More Rain, More Baking, and More Bad Bugs

Ghirardelli dark chocolate chip mix skillet cookie

On Friday, I decided that Saturday would be pizza day. And whenever I make pizza, I make brownies or cookie bars for dessert. My arthritis now affects my baking, so I am taste testing prepared mixes. I got a bunch of Ghirardelli mixes and tried the chocolate chip cookie mix but baked it in a skillet (which relieves me of much standing time on the knees). It was such a success! I love the mix and I can't do better from scratch. There is no boxed mix taste, either. 

I baked Saturday even though the weather was great. I got psyched out by bad bugs on Friday—by ticks again. I hate ticks and this year the tick problem is unbelievable. Lucy, despite her flea and tick treatments, brings in one live tick a day. In the past, it has only been one live tick per season. I need to photograph each one in order to identify the species. Fortunately, Lucy has only had one embedded in her skin and she was fantastic when I took it off under the new guidelines.  Thankfully, all of the ticks have been American dog ticks; not the deer ticks with Lyme disease.

Friday night, after our short bug walk in the gorgeous weather, I found a tick crawling up my leg. That was the final straw for me. Short of Lucy and I dressing in hazmat suits, I decided to never go outside again. Ticks give me bad dreams for nights and creepy crawly skin for days.

Soon after I found the tick, Lucy came in with another deer fly riding on her muzzle. Every year, the time after black flies is deer fly time and they love Lucy's muzzle. She seldom notices them until they bite and leave her with a muzzle dotted with red splotches of blood. One deer fly bite gives me real itches for days.

American dog tick

Deer fly

And that is why I stayed in and baked instead of bug hunting.

Next was the pizza. I decided to try Gemma Stafford's dough and sauce.  The dough was easy to do but somehow resulted in a leathery crust. It was such a disappointment. I don't know what I did wrong. The sauce had the exact taste that I wanted, but was much too salty. I can easily adjust that next time. I tossed out the pizza, and it is expensive to make. It was supposed to be at least two days of meals, including breakfast. I love pizza for breakfast. 

While setting my Google Nest hub display to time the rising for the pizza dough, I found you can do this . . . 

00:17

You get a different show for each different item you ask it to time.  "OK, Google, set the bread timer for 2 hours" gives you a fun bread display.  I smiled when the timer ended:

00:06

Now it is Sunday.

Flash flood warnings, flash flood watches, hazardous weather alerts

The expected rainfall today only is four inches. That is not good. Amy and I are so bored at this point with our indoor lives that we are sending each other rain videos. This is her slow-motion rain drop video.

00:35

I made six videos of the rain from the garage. Lucy won't go out in the rain from the back door but she will from the garage. All of the noise you hear is pure rainfall. It was very, very heavy. I combined all six videos to one video. 

1:28

Being an accomplished and talented obsessive worrier, I am now more concerned about my fairly new and very expensive leach field flooding than I am about flash floods or washed out roads. Perhaps life never will be normal again.

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Oh, Lucy!

Lucy enjoying a mouse in a past summer.

We had the day yesterday. 

In January and February the shrews invade the cellar through the granite boulders of the foundation. The cats are always ready for them. Sometimes, they have gotten six in one day. But then the weather warms just slightly and the shrews (the survivors) leave. I have never read an explanation of why we are invaded in those months. I have even written to a vertebrate biologist but he also had no idea. Except for the weather, of course. The weather in January and February here in northern Vermont is brutal. It makes you wonder why any of us, human or not, live here at all. Our biggest storms, darkest days and coldest temperatures are during those months.

Nelly with a Northern short-tailed shrew.

Shrews, to me, look like chubby basset-hound type mice; they are low-slung and chubby. They have a toxic bite and taste vile. Cats will kill them but will never eat them. I have to keep a close eye on cat activity to make sure that I don't have a dead shrew body fouling the air after a few days here.

