Is it really May?
It's 4:00 in the afternoon as I write this and it's snowing. Not just a few flakes drifting down lazily. No, it's snowing heavily; I can barely see the houses on the other side of the arroyo. I can't see the mountains at all. The weather forecasters predict 1 to 3 inches here and 12 to 18 inches up in the mountains. The temperature is dropping and we have a couple of space heaters on to keep the house comfortable.
This time yesterday, a mere 24 hours ago, we went for the first motorcycle ride of the year. It was a fairly short ride, just out to the Gorge Bridge and back, but the weather was warm and only a little breezy. We were just doing a shakedown ride after Ron did a lot of work on the bike, but it sure felt great to go riding again. It felt like spring, even though we knew about the forecast for today.
I put up one hummingbird feeder last Monday. The hummingbirds generally start showing up in late April and sure enough, a couple of days after I put it up, the first hummingbird appeared (as did a pair of other birds who are able to drink from it, too). It's the same hummingbird that always shows up first; he's black and white, with a black head and a white ring around his neck. We call him the scout, because we figure he goes ahead to find the food and then goes back to tell his friends, "Yeah, they've got the food out for us." I saw a second hummingbird yesterday, but the throngs haven't arrived yet. With this crazy weather I don't know when the poor birds will get here; they might just decide to stay down in Mexico and enjoy the warmth.
I don't blame them.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
The Case of the Disappearing Banana Bread
Monday when I went to the grocery store, they had a couple of very large produce bags stuffed with perfectly ripe bananas, for the low price of $1.49. I bought one of them; Ron likes to eat bananas for the potassium and they were the perfect ripeness to make banana bread.
I follow the old family recipe except I put in more bananas and less oil. I timed everything so when the chicken was ready to come out of the oven, the banana bread was ready to go in and bake while we were eating the chicken. After a lifetime of waiting for the banana bread to cool completely before eating, a few years ago I discovered the delight of eating it while it's still warm, the butter melting into the bread. Mmmm.
Ron and I ate two pieces each before I packaged it securely in a ziploc bag and placed it on the kitchen counter, far back, away from the edge.
Tuesday morning when we got up, I saw an empty ziploc bag on the floor, but that's not unusual; the dogs have been known to get in the garbage at night. Then I saw the empty space on the kitchen counter where the banana bread had been. "The banana bread is gone!" I said.
We knew the culprit: King. He's the only one tall enough to reach things on the counter like that. He may have shared it with the others once he got it off the counter, but I doubt it. He probably gobbled it down in two or three gulps.
At least I had a lot more bananas to make more bread. You could even say I had bunches more.
Ron had the brilliant idea (and I can't believe neither of us have thought of this sooner) to clear part of a shelf in the pantry closet as a place to put all our bread. That would keep banana bread safe from King and all the regular bread, rolls, etc., safe from Princess.
So that's what I did. And the second loaf of banana bread as well as the whole wheat bread and honey wheat English muffins remain safe from our voracious animals.
I follow the old family recipe except I put in more bananas and less oil. I timed everything so when the chicken was ready to come out of the oven, the banana bread was ready to go in and bake while we were eating the chicken. After a lifetime of waiting for the banana bread to cool completely before eating, a few years ago I discovered the delight of eating it while it's still warm, the butter melting into the bread. Mmmm.
Ron and I ate two pieces each before I packaged it securely in a ziploc bag and placed it on the kitchen counter, far back, away from the edge.
Tuesday morning when we got up, I saw an empty ziploc bag on the floor, but that's not unusual; the dogs have been known to get in the garbage at night. Then I saw the empty space on the kitchen counter where the banana bread had been. "The banana bread is gone!" I said.
We knew the culprit: King. He's the only one tall enough to reach things on the counter like that. He may have shared it with the others once he got it off the counter, but I doubt it. He probably gobbled it down in two or three gulps.
At least I had a lot more bananas to make more bread. You could even say I had bunches more.
Ron had the brilliant idea (and I can't believe neither of us have thought of this sooner) to clear part of a shelf in the pantry closet as a place to put all our bread. That would keep banana bread safe from King and all the regular bread, rolls, etc., safe from Princess.
So that's what I did. And the second loaf of banana bread as well as the whole wheat bread and honey wheat English muffins remain safe from our voracious animals.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor
The sad, but not unexpected, news broke Wednesday that Elizabeth Taylor died. She had been in declining health and in and out of hospitals several times recently, but 79 seems too young to die (I must be getting old to feel that way).
We got to see her live and in person in 2000 or 2001, I forget which year it was. She was a featured guest at the Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival. First we saw a screening of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and afterwards she spoke and answered some audience questions. Now, I have to tell you that when we went to see the movie, we had never heard of it and knew nothing about it. We were completely unprepared for the movie; I don't know if that made it better or worse. It certainly made it bizarre.
