Rainy Day

Butterfly Hunter

Every day there seems to be new things blooming in the back yard. And new visitors doing their best to pollenate those new flowers.

Cidering, Part Five

Anthem Cider
3 out of 5

This one is very wine-like which is a bit unusual because, instead of the not uncommon white wine notes in many ciders, this one both smells and tastes of red wine. It's sweet and wet (versus a dry red wine), but yeah, it makes me strongly think 'merlot' when I sip.

There is some slight tartness on the front end, but it's nicely balanced and pretty smooth. It's quite nice. There is a tiny bit of an apple note on the back end but still. Wine.

I think this one would be really good if I were looking for a wine replacement. But since I'm looking for a beer replacement...

Woodchuck Barrel Select
3 out of 5

The smell of this cider is a mix of sugary candy and spices. The taste is very bourbon (as proven by a sniff test of Dan's bourbons). The front end is tart apple and the back is kind of fruity-cigar-smoke (in a good way).

Honestly, it's pretty nicely balanced and really interesting, but the bourbon of this makes it very rich and heavy. And that heaviness makes me feel like I should sip this slowly in a wood paneled room.

I respect this for what it is - I think the balance is good and it is a nice bourbon-aged cider. But apparently I don't want a bourbon aged cider.

Finn River Black Currant Cider
4 out of 5

Yay for purple cider! I was going to be disappointed it this one wasn't purple.

It has a sweet red-wine-like smell (which is apparently popping up everywhere now), but with an added note of dark berry sweetness on the end. The taste is purple-grape-juice-meets-natural-flavored-SweeTart-candy. It has a grape juice/dessert red wine flavor on the front and a tart, pucker-your-lips taste on the back. As someone whose favorite candies were Spree and SweeTarts, I quite like that pucker.

This one is definitely not a beer replacement, but I really like it.

Smith & Forge Hard Cider
3.5 out of 5

It smells like apple juice with a hint of the menthol-feel/coolness of alcohol evaporation. And it kinda tastes like apple juice, too. I like apple juice.

It's sweet and wet with not much carbonation. There's a heavier, darker flavor from the fermentation - sort of tingly and herb-y. It's not bad but it's a bit overbalanced to the heavy/sweet/cloying side so I think this would be one to cook with, not one to sip by the pool.

That being said, I'd really like to cook some sausage in this one.

Yard Things

Tired of Flowers Yet?

New Blooms

Lots of new stuff poking up in the yard. Not only new for this year, but new for our yard. Yay for spreading wildflower seeds!

We even have some bluebonnets! Of course, they could probably qualify for world's most pathetic bluebonnets, but I have some. Yay!

 

And since things are blooming, that means pollinating things are flying about. Most of them so far are tiny little solid yellow butterflies or slightly larger spotted orange ones. But today, a nice little swallowtail visited.

Yay spring! Now if the pool was just warm enough to enjoy...

I Guess They Work On Commission

Remember back in November when I gushed about my huge new pot? Well, we just got this in the mail.

Le Creuset sent us a handwritten "keep a good relationship with your customers" note four months after our purchase. I mean, I've had car dealers do that (our last dealership sent us cookies) but kitchenware?

Seriously, I'm not really sure what to think about that. It's a pot! (And okay, I love it and I want to go back to buy a small saucepan, but that's not the point!) It's a pot!

Five Out of Seven Kitties Agree

Last week we had a huge vet trip. All of my health things meant that the kitties' health maintenance got pushed to the back burner for a bit and almost everyone was overdue for their yearly shots. But I'm doing mostly better and Olive had something weird going on with her lips, so we took the most egregiously out of date kitties to the vet.

So Cocoa, Chloe, Gidget, Bitty and Olive all went to the vet. Yes, five of them. And all of them save Olive qualify as seniors, which makes for a very expensive vet trip. But who needs money when you have healthy kitties, right?

Well, except not everyone was fully healthy. All of their blood tests came back just fine, which was good, but Cocoa had a little bit of a heart murmur so we've got to schedule a cardiologist appointment for her to get an ultrasound. And Chloe needs a dental cleaning, during which time they will scope her ear because she has something in there that is either a growth or a really tenacious ball of wax. (Bitty had something similar a few years ago. It was stubborn wax. I'm pulling for that this time.)

We also came home with some antibiotic wipes for Cocoa's chin and Olive's lips (Cocoa's chin seems to be breaking out from messy drinking habits and who knows what is going on with Olive's lips but the corners are crusty and she keeps scratching them). Cocoa also got some joint supplement powder since her right hip has been bothering her more and more lately. And lastly, Olive also got some cream for a little bald spot on her head which may be ringworm.