A Northern short-tailed shrew in Québec. Alive.
Photo by Gilles Gonthier

Yesterday, Nelly was stalking a shrew on my main floor. She had captured it and brought it up from the cellar. The problem was, that as it scuttled across the floor in front of me, I was startled and gasped. My gasps put Lucy on alert, and she immediately went for the shrew. 

But John and I had spent much time gently teaching Lucy to never steal a cat's prey, so she just watched the shrew. Then came my next mistake: Nelly seemed to have lost track of the shrew, so I called out to tell her where it went before it disappeared. Nelly moved towards the shrew, but Lucy took my shrew-alert as permission to get the shrew. She grabbed it and took it to bed. It was squeaking the entire way. (Shrews die loud.)

I was very fortunate that yesterday was a day that Amy was coming to visit and help. She went upstairs, found the shrew easily on my bed, removed it and brought the top bloodied quilt—the ancient, raggedy quilt that covers the entire top of the bed for just this reason—down to the laundry. Lucy did not go upstairs with Amy. She knew that she had overstepped. 

Lucy continues to hunt mice under the snow. It is her favorite winter activity. Dogs hunt mice much as foxes do: they follow a scent and/or a sound, and pounce. She is often successful and swallows them whole. And alive. I can't think too closely about swallowing live mice before my insides churn. It is probably best if you not think about it, either.

Lucy mouse hunting last winter.

I hope I don't have to re-teach Lucy to leave cat prey alone. It is a difficult thing to overcome a dog's natural instinct to hunt and you have to be careful, gentle, and understanding. But in the past, when she took the cats' kills, they became secretive and rodent body parts were rotting throughout the house. I don't want that to happen again. I also have to be more mindful of my reactions to their behaviors because my behaviors grant them permission for their own behaviors. No gasping at their prey, I can only show that I am pleased. No confusing conversations with a cat when a dog is in the same space; unless I use other ways to show Lucy that I am only talking to the cat (which has been very successful in the past). Yesterday, I lost all of my own training!

To learn more about Northern short-tailed shrews, see A Voracious and Venomous Mammal.

🌼 🌼

Meteorological spring begins on March 1. Northern Vermont spring is late May. I could not, will not, wait, so I put up my spring blog banner of Canada geese goslings. After all, tomorrow is March 1.

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The Cold

      

4 PM Feb. 3, 2023

It's going to get a lot colder tonight. They predict -23°F with a windchill of -50°F overnight. I have never experienced this before. I have seen it colder, have seen -30°F actual temperature at the house. But not this windchill. They say it is a once in a generation occurrence. Schools are closed. Nobody is driving by on the road.

As the day has gone on, the air has gotten colder from a high of +11°F at 5 AM to this. The wind has gotten stronger, also. I have been watching the trees leaning in the wind and the snow blowing through the air.

The air in the house is too dry. The furnace has not stopped burning even for one minute. I had 3/4 tank of fuel before this began. I dread to see how much is left when this is over Saturday night.

Lucy will not go out and I am grateful for that. But she has strong feelings about soiling the house. I will praise her when she has an "accident."

Lucy's nap this morning.

Lucy slept under her blanket all night last night next to me, keeping me warmer, and took her naps under a blanket on the couch. The cats? Same old routine except they have me home to pitifully cry for more food more often. 

I was going to wash dishes today (for me and the knees, it is almost an all-day chore). But this is my day off and I have taken it off. Movies, messaging with the kids all day, reading. I had supper at lunch time. My son and I exchanged piano performances of Schumann piano concertos and gossiped about the Schumanns and Brahms. We shared a couple of recipes and gossiped about TV chefs. 

Amy's district was the only district in the state that stayed open. She said when it was over that it was awful taking the kids to the busses wrapped in blankets. I can't even imagine. The state even reminded us not to let our dogs or cats outside, or to only let the dog stay out less than 10 minutes. Yet they allowed human children out in that district. 

