photodump
i took a couple pics on my hike last weekend, then took some pics of my peppers trying to grow, and then i made a batch of bohemakuchen tonight, so there’s a pic of that, too!
the worst
today i made bohemakuchen filling for this saturday, which is kuchen baking day. i’ve made poppyseed for the past couple years, and so i made some apricot (amazing!) and almond for when i make my own batch (and i can bake them how i want.)
anyway, i was reminded of the worst kuchen experience i’ve ever had.
the year i lived with my grandma, i got access to her stores of many baked goods in her basement freezer. pies, cookies, brownies, and even some kuchen leftover from easter! so i said, grandma! why haven’t you eaten this kuchen yet? oh, she forgot it was there. i could have it.
so i did – i took a couple to work with me one day, had one for dessert another day, until all that was left was an apricot and a poppyseed. you can tell which has what filling by looking at the sides – if they’re darker, then poppyseed. if you’re grandma, you slyly stick your thumb in the side to check it out and inconspicuously put it back if it’s not what you want.
poppyseed is my favorite – it’s delish.
so here i had the last two of the season and i was super excited. i warmed them up in the microwave at work, relishing the apricot, saving the best for last.
i bit into the poppyseed – IT WAS PRUNE.
the foot's a game
i’ve been having trouble with my heel spur again -_-
i’ve had heel spur/plantar fasciitis issues for a while, and last summer i got a cortisone shot in my heel. it’s been glorious! no pain in the mornings, i can walk on my foot like a normal person, nothing is weird.
then a couple weeks ago, i noticed as i ran downhill, i got a sharp, shooting pain straight up from my heel to the base of my toes, right down the middle of my foot. uh-oh. the past couple runs have been tough for my foot after about 3 miles, and when you’re training to run 13 miles, 3 miles is really not a lot.
i have new shoes. i have orthotics. i got some kinesiology tape to tape up my foot. i have an ankle wrap i can use as a last resort (it cuts off circulation). i am almost tempted to get reshot with cortisone, but that’ll put me out of commission for at least a week.
less than two months to the half marathon! come on, foot, can you make it??
comfort zone
i donate some money every year to the land stewardship council, and as such, i become a member and get their mailers. i got one a couple weeks ago for “land ethic at work”, a day-long workshop at eagle bluff in lanesboro with speakers from the aldo leopold foundation*, a bunch of breakouts on different conservation techniques, and finishing off with dinner on the bluff.
on the one hand, i love things like these. i love learning about more things i can do to expand my tree-huggerness and how to help out the earth. on the other hand, i HATE things like these – facilitated small group discussions?? lunch with people i don’t know**? a bunch of strangers that might stare at me because i’m not a (large) landowner, am relatively young, and don’t own any (useful) animals? (although i do garden regularly and collect rainwater from my roof; maybe that will help.)
but i decided i wanted to do it, and i applied for a scholarship to go. i got approved and it paid for my entire registration fees – $90! so now i HAVE to go. i’m gonna tweet about it and blog about it and maybe take some pics while i’m out there. april 2, i’ll be both uncomfortable and excited, and i guess that’s what life’s about, right? if you don’t step outside your circle occasionally, you can’t really experience things worth knowing. here goes nothing 🙂
*this dude is pretty cool. he noted birds’ migratory patterns in his wisconsin vacation home for his whole life, and pretty much documented that climate change is real by noting that birds that migrate based on temperature versus light have been returning to the area sooner and sooner. (i went to a speaker at rctc a couple years ago. one benefit of working at a college!)
**at least the food is included!
a little hike
there are a few state parks clustered in southeastern minnesota, a couple along the river and a couple right around where i live. i’ve been to whitewater numerous times, but decided today to check out carly state park, which is a small park just south of plainview.
it reminded me a little bit of whitewater, with the river running through it (ahem, the whitewater river) and a large grassy area of picnicking. there are also some camping sites.
i decided to go for a hike since i was there! it was a nice hike, and it reminded me of how i want to hike the superior hiking trail, which runs up along lake superior from duluth to the tip of the state, hitting canada. i’d like to do this in the next couple years, but it depends on my hiking partner (liz) and when she can do it. in the meantime, i keep looking out for cheap gear to stock up.
spring ahead!!! do it!
i’m really bad at blogging every day this year. not quite sure what my problem is. i even have two (yes, TWO) alerts set up on my phone, yet i still ignore them.
in OTHER news,
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME.
despite the multiple article refuting the usefulness of DST, this thing is a godsend. that extra hour of light in the evening is the BEST. there are multiple reasons why people argue against DST in the springtime – it robs us an hour sleep, it throws off the sleep schedule, there’s not conclusive evidence that it save energy, etc. etc. i’m here to say why DST is definitely worth it, and why we should just observe it year round.
- most of us get up in the morning, get ready for work, and spend 8 hours indoors. there’s no real reason for some extra daylight in the morning. sure, we could push the workday up earlier, but that would require massive upheaval of the corporate world.
- more daylight in the evening means more leisure time outdoors during the summertime. if it’s light out, people feel like they can get stuff done.