So not a totally clean bill of health for all the babies (Gidget and Bitty did pass with flying colors), but heart murmur aside, the kitties came back good all the big stuff (like blood work). Next up, getting Chloe's teeth cleaned and figuring out the cause of Cocoa's murmur.

It's That Time Again

Spring has hit our yard! I managed to miss photographing the mass of blooming cranesbill we've had the past week or so (though we have plenty of seed pods currently), but there are a number of other things poking their heads above ground.

Of course, not everything blooming qualifies as a wildflower. My irises are finally doing something this year!

Last year was rather lackluster with just a handful blooming. But lots of rain this year and no super-late frost means that there currently lots of irises budding so, barring crazy weather or aggressive grasshoppers, I should have more irises to share soon!

Happy Anniversary to Me

It has officially been one year since I was diagnosed with celiac. It's been kind of (okay, very) rough year but things are definitely looking up. My test results are normal and while I still have some joint issues, I think we've finally figured out what causes them. (Sugar. Apparently I cannot eat it straight anymore. Yes, sometime I would do that (like yesterday). Don't judge me.)

Diet-wise, I'm still keeping to my crazy restrictive diet (no grains of any kind (including rice), limited seasonings, no spicy peppers, no legumes (I am a bit sad about saying goodbye to butter beans, a favorite food since forever, but they make me hurt so bad it's not hard to give them up), limited dried fruits and starchy vegetables...) but I really don't feel restricted at all. In fact, we eat really well so I kind of love that and honestly, I wouldn't have been able to make such drastic dietary changes unless I had to, so really that's worked out pretty nicely.

So yeah, one year anniversary of celiac. Go me! In celebration, I made some paleo brownies. And they were delicious. Yay!

Not For Feet

After a yarn delivery, I finally managed to finish the felting project I started last week. It should have been a quick two or three day project, but having to get more yarn stretched that out. Then I had to felt it. And then I had to wait for it to dry. Ugh, that took forever. But now my little slipper box is all finished!

The name is a bit of a misnomer though. It is neither for slippers or a box. It's really a bowl and I made it out of the yarn I had leftover from my Christmas slippers (okay, plus what I had to buy to finish it off). I wanted to make something to corral the things I keep on the lower shelf of my chair-side table since I keep knocking things off of it into the trash and I wanted to stop losing DPNs from that. I don't think I'll have that problem anymore!

Doesn't it hold everything so nicely? Pretty big difference from how it looked before felting!

Such fun! And even with having to buy more yarn, I did end up burning through a little bit of my stash with this. It's nice to find a useful and fun project to use up some of the odds and ends I have leftover from other projects!

Almost Anniversary

I'm only days away from my one year anniversary of my celiac diagnosis. Yay? Call me crazy, but I'm not exactly going to bust out the streamers for the celebration.

I did, however, mark the occasion by getting my bloodwork done again and good news! My acute and chronic celiac numbers are now in the normal range! This means my condition "appears to be in excellent control" (per my doctor). At my six-month check up, my IgA (the acute measurement) was three, which is the highest number you can have and still be negative. Now, it is two! And my IgG (the chronic measurement) was a 12 (with anything over five being positive). Now it is a whopping four! Yay!

Of course, that begs the question of why I'm having frequent swelling and pain in two of my joints. So that'll be something I mention when I'm actually in the office for a check up later this week. I've been planning to schedule something with my regular doctor, too, so if we need to hunt down something non-celiac causing the problem, we can do that as well.

And more good blood test news, I'm finally firmly in the "normal" range for RBC so no more anemia! Yay!

And yay again for a normal IgG and IgA!

I Should Probably Stop Now

I can quit at any time!!!!

Fun Was Had

Dan and I have been quite busy this weekend. But part of our busy was really fun. Because there was yarn.

 
 
 

It was DFW Fiber Fest this weekend and, as you can see, I got some goodies!

Of course, I'm not the only one that got some good stuff. Dan got in on the yarn action because he knows if he buys sock yarn for me, he will get socks. He picked out some pretty awesome future socks.

 
 

I'm having a bit of yarn envy over the blue yarn he picked. It's so gorgeous.

Now I just need to find room in my yarn cabinet for our combined goodies. It might be a challenge, but I have managed to make some room lately, particularly with my last sweater. Plus, neatening up my yarn cabinet gives me a great reason to pull out and pet all my yarn. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.