It's one of the most bizarre movies I've ever seen and it's definitely the most bizarre married couple I've ever seen portrayed in a movie.
After the movie was over, we had to wait quite awhile for "her highness" to arrive. Apparently she wasn't feeling well; the high altitude (7,000 feet) didn't agree with her. She was staying with a friend of hers, a local artist, R.C. Gorman.
It was worth the wait, though. I don't remember much of what she said, but I do remember it was interesting, even fascinating. I do remember one audience member asked her how making the movie affected her marriage (or something like that) since her co-star husband was also her real-life husband and the movie marriage was highly dysfunctional. She said that making the movie allowed them to "work through" some of the stuff in their real-life marriage.
One other memorable thing about her appearance was that she brought her dog on stage with her, a little white fluffy lap dog named Sugar. At one point she asked her assistant Ken to, "Come get Sugar" and he did.
Overall, we had a great time and I think Ms. Taylor did, too. It was exciting to see such a famous movie star so close. One of the TV stations in Albuquerque sent a reporter and cameraman to do a brief interview with her; it was really big news to have her in New Mexico.
We got to see her live and in person in 2000 or 2001, I forget which year it was. She was a featured guest at the Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival. First we saw a screening of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and afterwards she spoke and answered some audience questions. Now, I have to tell you that when we went to see the movie, we had never heard of it and knew nothing about it. We were completely unprepared for the movie; I don't know if that made it better or worse. It certainly made it bizarre.
It's one of the most bizarre movies I've ever seen and it's definitely the most bizarre married couple I've ever seen portrayed in a movie.
After the movie was over, we had to wait quite awhile for "her highness" to arrive. Apparently she wasn't feeling well; the high altitude (7,000 feet) didn't agree with her. She was staying with a friend of hers, a local artist, R.C. Gorman.
It was worth the wait, though. I don't remember much of what she said, but I do remember it was interesting, even fascinating. I do remember one audience member asked her how making the movie affected her marriage (or something like that) since her co-star husband was also her real-life husband and the movie marriage was highly dysfunctional. She said that making the movie allowed them to "work through" some of the stuff in their real-life marriage.
One other memorable thing about her appearance was that she brought her dog on stage with her, a little white fluffy lap dog named Sugar. At one point she asked her assistant Ken to, "Come get Sugar" and he did.
Overall, we had a great time and I think Ms. Taylor did, too. It was exciting to see such a famous movie star so close. One of the TV stations in Albuquerque sent a reporter and cameraman to do a brief interview with her; it was really big news to have her in New Mexico.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
I Didn't Do It
I went to the Taos News web site this morning, as I do a couple of times a day, and was shocked to see that there had been a huge fire at the construction company where I used to work. Click here for the story.
I immediately texted a friend of mine who worked there when I did (he left a few months ago). He had already heard about it, but didn't know the cause of the fire. We teasingly accused each other of starting it, but I have an alibi. It happened at 1:30 in the morning; I was asleep in my bed.
A little later, I drove past the place to see what was left (pictures of the scene hadn't been posted on the web site yet). As you can see in the story, the warehouse has serious damage, but it's impossible to tell whether the "office" part, the part in front was damaged.
When I worked there, the warehouse held tools, vehicles under repair, various building materials, and the owner's motor boat. It was also the storage place for old, inactive files. Uh oh. And of course the computer router, telephone wiring, and circuit breakers were there, too. Uh oh.
When I drove past this morning, there was a State Police car in the parking lot (with its headlights left on, which I thought was strange), so I didn't stop to take pictures or say hi or anything like that.
If the results of the investigation make the paper, I'll post an update.
I immediately texted a friend of mine who worked there when I did (he left a few months ago). He had already heard about it, but didn't know the cause of the fire. We teasingly accused each other of starting it, but I have an alibi. It happened at 1:30 in the morning; I was asleep in my bed.
A little later, I drove past the place to see what was left (pictures of the scene hadn't been posted on the web site yet). As you can see in the story, the warehouse has serious damage, but it's impossible to tell whether the "office" part, the part in front was damaged.
When I worked there, the warehouse held tools, vehicles under repair, various building materials, and the owner's motor boat. It was also the storage place for old, inactive files. Uh oh. And of course the computer router, telephone wiring, and circuit breakers were there, too. Uh oh.
When I drove past this morning, there was a State Police car in the parking lot (with its headlights left on, which I thought was strange), so I didn't stop to take pictures or say hi or anything like that.
If the results of the investigation make the paper, I'll post an update.
