Birds! Squirrels!

 

We had a little wildlife us visit today.  This dove kept a couple finches company on the platform feeder and I saw a House finch in the birdie tree.  This pair of squirrels was working the peanut wreath hard. The one in back made repeated forays up the Slinky-covered crook to lean across and liberate a few peanuts at a time, then it'd drop back to the ground, nibble them up, and go back for more.  The one in front was diligently digging up seed and cracked corn from the snow under the feeder.

Today's to-do list is long--and it's not done with me yet.  My favorite to-do was to slice the Italian Semolina Bread to take along this weekend.  Years and years and years ago Durwood won a jillion prize catalog points in a sales contest and ended up getting our first microwave, my KitchenAid mixer, some Le Creuset cookware, and a slicer.  I thought I'd never use a microwave and the slicer?  A foolish waste of points.  However... I can't tell you how many times I've used it over the last 38 years or so.  It made slicing bread and all sorts of other things over the years a piece of cake.






Aren't these pretty?  When bell peppers of any color but green are on sale I pick some up, dice and freeze them, and have a nice bag of peppers to put in any recipe.  It means I always have peppers on hand and never plunge my hand into the crisper to find a ball of mold with a stem on it.  Ick.  Usually Durwood is the designated vegetable chopper but I gave him the choice of either folding the basket of clean laundry on the bed or dicing up the bell peppers.  To my amazement he chose folding laundry so I got to play with the pretty veggies and he got to fold underwear and socks.  Ain't matrimony grand?



Another to-do today was to staple the copies of the chapter of my novel that I'm taking this weekend to be roundtabled or critiqued by the group.  I'll read it while everyone follows along on their copy, making notes on what they like, what might be improved, and what bugged the crap out of them.  I get to gather up the annotated copies and bring them home to decide if I'll use any of the suggestions or decide that they're all way off base.  After all, as the author I'm the final decider.



I'm mostly packed.  I have enough warm clothes for two people--which might be enough.  There are a few more items I want to chase down, like some of those chemical toe warmer packets I used when I worked in the dive shop, a building on a slab.  I love those, they keep my toes toasty warm.  After supper I wove in all the tails from redoing the neck of the Red Marl Sweater and sewed on the button.  It's in the suitcase already.

I didn't write the prompt last night, I was worn out and just flopped.  Fair warning, there's no Internet up at The Clearing so you won't be hearing from me until Sunday.  Trust me, I'll be back.
--Barbara