Winter Just Keeps Going. I Don’t.

Posted on February 27, 2019 by

30 Comments

Hello everyone on this winter Wednesday!  Just one more day to go.  And then it’s March. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything however.  Winter is still here.  And the cold weather is going to stick around for a while yet it seems.  Sigh.  But, it will be one more month gone.  This winter has been a long one.  And it has worn me out.  The pile of snow from my pathway has grown to be 7 feet deep.  I can’t even get the snow up that high anymore.  So I spent some time cutting it down a bit and pushing more of it over the hill out back.  So now, when more snow comes I can…I can…stay in bed and pull the blankets over my head and dream of summer.  Again.  Sigh.

However…

Today was a bit milder.  Actually got up to 5F.  Okay, that’s not exactly mild.

red breasted nuthatch
This little nuthatch was waiting his turn at the suet, one was already there pounding away beside me.

  But it is better than the -25F of yesterday.  And it will be that cold again in a couple of days.  So I decided to get back outside and spend some time with my birds.  I was out there for about 20 minutes.  Nearly froze.  Took half an hour for my fingers to return to normal. And did they pain.  Again.  Seems like I am doing that a lot this winter.  But I did get some nice pics.  Why do I keep taking pics of the same birds?

male downy woodpecker
This male downy woodpecker is getting very friendly and came down to the suet very close to me, the other woodpeckers are not quite so brave.

  Because I’m crazy.  Really, no two pics are ever the same.  And I want to get pics from every angle so the whole bird can be seen.  Can’t do that with one photo.

Muffin…

Was a bit wacky this afternoon.  She wanted to play.  I was a bit tired for playing.  So we played.  For quite a while.  She was flying around here.  And right up on shelves where she never goes.  Fast.  Without knocking anything down.  A couple things did move around a bit.  But nothing fell.  Muffin has never yet broken anything with her wild antics.  But she sure enjoys herself.  I didn’t have to move quite so fast.  Which was good. Because I couldn’t anyway.  I did manage to whack my knee against the table.  And kick a bookcase.  Slap my hand against the counter.  And go head first into another shelf unit.  All in all it wasn’t such a bad time.  Usually I hurt myself much worse.  Oh right, hit my elbow too.  That still hurts.  So does my hand.  Muffin finally landed in front of the window and watched the birds for a while before heading to her chair and a nap.  It was my chair.  Hers now.  I won’t argue.  I’m low on bandages.

I’m no cook…

So I have usually existed on fast type foods.  You know, something that comes in a can or a box.  Quick and easy.  I never could, and still can’t, understand the concept of spending an hour or more cooking a meal that can be eaten in less than 10 minutes and then spend half an hour washing dishes.  Sigh.  Things change.  Now I have Celiac.  Now all those nice quick and easy things I can’t eat.  And food costs 7 times as much as before.  No exaggeration there by the way.  I mean, 2 lbs of flour for $7.  A loaf of bread for $9.69. I never thought I would ever pay that much for just a plain loaf of bread.  Anyway.  I still can’t cook.  But now I need to.  Which is crazy.  I mean, a small roast costs $24.  I cook it. Okay, now, I have sharp knives.  I like sharp knives.  Much easier to work with.  I had a very hard time cutting that roast.  Even harder time trying to chew it.  Finally gave up that idea and just swallowed it.  I said, forget it.  I put it out for the ravens.  They eat anything.  Raven landed on it.  They have big mean beaks.  He stood on that roast and pounded away at it.  And pounded.  He finally got a piece off and flew away.  He didn’t come back.  Even the ravens wouldn’t eat it.  That’s bad.

I’m tired…

Or did you guess that already? Haven’t been sleeping well for about a week and a half.

male common redpoll
A male common redpoll enjoying a snack of sunflower seeds this afternoon.

Makes it hard to think.  I think.  Since it’s normally hard for me to think it’s hard to tell if it’s hard to think or if I just think it’s hard to think when it’s really just normally hard to think and not really hard to think.  I think.  Sigh.

So much for mid week.  I hope you will all be back Friday for…wait, can’t tell you just yet. Anyway, bye for now and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod

 

Category: Birds, Cold, Country, Country Living, Humorous, Snow, Uncategorized, WinterTags: , , , , , , , , , ,

30 Comments on “Winter Just Keeps Going. I Don’t.”

    • Simply put Celiac is a disease affecting the small intestine making it hard for one’s body to get the nourishment it needs. A gluten free diet means absolutely no wheat (bran, barley, rye). Many foods don’t have wheat but are contaminated with it anyway which is enough to cause serious problems. Can actually make me quite sick and can lead to other serious health issues as well. It can make a person tired, weak too. It’s not fun. Plus I am allergic to many other foods, I’m lactose intolerant. It all makes for a challenge sometimes.