- MORALE. this is, above and beyond, the best thing about DST. sure, you’re groggy in the morning for a couple days. if DST were year-round we wouldn’t have to worry about this, but it is what it is. after those few days, we get to enjoy an extra hour of light in the evenings and revel in the glorious warm weather. and if we’re able to enjoy our personal time more, we’ll be better during our work or other times, too.
- it’s awesome. i’m sorry, but when the majority of the winter is spent in the dark and cold and ice, to be able to enjoy the warmth and as much end-of-day light that we can? well that’s just the bee’s knees.
just some stuff
i was going to talk about superdelegates today, but time got away from me. maybe tomorrow! instead, i finished a book, used the exercise bike, did a little yoga, and watched a couple episodes of xena.
in other news, i already have some tomato seeds up and running! i’m super impressed, especially since the seeds that are already up are four years old. i have my garden meeting april 6, and i’m hoping they realize some people might want to get in there early and let us in sooner rather than later.
i also have some tulips poking through. this doesn’t surprise me much, but i am surprised that they haven’t made more of an appearance already. i’m ready for some green grass! (and tree buds. and birds. and frogs. let’s go.)
spring!
it reached nearly 70º here today. aahhh!! hello spring! i went for a run outside, which was pretty awful because it was so windy i had to keep my head down most of the time to keep dirt out of my eyeballs. but running in 65º weather was pretty nice. shorts were nice. tshirt nice. no treadmill VERY nice.
this weekend is daylight saving time, and i DON’T CARE that you lose an hour of sleep. the first day with an hour more of light at the end of the day more than makes up for that lost hour of sleep. now think about that for the ENTIRE SUMMER. more than worth it. so all you DST naysayers can suck it.
my peppers are sprouted, my tomatoes are planted, and i’m hoping this year i’ll actually be able make some viable seedlings. here goes nothing.
i’m getting a quote on a deck from a contractor in town. i want to see what the price difference actually is then tell nate it could be worse. i’m having trouble finding $2000 for a deck this spring, but i REALLY WANT ONE. if anyone knows anyone who could use my services (i can take pictures! i can design crap! i can photoshop you atop a unicorn! i can proofread your papers! i can grow you a crapton of vegetables!), let me know. i will amass my funds and make a deck appear.
cat woes – sophie takes a trip to the vet
poor sophie. she just has no luck when it comes to head injuries.
two years ago she faced a cat attacker and got a claw in her head, which got infected. now i woke up this morning, and one of her eyes was squinted closed after being a little squinty last night. this has happened before, but it usually has cleared up after a couple hours. my guess is that chasey gets a little too free with her claws and gets a little too close to sophie’s eyes.
but this was pretty bad. we went to the vet this afternoon to have a look at her eye and see what can be done. i took her in the deluxe double-wide cat carrier (it’s ralf’s), in hopes that it would at least help her to not be cramped up.
once in the exam room, i let her out to meet the vet, and she slinked out and across the counter, and her tail – only her tail! – was shaking with nerves. poor little cat. every time the vet went out the door, she perked up. probably looking for an escape route.
she had her eye prodded – drops went in to highlight what was going on while the vet looked at her eye with a blacklight. she has an eye ulcer. hopefully they can be cleared up with some eye drops over the next week.
then to top it all off, i opted for a rabies shot, which means she got a shot in her behind as well as her eye messed with. what an evil overlord i am. 🙁 but overall she was good during her visit. no caterwauling or lashing out like a crazy cat a lá chasey. back in the cat carrier and then home for some treats.
she’s not looking too hot right now. her eye is gunked over and closed most of the time. she seems pretty calm for the first set of eyedrops, but the second set must sting, because she sure flinches when those get dropped in. then her fur gets all a mess from the drops, and she just looks pathetic for a while.
all this to say, chasey needs to calm down.
weather, running, and tree-hugger crap
so call me a pansy. it was 50º here today and the sun was out, but it was so windy that i decided to run 6 miles on my treadmill instead of outside. bad form? probably. but i hate running in the wind. it really blows (ahahaaa see what i did there).
other than the wind, the weather looks fantastic this coming week. 65 on tuesday, great running weather the rest of the week. i’m not surprised at how quickly it warmed up, considering the rest of the winter was kind of weeny. i was listening to mpr the other day, and paul hutner the weather dude was on. he said that this winter, the frost line was only 5″ down. here’s an indication of how insane that is: when building a deck, i need to put concrete 42″ in the ground to get beneath the frost line. so 5″ is REALLY tiny. thanks el niño??
the meeting for my community garden is in early april. i feel like if the weather continues the way it is, this could be bumped up a little bit.
in other news, the land stewardship project is hosting a “land ethic at work” workshop on april 2, which i might go to! it seems really interesting and is at eagle bluff envrionmental center in lanesboro. i applied for a scholarship to go, since it’s a chunk of change to go it, but even if i don’t get a scholarship, i’ll see if i can pull together some funds. (i’d be sad if i can’t.)
let’s go spring!