This morning I woke up to a nice little skiff of snow. 馃あ
Pardon my nausea, I think it's actually a side effect from the almost hypothermia state I achieved at my son's track meet this past Wednesday.
You see, spring in North Idaho is a bit interesting. In a 24 hour period it can snow, rain, graupel (my favorite because it sounds like the sky is trying to smash you with Mjolnir (Thor's hammer)), tornado, thunder and lightning, and go from 20-80 degrees Fahrenheit all in a single day. It's a meteorological roller coaster.
Good times.
Anyway, this week's offering was a north easterly front of coldness. So cold that I seriously wondered if I had portaled to Northern Saskatchewan.
It was hard to stay positive while I sat in my camp chair at The Siberian Invitational. But then again, at least I was wrapped up in my parka and polar fleece blanket and not stripped down to my track skivvies throwing stuff....Those were the days....
Funnily enough, my offspring PR'd in shotput, so perhaps the icy front had its uses.
But as far as spring gardening goes, this week's weather has been a bit of a bummer.
Everything on my grow shelf is progressing nicely. The marigolds and calendula that I sowed last week exploded out of their soil, but thanks to the Arctic Blast, I am now thinking I might have to put some heat in the greenhouse, which will break my frugal heart. I kinda have no choice though, because my grow shelf is only so big, and all these little plants are going to require more space soon. Hooray for homestead improvisation!
Almost every year I plant my potatoes around Tax Day (April 15th). Not this year. Not that I have my flintlocks in a clench about it though, I always have something to do, and I will get to it eventually, when it's not glacial out.
There's nothing I enjoy more than baking on a cold, dreary day. Yesterday it may have been a bit on the gloomy side outside (think Marvin the robot off of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy), but on the inside of my abode, it was hygge-time!
Before you could say domestic bliss I had a loaf of sourdough rising next to the woodstove. After not eating any refined carbs all week, I was feeling the need for a bit of glucose, and made a lovely sandwich out of the still warm sourdough once it had cooled.
And yes, I forgot to score my loaf. Sometimes (A lot of the time) I forget to do things. I am going to blame my daughter for this, she interruppted my train of baking thought with a request for me to read her campaign speech. She's running for FFA president. That and she reminded me of my impending doom this Saturday. She wants me to go prom dress shopping with her.
Insert horrified scream here
But I love my Squeaky-girl more than I hate shopping, and I am looking forward to spending time with her, even if it is around....the public....
This week we did get the cow's fence all done. Winter's here are hard on our fences, so there is always some tightening to do or new lines to install, or in the case of my naughty cattle, a Fort Knox sort of barbed wire/hot wire fortification installation of the you aren't getting out again kind.
But the absolute greatest thing that happened this week was while I was out in the school room recording some podcast material with my cousin and cohost best bud Wednesday night. My cuz sometimes brings his toddler son over when we are recording. Little J is the coolest kiddo ever, and he was chilling my hubs while we recorded.
The hubs likes to play Skyrim in the evenings, and Little J enjoys playing with the box of toys we keep for him. My cousin had brought him a kid shake thing for a snack, like a protein drink. Little J asked the hubs if he could have another one after downing the first shake, and my hubs, who is recovering from a long bout of chest congestion and a bit non-attentive, got up, grabbed the little shake box out of the fridge, popped it open, stuck a straw in it, and gave it to the kid.
He did note it was almond flavor which he thought was a bit odd.
Little J took a sip, said it was yucky, and they went about their evening.
I came in later and saw my brand new carton of plant based coffee creamer on the counter with a straw sticking out of it.
"Um, hubs, why is there a straw in my creamer?" I called out, without absolutely any mirth in my voice. I promise.
"What?" he called back, a slight tone of confusion in his voice.
"Well, my brand new coffee creamer is sitting here on the counter with a straw in it. You know anything about that?" The giggles were starting to leak out.
"Oh! That's why he didn't like it!" the hubs replied, chuckles began to erupt.
My husband had given our cousin's kid coffee creamer with a straw.
Now, I was beyond elated about this development, as my husband is a bit of a, well he likes to rib people about everything. The toddler coffee creamer shake substitution should give me ammunition for days!!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's still slightly frigid and also not a toddler shake iPhone. The text divider image was made in Canva.