Monday, March 7, 2011
That Darn Cat
Or should I say Those Darn Cats?
Both of them!
First there's Satchmo.
He looks so sweet and innocent, doesn't he? No trouble at all. Just a calm kitty. Yeah, I thought so, too. Then on Saturday I was sitting at the dining room table drinking my first mug of coffee. Satchmo was lying on the table about a foot away from the coffee, calm as can be. All of a sudden, with no warning at all, he reached out a paw and knocked over the mug of coffee!!! It wasn't scalding hot, but it was three-quarters full and it went all over my lap and all over the tablecloth, and then on to the floor. We quickly cleared off the table (which was in desperate need of being cleared anyway) and put the tablecloth in the wash and wiped coffee off the floor. Then I poured a fresh mug of coffee and kept Satchmo away from it. I'm going to start discouraging him from lounging on the table like that.
Then there's Princess. Formerly known as "the good one."
Formerly.
Lately she's become obsessed with bread. And buns. And English muffins. And bagels. Any type of bread product.
She'll chew open little holes in the plastic bags the bread (etc.) is in, chew a few little pieces off the bread (sometimes more), and then lose interest. It could be a couple of days before we discover it, by which time the bread has gone stale.
While we search for the perfect breadbox, we're making do with the rectangular plastic storage boxes by Ziploc, Gladware, etc. The first time I put some bread in one of those boxes, Princess watched me. I snapped the lid on and told her, "OK, let's see you get into that!" Sure enough, a little while later, I saw her trying to get into the box. I wish I'd had my camera with me to capture her desperately working with her paws, trying to open the lid. She never did figure out how to do it, so the bread is safe.
Yes, they look like angels, don't they?
Warning: Looks can be deceiving.
Both of them!
First there's Satchmo.
Then there's Princess. Formerly known as "the good one."
Formerly.
Lately she's become obsessed with bread. And buns. And English muffins. And bagels. Any type of bread product.
She'll chew open little holes in the plastic bags the bread (etc.) is in, chew a few little pieces off the bread (sometimes more), and then lose interest. It could be a couple of days before we discover it, by which time the bread has gone stale.
While we search for the perfect breadbox, we're making do with the rectangular plastic storage boxes by Ziploc, Gladware, etc. The first time I put some bread in one of those boxes, Princess watched me. I snapped the lid on and told her, "OK, let's see you get into that!" Sure enough, a little while later, I saw her trying to get into the box. I wish I'd had my camera with me to capture her desperately working with her paws, trying to open the lid. She never did figure out how to do it, so the bread is safe.
Yes, they look like angels, don't they?
Warning: Looks can be deceiving.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Going Postal
So why is it that all the post offices in Taos (at least two out of three) are sold out of rolls of first class stamps?
I needed to buy stamps for Page (my boss) so yesterday I went to the Post Office Express that is tucked into a corner of one of the grocery stores. That's the Post Office I use for most of my mailing and the clerk always asks me if I want to buy stamps (they're required to ask that of every customer). Nine times out of ten (more than that, actually) I don't need stamps. So yesterday I went for the sole purpose of buying a roll of stamps, but they were out and she wasn't sure when they would be getting more in. She did have sheets of first class stamps; I had a choice of "Love" stamps, which aren't really appropriate for a business, or "Reagan" stamps, and I couldn't bring myself to buy Reagan stamps; I just couldn't. Besides, they're kind of political (and Page is a democrat) and might not be appropriate for a business to be sending out either. So I declined.
Today I tried the Post Office in Ranchos de Taos; it's smaller than the one in Taos and never crowded. They didn't have rolls of stamps, either, although they expect to get them tomorrow. The only choice there was sheets of Reagan stamps, and when I smiled and politely said, "No, never mind" the clerk chuckled. This is Taos County, after all; it's 84% Democratic, one of the highest percentage of democrats in any county in the U.S. Is it any wonder no one wants to buy Reagan stamps?
Actually, compared to the current Republicans, Reagan doesn't seem that bad. I think he must be rolling in his grave at what the Republican Party has become (and wishing they'd quit invoking his name).
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Albuquerque Adventure, Part 2: Food and Lodging
Part 2 of the Albuquerque Adventure actually takes place before Part 1, the Aquarium. It takes place on Friday night (February 11th). We stayed at the MCM Elegante Hotel in Albuquerque. That’s where Ron always stays when he goes down there on Qwest business, because Qwest has an account there. Even though this wasn’t Qwest business, he was able to get the Qwest rate. He’s been raving about the fabulous free breakfast and I was looking forward to it.
But first, dinner.