I am so grateful we were kept home today so that I could monitor the furnace and the pipes and the animals. I will soon post about my post-holiday experiences that have kept me quiet for too long. So I needed this day to make sure all was still under control. 

Here is the map of the forecasted wind chills for my area tonight. I live between Newport and St. Johnsbury, to the right of the I-91 symbol and in the dark red at 1400 ft elevation—which will be worse than being in a protected valley. It is going to be bad. The wind chill so far has only been -43°F today. I don't even know if it is possible to sleep upstairs with the wind and cold tonight. We'll see. But I know Lucy will never leave my side. Oh, but the cats will! Those little hedonists! I suspect they are sleeping on top of the furnace!

• Tweet from Lake Champlain (2 hours to the west of me).
• Tweet from Newport this morning about 9 AM (20 minutes north of me)
• Mount Washington in New Hampshire (an hour east of me)

I survived today and I will survive worse tomorrow. But I won't go to my hair appointment tomorrow. Amy said she is (we go to the same hairdresser). 

When Lucy was awake, she took advantage 
and asked for extra cookies.
She got them.
Who could say no to this?

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Pet Friends Over the Years

00:01:12

Another video from iPhone today and just when I needed it. Dori's littermates are in this video. I've learned how to save these forever because they are better videos than I'll ever make. It's been a very rough two weeks and I am slowly climbing out of the dark hole and regaining my life. So I have made no visits and very few posts. Who knew life at this age, and alone, could be this difficult?

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Andy's Dandys

Dori and Lucy waiting for Andy's Dandys cookies.

I came across Andy's Dandys dog cookies at my local grocery store. Lucy decided they are the best in the universe and has had one a day since that day long ago. 

The problem is that once in awhile I would run out of cookies. What do you do with a broken hearted, cookie-deprived yellow Lab? Not much, except cry with her.

I found the source of Lucy's cookies here in Vermont and ordered them online. I get two months worth at a time now, plus a bag of mini-cookies for Dori when she visits. Oh, Dori loves them! 

Lucy gets one large Andy's Dandys every night after supper.

The first time I ordered them, though, I didn't allow for shipping time, so I added a note to please send them as soon as possible and that I would pay whatever it took to get them here fast. They got here very fast, but for free! And with a wonderful note. We have had an on-going online relationship since then with photos included and tiny gifts now and then. You see in the note below that they even know about Nelly. Nelly ripped open and stole some dog cookies once, so I had to tell them about the excitement that day as Lucy watched helplessly as her kitty stole her cookies.

A lovely note from the staff at Andy's Dandys.

Andy's Dandys is co-owned by young Andrew Whiteford. Seven Days Vermont wrote an article about him and his inclusive business in 2021 that you can read here. The family is truly inspiring and loving. 

A beautiful Christmas cookie that Andy's Dandys sent Lucy.

All is calm after cookie time.

This is a bag of very small cookies,
Dori's size, that the two dogs get at play time.

I am getting no reimbursement of any kind from this post. I simply think all dog families should know about these cookies and order them. They are expensive, but I only have Lucy and the two cats. They are my priority. 

Click for Andy's Dandys website.

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Annual Holiday Portraits

Poppy
Woken from her nap.

See here to learn why her name was changed.

Nelly
At the breakfast table.

Lucy
Happy all the time.

I am exhausted after corralling them and editing the photos for the holidays. I have no decorations in the house so after I cropped, I took the images to remove.bg, the best background remover I've seen. It is used by entomologists for their insect photos. They also have backgrounds that I like, both photos and colors with a custom color selector. Christmas is still very difficult for me. I made more bread and I'm glad it's almost over.

Sunday Selfies at
The Cat on My Head

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Christmas Eve

Lucy said, "No thanks. I can hold it."

It was a tense day yesterday with this storm, but it all ended well. There was pouring rain all day, and the temperature reached 41°F (5°C). The state told us all to stay off of the roads after 4PM because a flash freeze was coming. I guess we all did. Businesses closed and no traffic came down my road at all. Amelia reported a heavy snow squall about 7 PM in Orleans. It got here soon after and was a whiteout. We never lost power. Currently, at 10:30 AM, it is 7°F (-14°C) with a windchill of -7°F (-22°C). It feels normal again.

