It IS Above Zero

Single digits and sunny.  I was out doing errands today because it's not windy like it was yesterday.  Windy feels colder, I think, so I put off yesterday what I could do today.  Evidently a lot of people had the same idea because Sam's and Walmart were jammed.  It wasn't bad and since I was in and out of a few places and walking around I stayed warm and was even a bit too warm after carrying in the shopping.  Can I just say that I'm a fan of Walmart's price matching?  Austin's grocery waaaay on the other side of the river on the edge of DePere (about 5 miles away) has fresh asparagus at $1.88/lb so I cut the ad out of the paper, found a couple of good looking pounds of it at Walmart and got the price without having to put on the miles.  Durwood said, "Watch Festival will have it for $1.49/lb. in their next ad" but I don't care, we've got it in the fridge and can eat it all up and get more if someone else has a better price.  I don't mind eating asparagus two or three times a week when it's in season, do you?

Sam's had all their Valentine's bouquets marked down to $5.  I looked at them but not one of them smelled like roses or flowers or anything except the plastic they're wrapped in.  That's a crying shame.  My Grandma Frieda would be so disappointed in them.

This morning when I went out to get the newspaper I noticed that the sun has drifted quite a bit toward the north over the last couple weeks.  Remember I took that sunup picture a couple weeks ago when I was out snowblowing?  The sun came up right next to that house at the end of the block and now it's almost behind CB's house.  Frigid temps or not, time is marching on and warm temps are on the way.  The sun says so.

Yesterday I tried the recipe for Asian Lentil Soup Durwood found in a mailer.  It's good.  Of course, I couldn't leave well-enough alone; I had to add a can of mushrooms, almost twice as much broth because it was more like stew than soup, and a little lemon juice at the end to bring out the flavors.  DIL1 taught us that when things are disappointingly bland to add a tablespoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar at the end and it's amazing what a difference that makes.  We'll make this again, and next week's lunches will be very good.  (I put a bit aside for when I go back to work in a week.)

After supper I finished the second Choco Cherry mitten.  It pretty much matches the first one exactly. (the first one's actually the second mitten I knitted with this yarn, remember?  I had to knit a different one to match the first one and then I had this colorful one left so I had to make one more).  I don't know if I'm happy about the matching or a little disappointed.  Oh well, a kid will probably like matching better and the pair's for giving away.

February 15--Russell Byers, Sailboat.  Kay reached out to catch the boat bumper so the dinghy didn't scrape against the hull.  She secured the line to the cleat at the stern, climbed over the transom, and lifted the boxes of groceries out of the dinghy onto the deck.  She was glad they had brought plastic milk crates to use for shopping, it make it much easier to get things from shore onto the boat, and saved them from having to use those everlasting pink plastic bags they had in island groceries.  Tim was below working on the engine.  Tim was always working on the engine.  It was a wonder they'd made it this far with only three extra stops for repairs.

The beef stew in the crockpot is starting to make the house smell good.  Are you as suspicious of the safety of cooking in those things as I am?  I start it on High for at least an hour so the raw meat doesn't sit there gathering bacteria while it slowly gets up to a cooking temperature.  Anyway, I'm thinking I'll go downstairs to do a little sewing before suppertime.  Hasta la vista, babies.
--Barbara