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  2. I can totally relate to the expensive food for Celiac. It is pricey here as well. I am ready for winter to go away too. I was just telling my daughter that Spring officially starts March 20th. It’s just around the corner now, praise God! Funny about your cat and loved the ending about thinking. 🙂 God bless!

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  3. Wow it really warmed up for you! 😁 We were having some nice warm 50 degree days here this week but this weekend it’s supposed to get really cold again. But nowhere near your kind of cold! I’m sure you stay warm by chasing Muffin.

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  4. You may want to check out some vegan recipes. Some are quite cheap and you can avoid the ones with gluten or sun for rice/corn based options instead. Overnight oatmeal is something I semiregularly make and it’s pretty cheap (if you can find some that isn’t cross processed with gluten products). How I do it is I get a regular Mason jar with a screw on lid. I put in one cup of oats. I then pour in enough almond milk to cover the oats (I’m vegan, but also lactose intolerant, too.) Then I put on my toppings: cranberries, raisins, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, sugared pecans, brown sugar, whatever I have or want. I make it before I go to bed, put it in the fridge and it’s ready in the morning. 😊

    Also, before I became vegan I used to make roast quite a bit, usually on Sundays. It sounds like you possibly had tough (bad) meat or maybe it was overcooked? I used to slow cook mine in a Crock-Pot and I would use around a half cup or less of red wine for the meat to soak in. I threw in the usual sides, too (carrots, potatoes, cabbage, onions). The wine gave it a nice taste and I think made it a little more tender if I remember right. We used Merlot, nothing too extravagant. Maybe that would help?

    Stay warm. Cheers!

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    • I think the meat was tough right from the start. I would get a Crock-Pot but this place is so small there would be no place to put it! And I’m not exaggerating! But I might have to give in and get one anyway. That oatmeal idea sounds interesting, might give that a try. I don’t think I could handle vegan, I like meat.😀. Okay, I’m terrible.😞. Thanks so much for your tips!☺and for your wonderful comment!

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      • always, sometimes i late, because i follow many people, i comment and read everyone, i book mark where i stopped and next day, i continue, but i will be back, even if i late, don’t think i forgot!

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  7. Steve, I thought Canada was nice. I’m a trader in the financial markets and Canadian dollar (relative to South African Rand) vs US dollar is not that bad. I wonder why bread that side is that expensive while in South Africa bread is about 1$ (measured in USD).

    Okay. I was glad when I saw the sun peeing on the horizon! Not bad at all. I have a feeling one day you will enjoy a full sunshine (one warmer).

    I used to eat takeouts when I was still a student in varsity. Cooking was foreign until I realised it way way cheaper than fast foods.

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      • Actually normal bread isn’t too expensive, around $2 a loaf, it’s the gluten free bread that is so expensive, I don’t know why that is, no reason for it for sure. But I can only eat gluten free bread.😞.

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      • I love pancakes but because I am also lactose intolerant I can’t have milk, though other things can be substituted, just not quite as good.

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      • It’s a lot of challenge on your end. I suppose your diet is expensive from breakfast until dinner. Sorry Steve!

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    • Thought I answered this already, sorry about that! Normal bread is around $2 here, but my special gluten free bread is the expensive stuff. But everything is much more expensive here than in the US. Cooking at home is definitely cheaper, just hard for me, I just can’t cook no matter how hard I try! God bless brother!

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      • No problem. So is it that you find it cumbersome or perhaps laziness? Lol i trust it is not the latter!

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      • I just find it hard to do much reading when I’m in a lot of pain, it’s too hard to concentrate, though I still try to read some anyway.

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  8. Love the bird photos. I am glad you took them and shared them. I also have nuthatches and blue jays and woodpeckers at our feeders this winter. They go through a lot of suet!

    I am also gluten free, it’s tough. It is shocking how expensive it is and some brands are NOT good at all and I struggle to finish them, but don’t want to toss expensive food.

    I posted an easy and quick recipe for flat bread/communion style gluten free bread, on my blog. It serves one-two people and only uses a cup of gluten free flour, and a few other ingredients (and no yeast). It really does need the psyllium husk though to keep it chewy. Psyllium husk is inexpensive but can be hard to find — any health food store should have it in bulk, though, a cup or two will last a long time. I will link the recipe here. I don’t mean to be promotional of my writing here, but I think you might like this recipe as it takes longer to heat up the oven than it does to mix it together and can be done in under a half an hour with baking time. Scroll to the end of this post for the recipe! (if interested!)

    https://justsalt.blog/2018/10/12/gluten-makes-me-angry-myanxietydiet1/

    God bless you!

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