Dough for two loaves

Lodge Combo Cooker (bread oven)

Le Creuset Bread Oven

I have bread rising. My children jointly gave me an early Christmas gift of a Le Creuset bread oven. I will bake one loaf in that and one in my Lodge Combo Cooker. The Lodge is also advertised as a bread oven and reviewers say the bread results are identical but that the Le Creuset oven is a work of art, which it is. It is one of the loveliest things I have ever owned.  I also plan to do at least one pie and a meatloaf. Those will depend on my knees, but so far so good. 

The cats and Lucy are quietly napping as the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols streams from St. Michael's College on Vermont Public Radio's classical station.

As for church tonight? There is an accommodation for us who cannot get out at night—we can Zoom in. I give thanks every day for computer technology.

Grandkitty Remy relaxes on Christmas Eve
at home in Washington, DC
Since Remy takes down every tree ever put up,
Andrew now just has a wreath on the wall.

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Lucy and Dori iPhone Video

00:39

The iPhone dropped this two days ago. They are such rascals!

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Snow Day iPhone Video

00:45

My phone dropped a lot of video on me this week. This is my favorite one. We are so warm today that it is raining but there will be a flash freeze, then snow, tomorrow. I won't be able to go to Christmas Eve service tomorrow!

 🎄 😞🎄

Please note that in this video, if there is mud or bare ground, it is spring or autumn. The blowing snow was from last winter. The music was chosen by iPhone.

Happy Holidays!

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Sunday Selfies Personalities

Sweet Betsy

Grumpy Nell

Night after night, I watch these three do their thing. The routine barely changes. Betsy is always happy, Nell is always grumpy, and Lucy loves to watch TV.

I am going to legally change Nell's name from Little Nell to Grumpy Nell. She's actually happy and purrs and wants scritches, but always looks the grump. 

But they are all friends and race me to the bedroom at night. That's what counts.

Lucy ignores cat drama and watches
TV with her Lamb Chop

Sunday Selfies at
The Cat on My Head

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Sunday Dog Selfies

Lucy awaits her cookie.

Amelia came and constructed my new cat tree yesterday, so I dogsat Lucy and Dori. It was challenging! Even though Amelia was right in the same room, they kept asking for cookies and kept rough-housing. But it was fun. 

So calm!

00:42

So crazy!

00:04

Woof!

The new and unused cat playroom.

Sunday Selfies at
The Cat on My Head

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Pesky Porcupines

Porcupine as seen from backdoor
Barton Mountain ridgeline in the back

What a day today. The roads are so iced that the town plow has chained up while it salts the road. Nothing to do but stay inside and do … something.

I'm still keeping an eye on the porcupines. They don't appear every day. It's more like every third day, so I'm wondering what else they are eating. Luckily, I can see them from the windows in the back mudroom. Unfortunately, my tripod is in the car and it won't be until today that I can get it out. So all of these shots are handheld. I did make a tripod of my elbows on my walker but it wasn't enough for the amount of digital zoom I used.

Digital zoom; eye is visible despite snow and handheld shake

I've learned more about porcupines. Their bellies are not quilled and are very soft and vulnerable. In the photo below, you can see that. When they sleep, their head faces a back wall of the den, and their tail faces the entrance. They swing their tail at predators and the quills release upon contact. So they are pretty invulnerable but they still have a couple predators, predominately the dreaded fisher cat.

Vermont had to reintroduce fishers because they are so reviled that they had been extirpated a hundred or so years ago. But they are back and as vicious as ever. And they love porcupines. The balance of porcupines in the wild is back in check now because of the fishers.

