast and not as hot as it has been, which is an excellent thing. Now if only it would rain. Anyway. First pic ...


The EVER-POPULAR LAYLA. :D

( Other two pics are under the cut ...  )

Ugh, tired from sleeping badly. Not that I sleep very well at all anymore, but sometimes it's worse than others. But I did get out to one of our local grocery stores (Tom Thumb, ha) and pick up my car tax/registration sticker (for about $77). I was actually thinking about the grocery store name and wishing we still had Piggly Wigglys around, because Piggly Wiggly is such a wonderfully goofy name for a grocery. We also used to have Minyard's, but that was a family name. The only others I can remember at the moment are Food Lion and Skaggs Alpha Beta. Any funny names for grocery stores for any of you guys?

It was nice enough to sit outside on the deck for a while this afternoon -- I watched as a juvenile Downy Woodpecker came to the suet basket. The tiny chestnut/reddish patch on the top of its head was so clearly visible! :D

Thought about starting Ron Chernow's Grant because it's Memorial Day weekend, but I don't know if I want to plunge into such a giant doorstop of a book just yet.

Oh well. Making clam spaghetti for dinner. :-)

1) Did not watch any of the royal wedding, even though I was awake at 5:30 this morning. Mister Nightdog gets up between 5 and 6 every day to take Layla for a long walk (which she thoroughly enjoys), and I thought briefly about getting up to watch, but ... then I didn't. From what I've seen, the bride and groom looked lovely. :D

2) Potted the salvia and geraniums I bought the other day. Layla helped by stealing one of the empty plastic pots and completely mangling it. The really nice thing was that I was sitting just a few feet away from the sunflower-seed feeder, and there were titmice coming to the feeder with me there. It was not nearly as hot as it was yesterday because it was mostly overcast and there was a breeze, but when the breeze died down for a little while it was instantly steamy and oppressive.

3) Watched Dunkirk last night on HBO. I liked it and thought it was quite an impressive piece of film-making, but ... I didn't feel any real connection to any of the characters. I did think Mark Rylance and Fionn Whitehead were both very good, but I got confused a couple of times as to who was on what ship. Still, I would give it two thumbs up.

Beautiful day here today, sunny and mild. Refilled one of the feeders with unshelled (roasted) peanuts -- Layla helped by scooping up a peanut that had fallen onto the deck and eating it. :D

Started reading Luis Alberto Urrea's The Hummingbird's Daughter last night and ended up still awake at 2:45 a.m. because "just one more chapter!" Of course, then it took me forever to fall asleep anyway due to mighty mighty hot flashes. GRRRRR.

Thinking about making these mini almond cookie-type things, called Almond Financiers. They don't look to be too hard to put together. I don't have financier molds (lol) so I'd use a mini-muffin pan.

Watched Girls Trip on one of the movie channels (HBO?) the other night. I do not think I am really in the Target Audience, but it did make me laugh out loud for real a couple of times. :D

What else? IDK. Need to run some errands and do some repotting of plants this week. :-)

Planted the peppers and sweet basil today. Layla helped by dancing in and out of the hose stream as I watered those and everything else on the deck; she got pretty damp and reeked smelled strongly of Wet Dog. This morning she absolutely lost her mind when a hawk circled low over the backyard -- she ran from one end of the yard to the other, following its flight, barking. What a nincompoop. :D