Actually, first we checked into the hotel. We couldn’t get Ron’s favorite room (he says it’s quiet and has an excellent wifi signal); unfortunately the room was closed for “deep cleaning” a familiar (to me, at least) hotel term. So we got a room slightly down the hall from that one. But when we walked into the room, it smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. It’s supposed to be a non-smoking room. I think all the rooms there are non-smoking. So Ron called the front desk to let them know the room smelled of smoke and emphasized we had not been smoking and do not smoke and we wanted to change rooms. So we got another room a little further down the hall.
By this time it was 8:30 at night and we were ready for dinner. We drove around a little, but the restaurant Ron thought he remembered wasn’t where he remembered it. So we went to a Chinese buffet restaurant. Here’s an important travel tip. If it’s getting close to closing time at restaurants and you’re hungry, go to a Chinese buffet restaurant. You won’t have to wait for your food and there’s still plenty of food left. We got there 15 minutes before closing time and there was plenty of food. We each had two helpings, and the servers asked us if we would be wanting any more before they started putting it away. We were full and didn’t need more, but it was very nice of them to ask.
We went back to the hotel and relaxed. We’d both worked the night shift on Thursday night, so we were tired. We didn’t set an alarm or ask for a wake-up call. We just slept until we woke up. Which turned out to be 10:00 a.m. Which is when the fabulous free breakfast at the hotel ends. So much for that idea. So we got dressed, checked out, and started driving toward the BioPark, looking for a restaurant that didn’t have a packed parking lot.
We found one at The Village Inn, a chain restaurant next to the BioPark. The waitress was friendly and attentive. When she first asked what we'd like to drink, I said, "Lots of coffee for both of us" and she smiled and brought us a carafe of coffee. Ron ordered the Ultimate Skillet - home fries cooked with mushrooms, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and cheese topped with two eggs and served with sausage and ham. I ordered the Eggs Benedict -- poached eggs and Canadian bacon on an English muffin topped with Hollandaise sauce and served with hash browns. I love Eggs Benedict, but rarely make it at home because there are so many elements and it's hard to get them all done at the same time (although my food blogging sister once wrote an inspirational post on how to do this). Also, it just isn't a very healthy dish, so I only get it on the rare occasions we go out for breakfast. After eating, we agreed that we were "comfortably full" and we were fueled up for a long day of observing sharks, rays, and jellyfish.
But first, dinner.
Actually, first we checked into the hotel. We couldn’t get Ron’s favorite room (he says it’s quiet and has an excellent wifi signal); unfortunately the room was closed for “deep cleaning” a familiar (to me, at least) hotel term. So we got a room slightly down the hall from that one. But when we walked into the room, it smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. It’s supposed to be a non-smoking room. I think all the rooms there are non-smoking. So Ron called the front desk to let them know the room smelled of smoke and emphasized we had not been smoking and do not smoke and we wanted to change rooms. So we got another room a little further down the hall.
By this time it was 8:30 at night and we were ready for dinner. We drove around a little, but the restaurant Ron thought he remembered wasn’t where he remembered it. So we went to a Chinese buffet restaurant. Here’s an important travel tip. If it’s getting close to closing time at restaurants and you’re hungry, go to a Chinese buffet restaurant. You won’t have to wait for your food and there’s still plenty of food left. We got there 15 minutes before closing time and there was plenty of food. We each had two helpings, and the servers asked us if we would be wanting any more before they started putting it away. We were full and didn’t need more, but it was very nice of them to ask.
We went back to the hotel and relaxed. We’d both worked the night shift on Thursday night, so we were tired. We didn’t set an alarm or ask for a wake-up call. We just slept until we woke up. Which turned out to be 10:00 a.m. Which is when the fabulous free breakfast at the hotel ends. So much for that idea. So we got dressed, checked out, and started driving toward the BioPark, looking for a restaurant that didn’t have a packed parking lot.
We found one at The Village Inn, a chain restaurant next to the BioPark. The waitress was friendly and attentive. When she first asked what we'd like to drink, I said, "Lots of coffee for both of us" and she smiled and brought us a carafe of coffee. Ron ordered the Ultimate Skillet - home fries cooked with mushrooms, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and cheese topped with two eggs and served with sausage and ham. I ordered the Eggs Benedict -- poached eggs and Canadian bacon on an English muffin topped with Hollandaise sauce and served with hash browns. I love Eggs Benedict, but rarely make it at home because there are so many elements and it's hard to get them all done at the same time (although my food blogging sister once wrote an inspirational post on how to do this). Also, it just isn't a very healthy dish, so I only get it on the rare occasions we go out for breakfast. After eating, we agreed that we were "comfortably full" and we were fueled up for a long day of observing sharks, rays, and jellyfish.
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