More digital zoom; underbelly and claws visible

Fisher (Pekania pennanti)
(c) Jeff Hullstrung

Lucy loves porcupine days. She wants outside constantly and only comes in for warming. She knows where the den is under the barn and she tracks their movements all day. Porcupines are supposed to be nocturnal, and I know mine are out and about at night, but they are active in the day, also. When they are up a tree, Lucy can even spot them!

Lucy is watching the porcupine shown above in the tree.

Porcupines do not clean the scat out from their den. The scat can become so deep that it spills out of the den. No one knows why. 

Amelia came by on Thanksgiving night to drop off a dinner for me, so I opened the garage doors and turned on the outside light. She turned off the lights and closed the doors when she left. In the morning, Lucy went nuts. She excitedly ranged all over the garage, and even thoroughly scanned the rafters of the garage. That's when I became nervous. She explored the garage without hackles so I knew there was not a danger like bear. Sort of. Lucy's definition of danger and mine differ, so I asked her to come back in before she found an animal. I kept the doors open so that whatever it was could leave. I am very fortunate that Lucy has never once attacked another animal. She simply alerts with deafening barking and shows me where they are.

Yesterday morning I went out to the garage and found a lot of scat lined across the garage doors … well it was actually everywhere but most prominent in front of the doors. I found a footprint, too. Neither has been identified but because of the porcupine activity, I strongly suspect that I had inadvertently trapped on in the garage overnight. The scat has the cashew-shape of porcupine. The print is the right size for porcupine but is ill-defined. I have perennial problems with red squirrels trying to move into the attic every winter, so the scat could be theirs, also. Red squirrels are not nocturnal, though.

I had my measuring tape with me, but it  did not work!

The scat was everywhere.

One poor print.

We had a wonderfully odd Thanksgiving. I hope you did, also.

Saturday's Critters at
Viewing Nature with Eileen

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Lucy Goes to Church

Lucy goes to church.

Knee pain being pretty awful this morning, I went to church virtually with Lucy. She loves this. She loves anything that means I can stay home with her. And cook. Or cuddle while reading. Especially sleeping. We are doing all that today: baking, reading, the wash, napping, and watching for porcupines. I used GIMP to make an old fashioned photo and liked it enough to post. The cats? No where to be seen. But they were with us most of the night, which was a first. 

Sunday Selfies at
The Cat on My Head

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Snowfall

Sunshine Betsy

It finally snowed this past week. Not seriously, just several inches and then snow showers for two more days. The showers came from the lake effect snow which is giving Buffalo several feet of snow. We get Great Lakes lake effect snow in the early season, even way over here, a couple of hundred miles northeast. Today the sun is out and the temperature has finally risen to 32°F (0°C). But the windchill is 25°F (-4°C). And just like my car mechanic said, my studded tires are doing well for the third season on the ice and snow covered roads. Phew!

In Morgan looking south to Bald Mountain in
Westmore viewing the lake effect snow
clouds with visible snow showers.

Something about the snowy weather made the cats more visible. They interacted more with me, Lucy and each other. They are not sleeping together yet, but are both sleeping with me. Betsy likes to sit in the window sun, like the photo above. She's become very talkative, also.  However, Nell made sure a photograph was impossible. She's like that.

Lucy enjoying the first day of snow;
there is no green to be seen now.

I haven't blogged in a week because of more curriculum changes at school. That is not good and it is exhausting because I do the work at home. But our population needs the changes as students come and go or become, thankfully, more engaged in their education and can cope with higher level mathematics. It's also extremely frustrating. Now the holidays are almost here, so there are dinners to plan at home and school. We have nearly a week off this year for Thanksgiving. That is a blessing!

Every good kitty bathes before bed.

Good night, Betsy!

I have two arts this week because it is relaxing to do when you are tired. Stay warm this weekend! I'll be baking dinner rolls and doing jigsaw puzzles.

Sunshine Betsy

Bathing Betsy

110Sunshine Betsy140Bathing Betsy

Caturday Art at
Athena Cat Goddess

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