We got very cold last night but it wasn't quite as bad as predicted. We were -9° at day break.
Well I did get most of the shoveling done yesterday. I first dug a path of 6 feet out to the bladed drive from the patio. Then slogged through drifts to get to the generator which wasn't too bad. The wind had blown it away from the housing so I just swept the vents clean.
Next was down the bladed drive over to the chicken house. I had to dig a 10 foot path to the gate and then the real work began. I dug through 24 inch drifts to the hen house, one small scoop at a time. There was no pushing that much snow. I did get rewarded by another 5 eggs. I watered the chickens and put down fresh straw in the nest boxes and scattered some over the outside pen area.
At least I got a dozen eggs this week:
I was amazed by the amount of snow leading into the calf pen where I milk. The length of the concrete walk (about 10 feet) was over three feet deep! I knew I would never last to complete that job last night. I did manage about 1/3 of it before giving up. I wanted to shut the pen gate so the other calves wouldn't wander in and make more of a mess inside the barn...I finally just dropped down to my knees to crawl to the pen and pulled myself up to get into the pen proper....locked the gate and then crawled back out! I can imagine what I looked like. I had snow from my waist down.
The Interior House
My living room is the strangest shaped thing and there is no good way to arrange it but I keep trying!
Everything is off center....I decided to move things around (again) all by my lonesome. DH gets annoyed every time I do it so I catch him outside and just do it myself. I still don't like it, but it is a change. The plus is I vacuum everything that hasn't been touched in a while. I got him a new swing-arm floor lamp for reading.............so now I am lamp poor. My daughter will just tell me again that if I add something, to get rid of something. For me that means hauling it out to the shop/garage.
Cooking
I got a Joy of Cooking cookbook for Christmas and am slowly trying out recipes in it. I haven't had a bad one yet.
For a few years I have been making bagels by another recipe but it calls for almost twice as much flour and I don't want to run out before the roads are safe so I did the one from Joy of Cooking. It is a smaller recipe and seemed a simpler method....at least I didn't have the usual mess.
Here they are after rising the second time (very short times):
and after the boiling a baking process:
We had to test one and I am happy to report it was crispy on the outside and soft and chewy inside. I don't think they are quite as tough and chewy as the other recipe which I like too.
I made these much larger so a half one with cream cheese will be wonderful for breakfast.
Just finished some shoveling and reloaded all the bird feeders. We are supposed to be down to zero again tonight.
More to do tomorrow.
You amaze me, Glenda. There aren't even any teenage boys around here who could hold a (snow) shovel to you! I hope you were able to find a good scarf to keep you from having to breath such cold air while you did all that! They say breathing frigid air is as bad as the shoveling.
ReplyDeleteThose bagels sound delish, crunchy and chewy. I think I'd like to try them if you could send me the recipe. And I'll bet they could use some cinnamon and raisins (or craisins), too.
Stay warm... looking forward to see what you make with all those eggs. :-D
Can I come live with you? Those yummies look yummy !
ReplyDeleteLook, two Krises commented back-to-back. Now that's something you don't see often!
I am feeling guilty because my toaster oven is really not at all sparkly like yours!
Those bagels are picture perfect! I've always heard the praises of the Joy of Cooking, I'm thinking that might be what I want for my birthday this year! You are amazing, clearing all that snow and crawling under the pen gate! Take good care of yourself, they couldn't replace you ever!
ReplyDeleteI thought about you all day yesterday and wondered if you'd be out there shoveling. I guess I knew you would. Please be careful. Your temps are much colder than normal for your area aren't they?
ReplyDeleteI know what you're saying about your living room. I hate the way our furniture has to be arranged but our living room is small and there's just one way for things to set.
The bagels look so good. I love when they're crisp outside but chewy inside. Sounds ike you've found a recipe that will be a money saver in terms of using less flower.
I won't say to stay inside and not shovel today because I know it would be a waste. Just be careful. Take breaks when you need them.
Hi! This is Megan from the Joy of Cooking family! My finace is John Becker, and his father is Ethan Becker (whose mother was Marion Rombauer Becker, whose mother was Irma...). We love to hear success stories with Joy of Cooking recipes. I'm really glad the bagel recipe worked out so well. They look lovely. Head over to our blog at http://www.thejoykitchen.com/blog and check us out. Good luck farming--it's always been a dream of mine. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThat comment before mine is really cool! Did you go check out the blog? I have an older version of The Joy of Cooking, but haven't used it for awhile. I should get it out. Those bagels look very good.
ReplyDeleteDo you use a snow blower? I can't imagine doing all that shoveling.