Daddy

Sh*t in the Woods

Amy was telling me a story about some bears she saw today at Cabelas. We were pretending the bear was playing, the bear was running, the bear was sleepy, etc.

She said, "Sometimes the bear eats you!"

And I could resist, even though she wouldn't get it, and I said, "Sometimes you eat the bear!"

She paused, looked me square in the eye and said "Sometimes the bear eats your husband."

...

...

This is what she did at Cabelas. She passed out, so we put her on a display cot.

That was limiting our shopping ability, so we grabbed a cart, a 3x sweatshirt (of which there are many at Cabelas) and made a mobile bed. Ahh, much better. So comfy.

Magic

In elementary school, our teachers dashed our hopes by telling us that mammals don't regenerate. If you chop off your arm, it won't grow back. If your face falls off, you can't get a new one. Total bummer. Things were looking more promising when they grew that ear on the mouse's back in the 90's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacanti_mouse  Still, I don't want to grow my new foot on a mouse's back, I want it to come back like a lizard's tail after it's been...playing...with Orbit. 

So, imagine my delight when I discovered kitchen regeneration! Ok, I didn't discover it. I'm sure everybody has known about this for a long time, but did you know that if you eat up a green onion and then stick the roots and the white part in a glass of water, that sucker will grow back???

Just a little water

See? New shoots! They grow so fast you can almost watch it happening. Why does anybody ever have to buy new onions? I haven't tasted the mutant offspring yet. Maybe they have a diluted flavor? Maybe they will impart their regenerative abilities onto me and my family???? 

This is probably not what people are looking for when they check my blog, but I don't always know what to write about. Amy and I pretty much do the same thing every day. 

This afternoon, Rob and I are going to the symphony. Maybe I'll have something to write about that. Then, there's always our upcoming trip to Georgia!

What we found down that road

Elk! We found elk! These guys were all over the place. They paused to watch us for a while, then got back to doing their elk thing.

Amy got out of the car begging to hike (uh, after whining about the rain? ok) so we let her lead. She could go anywhere she wanted and we would follow.

She picked a pretty nice path. This is what I imagine Scotland looks like. And probably feels like- it was still pretty wet. 

walk walk walk

We came back down toward the car and hung out by the creek. I guess it feeds into the Payette. 

Daddy carved her a good peeled fightin' stick. 

And then Amy spent a lot of time under a little tumble of reeds and sticks, playing her own little game. I love it when she sort of zones out in nature. This is what I feel like an Idaho kid gets- lots of experience with the outdoors and a familiarity with being outside that will mean she's never afraid of any adventure. 

Highway 55

We went on a drive yesterday to do a little bit of exploring. We took Highway 55 north out of Boise

The highway follows the Payette River which was flowing super full and fast.

We brought our lunch to eat by the river, but it was raining. Amy was pissed and didn't see how getting wet was any fun at all. Spoil sport.

The rain made it extra wild in my opinion. There were all kinds of tracks down in the sand by the river. One of them was shaped like a raccoon print, but big like my hand. Otter? Beaver? 

After our soggy lunch, we got back in the car and drove along until we discovered this little side route. Who could resist this? Not us!

 More soon. I have lots of pictures from yesterday.

Damn, She's Crafty

I found a pair of old folding chairs in the alley. We don't have any chairs because we gave them all away in Tucson. We are stupid. We have been sitting on stools at the table. It sucks.

I said to myself, hey, free chairs! I can make those much cooler than they are.  So I spray painted them. Turns out, I'm not that awesome at spray painting.

Then, I figured out how to take the seats apart and I recovered them with  new, not-so-60's-pleather- fabric.

This is them drying in the sun.

This is one of them inside. It is still kinda wet. 

Not a bad temporary fix for a table we didn't think we'd need and some free chairs. Now I can chill a little while we look for the right table and chairs to fit this spot. 

Lizzie's Strawberry Scones

I was reading a book that Rob's Grandma gave me called Castaways of the Flying Dutchman

It's about a boy and his dog and their adventures. Most of the story takes place in a tiny English town in the late 1800's. They drink a lot of tea and eat a lot of food at tea time that involves butter. Well, I like tea and I like butter, so I was pretty much hungry the whole time I was reading it. Soooo, I learned to make scones. This is probably not how you're supposed to make them or how they are supposed to taste, but Amy and I like them.

Strawberry Scones

2 cups self rising flour
2 tbsp butter cut into the flour
3-4 big strawberries diced into little bits
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
(1 egg)
pinch of cinnamon

I mixed all that together like biscuit dough and then put it on a buttered dish and baked it at 350 until it was just barely beginning to brown on top. We ate them hot with butter, of course.
The first time I made them I didn't use the egg, the second time I did. I think the egg made a more scone-y texture, but it was yummier without it. I didn't use any sugar because the yogurt is already sweet.

The first time I baked them in little triangles. This time I plopped the dough down in a big square and cut it up afterwards. They worked the same.

Amy liked eating "stones" for lunch. She gets her butter on the inside. I like mine smeared on top.